Blossoming Fissure | Tanjirou Kamado

6. Princess Kaguya, who came from the Moon

Yuu knew that the people from his village had, always, been selfish and resentful.

They filled the heads of their children with lies and resentment over something that wasn't there, neighbours that held bad intentions, non-existent villains and imaginary complots, and just like Ayaka, all of them only saw what they wanted to see.

He had known ever since the first moment. His memory, as prodigious as Ayaka's sight, had never allowed him to forget any of the malicious gestures where their true nature showed itself.

No one from the village had ever asked for her mother's help, they didn't trust a doctor that came from the city and had become a part of the family by marriage. Although the Kobayashi family had been there for generations and fathers, grandfathers and great grandfathers worked and lived together in their time.

They didn't starve because people from other places went to her, the Rengoku family had been regular customers until the resignation to death had fallen over the father and the son could do nothing but cry the death of the mother and take care of the brother. Other families he still remembered the names of had been the Kobayashi's livelihood and had given them a warm meal to have everyday, as the villagers refused to spend even a single coin in something as tricky as science to save the grandparents and the parents that died one after the other, because it would be more advantageous to let them die now that they were old and couldn't bring money to the family instead of keeping them alive and having another burden to feed.

All of them wore simple clothes made out of faded away fabrics, along with cheap pins and kimonos lent from older to younger siblings, but not because they were humble or that kind of person that preferred the religious low ways of life over the flamboyant. It was known that drawing attention to oneself was like directly asking for one to be torn apart by the sharp tongues of the neighbours.

His father hadn't been any different, he was just more discreet. He didn't like when Yuu wore nice clothes to go out or when he talked too much with the people that worked on the market. His mother had always called his paranoia something stupid, but of course, she was different, she hadn't been born on the village.

As much as he had been born there, Tamaki had never treated the Iwamoto family like the others did. He whispered comments under his breath about them during lunch or sent some glances towards the kind family he believed pretentious, but sometimes he shared a bottle of sake with Makoto and Kaori was a pleasant companion that laughed at his jokes.

No, the reason Yuu started to loathe Ayaka had nothing to do with his parents or the people from the village.

And the reason why Yuu had stopped wishing to heal had nothing to do with the abhorrence he felt toward his first friend. Instead, it had been born from the consequences.

Hurting someone was the biggest sin a doctor could ever commit. He hadn't understood that until witnessing it with his own two eyes. "Hurting" felt like any other word back then, with the innocence and ignorance of a kid that had never tasted blood. But when he tasted his parents', bloody corpses before him in a puddle made from his broken life, spilled because of his own sins, he grew to truly understand what his mother meant.

Someone that caused the sight of the corpses on the floor with horrified expressions wasn't worthy of being called a healer.

Takeshi had been crazy, insane like only someone deranged could be. And he had been obsessed with Ayaka, too.

When Ayaka wasn't with them to enjoy the sight of the little girl being ripped to shreds, he didn't stop bringing her up. "Aya-san this, Aya-san that". He commented that she was short, that her wrists were thin and delicate and how easy it would be to break them. He had Ayaka on her mind like a lover had the beloved, like a renaissance artist had his muse, somewhere high up he couldn't reach, trapped in a cage to be stared at but never listened to.