find solace (belong) [KNY/BNHA]

[06] wretched world

"Mr Gin?" Charlotte awoke, rubbing her eyes. "Where are you going?"

Gin smiled, patting her head. "Just out to the nearby town. I'll be back before sunset tomorrow at the latest. I'll have Tanaka-san check on you tonight, and I'm sure you can manage, right?"

Sleepily, Charlotte nodded her head. "But why are you going out? Is it something urgent?"

He shook his head, light brown strands swaying with the motion. "Nothing of the sort. It's just, isn't it a little while before your birthday? It tends to get harder to travel during the thick snowstorms, so I best get a present prepared ahead of time."

Charlotte frowned, ready to open her mouth to say something. "Ah!" Gin interrupted, "I know what you're going to say, and you may as well forget about it. I'm going and that's that."

Charlotte sulked, "But you really don't need to..."

Green eyes glistened, undeniably fond. He flicked her forehead. "Nonsense, now, I best be off if I want to get anywhere at all."

Charlotte nodded. "Have a safe trip." She smiled.

Gin tilted his head with a smirk, "Of course. Stay safe too, don't open the door to strangers."

"Don't forget to check your belongings every time you leave a place, and also, be careful." Eyeing his hands, she furrowed her brows, thinking for a second, before heading to one of the shelves. "Here," She said, bringing him a pair of gloves from the drawer. "The ones you're wearing are too thin, take these ones instead."

"Thanks child," Gin laughed at the concern for just a trip spanning the course of two days. "Though, I'm not that disorganised. What do you take me for?"

"..."

"...Don't answer that." He decided not to hear her reply.

.

.

.

Back then, he believed in his choice, his resolution.

Afterwards, he was never more sure of it, but this time, for Char instead.

"Gin, please," Hiromi spoke quietly, careful not to wake her slumbering daughter who lay peacefully in her lap. She had a few noticeable scratches and bruises on her arms and legs but was otherwise unharmed. "You can't just expect Mira to be able to handle all this body strengthening."

Said man grinned, sipping on his sake as he looked forwards, eyesight directed towards the heavy rain falling outside their house. "She's my daughter." He said as if that in itself would explain everything.

She can handle it, was what Gin implied, with his blood flowing through her veins.

Hiromi breathed a sigh, perhaps of exasperation. She's gotten used to her husband's confident self, at this point she shouldn't be surprised or taken aback by his words.

"She's only nine." She said as her black hair moved off her shoulders, resting on her back as she faced her lifelong companion. "You shouldn't be so harsh on her."

The other simply kept on savouring his alcohol, not paying much mind to her words. "She'll be fine. Just a few cuts and bruises, in the end, it'll make her stronger."

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. How much she disliked that sentence, she couldn't express in words how much she wished it never existed. Though it may prove to be true, it doesn't change the fact that it hurts for the person involved, and it pained her to see her daughter so exhausted each day after that unruly training.