ayame's flower realm . JUJUTSU KAISEN

thirty seven . blood (2)

"what's the matter?"

a young boy, not much older than 10, lifted up his head. his eyes, bright and pure, were unreadable for the man that had just spoken to him. the man thought the boy's eyes were untainted and carried a similarity with his mother's own pairs, though he couldn't help the sense of discomfort as he spotted something out of the corner of his eyes.

"um, they feel heavy today." the boy said, his voice soft - a proper tone to talk to his elders. "i can't move them well."

the man shifted his gaze and landed directly onto the boy's hands. the hands were in a dark colour that contrasted against his skin. there were sewing marks that could be seen at the line where human skin met up with cursed spirit skin.

this boy was takayuki yasuhiro.

the man moved his eyes away, focusing his sight onto the garden right in front of them. his firsts opened and closed in the pockets as he gathered up suitable words to say to the little boy. after a moment, he finally opened his mouth,"hmm. let's ask keiichi to check it out... - where is he anyway?"

"kei-kun is... oh!" little yasuhiro pointed towards the gate of the house. "he's back! kei-kun!"

another boy, a little younger than yasuhiro, lifted up his head at his name. keiichi's little fists slightly tightened around his backpack straps as he walked towards the two, bowing slightly.

"keiichi, you're back." the man nodded. then, he pat yasuhiro's shoulders, smiling apologetically towards the younger boy. "i'm sorry i have to trouble you. could you see what's wrong with yasuhiro's hands?"

keiichi eyes widened, and he scrambled to get a hold of yasuhiro's hands. "hands? what's wrong? nii-san, what's wrong with your hands? do they hurt? i'm sorry, did i mess up? i - "

"shh, they don't hurt." yasuhiro smiled, patting keiichi's head. "not at all. they just feel a little heavy."

"heavy...?"

keiichi pulled yasuhiro's hand away. then, as he squinted at them, his pupils shrunk into sharp slits, resembling those of a snake's. after a while, he closed his eyes, inhaling deeply.

"keiichi?"

"mm, i can fix it." keiichi gently set yasuhiro's hands onto the latter's lap. "i'm sorry. i should've been more attentive."

yasuhiro shook his head, waving his hands. "no, it's okay. it doesn't hurt at all, see? they just can't move that well."

-

footprints in the ground.

a cracked phone.

a ringtone blaring through the silent park.

blood dripped onto the earth, blooming into a brilliant red.

"are you cold?"

a feminine voice asked, laced with concern. it gave off the illusion that perhaps... the owner was truly worried for the one standing in front of her.

"it's getting pretty cold, right?"

takayuki yasuhiro couldn't move his eyes away from the girl. no, he wouldn't dare to look away for even a moment. his right side have already paid the price of carelessness before, bleeding out while he desperately tried to stop the bleeding by pressing his hand. he gritted his teeth - she was right.

it was getting colder.

but,

"you're still standing."  the girl said, pushing up her glasses. another voice, if yasuhiro wasn't hallucinating from the blood loss, joined her own, making her words sound distorted. "why?"