Beyond a Thief's Power Version 2 (Mature, for Ages 18+)

Episode 6

Old Feelings, New Ones, and a Chase for Magic

Takuto had finally caught up to Rina in a matter of seconds, having dashed in a frenzy after leaving Le Renard Noir without taking his time to sit down and eat his dinner for the night. He interrupted his ex-girlfriend's quiet expedition home the second he grabbed onto her left arm with his right hand, instigating her to turn around.

"Just what do you think you're trying to do, leaving without waiting for me to show up and finish my noodles?!" He asked aggressively. Then, Rina's honey-eyed gaze caught his attention, making his heart waver as it skipped a beat, and he suddenly thought back to the day he had always regretted.

Like how they were at the moment, it felt like that winter day over three years ago. The season they were in was different, but it still gave Takuto a memory of the past he and Rina shared the last time they saw each other until the latter's return to the Human World.

~December 14, 2003~

After Takuto and Rina finished their date that afternoon, they began to go their separate ways. Takuto wore the same clothes he would almost always adorn: his gray hoodie over a collarless blue green shirt [which revealed his clavicles], bone white pants/trousers, with a set of light and regular eggplant purple shoes with white outsoles. Rina, on the other hand, wore the school uniform for girls for the high school Takuto, Kenshi, Riki, and Atsumu had attended to during their school years, with white thigh-high stockings and brown slip-ons. But then... Takuto, who was enrolled as a college student at the time, decided to turn around, and walked a few steps forward, taking hold of Rina's left arm with his right hand. Rina looked back and gazed into Takuto's golden eyes with her honey-colored ones. This caught the him off-guard, as he felt a stinging pain in his chest when he looked at his girlfriend's innocent and pure [yet beautifully pale] expression. Although Rina did not know what was going on, Takuto's look changed to a grief-stricken frown. He knew he was going to have to go through the saddest thing that would happen in his life and he glanced down, while his eyes became shadowed from the seventeen-year-old girl's eyesight.

"Sorry, but let's break up," he apologized. He had barely managed to utter those heart-wrenching words of inner agony, yet he did say something to finalize his undesired intention.

Rina's eyes widened with confusion swirling around in her mind. "Huh?" She could not believe what she heard from the twenty-one-year-old young man she was in love with.

Takuto looked up with a cold expression on his face. "I don't love you anymore, Rina. My feelings for you have changed now, so I think it would be better if you forgot about me." It was all a lie. He knew that, but... It was too unbearable for him to admit how much of an ache was closing in on his heart. He added afterward, "You shouldn't be around someone who can't actually make you happy. It'll only suffocate you from the inside-out if you continue to stay with me like this, and I realized seconds ago that I couldn't be the one who could do anything to keep you satisfied. If we break up now, you won't have to suffer from loving a guy who has a horrendous temper like me. I'm pretty sure you'll understand, so let's leave it at that and live our separate lives."

Tears formed in Rina's eyes as she lowered them by a small fraction. "But... It wasn't like that a few minutes ago. Everything was fine before, so why now...?" She placed her hands on Takuto's jacket and held onto it with her fingers. "I don't want this to happen. I want to be with you forever, Takuto...!"

Takuto frowned, staring into Rina's eyes. "If you stay with me, you'll never truly be happy. That's why, I'm letting you go."

Seeing Takuto's indecipherable expression made it even worse. Rina's tears began to fall, and she lowered her head with a sob. Her forehead was slightly touching Takuto's jacket, and her hands were stilling holding onto it in anguish.