The Promised Revenge [Manjiro Sano]

1

The Promised Revenge
Chapter 1

It was a hell of a way to die.

That assumption stuck with you for almost two years now. Alone in the darkness, a bloody and beaten soul on the cold floor. A white jacket, colored with the crimson red of life's blood. The face of once a loved one almost unrecognizable.

The way death stared at you that day made the rustling voices in your head act up whenever you recalled it. Witnessing the life in his eyes drifting away as he tried to keep it just for a mere second. Observing the very moment they crossed over from living to not.

Watching his eyes becoming dead.

Those gray dead eyes soon had become a constant companion, following you around, never more than a blink away. You saw them in the quickest of glances and the deepest of shadows. And sometimes, you even saw them in the mirror, in your own reflection, wearing your own face as your own gray eyes.

Lifeless, glassy, empty grayness you both used to share...

"Y/n?"

The light in the eyes you were staring at came back as they widened when you heard an elderly voice calling your name. With your hand still on your dark wavy hair, holding it into a ponytail, you shifted your gaze from the mirror before you to the old man standing by the doorway.

"Oh", you muttered, letting go of your hair. "Grandpa Rey. What are you doing here?"

"Mail delivery", he replied, putting the box you just noticed in his hand down. "The door was unlocked and I kept ringing the bell but you didn't show up, so I figured you were listening to your loud music again and decided to leave this here. You okay there, kiddo?"

"Are those the stuff I ordered online?!", you said, an excited smile on your face as you approached him, ignoring his worry.

"You can order things online?!", surprised, he looked at the box in his hand as if it was some abnormal new discovery. "This internet thing is getting out of hand..."

"Yes, I've always wanted these crepe pans to try out the new recipe I made", you chanted, taking the box from his hands and happily walking your way to the nearest table.

"Ah, this was filled with cooking supplies?", he asked, his hands on his back, stretching in his uniform. "No wonder it was heavy."

"Or maybe you're just too old for this job", you teased, putting the box down. "Do you seriously expect to lift heavy boxes around with that ancient back you got?"

"Hahaha, how funny", he childishly mimicked. "Don't compare my 71-year-old back with your 14-year-old one, child!"

"That's exactly what I'm saying, Reyyo", you chuckled, ready to once again hear his complaints about how much he hated being called "Reyyo" and how you should start respecting your elders.

It had always been like this. Y/n and Rey. You and that old man. Two lost people filling each other's empty souls in the hugeness of Tokyo.

You liked how things had become. Even when you still see those eyes waiting for you in the darkness of a blink. Even when you keep hearing those rustles in your head whenever you lose yourself in thoughts. Even when you feel the redness of blood covering your hands every time it gets wet.

You were still okay.

A loud sound interrupted your laughter at the guy. You took your phone out of your pocket when feeling its buzz, looking at the Grocery Shopping alarm filling your entire screen then turning it off immediately. "Hope this didn't wake Luna up."