𝕊𝕡𝕚𝕣𝕚𝕥 || 𝕂𝕪𝕠 𝕊𝕠𝕙𝕞𝕒

That's What I Want

The curse was broken.

Just over a week had passed, so Miyumi could still recall the exact moment it happened. She hadn't been doing anything special; just playing a video game in Hatori's office. For her, it was a normal day no different from any other. She had just completed her level when she felt it.

It was as if a thick cord had suddenly snapped. She suddenly felt completely changed, like part of her was just...gone. She fight lighter, as if she was suddenly rid of a burden. Those were good things, she knew, and yet somehow she was also left feeling emptier. It was so strange, like an unprecedented, unexpected goodbye.

Miyumi cried. Holding her, Hatori cried, too. And she hadn't seen him cry since Kana.

After that, she went about her days feeling like a new person, even if she didn't look it. From an outside perspective, she wasn't any different from before. And yet she felt like she had just begun a whole new life.

She was glad to be free, really. Miyumi was still young enough to have such a long life ahead of her. One that she could now live the way she wanted. She could dream without restraint, and that made her happy, of course. But as much as the curse had dictated her life before, it had also bonded her to everyone else in the zodiac -- the people whom she thought of as her dysfunctional family.

Because of this curse, she no longer had parents. She did, however, have her Uncle Hatori. Ever since she was little, the others members of the zodiac had been looking out for her. She even felt accepted with them, in a way that she would never be accepted by her friends at school. Different as all they were from one another, they understood each other like no one else could.

Without that curse, she might never have even met some of them. And now, without those bonds, the fourteen of them were all just people from the same clan.

So, the day after the curse broke, Miyumi asked Hatori what would happen. He told her that he didn't know. But he also assured her that, no matter what, he would always be her family. Miyumi really hoped the same could be said for the others, too.

They were all gathered at the main house, those still in school wearing their uniforms. Miyumi hadn't been to that room in a while. Longer than most of the others, who had probably spent New Years there before the banquet.

They were waiting for Akito, and Miyumi got the feeling they were all experiencing varying degrees of anxiety and curiosity. With the bonds broken, there was no telling why Akito summoned them all to the estate. Granted, Akito had apparently been wanting to speak with everyone since even before the curse was lifted, so Miyumi wouldn't rule out the possibility that whatever he had to say might not be bad.

But still, with the histories they all had with Akito, it was hard not to be a little nervous.

Sitting in front of Hatsuharu, who was braiding her red hair at her insistence, Miyumi looked around the room. "Not everyone's here yet. We're still missing Momiji, Kagura, and Kyo."

Kureno, too. Miyumi had never actually spoken to the guy, what with him being forbidden by Akito to talk to any of them since before Miyumi was born. She had overheard that there was an incident with Kureno -- an incident of the Akito-stabbing-him kind -- so Miyumi wasn't expecting to see him today.

"Aaya isn't here, either." Hatsuharu added. "I think he went off somewhere."

Yuki glanced off to the side wearily. "Of course he did..."

That's when Hatori walked in. "Yuki, have you seen Shigure?"

"He isn't here? He left the house early this morning and he hasn't been home all day."