青い骨の美 - The Beauty of Blue Bones

Chapter 31

Summer
Friday—6:41PM

Scribble. Scratch.

"No."

A page was turned. Tap. Tap. Taptaptap. Sigh. Scribble. Hum. Scratch.

"No."

Flip. Flip. Flipflipflipflip. Slam! Scribble.

Knock. Shreeeeeek.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

"We heard a loud noise so—"

"I said 'I'm fine'."

Scribble. Tap. Tap.

"Hinata—"

She raised her head from underneath the pile of blankets that obscured her vision. Had it not been for the small opening within the personal fortress where her books were piled up, she would not be visible to those who stood at the door. Her eyes were narrowed, dark bags forming underneath them as she frowned. Hinata waited for him to talk; for him to disturb her once more and distract her from her current task.

He wasn't real, she had told herself that over and over again whenever they cross paths. He was not the real Naruto, and the one she knew was sitting on the roof while a storm raged outside wasn't either.

If only they could leave her be to understand why she was trapped in this godsforsaken world. They monitored her more than she would like them to, disregarding her requests to be left alone because they were worried. She knew better than that, she wasn't a little girl ready to trust the kindest of strangers on the basis that they were nice to her. She of all people knew how kindness always hid nasty truths.

"I do not know who that is." She answered, her face void of any emotion as her hand continued to move. The words she was writing began to overlap, the lines of her drawings merging together as she went over the pages. Her grip on the pencil in her hand tightened, her knuckles turning as white as the pages as she bared her teeth.

"Hinata, come on, it's not time for these silly games again. It's been a week...we miss you." Naruto frowned as he crossed his arms. His eyes were downcast, his eyebrows furrowed in mute concern as he watched her mark her book while holding his gaze.

It's been this way since she's woken up. Locking herself in the library, having conversations with someone they could not see, and refusing to actually talk to them about anything. It was getting to the point that he was more than concerned and scared, he was downright angry that she was locking them out no matter how much they tried to coax her to just say something.

"Don't acknowledge them." Hinata said, her eyes scanning the texts of the textbook on her lap. "Acknowledgment makes the delusions stronger." She shut herself down, receding back into the warmth of the blankets as she focused on restarting her drawing.

"Can I see what you've been working on?" He ignored the words she said, a part of him hurting at her words. Naruto took another step into the library, his arms uncrossing as he continued moving closer. With no sudden disapproval from her—most likely due to her completely shutting down and ignoring his presence—he stooped down beside her and glanced at the notebook.

He couldn't make out anything beyond the reoccurring imagery of a mask; its eyes were hollowed, and the horns grew from its head in a twisted manner. A shiver ran down his spine as he looked at every single reiteration of the same mask, long tendrils sprouting from it as though it was hair.

"What is that, Hinata?"

She didn't answer. Hinata pulled the textbook closer, scanning its pages as she underlined a few things and wrote them down while thickening the lines of her previous drawing.