𝐍𝐚𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐨 𝐔𝐳𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢 𝐗 𝐅𝐞𝐦!𝐔𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐡𝐚!𝐎𝐜 ── ❝ 𝐈 𝐖𝐀𝐓𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐄𝐘𝐄𝐒 ❞
── Misaki could never have anticipated what awaited her in the years to come-her tumultuous feelings, her fractured famil...
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──────═✿═────── 『 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 - 𝟎𝟐𝟏 』 ──═✿═── ━『 The past 』
━ 𝓊𝒸𝒽𝒾𝒽𝒶 𝓂𝒾𝓈𝒶𝓀𝒾 ━
"I'm sick of you, you know," I hear a voice say as I sit up from the all-too-familiar bed of spider lilies; their petals turn crimson at my presence. Before me stands my younger self with eyes full of hatred.
"You disgust me," she spits, her voice riddled with venom.
"I'm starting to not care what you think," I reply dryly, crossing my legs and trying to mask the turmoil brewing inside of me.
She steps closer to me; her eyes seem to pierce into mine, filled with anger and desperation. "You are putting yourself in danger! You're going to get yourself killed! You just charge headfirst into battle! You're already not going to live a long life!" Her dark eyes fill with water, and rivulets of sorrow career down her pale cheeks. I furrow my brows at the pang of confusion.
"I'm gonna live a long life, what are you saying?" I ask, genuinely perplexed. Her eyes widen, like she knows something that I don't know. She looks away fast, off the subject.
"You promised me! You promised that you'd keep me—us—safe! Keep us out of danger!" she yelps, breaking her voice.
Those words open up the floodgates to realizations. That bitch, that little younger version of me who has been clinging to fear and doubt all these years, has been holding me back from being stronger. She is what's holding me back. My fists ball by my sides as anger surges through me.
"Shut up," I scowl at her, thoroughly irritated with this new realization. The tears streaming down her face intensify.
"You are so careless," she cries, her voice shaking. "You don't take a minute to bother about the consequences, about how much pain you are causing to yourself and around you. You are supposed to protect us, but you run after danger."
I feel a bitter taste in my mouth from the accusations in her eyes. "I chase danger because I have to. Because there's no other choice. I can't live in fear. I can't let the past dictate my future."
She shakes her head, and faster come the tears. "But you're not invincible, Misaki. You can't keep pretending that you are. You're going to break."
"What would you know? Be qui-"
"Now that wasn't nice, Misa," Hanami hummed from behind me, her fingers gently caressing my hair as a parent might with their child.
I didn't reply, my silence a shield against her disconcerting presence. Hanami helped me to my feet, her touch lingering. I stared at her blankly, still trying to process everything that had happened at the hospital. My fear of her made talking to her like tightrope walking over a pit of vipers.
