Exorbitant 》Durarara!!

Wa!!

You remember that when you were still a kid, your mother used to tell you a tale.

It ranged from Japanese folk tale to western tale such as; Cinderella, Rapunzel, Snow White, The Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid, The Princess and the Frog and the story that you loved to hear the most from your mother was Beauty and the Beast.

With you laying in her lap, you will listen to your mother's soothing voice, telling you the story that you've memorized from the beginning to the end. How the enchantress disguised as an old beggar, offers a rose to a young prince in exchange for shelter in his castle from the cold, and how the prince refuses, resulting him to be cursed because of his arrogance and the enchantress transforms him into a beast. Before the enchantress left, she gave the prince a mirror that enables to see a faraway event, along with enchanted rose that she had offered. To break the spell, the prince must learn to love another and earn her love in return before the last rose's petal falls. If he fails, he will remain a beast forever.

You like the story because out of another prince in the tale were describe as good looking, flawless and charming. Just perfect to say anything about them. But Belle and the Beast, they learn to love each other without regard of appearance. Save The Princess and the Frog, at least the Prince that was transformed into a frog aren't labeled as a 'monster'.

You asked your mother one day, that you want to learn to love someone like that. Regardless of their appearance, we shouldn't judge them. Your mother only smiles and caress your hair, she was happy that her daughter could learn a good thing from the story that she always read to you. This is the time when you could spend your time with your mother because she was always sick that she's frequently in charge to the hospital. You were still a kid that time, but you still could remember how her skin was pale, she was thin as day by day passed, how she seems weaker and weaker that she could barely open her eyelid.

You were still a kid but you know that your mother won't last long.

With the machines that accompany her, ventilator hose down her throat, and the IV's running and tied her down with tubes and wires that connect with her body. Your mother was lying in the hospital bed and could only murmur feebly that she was fine to you. That she will be alright and you don't need to worry much about her. You weren't naïve to know it was a lie to make you feel better. It was a lie, you know it, but because your mother had said that, you did your best not to cry in front of her and believed in her words. Now the time you could spend with your mother was when you visited her at the hospital.

But there's nothing that you could talk, sometimes she will gaze solemnly out of the window, you weren't sure if she didn't notice your presence or simply ignore you. And sometimes she will burst into tears, cursing about her fate. Why she must have this kind of life and why she was the one to fall sick like this? She would tear off the pillow and the contents would strew around the room, like her life that was a mess. Only when the doctor injects sedatives that she will calm down. Even so, looking at her like that was depressing.

You don't know what to do, so you cry as well. There's nothing you could do that time except praying for your mother to be healthy again and maybe she could read the story like before. Your father that time, has worked hard to earn money for the hospital expense. But it wasn't enough, and when she was in critical condition, he had to borrow the money from a loan shark.

Even that still couldn't save your mother.

Everything seems to fall apart. The happy family that you once had seems to be a mere illusion since your mother passed away with tuberculosis.