Brotherly Hatred | ✔️ | Blue Exorcist

Sympathy

The rest of that day had been pretty boring, Hito had shown me around a bit more after dinner and then we kept to ourselves until we both fell asleep sometime around midnight. After waking up and getting dressed I finally found out that I did indeed have to brush my teeth in the communal bathroom. The food here was similar to school food, but it wasn't as hindered on sugar and salt, which was a plus. After breakfast, Hito informed me that everyone would be going to group therapy and that I should go to the front desk to find out where I'd be.

The receptionist, Elizabeth if I remember correctly, printed out a paper for me. Thankfully, it had a lot more on it that I expected. I paid attention the the 'therapy' section of the paper and realized that I had two separate groups I would be attending. Apparently, and unsurprisingly, I'd be attending a self-injury group first. Not that I preferred 'anxiety assistance' over it. The room was on the second floor and I sprinted up the stairs and through the hallways, seeing as how I was already late.

I knocked on the numbered door and heard someone call me in. When I opened the door, I was surprised when I didn't see the typical circle of chairs in a dank room. Instead, there were multiple types of seats, ranging from foldable style to rocking chairs and bean bags. Most of the walls were painted a teal color that reminded me of Yukio, but two walls were white. Those walls, however, were far from stark as they had numerous signatures in multiple different colors. Names with dates written underneath and some even had inspirational quotes.

"Hello!" I shook myself out of my musing and looked toward the group, my eyebrow raising when I saw Emily waving at me. "Come join us, Rin. We are just about to start." I sighed and started treading over to the one empty seat, which was a bean bag, thankfully. There were probably a dozen or so people in the room, and as my eyes wandered over each of their faces, I found a similar one.

"Yukio?"

He gave a small smile, "hey, Nii-san." I shook my head and quickly sat down in my 'seat.' This was a self harm group, why wouldn't Yukio be here? I was dumb to think he wouldn't be.

"Alright, just so our newcomers' know; you don't have to share anything if you don't want to, but it's highly recommended that you try to open up to one another. There will be no negative comments or insults allowed here, so support each other how you wish to be." Emily sounded a little too sickly sweet, but I didn't bother to care. She had her own issues with her job, if she didn't want to face them, I wouldn't either. She looked over at a girl who was sitting close by, her features reminded me of Stacey and I found myself ignoring her out of habit. It wasn't her fault, she just reminded me of a stupid bitch, that's all.

My mind wandered a bit before I heard the voices change, this time to a much lower one. I listened to the boy's deep voice for a few moments, he could be a country singer if he wanted. And then, I tuned him out as well, my eyes tracing over the signatured walls. I read a dozen or so, realizing that they were all people who had graduated from the groups and most likely leading normal lives.

"Rin?" My eyes snapped to Emily and she smiled sweetly. "It's your turn."

I fidgeted in my seat, "I don't really know what to say..." I heard someone else pipe in, encouraging me to do my best. "I don't know... I guess all I can really say is that I haven't been doing this for as long as you guys have, it seems wrong for me to be here."

A boy with naturally red hair started speaking, "that's alright, it doesn't matter how long you've been doing it, or how severely you hurt yourself; a problem is a problem, and I'm glad you're here to fix it." I felt my cheeks burn, he seemed nice, he was also kind of cute. I still preferred blondes, though.

They were all quiet as they waited for me to say more, "what do I say?" I turned my pleading eyes to Emily and her usually faux smile shifted into a genuine one.