~Tomoe X Reader: Book One~

30. Questions

The tug that came with fear, the persistent feeling that had began coursing through you more and more often, had become too prominent to ignore.

You had linked the feeling with your experiences of falling into the underworld, and as you began to realize how much you felt it, the more you realized how dangerous it was.

Being frightened, and then being pulled down into a place that embodied fear itself...

It was...

Terrifying.

You gave yourself two days to test the limits of this, two days to figure if it could be stopped, and then... you found it.

The only thing that seemed to make the feeling completely go away... was Tomoe.

Was this because... he made you feel calmer?

You decided to leave it alone, and that it was time to tell someone.

Mizuki had been dragged into the underworld with you once, and Tomoe should have a slight grasp of the situation, but...

They didn't know it was constant.

They didn't think that something less extreme could possibly trigger it.

You decided to tell the person who was less likely to be... extremely angry.

Mizuki.

Though he was more aggressive, more... obsessed... he was still soft-spoken and kind on the rare occasions when you were having normal conversation.

Mizuki was reading a thin book when you entered the front room, and you recognized from the title that it was a book about switchblades.

...lovely.

You knew that he heard you, he was a supernatural being, after all, but he didn't lift his head, feigned ignorance towards your presence.

You sighed. "Are you irritated with me?"

The shikigami shivered, the muscles in his back moving oddly. "No..." he murmured, and his soft, weak tone surprised you. "I just... sense what's coming." His eyes were still averted to the page.

"What's coming..?"

Mizuki nodded, and you noticed he had began to dig his nails into the paperback.

"Y-... you're here because you found out how to get rid of a familiar, aren't you?"

"Of course not," you stated quickly. "I'm here to ask you about something... well... you should already know about it, but you haven't spoken of it since it happened..."

Mizuki's mood visibly brightened, and he gave you a small smile. "Of course... sit down."

You obeyed, sitting down cross-legged next to him on the floor. You wasted no time.

"Well... I'm sure you remember. The time you kidnappe-"

"Borrowed you. Forcibly." Mizuki corrected, and you sighed.

"The time you borrowed me, I was... scared, very scared. Then... we fell into the underworld."

Mizuki nodded. "Yes, I remember that." He was unfazed.