◆Amnesia: Battle of Wits◆Toma◆

◆13◆ After Season Part 3

Toma arrived home late because the manager from Maid's Sheep suddenly called for him to work a shift due to the sudden busy atmosphere. When he came home, the first thing he did was open the door to the bathroom. 

"Huh?" He didn't realize Ranfa was in there already in the bath tub and the bubbles already covered all the water from the surface. "S-sorry! I'll wait for you-" 

"You can come in and bath with me if you want." 

"N-no. I can just take one by myself-" 

"Toma." Ranfa stood up from the bath tub, the suds stuck onto her body, covering certain parts of her body from him. 

The blonde was taken back by her ever so daring confidence. She might have Michiyo's appearance right now, but her actions never fail to make him see the pink haired girl that he fell in love with. He averted his eyes from her and he turned his back to her. "I don't deserve to look at your naked body or even touch it. Call me a coward or less than a man if you want to, but..." 

Ranfa gently tapped her forehead against Toma's back. She closed her eyes and she wrapped her arms around him, one of her hand touched his heart and she could feel it beating. Toma could feel his shirt soaking up the water. Toma pressed his hand on top of her hand and he opened his eyes out of sadness. 

That day, the day he forced himself on her and taking what he wanted when he wanted it...it hurts him to this day. He failed to protect her, the one he cared about the most. How ironic, did he really care about her so much as he had thought? He's not sure what to do.

"It hurts me too, Toma. It hurts me a lot..." 

"Then why? Why are you insisting that I touch you? If it hurts so much, doesn't it make sense to stay away from me?" No one wanted to be in pain. No one in the right mind will choose to be in pain. Yet, he chose to be in pain all because it hurts more not to be near her. Losing Ranfa at the time was the same as losing himself. He'd rather let Ranfa do whatever she wanted with him rather than outright reject her. He wished he could go back in time and tell the him before the incident that Ranfa was touching him because she adored and loved him and not because she was using him as a test subject for when she's able to touch Ikki. He wished he could redo it all again...but time stops for nobody. 

"Because losing you is more painful than anything." The answer was the same. To her, losing him was painful, more painful than any physical pain that could ever happen. Sure, he had hurt her. That won't ever change. But...losing him and never seeing him again will be like taking her sun away from her blue sky. She couldn't live without him even though she was a strong willed person. 

Toma turned around within the embrace. When he did that, he caught her sneezing. He laughed a little and he brushed her hair behind her ear. "Silly, you'll catch a cold." 

"But if I don't do this, you'll walk out of here. You're going to have a bath, right? Let's take a bath together." 

Toma couldn't argue with her anymore and he decided to have that bath with her. He removed his clothes and he joined her, both naked without anything holding them back. He wrapped his arms around her, arms just above her breasts. Ranfa gently touched his forearms, relaxing against him. 

"We haven't bathed with each other in ages, huh?" She brought the sponge to him and he started to wash her back.

"Ah." 

"Time never came to a stop..." 

"It hasn't. Remember when you said you and Michiyo were born not to have happiness?" 

"Yeah?" 

"Do you think maybe it's the world's way of telling you that your happiness is not with me? Even we if we love each other so much, there are times when love just can't prevail. It pains me to say this, but maybe the world have some sort of force that just can't be changed." He loved her so much. He loved her so much it hurts. Nothing was ever enough for him.