◆Amnesia: Battle of Wits◆Toma◆

◆14◆ Zoetrope

Toma had been hearing the sound of chains making a clinking noise since the day he chose to hide things from her. He might have made her his prisoner, but really he's a prisoner himself too. Now it was up to Ranfa to free him. 

"Toma, it's done." 

Toma bought another milk puzzle to complete. This was a much smaller one so it's easier to do. Why did he buy something like that for the two of them to do? Because he wanted to remain in these chains. As long as the chains were locked and entangled around him, he could protect the truth from Ranfa. 

"Yeah...you want to do something else?" 

"Can you stop hiding from me?" He may be in front of her, but she could tell he was adamant about hiding from her. "I don't want to do anything else, Toma. I just want us to move on from everything. I didn't come this far just to have you chained up with secrets. It's tiring, isn't it? Having to carry such burdens on yourself." 

Toma smiled sadly at her, "It's not a burden to me. It's never a burden to want to protect someone you love. Even if it's heavy, it's worth everything to me." 

"This is why I have to free you from it. I don't want it to become so heavy that you fall right in front of me." Ranfa grabbed a marker pen and she drew something onto the completed milk puzzle. She drew the outline of a heart. 

"Ranfa..." 

"You found out I was at the hospital before anyone else, right? That's why you are able to distinguish between Michiyo and I at first sight. No one knew about me because you never told a soul, not even Shin...the reason you did that was because you want to protect Shin." 

Toma said nothing, continuing to look down in sadness. He secretly wished for her to stop, but he couldn't. 

"You don't want Shin to feel sad; finding me without Michiyo...this would have hurt Shin a lot."

"Haha, but don't you think I am contradicting things if we include Shin?" 

She knew he was trying to confuse her. "You did that because you want to protect me too. Like you said, you had to hurt one of us...you chose to hurt Shin and protect me at the same time."

"Yeah. Shin is like a little brother to me. It's an older brother's duty to protect their little brother, right? You...I never saw myself as an older brother to you, Ranfa. I saw myself as a man, your equal. I want to be the man who can protect you from pain." 

"You're too kind." Maybe that's why Ranfa liked him a lot, he had always been an older brother to her ever since the childhood days. 

"...you found out why I want to protect you?" 

"Because of Michiyo." The answer had always been the girl with the same face as Ranfa but with blue hair. This had always been about the blue haired girl and no one else. "You thought you were lucky because I had amnesia too..." 

"It was the perfect opportunity." Toma sighed out with a tired smile. He could feel the chains becoming a little lighter to his heart. "You having amnesia made it easier for me to protect you." 

"A little too perfect but it's not meant to be...you dyed my hair blue and cut it to match Michiyo's hair. You want me to see my little sister and not myself." 

"Yeah..." When he closed his eyes, he felt her sitting behind him with her back against him. He rest his head back so it's against the back of her head. On the surface, it looked like Toma's in love with Michiyo, but the water blocked out most of the iceberg from view. "Ranfa..." Now that the chains were suffocating him less and less? What should he do? He wouldn't be able to shield her without them.