Spellbound Affection

Chapter 7: On Desolate Cages

(Third Person Point of View)

Ushijima felt uneasy. He had been exchanging a few worried looks with Semi and Shirabu.

Ever since Tendou came back that day, he had been relatively quiet.

Ushijima finally had enough, and approached Tendou, patting his shoulder.

"Satori, are you oka--"

"WHOO! WILL YOU LOOK AT THAT? LET'S GET ON TO SOME QUEST! IT'S BEEN AGES SINCE WE LAST DID ONE."
Tendou faked a laugh.

Ushijima and Semi knew, that Tendou was far from okay. He was never one to suggest going on a quest.

Reon and Goshiki started to feel uneasy, too. They knew something was going on.

"How about we wander off for a while? Go into dungeons and fight some beasts along the way or something."
Shirabu tilted his head.

Tendou gasped. "Wow, coming from you, Shira? You're such a lazy ass, you know that? That's nice to be coming from you. Let's go then!"

Shirabu blinked. When the hell did Tendou called him 'Shira'? It was always just plain 'Bangs'.

Ushijima sighed heavily. He was stressed. His friend is not feeling like himself and he can't do anything to help.

"Well, let's get started then!! I can't wait!"
Goshiki tried to lighten the mood up, but it was not helping.

They started to trek the woods by mid-afternoon, and the silence was heavy. Semi and Tendou usually bicker on the road, but since Tendou had stopped talking, Semi was dissolved into his quietness as well.

"Maybe something happened?"
Goshiki whispered to Reon, who was next to him.

"I do hope he goes back to normal. Ushijima-san hadn't smiled since."
Reon sadly looked at Tendou's direction, who was staring off into space.

Nightfall came, and the tranquility was becoming thicker. Semi was always groaning in frustration. Goshiki was about to cry, soft sobs escaping from his lips, and Reon couldn't do anything to calm his teammates down.

Shirabu started humming a sad song, and Ushijima's eyes hadn't left Tendou's face since they have started their journey. Tendou, on the other hand, wanted to kill himself. He couldn't even put up a act like the rest of the team under the spell did.

"Okayyy, let's camp here for a while. It's getting darker, and it's late. I'm tired. All of you must be, too."
Shirabu was the first to break the painstaking silence that enveloped them since they started their adventure.

Tendou made a small fire for the team, and everyone took their own positions to sleep. Each slowly dozing off as both their body and mind were tired.

Tendou smiled sadly. Ensuring that his teammates were all asleep, he walked a few footsteps away from their camp and sat down a rock. He gazed in melancholy at the bright moon.

Tendou began to hum.

"Alone is what I have. Alone is what protects me."

Shirabu, being a Bard, woke up to the notes filling the air. He was more than suprised to hear Tendou singing from afar off.

"I'm sad but I smile. That's life."

Shirabu tapped an impatient hand on Semi's forehead who was currently sleeping next to him.

"goddammit Eita, wake your fucking ass up and listen."

"What the fuck, Kenjirou. What the hell is so important in the middle of the fucking night?"

"Oh, just so you fucking know, maybe Tendou's feelings?"
Shirabu rolled his eyes skyward.

Semi started to focus his ear on the melody of Tendou's song.

"It's such a secret place, the land of tears."

Semi elbowed Shirabu. "Should we wake Ushijima?"

"If we did, he's going to interrupt Tendou and fucking ask him what's wrong."

"Kenjirou."

"goddammit, Eita. Let me first listen to the song. Then afterwards, you go wake Ushijima's ass up and don't even think of including me to your situation."

"Fuck--- fine."

"I will try to remember how to forget you."

Shirabu bit his lower lip. Semi saw this, and said "Kenjirou, don't cry."

"Shut the fuck up. I'll drown you."

Reon was now being stirred awake. Why the hell was he placed next to Semi anyway? For all he know, last time he slept next to Semi, he woke up to Semi's loud 'WHAT THE FUCK'.

"What's going on?" Reon rubbed his sleepy eyes.

His question was answered by Tendou's silent singing.

"I was just a tiny part if your big, beautiful story. You can forget me and continue your journey."

"Goshiki." Reon shook Goshiki, who sat up slowly afterwards.

"Whaaaat." Goshiki whined but soon stopped as he also heard Tendou's notes dancing into the humid air.

"I don't know what's worse, to feel this empty or a lot heavy."

"Pretending to be happy is never easy."

"Solitude is a harsh punishment."

"Why are we supposed to say 'it's okay' when it's not?"

"I realize, I'm still scared to be left alone."

Shirabu was silently crying, and Goshiki was trying to hold his sobs. Reon was staring dumbfounded into the sky, and Semi felt a pain in his chest. He couldn't take it anymore, so he slapped Ushijima.

Ushijima was shocked. "What--"

"Ushijima, please, please make Tendou feel better."

Ushijima stood up and began walking to Tendou's direction when he heard a small sob escape Tendou's mouth.

He mumbled, "don't you ever forget about me."

"Is everything all right?"
Ushijima asks. He sat down next to Tendou.

It was obviously not.

"I'm sorry you had to witness that, Wakatoshi-kun."

"Satori--"

"I stopped talking about how I felt because I knew no one fucking cared anyway."

"I will always be here for you."

"No, fucking stop." Tendou waved a hand dismissively on Ushijima's face. "I learned that people leave. Even if they promised you a thousand fucking times that they won't. Hell. In the end, promises are just a bunch of shit."

"Satori please--"

"Why am I surrounded by liars anyway?"

"What... Do you mean?"

"Everything is just a fucked up lie, don't you think? Maybe one day I'll wake up somewhere in the woods and everything was all just an illusion. That I haven't really escaped my desolate cages. That I am still alone on this broken-down world."

Tendou looked at him with pain in the eyes.
"That you, Semi, Shirabu, Reon, and Goshiki are just a figment of my imagination."

Ushijima suddenly hugged Tendou.

Tendou pushed him away.
"Stop making it hard for me to forget you."

Ushijima held him closer.
"It's the time you spent so much with me, that you made me feel important. It doesn't matter if you're not here in person, as long as you're here in my heart."

"Stop. Stop the lies."

"I will look for you, and I will find you. So please. I will remember you. I will hold you dearly."

"Stop it, Wakatoshi..."

"Please remember me, too."