Ishihara // ATEEZ ✔

28 Truth

He repeats the riddle. "It is a tradition no one ever dares to break; your foretold destiny written in your blood. The highest and the lowest, they can never mix, Lucida the strongest believer in the lore. But how does one dare to fight when the rules are broken? Its birth is a testament to this occasion, the sky turns dark and rumbles as it comes into the world. Give me a name and you shall pass." Then he gazes at her. "What do you think is the meaning of this riddle?"

She thinks for a moment. "Someone broke the rules, married outside their ranks and gave birth to a forbidden child in Lucida." She rests her chin on her knees. "But I still don't understand why."

"You are surprisingly naive for a Lucida general," he laughs, but without the intention of taunting her. His laugh is sincere, completely opposite of the turmoil inside him, waiting to burst. "I have only known you for a few days but I feel like I know you more than you do yourself... either intentionally or not." She notices that he still is beating around the bush, but she waits patiently. "You can't see colours... and that means you can't see your own blood colour."

"I know what colour it is. Yellow, although I don't know what yellow is supposed to look like. I told you I'm a full servant."

"Your horse's fur colour isn't the only thing they've lied about to you." His voice starts to get hard as he presses on, "That blood running inside your veins and arteries isn't anywhere near yellow. I don't know whether you're trying to play innocent but you should know that your blood..." He trails off, debating with himself on whether is it worth for him to be the one to break it to her. "Your blood is black in colour, Akira. You are a living proof of the tradition that Lucida has been holding on for so long, has been broken."

"Wait... wait a minute." She drops her knees to the ground, now sitting cross-legged. She tries to gather her thoughts but she cannot form any words. She desperately calls on the memory of what every blood colour means: white is for royalty, crimson for noblemen, blue for commoners and yellow for servants. So where does she fit in the equation? She has heard it before: a legend where if someone were to ever marry someone outside their ranks, the born child will have black blood. Literal black blood running through their vessels. Tainted blood. So far, she has never met anyone in Lucida with that kind of blood. But how can she be so sure when she cannot even see the colour with her own eyes? And now, to imagine that it is running its course in her own body...

"The answer to the riddle could have been wrong and I asked myself whether your name really is the answer. There could be other people like you in Lucida but... the keeper... she knows that you're different. I saw the look in her eyes - she deliberately gave that exact riddle because she knows the answer lies among us."

"I... need a moment." She immediately stands up but she is frozen on the spot. He scrambles to get up, startled by her sudden movement. "So all my life I've believed that I'm just a servant. But now you have the guts to tell me that I'm different?" She grips his arm, forcing him to face her. "How can I know if you're not lying to me too, just like everyone else? How can I know, when I can't even see my blood colour with my OWN EYES?" Her chest is rising and deflating rapidly. "Even the only one I trust... the only person that I thought was on my side didn't tell to my face that I... am different. That I have tainted blood."

He reaches for her hand, but she lets go of the grip on his arm. Instead, his hand is left hanging awkwardly, trying to find something to hold on to. "Because I gain nothing from lying to you. I just..." He closes his eyes. "I thought I could protect you. I wanted to protect you, but it was foolish of me to think that I could. And I'm sure your lieutenant also meant to protect you."

"So everyone else, they saw it too, right? San knows that I can't see colours, and he has seen the colour of my blood. The others, all your damn friends? They know I'm different, but they pretend everything is fine. I must have looked pathetic in front of all of you. I'm just someone from Lucida trying to gain sympathy because I just got shunned from my own kingdom and my queen had disowned me." She tries to hold on a strong front, but her eyes betray her. Tears start streaming down like a waterfall, and she can't seem to make it stop.