Blue Spring Tragedy | Kou Mabuchi x Reader

33.5: Goodbye, Cinderella

The door clattered open.

Oh shi—

Terrified, she froze in place, eyes wide in panic. She could see the boy's shadow overlap hers, far taller than her hunched figure.

But... maybe there was a chance that it wasn't Kou?

"(L/n)?"

Nope — it definitely was him.

Like Cinderella, the magic of her disguise had vanished, gone and shrivelled up, leaving nothing but the puny maid that Cinderella once was. Except that this Cinderella had been caught, a mouse in a trap.

A smothering silence throttled them as they froze, one paralysed in shock and the other still in contemplation. (F/n) couldn't move; her bones were lead, her muscles were metal, her throat was clamped shut, and her mind was screaming for her to die in that hellish moment. For once, breathing felt like manual labour.

The silence lingered for what felt like forever.

"...What do you want?" (F/n) asked, trying to keep her voice stable — it wobbled.

"So it is you," Kou muttered, turning on the light. At the sudden brightness, (f/n) flinched and covered her eyes — but to Kou, it looked as though she was starting to cry.

Kou flinched. He was looking for her all day, quietly planning the perfect apology, reciting it in his head too many times, constantly critiquing himself so that he wouldn't mess up when the time came. However, now that he had finally found her, in the most unexpected of moments, the first thing he did was make her cry.

I'm such an idiot. Why can't I do anything right?

Kou wanted to convey his guilt.

"Where were you?" he asked, voice steeled.

Where was the guilt in that?

Silence answered him.

Biting his lip, Kou kept his eyes on her; she didn't answer. It made sense that she was avoiding him all day. What he did back at the dojo... he deserved every bit of spite that he'd get.

"I don't blame you." Kou's throat was parched even though he had barely spoken. "I'd avoid me too." His eyes darted to her, looking for any sign of movement... yet not a single reaction came from her.

While Kou wallowed, (f/n)'s mind was a panicking mess, curses swarming around in her head, shooting off the caverns of her brain like some sort of ping-pong game. Chaos. What was she going to do? Jumping out the window seemed like the only logical decision... There was a ledge outside she could grab on to. Or maybe her skirt would act as a parachute? Yes, that seemed like the best course of actio—

"Did you want to wear the maid costume that badly?" Kou joked in an attempt to lift the mood.

Nothing. (Not that he could see her face; she was still facing away from him)

He gulped.

"Sorry," Kou whispered, voice unexpectedly strained and raspy. When she didn't answer him yet again, he took a hesitant step closer, fearing that she would blow up and shout at him — which, in truth, he would have wanted instead of this searing silence with a million possible meanings, a million different ways to end, a million ways for him to mess up.

Cautiously, he approached her, squatting down beside her. She didn't lean away.

So close yet so far. The distance was still too much for him.