Asphyxia // PERSONA 5 FF [ under editing ]

CH 07 │Behind Your Smiles

“Thank you for giving me the chance to enter a dream... an escape to all of my sadness,”

“But what I want more is to have a taste of your reality.”

Part 1

The door creaked as the teen pushed the door open to enter his house that used to be his "home," a place of comfort where he exchanged conversations and laughter with his family. But now, it was nothing but a mere quiet shelter for him to stay.

Ever since that day, he couldn't bring himself to smile purely.

He was left with his mom since then, after his dad went away, now, probably having the time of his life with a new family. It was painful and angering to think that he most likely had a great time while the two of them struggled to live and suffered.

Just thinking about it made him grit his teeth and tighten his knuckles.

Ren proceeded to walk to his room, not bothering himself to cook for food. On his trash was a few packs of instant noodles, probably his go-to dinner. No wonder he was so slender...

On his way to his room, he stopped his tracks as soon as his eyes laid upon a certain picture— a picture of his mom as a young lady. His hands shaking, he slowly reached out to the picture.

As a lady full of youth, Ren's mom was undoubtedly gorgeous. Her eyes were soft gazed and loving, yet, you could sense an underlying flame of determination. By the looks of it, she was a strong woman.

"Mom..."

The lady had jet black hair, pretty much like his. Her eyes were brown in color and had attractive long lashes. In the picture, it seemed that she was on a trip to the ocean.

Ren's gray eyes were fixed in the old picture. Tiny tears began to build up in his eyes, in which he immediately wiped. Softly, he held the picture and brought it to his chest.

"Mom... I miss you..."

Ren muttered, his eyes closed. Soon, his grieving expression shifted. He gave off a bitter laugh, as he returned the frame carefully back to its place.

"Haha, what the hell's wrong with me...? Mom's long gone, there's no use missing her."

With words forcing him to reassure himself, Ren continued his tracks to his room. The moment he opened the door, he saw his cat, Morgana, asleep in his own nest after eating the cat food Ren left for him.

He smiled at the sight. Morgana was the only one left for him during sad times. He even wished his cat would be able to talk to him, but he just laughed off that silly impossible thought.

Ren jumped to his bed as he gave off an exasperated sigh. This was one hell of a day— actually, even the day before.

The teen's life seemed to be taking quite a positive turn ever since he met Kyoko. He never felt this feeling in ages— the feeling of home. He used to feel it with his mom who genuinely loved him and cared about him, and now, even he was shocked to feel the same sense from Kyoko. A girl he just met. He felt at home despite knowing less about her.

Kyoko seemed like a beam of hope for a pathetic teen like him, as to how he would describe himself.

Ren slowly smiled to himself as he reminisced each moment with Kyoko that he treasured. It was as if the girl pulled him out of his own sea of despair and gave him the taste of escape from reality.

And to know that Emiko, a girl who grew in a broken family, came to his life. A girl he could most likely relate to, considering both of them faced similar circumstances. It'd be great to heal each other's wounds together.