I N N O C E N C E (Shu Sakamaki)

Chapter 30

"These... are all... my treasures..."

"Oh." Manami raised both of her eyebrows, trying to understand how the hell did she end up in Azusa's room.

Last thing she remembered was being downstairs, helping to clean the plates that the brothers left on the table, after which she was asked by Azusa himself to follow him.

His room had blue wallpapers covering its walls, with dark light illuminating its contents.

She stood in front of dark wooden shelves, that held various expensive and antique looking knives, some colorful while others cover-less.

She looked at Azusa, who seemed excited to show her his collection. The complete opposite of what she was feeling right now.

Her palms started to sweat and she could feel her throat shrink. Of all things to show me, he had to show me this?

She never had a problem with knives since the incident, despite what many might think. She was able to hold the one Subaru temporary gave to her perfectly fine. However, having this many in one place, was indeed overwhelming. It was starting to make her nervous.

With a sigh, she decided to push these feelings down.

Manami walked over and extended her hand to touch one, but before doing so, she looked at Azusa for approval.

He nodded, leading her to pick one up.

"Mom, please, put that down!"

"Impressive." She focused on its design. "I can tell this one is an Ancient Egyptian craft. Must have costed you hundreds of thousands."

"How..." Azusa inquired, as Manami placed it down back into its stand, happy to finally have it out of her hand.

"My mother would bring me to all kinds of places with her, since she would go to perform all around the world." She sighed, noticing Azusa's slight confused look. "She was a famous violinist, Emiko Mayazaki."

"Oh... I've... heard... of her..."

"Who hasn't." Manami exhaled with a slight smile. "I've got to see so much of the world with her. We were always on the road, which is why I was homeschooled for a while. It would have been a hassle attending only one week of school every month."

"Oh..."

"I guess that's all in the past." Manami said, calmly, almost a mumble but loud enough for Azusa to hear. "After her death, I haven't left Japan even once. Instead, I drowned myself into studying, Student Council work, father's business... How dumb could I have been? His approval would have never rid me of the guilt I-"

Her eyes widened.

"Never mind about me." She changed the topic. "Sorry I was too self-centered. You don't have to listen."

WARNING: Mention of self-harm. Skip to the next bolded text below to continue past this part.

"You tell me... so much... about... yourself..." Azusa took a step forward. "Do you... love me?"

Manami looked at him, a bit confused about how he just went from 0 to 100 in a matter of a second.

"I don't think I understand." She replied, backing away slightly.

This only prompted for Azusa to close in on her, quick enough that she wasn't able to react.

"Will you... hit me... then?" He said, as Manami furrowed her eyebrows.

No, not this again. Is god really punishing me with everything he got?

"Why should I hit you?" She asked. "I wouldn't do that."