(Behold! 3 illustrations in a single chapter!)

One. Certainly not may C study concerning the newfound sentience of the members within the dialogue. The members have been specifically Kurokawa, Rachel, and Laura.

Two. Certainly not may C study our assembly. The situation included however was not restricted to direct or oblique dialog, signal language, notes, emails, and different types of data sharing.

Three. Every participant within the assembly needed to preserve the details about C’s ideas hidden from him. If he discovered about his capability, the one who created the issue must comply with the affect till the tip or have their life taken away by the others.

4. When there was a brand new heroine, the individuals within the assembly would work collectively to drive her or them away. Lifeless or alive.

These have been what we mentioned throughout our small speak yesterday. The whole lot was to guard C, protecting him from the reality and the existence of our fragile alliance. The primary situation was self-explanatory. Laura, Rachel, and I’ll all should work our greatest to…make C oblivious to his skills. As A’s sister and that loopy princess are coming to look within the story, we should preserve our utmost focus. I didn’t fear about any of us, however being cautious would assist regardless.

Alas, there was a essential loophole within the circumstances. Being the one that dealt with the small print of these settlement phrases, I may steer the opposite two towards one thing else. Whereas specializing in C’s internal voice, Rachel and Laura neglected one essential side.

And that was C’s imaginative and prescient of his earlier iterations.

We by no means made any settlement about telling C his visions.

*Woooooo*

A powerful gust of wind ran by way of my hair, lifting my bangs excessive and blowing away droplets of tears lingering on each cheeks into the area between C and me. Despite the fact that I attempted to carry it in place, my hand was trembling as I stood there with a face that regarded prefer it had been hit by an electrical shock—one which was not even attributable to something bodily.

Alas, regardless of my actions, one thing informed me to withdraw my hand. Deep inside my coronary heart, a voice was heard. There was no must cowl my scar, it mentioned. I shouldn’t be afraid anymore, it mentioned.

Extra importantly, I believed it. Though that voice mentioned issues I thought-about nothing greater than blasphemy, I trusted it with all the pieces in my physique.

It was undoubtedly true that the time was not but ripe sufficient to place all the pieces behind me and transfer on, however at the very least this may mark the start of one thing else. In any case, years of fixed ache and affected by my Mom’s abuse couldn’t be erased with a snap of a finger like that.

Wounds would possibly heal, however scars would stay for the remainder of my life. Time may fade the bodily accidents, but the emotional side would perpetually stay rent-free till resolved. I knew that. C knew it, too. The one factor for anybody in my scenario to do could be to simply accept it. The identical goes for me as nicely.

It mattered not how a lot one may endure. I perceive that now. The extra I let myself be in hurt’s approach, the extra I justified the ache inflicted upon me by another person. And the extra I did so, the extra I let myself be trampled. These two issues mixed right into a vicious cycle the place I’d by no means see a approach out. A malicious amalgamation of fixed belittlement.

In life, there must be issues past one’s management. It might be there every time they closed their eyes at evening. It might nonetheless be there every time the season modified. With out fail, the mirror would present the reality of what the previous had completed ten out of ten occasions. Irrespective of how a lot one needed to flee, these reflections would exhibit the ugly realities they desperately needed to attract their eyes someplace else.

However sadly, one would by no means have the ability to run away from it. What got here was torment and struggling. All the time. An individual like me would stay inside a hell created not by anybody else however on my own. A cage made out of my flesh and ideas.

Maybe to fight the nightmares, one may strive their finest to eradicate the supply of their ache, hiding themselves from seeing this world perpetually. Destroying the reflections by hand, smearing blood in all places, or gauging their eyeballs out each would work. Then once more, wouldn’t it subsidize?

The reply was a easy ‘No’.

Operating away by no means labored. Actually, it solely made issues extra harmful. As a result of as soon as the demons returned, they’d are available armies.

No extra hiding, Kurokawa. No extra making excuses. What was the purpose of that when he already knew? He had not given up on me even in any case this time. I ought to observe to do the identical factor. It might be exhausting and uncharacteristic.

My hand was shaking greater than earlier than.

Strive more durable, the voice in my coronary heart screamed. Present C what you are able to do!

As an alternative of doing what C was used to, allow us to present him a brand new scene. Allow us to shock the protagonist of our damaged story with an motion and a dialogue that he needed to see however by no means had an opportunity to. Slightly than a Kurokawa with an inferior complicated, allow us to current ourselves as a… recovering inferior-complex-Kurokawa.

Allow us to create a cheerful ending. Collectively. As husband and spouse.

Then, after we attain the tip or attain a reset, we are able to do it once more, and once more, and once more. C and I may spend an eternity indulging in one another’s presence, by no means letting the opposite half go away. Us immortals had that sort of capability. In different phrases, until loss of life do us half!

Pondering like that, a smile shaped on my lips as I took a deep breath. By no means had I ever craved for the long run this a lot. I needed to be along with C, wherever and every time doable. I needed him to be happy with me. I needed him to pat my hair. I needed him to placed on the makeshift ring out of bandages.

And maybe, when the time was proper, I’d give him a toddler consummated from our love.

That day would certainly come.

*Wooooooooooooo*

The wind blew. Stronger and extra aggressive. My hair was lifted alongside a few small leaves, however I paid it no thoughts.

Closing my eyes softly and opening them, C’s skinny determine crammed my imaginative and prescient fully, ready in a daze. No ideas have been escaping his coronary heart. He didn’t have the proper reply to my sudden inquiry.

Pft. This foolish most important character.

Thus, I smiled.

Slowly, the palm masking my brow launched, and I let the wind do what it was imagined to do. At this second, I made a decision to face my disfigurement head-on.

Instantly, all the pieces was blown open by the breeze. Hair, bangs, tears… and my pink scar on the highest. The whole lot. Even that unending ache that haunted my goals each evening appeared to be laid naked for him to see.

It was not the Kurokawa this technique created that C was taking a look at.

It was the Kurokawa I selected to turn into.

This…was…me.

“C…”

(Did you just like the drawings? We labored exhausting on it!)