"Like I said, I saw him run like a mad man down to here. He's gotta be... Ah-ha, I found him! I'm a mind to let him have a whooping."

"Rosemary, that will do. Please go on to bed, it's late and we're all tired."

Voices...

Harry's dreams of Silica, Hayato, and him together as children started shifting into darkness. Voices in the shadows started getting louder as Harry stayed in a state of sleeping but also awake.

"Oh alright. But you better give him some kind of whooping! He left that kid standing in the middle of the damn village. Found her crying right there by the doorway."

Kid... Village... Crying...

His dreams started forming into the village kissed by the sunset from earlier. The girl standing beside him, reaching out. The complete emptiness in her eyes.

I made her cry...

I've never made anyone cry before...

Harry always helped people. He never tried hurting them. Doing so was as bad as killing in his opinion.

What have I done...?

There was a weird scuffling sound in the background.

"Harry. Harry."

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Something soft brushed against his face. Something that made the tension in his body fade away. Now he was safe from everything. From all his problems. From all the people tearing apart his world.

Only one person could calm him so. Just like she did with all of her precious students at the academy.

His eyes slowly slipped open.

"L-Lady... Katayama..."

Huh, this isn't my room. Harry jumped up, wondering why in the Four Nymphs was he in the garden.

Then it hit him. His memories of just a few hours earlier came back.

A knife of guilt pierced his heart.

Covering his face, Harry clutched a knee to his chest. Don't do it. Don't do it.

He couldn't cry. Not here. Not now. Not in front of Lady Katayama of all people!

He didn't deserve to cry. Not after all he'd done. Or rather... Failed to do. Crying was something only she could do right now.

Being left all alone in the village. All because he couldn't stomach seeing something that wasn't real.

It was such an awful sight. But he wasn't the only one that saw it. She'd seen it too. And why she'd clutched onto him tighter.

She was just as scared in that moment. She needed someone to be there for her. For comfort.

And all he could do was sulk around as if he were a child. As if his useless tears would change it all.

But all it did was leave the girl truly alone. Because one of the only people that could help her was too angry to even look at her.

"Wh-What have I done...?" Harry buried his face in both hands. Too embarrassed to let Lady Katayama see him. Too ashamed to even exist.

Surely his parents would be ashamed at the sight of this. The same parents that taught him to understand those that wanted to hate him.

If only they'd taught him what to do when he was the one hating.

When did he become this?

This heartless creature like the ones he promised never to turn into.

The same ones that turned their backs on Hayato, everytime he tried to redeem himself. The same ones that wouldn't even bat an eye at giving him another chance at existing peacefully.

And here was a girl, lost and alone. Who couldn't do anything to hurt anyone. Someone that just wanted to exist too.

"I... I'm so stupid..."

Harry was glad for once Hayato wasn't there. Wasn't there to see what he'd changed into in just a few weeks.

He'd turned into the thing he hated the most.