Liv was quiet after Inu finished his story. The sun was lower, having turned the sky orange as it heaved its last breath of life into the day. They kept walking in the beautiful plain, passing lone trees in the plain once in a while on the narrow path. Just two lonesome wanderers.

After a long silence, Liv finally asked the question, Inu knew was coming. "What happened to the people who stabbed you and robbed you?"

Inu answered exactly as he knew he would. "I do not care."

Liv sighed heavily. "Fuck. You."

Then they kept walking.

After a while, Inu spoke again. "What I said was truth."

"Congratulations," Liv said flatly.

"I did not say it to demean you."

"You didn't?"

"I believe they got what they deserved. And even if they didn't, I am better off for it."

"So I should be like you. Run away with hopes and dreams. Did you ever stop to wonder if those people robbed again? If they ever tore off someone's nails for coins again? If they ever stabbed someone until they couldn't breathe? I bet you didn't. I bet you like ignoring everything that doesn't fit your optimistic mind. And you like doing it a lot. Otherwise, you'd die again. The whole world only fits pessimists. Optimists need their own bubble to preach from."

"You think one can never be too negative?"

"I think you're full of shit and you know it. I think you know that I sleep with one eye open because I still have a nagging suspicion that you'll kill me while I sleep. I think you hate yourself just as much as I hate the world."

Inu stopped in his tracks. He turned to face Liv who gazed up at him with hard eyes. "Why do you say that?"

The end of her lips twitched upwards in victory. "I figured you knew me too well for me to not know you. So I thought about what it was that made you who you are. What makes a man as tolerant as you? How could someone bear me like you do? When you look at me, I feel your eyes softer than those of my parents were. I could not imagine why?" Liv pushed past Inu and kept walking. They had switched positions. Now Inu followed. Liv raised a finger on the side. "Then I realized that everyone hates something. I hate the world. But you seem to love the world like it were your soulmate. Then it occurred to me. You hate yourself."

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Inu stayed silent, following with quiet steps.

"No response. I guess that proves it," Liv concluded. "So all along while others might've hated me in your position, you have just hated yourself. How peculiar of a person you are."

Again there was silence, their four footsteps repeating again and again until Liv spoke again.

"Love and hate. You love the world and hate yourself. I hate the world and love... Well, I wouldn't say I love myself, but I'm sure I love nothing more. So how is it that you tell me to care more about what I hate than what I love? Do you do that? Care more about yourself than the world? No, that's not it. You just want me to love the world like you do. Do you want me to hate myself too?"

"You have a choice," Inu said finally. "You don't have to hate. I wasn't given an option. I had to hate the world or myself. I could never escape hate."

"That's just not true. Whatever might have happened to you, you could have made it out without hating. But you choose to hate yourself. Admit it. That's all I want from you."

"No, there was no way. This is my destiny. And it is not a choice to hate myself. It is a sacrifice."

"Hah, sacrifice?! Isn't that what you called me maiming myself? How is that sacrifice working out for you? Is it fun how you go on unable to live with yourself while somewhere far away the ones who stole your life are living theirs with what they stole from you? How do you like each moment where you think of how they're doing the same to another person."

"They stole enough from me," Inu hissed, his gaze on the ground he stomped on.

Liv turned. "What?"

"Not seeking revenge is selfish! Is that what you want to hear? You want to put it on me that those people are not gone for sure. I say they have stolen enough from me. I have suffered too much to suffer anymore because of them. Maybe that is selfish. Maybe me moving on will cost someone else, but it is my life, and I do not have all the answers."

Liv smiled. Not one of victory, but one of camaraderie. "No, you do not. So let me make my own decision. We have both suffered too much to let others tell us what is right."

Inu's mouth opened slowly, but he did not know words. Then Liv turned and kept walking. And so they walked.

Inu's brows were furrowed the whole way. Then they saw a town bustling with nightlife. They stood side to side and Inu saw Liv frown. Inu sighed and pulled out a blindfold he had prepared and handed it to Liv.

Her eyes lit up as she realized what it meant.

Inu smiled a friendly smile of her own and extended an invitation, "Would you care to accompany me for a drink?"