“Who are you?” Kaori asks in a small, weakened voice.

“Hiro. Leader of the New Reform.”

Tears stream down her exhausted face, looking at Hiro with desperation. “Please let me go.”

He stares up at her, a mirthless laugh escaping his lips but his eyes showing a glimmer of admiration. “Oh yeah sure I’ll let you go,” he replies casually, his words saturated in sarcasm. “You just won’t be alive when I do.”

“What do you mean?” Her voice trembles in fear.

“Really Akiko? When the deities sent you back they must have forgotten to return your memories.”

“I’m not Akiko.”

He shrugs indifferently. “It doesn’t matter really. You still have the power we can use.” With a swift motion, he reaches being him and retrieves a dagger from a holster on his back, pressing it against Kaori’s neck with just enough force to draw blood.

She winces in pain, trying to turn away as Hiro slowly moved the dagger to her face, leaving a trail of blood in its wake. “I don’t have any power,” she whispers softly, the desperation flowing with her fear driven tears.

“Of course you do, it’s that same power that’s the cause of this,” Hiro says calmly, his gaze fixed on her with a strange expression. “Try not to be frightened by it. It makes it that much harder on you.” He moves away his dagger just as fluidly as he retrieved it, putting it back on the holster attached to his back. “Enjoy your last moments on Noroc,” he says carelessly before walking out of the room and closing the door behind him and leaving Kaori alone in the darkness.

She feels the warmth of her tears fall down her face, silently crying. “I’m so stupid... I should have listened to them...”

❀

Breeze helps Tai up after healing his side. “What happened? Where’s Kaori?” she asks with concern, holding back fear in her voice.

Tai winces as the wound on his side slowly started to heal. “Hiro took her. They knew we were here, and they have something that’s stopping us from detecting him.”

“I knew you couldn’t handle something like this,” Vicious says with a hateful edge to his voice.

“Vicious, not now,” Shomei interjects firmly.

“No, he needs to understand that he can’t protect her!” Vicious’s hateful voice adding to the tangible tension around them all.

“And you can?” Tai says bluntly, rising to his feet. “You’re the reason Akiko died in the first place.”

“She died for the sake of hope,” Vicious argues back in his defense.

Tai’s expression hardens, his eyes narrowing in growing anger. “She died as a meaningless sacrifice because of the stupidity of people like you, believing anything the Temple tells you.”

“Like you’re any better,” Vicious snaps back.

“Enough!” Shomei’s voice rings out, cutting between their arguing, her irritation evident as she glared at both Vicious and Tai. “Both of you stop! Fighting over this now is only wasting time. Right now, everyone only wants one thing and that’s for this girl, whoever she may or may not be, to be safe isn’t it?”

“Yeah...” Vicious mumbles stubbornly as he looked away, his body language reflecting that he still remained tense with frustration.

Tai glares at Shomei, knowing she was right, yet holding a sense of resentment toward her for it. “Keep your kin on a leash then,” he threatens, then turns his attention to Keiji. “Have any ideas?”

“Can’t you tell what’s going on over there?” Breeze asks Tai worriedly.

“If I could, I would have taken care of this before it happened,” Tai replies carelessly.

Keiji looks down thoughtfully. “A barrier was placed for one specific person. But I dare to assume if you tried to enter with the intent of aiding in their plans. They would be more than accommodating,” he looks at Tai plainly who returned his gaze with a look of distain. “Don’t you think?”

“This side has never been the type to turn you down for anything.” Breeze says with a thoughtful nod.

Tai glances back at Shomei as she spoke.

“Won’t they see through it?”

“Not if I offer up compensation,” Tai replies as he looked at Breeze and Keiji.

“Count me in,” Breeze says with determination.

❀

Hiro stands before Kaori, his eyes filled with admiration, bordering on obsession as he stared at her. “Your race truly is magnificent... Strong-willed, powerful, and not bad to look at either,” he remarks calmly, gazing up at her with wide eyes, seemingly unfazed by her weakened, and beaten state. “It’s a pity that they are always so beautiful. Seems almost a waste to have to do this,” he adds with a faint smile, his eyes shining with a twisted sense of satisfaction. “But these sacrifices are what’s supposed to end this once and for all aren’t they? You would have died either way.” He swiftly turns around as another young man burst into the room.

“Hiro!” the man yells with an exasperated disposition.

“What now?” he responds irritably at the interruption.

“It’s Taiichiro.”

Kaori’s attention is immediately captivated at the mention of Tai’s name, causing her to listen intently despite how weak she felt.

Hiro’s expression of admiration forms into a malicious grin. “Hm. How interesting,” he muses, briefly glancing back at Kaori before swiftly walking out of the room with the other young man, securely closing the door behind him. “Where is he?” he asks seriously as they walked down the dark metal halls quickly.

“He wasn’t a threat so he’s in the main control room with two guards. He brought two other Yaban. Says one is their leader, with another one of the last pure-blooded ones,” the man says worriedly.

“Did he say what he wanted?” Hiro asks with a raised eyebrow.

“He wanted you, sir...” He replies quietly.

“Where did you put the others?”

“In the lower cell until we figure out what to do. We don’t know if he’s telling the truth.”

Hiro looks down a little, his expression thoughtful. “Giving up the leader of the Yaban?” He looks up with a flicker of hope in his eyes as they stopped at a heavy metal door. “Hopefully he came to his senses,” he opens the door seeing Tai leaning against a large control pad with guards on either side of him. “Taiichiro,” he says with insincere familiarity.

Tai glances at the guards as he crossed his arms, straightening his seated his position as Hiro motioned for everyone else to leave and closed the door behind them, leaving the two in the room alone.

“Have you decided to return to your roots?” Hiro asks in a strangely calm tone. “I have a goddess staying here at the moment.”

“I know,” Tai replies tonelessly.

He chuckles silently. “Of course you do. Would you like to do the honors? You know, as retribution for what one of my men did to you earlier.”

He looks at Hiro with a deathly glare. “Do what you want with the two I gave you,” he says, his tone cold, but otherwise holding little to no emotion. “They are of no concern of mine. As for the girl...” He walks past Hiro, standing with his back toward him. “You’re going to give her back to me.”

He turns around to look at Tai. “After we’re through with her,” he says in a playful tone. “She’s no use to us dead.”

“I want her alive,” Tai says darkly.

“Are you still chasing that dream? Akiko didn’t help you the first time around so what makes you think she will this time?” he asks in exasperated tone.

“This has nothing to do with Akiko,” he replies quietly, attempting to hold in his annoyance while he clenched his fist at his side.

“What is this all about then?” His expression shifts between confusion to realization for a moment then laughs sarcastically. “You can’t be serious,” he shakes his head a little in disbelief. “Of all the people in the world?” He claps his hands together once as he laughed to himself before placing them on his hips. “What’s your plan then? Maybe I can help it escalate,” he says hopefully, almost expressing his excitement with a. childish look in his eyes.

“There is no plan,” his flat tone apparent.

“Well then,” he says with a heavy sigh of disappointment, pausing for a moment in thought before continuing. “Consider yourself a threat.” He starts to leave, stopping as Tai punched him down to the ground. Hiro rolls over seeing Tai standing over him, glaring down at him with a dangerous look in his eyes.

“Where is she?” he asks as he stared down at Hiro with pure sense of hatred that was never more clear until now.

He chuckles with sarcasm as he cleaned the blood from his lip. “You’re too late,” he taunts, suddenly kicking Tai down hard and taking him off guard. Hiro takes his chance and quickly gets up, leaving the room and sending his guards in, looking somewhat irritated as his lip continued to bleed.

A familiar young man runs up to Hiro’s side quickly. “Sir, what are we going to do?” he asks urgently.

“Secure the area, he’s protecting the girl. The others are sure to be a part of some plan to leave with her,” Hiro says quickly as hurried down the hall, the young man quickly leaving to do as he was told. Hiro opens the door to Kaori’s cell and hurries in, ignoring the yelling from outside of the room. “Well Goddess, it looks like you have visitors,” he says with a callous smirk.

Kaori opens her eyes weakly, looking at Hiro with an empty expression as he continued to speak.

“Which means we need to get this started now.” He starts to take her from the chains but falls to the ground, with a weakened Kaori at his side, as a large explosion broke down the stone wall to their side. “What the-” He gets back up quickly and turns around, seeing Keiji, standing next to Breeze and Vicious hurrying up behind them.

“Surprise!!” Breeze yells out as she saw Hiro, her eyes locked on him with a glimmer of chaotic energy.

Hiro hurriedly pulls out his sword, cutting the chain attached to the broken parts of the wall and picks up a weak and unmoving Kaori over his shoulder.

“Hey, get back here!!!” Breeze quickly jumps over the boulders of the broken down walls and goes after Kaori; Keiji and Vicious holding off the guards behind her.

Hiro quickly takes a few small knives from a holster on his side, throwing them as he ran, hitting Breeze on the leg cutting her badly, causing her to fall over in pain.

Breeze looks up with a determined expression as she knelt down, steadying her aim with her gun pointed at Hiro. With a focused intensity, she fires a dark sphere toward him.

Hiro deflects the dark sphere coming toward him with a gloved hand causing it to collide with the stone ceiling. Grinning triumphantly, he watches the stones fall, sealing off all access points to him and Kaori. He hurries down a dimly lit hall with metal floors and into a dark room dominated by a large glass chamber. “Alright Goddess.” He hurries behind the chamber and gently places Kaori inside on a steel bed, tying her wrists and legs down securely with leather straps that stayed secure to the bed. He quickly attaches various IVs to Kaori’s arms before taking his last dagger from his side and cutting her hand deeply, allowing her blood to flow and drip to the floor of the room, each drop holding a soft light that faded once it touched the ground. “There it is...” he mumbles to himself with success before swiftly walking out, sealing the chamber behind him, and rushing to a nearby control panel. He stops suddenly and backs away a bit as a flat, disc blade nearly hit him. He turns quickly seeing Shomei, Tai, and Vicious standing not too far away, smirking as he sized them up, his gaze lingering on Tai. “I must have one powerful goddess considering how badly all of you want her,” he says with smug tone and raised eyebrow.

Shomei whispers to Tai, her voice barely audible over the tension in the room. “We’ll take care of her, he’s all yours.”

Tai acknowledges her with a subtle nod, never breaking eye contact with Hiro. He steps forward as Shomei motioned for Vicious to follow her, his movements deliberate and controlled. “I’ve already told you to let her go,” he says directing his words squarely at Hiro, his tone holding an unwavering threat.

“Why should I? She has something we all want, and either way, she’s going to die in the end. I’m just cutting out the middleman here,” Hiro says casually. “And if what we have planned doesn’t work, then the deities will send another. You’ll get your chance eventually.”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Tai’s fists clench tightly as anger burned within him. With no hesitation, he draws his sword and launches an attack on Hiro.

Hiro takes his large heavy sword from his back meeting Tai’s attack head-on. As their blades clash, he speaks with a tone that suggested genuine effort, trying to persuade Tai to join their cause. “We could still use your knowledge and abilities to help make this world a better place. We haven’t forgotten all you’ve done.”

Filled with distain, Tai forcefully shoves Hiro away, silently refusing the offer.

Stepping back, Hiro regards Tai with curiosity. “There’s more to this isn’t there?” His attention is suddenly diverted by the approaching figures of Vicious and Shomei, who were closing in on Kaori. Reacting swiftly, he reaches into his pocket and throws a glowing white sphere at them, sending them crashing into the streel walls before they slumped to the ground. “Annoying.” Returning his focus on Tai, Hiro places both hands firmly on his sword, preparing for another attack. “The process has already started. If you really want her alive, you’ll have to kill me.”

Tai remains silent, his gaze steadfast as he assessed Hiro’s subtle movements, paying little mind to him as he continued talking. He lowers his sword as his attention drifted to Kaori, until he closed his eyes lightly, weighing his options.

“It shouldn’t be too hard for you anyway, right?” Hiro taunts, his eyes following Tai’s previous gaze behind him where Kaori lay in her blood-stained clothes, barely clinging to life. “The rumors of you being a changed man really are true then. What a waste.” He grins mischievously, looking back at Tai, seizing the opportunity to launch a full-forced attack, charging toward Tai with a raised sword, intending to strike him down.

Tai opens his eyes suddenly, moving with agility with a graceful backflip, narrowly evading Hiro’s swinging blade. As he somersaults through the air his foot connects with Hiro’s hand, causing him to lose his grip on the sword. Without missing a beat, Tai twists in mid-air, his hand snatching the handle of the heavy sword with ease. In a fluid motion, he swings the massive weapon behind him, the sharp blade slicing through the air with deadly precision. Hiro’s eyes widen in shock as the blade cut across his abdomen, leaving a deep gash in its wake.

Hiro falls to the floor on his knees hard, grabbing his stomach in pain. “I knew it. Old habits die hard don’t they Taiichiro?” He says weakly with the same malevolent smile, despite the pain he was in.

Tai’s gaze remains cold and detached as he looked down at Hiro, blood slowly spreading across the floor. “It seems so,” he says in an emotionless tone, as he drove the blade of the sword into Hiro’s body once more to ensure his demise, kicking him fully to the ground with no remorse. His eyes shift to a slight sense of concern as a thought suddenly came to mind. “Kaori,” he whispers to himself and turns away from the gruesome scene, his attention drawn to the sound of machinery whirring to life. The urgency in his sudden movements clear as he grabbed the sword from Hiro’s body and runs to the chamber, using it to shatter the glass around Kaori. He drops the sword and rushes to her side, pulling her into his arms as he tore her away from the restraints and IVs that bound her, her limp body falling against him as he held her close, picking her up in his arms as he stood straight and walked out of the shattered chamber.

Breeze rushes forward with Keiji close behind, her eyes immediately drawn to Kaori’s bruised and bloodied hands and wrists as her unconscious form cradled against Tai’s chest. A small smile of relief touches her lips as she watched for a moment, her focus altering once Keiji stepped forward to assess the situation.

Tai turns, facing the others, a hint of discomfort evident in his demeanor as he held Kaori securely, acknowledging Keiji once he approached him. “Here, she’s too heavy,” he says in slight discomfort as if in pain.

Keiji accepts Kaori into his arms with a gentle smile, cradling her carefully while Breeze hurried over to Shomei and Vicious, shaking them gently to rouse them from their unconscious state. “There’s more coming we should leave quickly,” Keiji cautions, his tone carrying a sense of urgency. “We were unable to hold them all off.”

Tai nods in acknowledgement, his demeanor still resolute. “There should be a pathway that’s cleared up ahead on the other side,” Tai replies, glancing to his side as Vicious and Shomei started to stir weakly.

Keiji nods lightly, leading the group toward the exit, noticing Tai lingering behind, causing him to call out to him. “Tai,” he says seriously as he looked back. “Let’s go.”

“Hang on,” Tai responds, his focus on the control panel of the machine. With a sense of determination in his eyes, he grabs Hiro’s sword and pierces it through the main controls, effectively destroying the machine beyond easy repair. He sighs to himself, then rushes to join Keiji and the others, grabbing his own sword off the ground on the way out.

❀

Akiko smiles sadly as she stood on the walkway of an elegantly decorated, large, iridescent pearl, and golden temple that seemed to be slowly submerging underwater, yet still glittered in the sunlight. The floors a shimmering crystal that gave a view to the water below her. She turns as Shomei had walked up to her with a peaceful smile on her face.

“Are you ready?” Shomei asks softly.

“I think so,” Akiko replies with a slight nod.

“It’s alright to be afraid,” Shomei says, her voice infused with comfort and her eyes reflecting reassurance.

“But I shouldn’t. Even I know that. It will waver the faith of those who believe in me so dearly.”

She steps toward Akiko and embraces her gently. “Even the most faithful shed tears at the altar of the gods,” she says quietly.

She closes her eyes, holding Shomei back just as softly. “I want to save everyone. Including him.”

“I know you do. But until he lets you do so, there will be nothing you can do but try your best. He will have to learn just as you do,” Shomei murmurs in solace.

“Thank you.” She holds Shomei a little tighter, closing her eyes to stop the tears from falling.

❀

“Kaori? Kaori can you hear me?” Breeze’s voice echoes distantly in the darkness.

Kaori slowly opens her eyes, feeling weak and unstable, and sees Breeze looking down at her with fear and concern etched across her face. “Hi...” She whispers tiredly.

Breeze smiles down at her, finally showing relief. “Hey there. You scared us for a minute. How are you feeling?”

“Tired. Sore...” Kaori responds before glancing around taking note of their surroundings – a dark, wooded area overgrowing a concrete ground. With Breeze’s assistance, she sits up slowly, able to look around with more clarity than before. “Where is everyone else?” she asks softly noticing the absence of the others nearby.

“Shomei and Vicious went to have a private talk about something, and Keiji and Tai are securing the area,” Breeze explains, rummaging through her pockets before producing a small vial and offering it to Kaori. “Here, drink this.”

She does as told, feeling her strength gradually returning to her.

“You took a really bad beating,” she says worriedly. “Are you’re really okay?”

“I think so...” Kaori replies distantly.

She notices Kaori’s expression, causing her concern to deepen as she furrowed her brow, her attention pulled away as Tai and Keiji approached from the dense woods surrounding them. “Ah...” She stands and hurries over to them.

“We’re all good for now,” Keiji says with a small sigh. “How is Miss Kaori?”

Tai looks at Kaori blankly for a split second then at Breeze as she spoke.

“She looks good,” Breeze says quietly.

“Great,” Keiji says in relief, nodding lightly before walking over to Kaori and kneeling down next to her, Tai standing behind with Breeze. “Miss Kaori.” He lowers his head with an apologetic aura about him. “I want to sincerely apologize for letting you go through such a traumatic experience. We shouldn’t have let this happen...”

Kaori’s eyes wander toward Keiji curiously, taken by surprise as Breeze rushed forward and falls to her knees, hugging her tightly.

“We never intended for you to get hurt. We thought if you just saw it on your own even from a distance you’d not want to go,” Breeze says sadly.

Kaori looks at them with a taken aback expression, then locks eyes with Tai, as though asking him what she should do.

Tai nods lightly, his strict expression unchanging.

“It’s okay,” Kaori says softly as she moved at an arm’s length away from Breeze to look at her directly. “It was my choice to see this place,” she says quietly as everyone looked at her, her resemblance to like Akiko strikingly similar as a saddened smile spread across her face. “I’m thankful that you put forth effort for me. Even though you didn’t have to. Thank you.”

Keiji smiles lightly, him and Breeze both standing, him bowing gratefully. “You truly have a kind heart. It would put us at ease if you rested as much as you needed to.”

Kaori nods lightly in response. “I will.” She turns her attention to her side as Vicious hurried up with Shomei behind him, somewhat surprised as Vicious came to sit down next to her after the others had moved away.

Tai looks away from Kaori carelessly and walks away at a short distance to sit against a tree on the other side of the clearing, Keiji and Breeze stepping back to give them all some space.

Shomei whispers something to Vicious softly that only he could hear then looks at Kaori. “I’m glad you’re okay,” she says kindly.

“Thank you,” Kaori replies, then watches Shomei go to Keiji and Breeze, talking to them in a quiet tone that she couldn’t make out.

“Do you need anything?” Vicious asks Kaori quietly.

“Hm?” She looks at him and shakes her head. “No. I’m fine. Thank you.”

He frowns at her flat response. “Are you sure you made the right decision?” He asks quietly.

“What do you mean?”

“These people, they’ve let you get hurt...”

Kaori stays silent for a moment as she looked down, unaware that Tai was keeping an eye on her from a distance while Breeze sat next to him, talking to Keiji, while Shomei distanced herself away from them all to sit down on her own to rest against a tree. “They only did what I asked them to... If it’s anyone’s fault that this happened, then the blame will solely rest on me alone, not them,” she says quietly, her voice carrying a weight of responsibility. “It’s all my fault anyway...”

“You need someone who’s always going to be there for you though. If you stayed with us, it never would have happened,” Vicious says reluctantly.

She looks down distantly before speaking in a small voice. “Were you always there for Akiko?”

He looks away from Kaori for a moment, conflict and guilt shadowing his eyes. “No. I just don’t want it to happen again.”

“No matter what you believe about me, I want to be able to choose my own path right now. As such I’m fully aware of the consequences that may come with it.”

“Yeah,” he shakes his head, dismissing the rest of his thoughts. “You should rest,” he says suddenly as he stood up and went to sit near Shomei.

She looks down for a moment before looking back up as she felt someone watching her, catching Tai’s gaze as a result. She smiles weakly as she noticed him look away quickly. “He’s strange sometimes.” She thinks as she moved to lay down. “If I didn’t follow whatever that was I remembered, they wouldn’t have to apologize... I feel so horrible causing them heartache like this.” She closes her eyes before tears could fall, slowly falling asleep peacefully.

Breeze looks over at Kaori with a smile then at Tai. “Did you hear her?”

Tai leans his head back on the tree behind him, closing his eyes lightly.

“She sounds so sad when she talks,” she says quietly so only Tai and Keiji could hear.

Keiji smiles a little. “It seems like she’s upset about what she saw. As is expected.”

She nods lightly continuing her work on a small communicator in her hand. “So Tai...” She says in a distracted tone, continuing on even as Tai actively tried to ignore her by remaining silent and disinterested. “You’re not going to fall into old habits again, are you?” Breeze adds hesitantly.

Tai sighs lightly, moving to look at Breeze directly. “If I did, I would have started with you first,” he says in a threatening tone as he stood up and walked away from them with a distant yet careless look in his eyes, causing Keiji to laugh silently in response.

Breeze rolls her eyes at his response, glancing over at Kaori who was sleeping peacefully with concern. “It worries me, Keiji.”

“I’m sure he’ll be fine,” Keiji replies reassuringly.

“Can you be sure? He’s so hard to read these days,” she says regretfully.

He sighs a little to himself, his expression showing a hint of concern as his gaze wandered to Kaori’s sleeping form. “He has been but... I believe he’ll do the right thing.”

She groans softly, still uncertain despite Keiji’s reassurance.

❀

Kaori hurries back down the familiar halls of the New Reform’s headquarters, tears in her eyes, her footsteps echoing against the walls as she ran until she finally reached a dead end. “No…” She looks behind her, seeing the shadows of three men in the dimly lit hall walking toward her, their silhouettes ominous against the faint light.

“There she is,” says one man in a dark tone, the voice causing fear deep within her.

She falls to her knees, her heart pounding in her chest, her breath coming in ragged gasps. She covers her head with trembling hands, the sound of her own heartbeat loud in her ears, mingling with the heavy silence of impending doom before a sharp deafening bang of a gunshot pierced through the air with terrifying finality.

❀

Kaori’s heart races as she sits up quickly from her sleep, her breathing heavy and erratic. Fear grips at her tightly, while tears stream down her face as the memory of her nightmare continued to linger in her mind stubbornly. She glances around her, searching for any sign of the danger she felt, her eyes wide with caution.

Tai remains seated nearby, his expression unreadable, his silence adding to the tense atmosphere, catching Kaori’s attention as she looked toward him, noticing her fearful expression. “It’s just a dream,” he says quietly, careful not to wake the others who slept close by.

She looks away with embarrassment, her emotions still high before nodding a little and standing up slowly. “Calm down. Ignore it. If I try not to think about it I’ll be fine.” She steps away, putting distance between herself and the others, only sighing deeply with an exhausted expression on her face while she tried to gather herself.

Tai gets up quickly and follows after Kaori, finding her sitting on a tree stump not too far away with her hands on her face, approaching her cautiously. “You shouldn’t be out by yourself,” he says quietly, his voice indifferent to her distress.

Kaori takes a deep breath and lowers her hands, revealing her tear-streaked cheeks. “You’re here aren’t you?” she responds, her voice carrying a hint of dismissal.

“I wouldn’t get used to it if I were you.”

She looks at him blankly. “Why is that?” she asks, cleaning the tears from her face quickly as her eyes searched his face for answers.

He turns away slightly, an unfamiliar emotion crossing his features. “Never mind,” he says, his voice trailing off.

Her saddened gaze falls to the ground. “I’m scared,” she admits quietly after a heavy moment of silence between them. “I can’t trust what little I know... What I do know hurts people...”

He looks over his shoulder at her, noticing the trepidation she had been holding back all this time suddenly start to make itself known on her face.

“I don’t know what I should do anymore. Everyone will try to treat me as if I’m Akiko and I’m not, but everything I’ve done so far has just...” She keeps her fists clenched tightly in her lap as her voice escaped her. “I feel like there’s no in between. There’s nothing else for me here other than to live her life for everyone else’s sake.”

He turns fully to stand in front of her, his eyes falling downward with uncertainty.

She moves from the stump to sit on the ground, wrapping her arms around her knees and lowering her head. “I’m just going to be stuck living her life when I don’t want to.”

His eyes wander to her for a moment, her words seeming to reach him, causing him to shake his head of whatever thoughts he held and kneel down to her level. “Then change,” he says softly.

She looks up at him, meeting his steady gaze with sadness in her eyes.

“If you want them all to stop treating you like her, you’ll have to change,” he asserts firmly, holding her gaze for a moment before a thought came to mind as he stood up suddenly and looked away from her. “Instead of wishing you weren’t something, stand up and do something about it.”

Her eyes wander to her side, her troubled expression apparent. “You’re not making me feel any better,” she admits quietly.

“I’m not trying to,” he says with a soft exasperated sigh, keeping his eyes downward. “I’m not going to make you decide one way or another, I’m just giving you an option. You either do or you don’t.”

She notices his uncomfortable demeanor as he refused to face her even though he was speaking to her, then stands up slowly. “Can I stay with you?” she asks quietly.

He finally turns and looks at her, conflicted for such a short moment that it was hardly noticeable. “That’s not my decision,” he says dryly.

She suddenly hurries toward him, hugging him tightly. “You’re the only ones I can trust.”

He stands motionless for a moment, looking to be in pain as he clenched his fists lightly at his sides, making no effort to hold Kaori back.

“If I can stay with you all, will you promise not to see me as someone I’m not?”

He looks down at her, staying silent for a few moments before speaking in a low tone. “Yeah... Sure.” He sighs silently to himself as he looked up, his expression regretful and inattentive through his pained eyes.