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"Listen, Kazuya...this whole time. This entire time...it was all..." she couldn't look at him.
He'd mentioned it before and she scolded him for even thinking it. It honestly hurt her a little bit he even considered it a possibility.
He knew she was about to say the one thing that would break his heart forever. Permanent irreparable damage. He'd never be able see her the same way again. He knew what she was doing, but something inside him...just couldn't let it happen.
"Don't say it." he's glaring at her. "You're going to hurt me. Really."
"You need to hear this...for your own-"
"No. You need to hear this." his fists were clenched. "If you finish that sentence, even if you change your mind, you won't be able to take it back. and I'll be the one out of your reach this time-"
"tch! Do you even hear yourse-!?"
"Forever."
She's angry now. Of course he was going to make this as difficult as possible. She wondered if he was even in control of his own mouth at times like this.
...
But then she couldn't say it anymore. Her carefully crafted words. The words she thought that could finally set them both free. She just couldn't say them anymore.
Of course it was real. Even from the beginning it'd hardly been an act.
"Goodbye." was all she could manage after that. And though she said it, she couldn't move.
Silence. Then he was the one walking away. And looking at his back she felt like she had been the one rejected.
(Months later)
Some time passes where they're on their own. Life didn't get much better. Her auditions continued to bomb, people continued to take advantage, the politics of showbusiness continued to elude her. Even the few jobs she did get, she couldn't find the passion to do them as well as she knew she could. As well as he knew she could. It's not that she was sad, but just null and void.
He however was okay. Just okay. At least he could smile. He could lay down at night, and sleep peacefully. He was even beginning to move on.
Until the events of one July night... 2:32 in the morning. She's in front of his door. Her eyes are shot, hair a mess. She's wondering if he's doing any better than her. She raises a hand to knock but it falls. Once again, she couldn't move. It's 3:20. A light comes on. Footsteps. She considers leaving. Could she? One single knock. It wasn't even on purpose, like her hand moved on it's own. More footsteps, the chain on the door, it opens.
(Years later)
She lies awake in bed, it's almost 4am. For the first time in a long time she thought about those words. "and I'd be out of your reach. Forever." She thinks about what the word means. How long that would've lasted. She compares it to the feeling she got when she first heard him say it, the feeling that would keep her up at night for a long time after. An ache from the pit of her stomach, pulling at her, into what could only be described as negative space. Into nonexistence. Endless. A concept you can't visualize in it's entirety. Where even 1% of it would stretch on for the same length as the other 99%. Forever.
And then she starts to cry.
"I'm so glad...I'm so glad you stopped me. Even back then...did you really know?"
"Know what?" he rolls over behind her and pulls her tight into his arms.
"That..." yet again, she couldn't move.
"That as long as I had you, I'd be just fine." Or rather, she didn't want to move. She wanted things to stay like this forever, until the day she died.
"Yeah...I guess I did...somehow"
And as he held her, a moonlit reflection caught her eye. She looks over to their shrine. Pictures of Grandma, Grandpa, Grandma Nagomi, and an empty ringbox...before peacefully drifting off to sleep.
Created for a fanfic event at kanokari discord /dU83PVz