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Light.
Light was often considered a ray of hope amidst dark times, so bright, so colorful, enough to fill the void that darkness could leave behind.
They gave determination to whoever could embrace them, they would illuminate the path of truth and lead towards victory.
Shioriko Mifune would often find herself surrounded by them, from the sunlight shining through her window in the morning to the beaming smile her girlfriend has, which she was fortunate to see.
It warmed her soul and brightened her day.
However, she couldn't help but notice that the smile she could spend hours looking at, was suddenly becoming more and more strained.
She had spent weeks trying to find answers in the depths of her mind, wondering if it had been something she had done or something she hadn't. Explanations never came and she was quickly filled with worry.
Perhaps, it was her fault?
She then tried to pry answers out of Ayumu, which, didn't work, as her inquiry was answered with an obvious lie.
"Sorry, I'm just a little tired..."
She had tried to believe it and eventually did. Nevertheless, the nagging worry came back once more when she heard her break down into tears when she was visiting her apartment.
She had comforted her back then, yet, she never really knew the reason for the tears spilled by the hazel-eyed girl.
She was quickly pulled into a snowy and colorful reality when she felt her companion separate their hands.
They were both at the park, sitting in one of the various benches scattered around the place, specifically in front of a Christmas tree that thanks to its height looked quite menacing. Its lights softly changed color, red, blue, purple, green, and yellow, a scene worth to be seen by everyone, yet, not a single soul was in sight, nobody but them was there to witness it.
Her attention was diverted towards Ayumu, who stood up and got closer and closer to the Christmas tree until she was standing a few centimeters away from it.
Shioriko found this to be the perfect opportunity to, in a swift movement, grab the hairpin she had bought from an old lady a few hours earlier, which was expertly hidden inside her jacket.
She looked at it once more, it was a golden-colored hairpin in the shape of a half-moon, it matched the star hairpin the hazel-eyed currently had. She rotated it a few times, before standing up too and getting closer to her girlfriend, clutching the hairpin in her hand.
"... Ayumu-san."
The aforementioned spun around to look directly at her. It was then, when vermilion and yellowish-hazel eyes connected under the lights of the Christmas tree, that she noticed that her companion's eyes didn't shine as much as before.
And they only did when unshed tears started to appear.
That little fact stopped her in her tracks, all the words she was on the verge of telling, long forgotten.
Instead, she asked in a fragile whisper, "Are you alright?"
Ayumu blinked the tears away, "Yes... Everything is fine." She answered.
It clearly wasn't, but she couldn't pressure her into saying what was wrong, even if preoccupation was slowly consuming her from the inside as if it was a deadly plague.
The dark green-haired girl looked at the lights the tree kept flashing, before looking back and extending her hand towards Ayumu, hairpin in sight.
"I saw it earlier," she said, " it reminded me of you."
Shioriko could see Ayumu getting lost in thought, before slowly and hesitantly reaching towards the trinket.
"Thank you, Shioriko-chan..."
The silence between them resumed once more, a silence so loud, a silence that stopped them from saying a million things there was to say and only made them grow further apart.
This had become a common thing during the past months and would continue if none of them said anything against it.
"... Shioriko-chan?" Ayumu's voice denoted insecureness.
"Yes?"
"This park... Do you know its importance?"
She smiled, delight filling her heart in an instant. "Of course... How wouldn't I know? This park... This is where we got together."
Ayumu nodded, "I'm... So sorry, Shioriko-chan, for what I'm about to say."
Those simple words were enough to make her smile crumble little by little and the delight in her heart fade away at just the same pace.
"... W-What do you mean?"
"This past few months I've noticed that everything between us feels... Different," she said, getting closer to Shioriko, "and every time I tried to feel what kept us connected... I-I just came out empty-handed."
Did that...?
"After all this time... I can't continue with this, because at the end of the day, it'll just be a lie."
Cold, everything felt colder with each passing second, the lights dimmed and her heart dropped. She didn't feel her tears until they were already falling, nor did she register Ayumu moving until she felt her surrounding her with her arms into a tight hug.
Was it something she had done?
Or perhaps herself?
She had a feeling she would forever wonder if it was truly her fault, but for that moment, it fully was.
"Even if all of this was something so incredibly beautiful, in the end, it was never meant to be."
....
Light.
Once colorful and bright, now lacked what made it so special.
Hope.
They did illuminate the path of truth, but the path she followed was not one of victory nor one of grace.
Just plain misery.
She was surrounded by them, in the lightning of the storms and in the flame of the candle in the middle of her room.
She yearned for something to warm her soul as much as she had done. A single, radiant smile, or eyes to look at her with love.
She wouldn't get any of that, and for some reason, she was completely fine with it.
As long as the beauty that once was her lover could be happy, she would forever be as well.