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“Please don’t leave me.”
She mutters it sleepily against Sakiko’s side. Sakiko sighs.
“She do that always?”
…And then she tenses. Sumire’s friend leans in the doorway.
“I’m surprised anyone is up before me,” Sakiko says instead of answering.
“So, yes,” Mahiro says. “And I rise with the sun, don’t you know?”
He reminds her of Kyosuke. That’s the only reason why she can’t like him. He’s kind and quick witted, but he’s smug .
He’s a winner, and that hatred is what ruined Sakiko’s life, but it’s also another reason why Sumire sleepily grabs at Sakiko’s shirt.
“Only makes sense, sunshine,” Sakiko jokes out loud instead of voicing her thoughts, the guilt and the grief and the jealousy . Sakiko gently escapes Sumire’s clutches, her form itself pinned by the cute boys she’d found herself in the interrim. Sakiko’s considered being jealous, but then she remembers Sumire deserves better than her.
“You didn’t answer my question, you know,” Mahiro says. “Everything we learn about her life is on accident.”
“She’s probably scared,” Sakiko says. “I think she lost everyone. Her brother, me, her parents… we all failed her.”
“Oh yeah?” Mahiro asks. “Guess it makes sense. There I was spewing my Rider hate at the girl built entirely to be one, and she was right there with me.”
Sakiko sighs.
“I think it’s my fault, most of all,” she says. “I was selfish.”
“That hasn’t stopped her before,” Mahiro says. “Everyone is selfish.”
“Maybe you think so,” Sakiko says. “But I’ve seen far more of the worlds”
Sakiko is 17 and she is shaking on the floor of a photo studio that used to be a home, hands shaking and power writing under her skin.
It’s pure horror, the feeling inside of her. She can’t let Sumire see, but it’s getting worse, and Sumire may trust her but her wonderful girlfriend isn’t nearly as stupid as she thinks.
She runs for the door of the hollow home and just… runs. She runs and she runs and then she trips, and she falls, and she sobs…
She has to get away. She has to…
All she wants is for Sumire to appear and tell her she isn’t less, for Hibiki to arrive and tell her he chose wrong, he’s sorry, she’s still…
And then she screams, and the monster breaks free.
Sakiko is leaning on a park rail, her morning run ongoing. Her body is still recovering, but she’ll get better.
“I didn’t expect to see you, here.”
She turns, and Katsuya is right nearby, also dressed for a run. He looks hot, sweating and buff. She wonders if she gets the same effect, but then she remembers how many people said she wasn’t beautiful like Amaki-san or handsome like Kyosuke-Sempai , and then the thought fades.
“Neither did I,” Sakiko says. “I’m still getting to know the area. I always prefer to go to the forests outside of town.”
“Ah, me too,” Katsuya says. “But I got into the habit of cycling parks in, too… never could prepare for when an attack would start. Not that it was enough.”
His face falls, and he looks away, and Sakiko jumps.
“I’m sorry!” She says. “I didn’t mean to offend you!”
“It’s alright,” Katsuya says. “We’re all bad ends, here.”
“You’re really a bad end?” Sakiko asks. Katsuya nods.
“I was supposed to die, to stop the end of my world,” he said. “But even if I had, I would have ended the world by not being fast enough. Isn’t that sad?”
“But the world’s still here,” Sakiko says. Katsuya smiles, sadly.
“Because of Mahiro,” he says. “He says it’s because of all of us, but he made the hard choices, in the end.”
Sakiko hmms, nodding.
“But is that enough?” She asks.
There are gentle hands on Gyuki, a voice humming a faded melody. Gyuki screams and struggles, but slowly, the pain and violence fades…
Sakiko wakes up on a bed made of vines, with the strange sole denizen of the Forest watching her.
“…Natsumi-San?” Sakiko asks. Natsumi blinks.
“It’s Natsumikan,” she says. “Isn’t it?”
Sakiko shakes her head, sitting slowly. She covers her face in her hands.
“Please don’t tell Sumi,” she says. “I can’t do that to her.”
“That loneliness will kill you,” Natsumi says. “And leave her behind, empty,”
“Well, Sumire is stronger than any of you,” Sakiko says. “…Or me. I’ll just… I’ll be by her side as long as I can. It’s all I’m good for.”
Natsumi sighs.
“You should be more than that,” she says, “but it’s… be careful. This is not a kind world.”
“I’ll try,” Sakiko promises.
She gets home, having finished her walk alongside Katsuya, to see Sumire and Ichiro in the kitchen.
Mahiro sits on the couch with an empty expression, his little sister patting him.
“Ichiro can’t cook,” he says. “Our hope is in Sumire’s hands alone.”
Sakiko grins and sits near him as she starts to stretch.
“Then we’re in fine hands,” she says.
There’s smoke, then laughter, from the kitchen. Sakiko may be broken, but Sumire has found a home.
Maybe the loneliness won’t kill anyone at all. Not forever.
Katsuya joins her with a strange look in his eyes.
“Need some help?” He asks.
Maybe Sakiko can belong here, too.