Chapter Text
The round-starting bell rings as jarringly as ever, shrill enough to be unbearable.
The venue this time is... that someone's resting place? Whatever. It doesn't matter.
I begin searching for that all-too-familiar figure.
They hurt me. Hatred is the reason I keep going.
That day, it was as if they'd slipped a key into Pandora's box—except it was a dagger they plunged into my chest.
What happened before that is hard for me to recall. All I remember is that we once had something good—something that could even be called happiness.
I hate them.
I hate that after they killed me, they fled that place that once held our laughter and beautiful memories, leaving behind nothing but my growing-cold body.
Why?!
I want to find them. I want to confront them for what they did.
...
The spawn light is blindingly white.
"Did you ever love me?"
"If you loved me, why would you offer me up to that filthy demon?"
"If you didn't love me—then everything in the past was just my wishful thinking, my self-deception, my utter foolishness for being blinded by your false affection, wasn't it?!"
"If... if you did love me, then..."
I watch the terror in their eyes. For Twice, aside from that nervous laugh, almost no other expression ever appears on their pale faces—they're genuinely terrified.
"..."
"...Then don't look at me like I'm a monster..."
Unfortunately, I don't know why I can't unzip that damned zipper.
"Two Time..."
I savor the name.
The irony is that even this name was a lie.
Warm blood stains my cold hands—the same hands I'd intended to embrace them with.
This wasn't what I meant to do.
I only wanted to talk things through with them.
I only wanted to soothe their fears.
I was only afraid of the way they looked at me—not with love, not with hate, not even with disgust or indifference—but with guilt and terror.
Only then did I finally remember that I'm no longer who I used to be. That Azure—the one who'd softened their edges for them—is long dead.
All that remains is a vengeful spirit drowned in hatred—Azure.
The wind still blows, its howl loud enough to mock the me who still hasn't escaped the past.