Work Text:
“What’s wrong, Naoto-kun? You look like you’re lost in thought. Is something bothering you, my dearest?” The voice talked to her gently, startling her out of her mind. It was so.. caring, so much like a mother’s voice worried and looking out for her. Just a while ago, she felt a strange sensation of comfort and stress being pried away from her shoulders, like it was attempting to soothe her.
“I apologize but.. who exactly are you?” Naoto speaks, perplexed as to why a stranger is calling her ‘my dearest’.
“Pardon? Naoto-kun, you’re such a funny little girl. It’s me. Your mother.”
Naoto doesn’t know if she’s going insane or not.
Her facial expression was a mix of disbelief and confusion. How.. what, how, when.. did her mother get revived? Is this some kind of cruel joke, where they’ll suddenly remove the latex mask and laugh at her? She feels as if she should be happy, happy that her mother is alive again, but there’s this feeling of unease and.. odd comfort that resides in her chest that refuses to go away. That means.. he, her father could be alive too. The woman in front of her seems to take notice of her inner turmoil. “You can tell me your troubles. I’ll support you in any way possible, dear.” She held Naoto’s hands, feeling soft and warm.
Oh.
Is this what a mother’s touch feels like? Firm, yet tender, away from the world’s woes?
A lump formed in her throat, and she can feel her eyes prickling with tears. Emotions don’t get in the way of logical thinking, she told herself. But nothing here is logical. Her mother is alive. Her father could be alive too, somewhere. Maybe.. maybe, she can indulge in a fool’s paradise, just for once in her life.
Naoto knows that the floor beneath her isn't real. But she allows it to sink her further into it, because standing in the real world has become too much to bear. She knew she chose to reside in a castle made out of smoke, terrified that any second now that it will inevitably blow away.
To live in a false reality is to rest your head against a ghost, weeping not because of the pain in the real world but because the spirits have been much more kinder than anyone in society.