Disclaimer: I don't own Nightmare Inspector or any characters therein.
A/N: Before anyone jumps on me for it, this is totally disregarding Hiruko's (SPOILER) confession of brotherly feelings towards Mizuki. Because while I found that cute, I always thought there was a..well, different vibe between them-at least on Hiruko's part. And we all know that Mashiba-sensei's beautifully romantic chapter title pages did not help!
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Look-See
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(I look at you, and I see you.)
He watches her often; there's nothing eerie about it, she just happens to be the only other one in the building. Besides Hifumi, of course, but who wouldn't rather focus on her, given the choice?
She has a lightness of manner and demeanor around people she does not know, but when she lets her guard down at home her air becomes heavier, soaked with the weight of anxiety and guilt, and that light manner makes switches to pale dark. Opposite extremes, much like the two of them are in comparison to one another.
(You look at me, and you see something I am not.)
He has never had much to lose; she has had something and indeed lost it.
He is attached to nothing, holds on to nothing, looks only ahead. She clings to the past, clutches its sleeve; she holds desperately to her glorified memories and resolves never to let them go until they become tangible again.
He watches her and cares, in his own private way, for who she is and who she has been. She looks at him and lights up with a bittersweet joy, because he is the remnant of all that she needs in this life.
(I see you. Rather clearly.)
He understands when it is hopeless, another difference between them. But he also finds himself unable to let go entirely, which is a similarity they share.
He watches her with the blunt knowledge that she can never look at him the same way, because he isn't himself. He isn't Hiruko. He's Azusa; in her eyes, he knows that's all he'll ever be.
He is a poor, substandard replacement.
And he can accept it. Another difference between the two.
(You look through me. You see something that isn't there.)
His eyes and the eyes of her brother are mostly the same, of course, seeing as they share an occupation that changes such things as eye color. It's just one more thing to prevent him from getting through to her.
(I am not who you want me to be, but it doesn't matter because that's all you let yourself see.)
Because when she smiles that smile and looks him in the eyes, he knows only too well whose face she's seeing.
(In your eyes, I do not exist.
I probably never will.)
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Owari
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A/N: I'm running on sleep deprivation, so this was probably a little different. I like how it came out.