Not once in my lifetime have I met a more beautiful girl. Eyes like stars and a voice as soft as the sea. She was a girl on fire whose soft skin was as frigid as her personal aquatic purgatory.
Aoi Asahina, a champion through my eyes, a master of the water of which she graces with one single touch, was my perception of supreme love. I fell in love with her immediately, upon meeting the glimmer of her eyes and her perfect athletic figure, and becoming acquainted with her optimistic and energetic nature.
She was my nirvana, and my best friend that soared beyond the limits of perfection. In her company I feel the strength I could not otherwise feel when I do a typical routine. In her company I feel hope.
Who am I? I am unworthy of the angel that I have fallen in love with, by the simplest terms. A beauteous princess would never marry a monster, but rather a glorified prince who would provide her with all the bits and pieces of appeal I lacked and she so rightfully deserved. I suppose the prospect of overwhelming strength would never be in his favor, that I must boastfully concede. After all, I was accepted into this Hell under a "Super High School Level Fighter" merit. Strength is the key to a right mind, and Asahina was the single one in this entire establishment who made an effort to keep me focused in my routine.
However, my focus was always challenged by her omnipotent beauty. Not once have I ever lost more times in a row.
I wake every morning trying to overcome the severity of a pulsing depression that refuses to subside. Every night, I have this recurring dream that I achieve freedom through the most morbid way possible, and she waits for me at the end of the seemingly infinite corridor. I constantly wish for this to be the case, but I must constantly battle through and ensure safety of the one I love most.
The afternoon of which nothing seemed to be worth the effort was the afternoon she noticed the pain I endured each day. Staring at the myriads upon myriads of weight equipment, I sat in my bitter state of the overwhelming depression that has tainted me for so long. I do not fear the students here, for my strength and awareness protects my being from most obstacles intending to harm. What mentally haunts me are the chain of murders and eventual executions that follow. They are ghouls that intend to increase my depression severely and exceed in their positions.
I must have looked rather out of reality, because Aoi had to scream my name in order to finally be given my attention.
"Sakura..." she whispered, grazing my toned arm with her weightless touch.
"It's alright," I responded, refusing to remove my gaze from the equipment that relentlessly taunted me in its glory. "I apologize. I have not been doing so well as of late."
Aoi lifted herself up from her kneel and gently padded her way in front of the equipment, blocking my view of the mocking machines.
"I've noticed. You haven't said much of anything to me lately." She remarked, with a tinge of hurt in her voice. It pained me greatly to hear this sorrow in her words, all due to my lack of communication. It only increased the sadness I continually felt.
"I...apologize again." I spoke again, trying to steady my tone as much as I could muster.
"Stop apologizing to me." She said through her teeth, trying to fight back oncoming tears. My first instinct was to immediately pull her into a warm embrace, one that I only offer to her.
"Thank you." She whispered, wiping the few rushing droplets on her cheeks. "You know, crying doesn't show weakness. It's good to have a nice cry once in awhile."
"I see," I replied with a hint of reverie in my tone. It had been awhile since I heavily cried, especially in front of another. I was not about to cry in front of the one I loved most, no matter how much I might have needed to at the time.
Aoi's eyes widened suddenly. "You know what...come with me."
She latched her fragile hand into my palm as she raced out of the fitness room. Her thin, fast legs were almost too quick for me to keep up with, but I tried with every muscle in my power to follow at her pace.
Ultimately, the location she ended up taking me to was the school's greenhouse. It was not primarily the oasis I would envision us being in, but I was alone, with her attention and the love that sprung from the stars in her eyes.
"I always feel nostalgic here," Aoi spoke suddenly, viewing the environment surrounding her and the plethora of colors that were just within her reach. "I feel different than the way I would with water. Here I know that it's safe to breathe."
She laughed slightly and touched a small, porcelain jewel of a flower. "I feel so inferior sometimes. I have the ability to swim and yet there's nothing else I know."
"You know how to be an incredible best friend." I offered, trying to force her to retract the nonsense her lips were spilling.
A hint of a broken smile shyly crept upon her trembling lips, as though it were new information for her to grasp. "I wish I could be. I wish I knew how to take care of you. Friendship is protection on both sides, and yet I cannot even protect the one I love. From anything, really. I'm hopeless."
It was shocking to hear her spew the thoughts that were escaping from her mouth. Her very own thoughts, her own false thoughts, have been poisoning her the same way my own have with me. It disturbed me to no prevail, and yet I felt there was nothing I could do.
She spoke again. "And I know you have been despairing. I noticed the minute I saw you change. I wanted to do everything in my power to save you, but I know I'm too late."
Aoi sat herself upon the surface of the rough ground and she offered me a weak, sorrowful smile. "And now I'm sorry."
She began to graze her fingertips along the surface of various flower petals, each responding to her touch as though she were their master. One by one she began to pick each grown flower, like weeds, and began to pull out long swords of stems. She had a permanent small smile upon her features, like a small child in a garden of Eden. She was breathtaking, and I sought out her beauty like a moth to its glow of light.
I watched as her hands nimbly futzed with the petals and stems as she knotted and wrapped bits and pieces together.
What resulted was a messy, yet beautiful, flower crown that she held beaming with pride. She lifted herself up once more and placed the headwear upon my head.
"A beautiful princess wears a beautiful crown. It's a symbol of her overwhelming beauty." She whispered, trying to hide the tint of crimson painted upon her skin.
I touched the wreath cautiously, trying to comprehend the words that entered my ears, cradling and numbing my senses.
Taking off the crown, I immediately placed it atop of her own head. "The beautiful one here is you. I am only but a monster who has made a personal vow to protect you, who is my princess."
The expression of surprise she offered one was one I could not forget. Her lips were slightly apart as she lifted her arms to touch the crown upon her head.
Once she stopped investigating, her lips curled into a sly grin as she leapt up, placed the crown upon my head once more, and pressed her lips against my own.
The process of kissing was one that I was not familiar with, for I have never been in a situation that involved something like it. But I never felt more at home in her arms, and I never felt more alive. I felt the pulses of strength rush through my veins as her lips begged for pressure against mine. She was my lifeline, and the only love I could ever envision my monstrous self being in. She was my oasis.
Aoi hesitantly and confidentally gazed into my eyes. "I made you the crown because you are the beautiful princess, and you deserve to feel beautiful. I will be your knight, and protect you until my final breath."
I pulled her into a kiss once more. She was my Aphrodite, she was higher than the towers that soar above us both. She made my heart burst with every syllable that escaped from her small lips.
And we could be heroes, together.