Angstville
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First Avenue
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He knew she was different from the first time he saw her.
So he watched. Watched how she brought the best and the worst out of people.
And then he felt the pull. He dismissed it at first as a passing interest, a fleeting fancy. She was, after all, quite the standout personality.
And he kept on watching. Before he realized it, he wasn't just watching anymore. He was becoming more and more involved in her life. He supposed she had that effect on everybody. She sucked everybody into her orbit without even trying.
But she was something he couldn't have. Wouldn't even dream of having. Perhaps at some point in time, early into knowing her, he might have deluded himself that there was actually a chance. That she might look his way, and really see him. Not as some acquaintance from work, but as himself.
But then somebody else had staked his claim on her. Not that she knew of course. But this was someone he couldn't think of even rivaling. He was every woman's dream.
Then again she wasn't just any woman. So for a very short while, he allowed himself the luxury of his illusions.
But he knew it wouldn't last. The other man never really did admit it. But he saw it from the get go. Sometimes he cursed the fact that he was very perceptive. What he would give to be oblivious to everything but himself.
He saw everything, and he felt like breaking. But he couldn't pull away. He watched with an almost morbid fascination the events unfolding around her.
He would tell himself that he would never pursue her because he never had a chance from the start. But he knew this was just partly true. Most of it was because the rival would be someone he held dear.
So Yashiro watched. And pretended. Pretended that he didn't feel the crushing weight on his chest every time he caught the two of them sharing a rare tender moment. That he didn't feel like biting his tongue whenever he teased his charge. That he didn't feel like running away whenever he saw the two of them alone in Ren's apartment, innocent as everything was.
He would continue pushing the two of them together. Because this was the only way he could be part of both of their lives. He always believed that everyone had their respective destined roles in life. And he knew, even if fate had dealt him a painful card, he would embrace it. Because for him, there was no other way.