Meganekko

side: A - Look into my Eyes

'Kotodama'

The word tastes funny on her tongue, sharp and direct, and if she stops to consider it, it might even taste like potential. But all she knows right now is that a Kotodama is something that almost burned an entire town to the ground. The potential means nothing in the face of her own fear, that she's become the kind of evil that would destroy lives with a thoughtless word.

The sister of the boy she hurt still glares when they see each other.

Really, she has every right to her scorn, but it depresses Kotoha to realize that in the space of less than a day she'd somehow become a creature so vile that even demons hate her.

Up until now, she hasn't met with the other girl, seen that loathing head on, but today she wants to.

There had been a lot to deal with in the aftermath of her rampage, so no one had taken note of her eyesight, good or bad. Convincing her temporary guardians that she was actually short-sighted and had lost her glasses in the confusion of that day had been easy.

The lenses she wore now distorted her vision slightly, but she didn't care. Smiling, she absently pushed the frames up her nose, the vaguely blurred figure of Touko visible across the street.

Maybe her hatred would lessen if she didn't have to look into the eyes of the thing that had hurt her family.

It's almost three weeks before the girl with the strange ears (Ao, she had said- it tasted lovely) had dragged her over to her group of friends, ignorant, or perhaps just ignoring, the tension between them.

She'd nearly fooled herself into believing that the glasses were just for her eyesight, after all. Withdrawing back into her books, she becomes almost impossible to find, friendship seeming a lost cause. Almost.

side: B - What do you See

The girl in front of her has taken something from her. The thought of taking something equally as important thrills her.

Perhaps she'll start with her life?

She can't help but hum in anticipation as she chases Hime through the trees, her mouth full of gunpowder and blood just waiting to pour out. The branches whip backwards, attempting to deny her chase, but she is unconcerned as her eyes follow her target, needing to hurt and hurt and hurt and-

The shattering of glass so close to her face draws her attention for a second. What she sees beyond that is enough to make her temporarily halt her pursuit as she lifts the wrecked frames from her eyes.

The world sharpens, objects righting themselves from the warped messes she has become used to and the Kotodama raises her eyes to meet her prey, savouring the hints of German steel and electricity that flow onto her tongue as her stare meets the Mayor's.

"They're just for decoration."

Kotoha had asked Hime to lead her back to the office, holding out her hand pleadingly, screwing her eyes shut on her confused (and maybe still a little fearful?) expression.

There is a spare pair of glasses in her desk drawer at home, Ao having been entrusted with her keys as everyone else wandered slowly back to the Hiizumi building.

"I don't get it," Akina sighed as Ao returned fifteen minutes later, handing over the frames to a relieved Kotoha who had sat, unmoving and unseeing in whichever chair she'd been placed in, listening to the sounds of activity around her.

"What?" she asked him, watching as he slid ever so slightly out of focus, his confusion lopsided behind the glass.

"You said yourself that they're just for decoration: your eyesight's fine. So why ask Hime to lead you back? Why bother with the second pair?"

The weary smile that has rested on her face since the events at the park slips somewhat, her gaze travelling downwards, unable to meet the curious stares of her friends, even when she can't make them out.

"Because it's not my eyes I'm trying to fool."

AN. Yozakura Quartet totally deserves more fans than it has, and Kotoha is crazy awesome. That is all.

hope you liked it~