Loneliness.
Loneliness. That was all he ever felt.
A small, blue-haired boy sits on the sidewalk. He's somehow found himself in a neighbourhood, lights shining through the window of the houses. He sits there in silence; it's night and he doesn't know where he is.
Not that it mattered; he didn't have a place he called home to go back to, anyways. But sometimes, he could see the faint silhouettes of people through the curtains. One house in particular caught his attention. The curtains were drawn open, revealing a sight of a dining room. Two adults and two kids sat at the table, fork and knives in hand, smiling and chattering about something he would never know about.
The child frowns, and draws his knees towards his chest and wraps his arms around them.
The sight of the happy family made him feel...empty. He hadn't known the word for it, at the time, but he had felt lonely.
He's sixteen now, and he stands in a deserted alleyway, droplets of heavy rain battering against his body. It doesn't bother him though, no, not at all. Because as he looks across the street towards the bar and it's owners that had openly welcomed him and Misaki, then stole Misaki away from him, he feels...angry, yes. Betrayed, yes. And perhaps even a little afraid that he's slowly loosing his grasp on Misaki, slowly loosing his grasp on the world. It was as if Misaki was walking further down one path, while Saruhiko was straying onto another dark path.
He was scared. Scared of loosing Misaki.
Scared of feeling lonely.
He's lived upon this world for nineteen years, and his closest companion is the loneliness. Clad in a blue uniform with a sword, boots, and purple wristbands, he sits in the middle of the polished office of Scepter4. His fellow clansmen surround him, all intently looking at their screens, the tap-tap of keyboards and the occasional scratch of someone scribbling down a report. Saruhiko sits in his chair, and a familiar heaviness weighs on his chest, his eyes dart around, before he his fingers clench against the pen in his hand.
Look, he consoles himself, look. You aren't alone here. There, in the back corner of the room, is the vice-captain. She's always there, making sure no one slacks off. Ah, right in front of you. Akiyama. Not a friend, but he's always accompanying you on missions. There's also Domyouji, Fuse, Kamo, Enomoto...
You aren't alone here.
"Tch." A few turn around, staring at him quizzically, and he simply ignores them.
The teenager sits in a room full of people, yet he feels nothing but the emptiness that resides within himself.
And there's nothing worse than feeling lonely in a room full of people.
