Chapter 4: Facade
I'm furious, but mostly hurt. Miki left me behind for 7 years for barely a reason and I hate him for it.
"So why are you back now?" Katsu always knows what I'm thinking.
"They've lessened the number of ghoul investigators, and it's safer in the 9th ward now" he replies.
"So what? You came to take her back there?"
"It was our home for 7 years"
"And this has been my home for the other 10!" I speak for the first time in a while.
"So you don't want to come back with me?"
"I'M staying in the 20th ward, YOU can do what you like" my decision if final.
I would never leave the friends I've made here, they're just like my family. Miki looks dumbfounded, but eventually composes himself.
"I guess I made my way back here for nothing then" and that is all he says before he stalks off into the night. Touka and Katsu have the wisdom not to speak for a while, and we make our way back to Anteiku where Hinami is eagerly (and hungrily) waiting.
We enter through the front door and Hinami gives us a warm "welcome back" hug. I smile and hug her back, hopefully my tears are dried and gone by now.
"Did you get lots of food?" She asks.
"Plenty" I confirm.
We open Touka's bag to reveal a slender woman with green curly hair that goes to her shoulders. Everyone gets a large chunk of meat and we dig in. I allow my one normal eye to go black as I satisfy my hunger. Touka acquires some scissors and cuts off a lock of the woman's hair. She walks over to me and holds it out for me to eat. I attempt to eat it out of her fingers but she gives me a disgusted look and drops it on my meat instead.
Hinami and Touka leave first.
"Bye bye Mie!" Hinami waves.
"See ya tomorrow Hinami!" I wave back enthusiastically and she laughs.
We sit around for a little while talking about nothing in particular and I keep up my usual upbeat attitude.
"Wow, is that the time? I better get going, school tomorrow" I wave as I make my way out the door. When I'm outside, Katsu quickly emerges from the shop to talk to me.
"Hey Mie, are you ok?"
"I'm fine, why?" I lie.
"Just that thing with your brother..." She trails off.
"I'm ok, really. I'm tougher than I look you know!" MiNeko Pose activate!
"Alright then, cya tomorrow" she says gloomily as she walks back inside.
I finally get some solitude as I walk back to my apartment that I moved into last year. Katsu was right, I'm not ok. Actually, I'm not completely happy a lot of the time. In a world of pain and despair, I figured I'd try to be a little light in a situation, always positive. 'When did I choose this way of life?' I ask myself. It was probably when Miki first left when we were 10. I was very upset for a long time and everyone else around me was always sad. 'If one sad person can turn a whole room sad, maybe a happy one can make a room happy' I thought. That's when I decided to laugh instead of cry, smile instead of being angry and MiNeko pose instead of not being ok. 'But what happens when someone breaks that state of mind? It breaks, falls apart and can't be mended' with these morbid thoughts filling my mind, I cry myself to sleep.
Asuna: Another short and sad chapter (sorry). I feel like crying, but instead I think I might laugh in the spirit of this chapter.
*laughs maniacally*
Ok… that ended up being really creepy. Tomorrow's chapter is back up to 900-ish words, so please look forward to it!
