Their bodies are littered with scars, far from disfigured.
Watanuki has scars, on his heart, on his body.
Each one represents something he fears. This one here, from falling, he'd been careless and gotten caught by a tentacle nobody else could see; that one there, from claws, when nobody was looking and he couldn't even cry out in pain; and another, from teeth, pain and pain and pain, that was all he could remember; so too one other, from darkness, cold and consumed, scared, alone.
He has lived with fear, all his life. A fear that others could not understand, nobody was there. It was like living on the other side of a mirror. He so desperately wanted to be on the other side of the glass, to be able to laugh and care. Now though, he must consider everything; would he trade his memory, the places he knew, the people he knew cared, for that taste of normalcy? Would he give up his connections, the things that held him down now, to start over knowing, somehow, what he had lost? Wasn't that how he was living now? Would he be able to do it again? Was he strong enough? Except...
Maybe they've started to heal, the scars on his heart, the ones that truly matter.
--
Doumeki has scars, from protection, from determination.
Each one represents something he remembers. This one here, from falling, his grandfather rescued him from a tree; that one there, from claws, when a kitten he rescued from a dog scratched him in fear, but the kitten eventually loved him too; and another, from teeth, when he found an abused puppy; so too one other, from darkness, cold and consumed with worry. Most are because of Watanuki.
The teachers speculated domestic violence, when they were in school, with whispering voices behind hands that could not silence the secrets. Students imagined outrageous scenarios; the mafia, maybe he owed them money?; he was homeless, living on the street but coming to school, somehow; or perhaps he was suicidal? They didn't know, they never would. Sometimes he wonders how his life would have been. Would it have been the same? The same thing, every day. Yuuko once hinted that they were fated to meet. What if hitsuzen was different? Would the scars still be there?
And yet he regrets not one hurt, begrudges not one moment of pain, not for him.