A/N: And here is the chapter that would've been the season finale, but Zain inspired me to also publish Chapters 26-28! So I'll be updating until Christmas (with Chapters 27 & 28 on Dec 24 - 25), and then Chapter 28 works as a season finale. So don't worry, Zain, you'll get the chapter I've hinted at before the hiatus kills you. Moedernaaier, oh yes I do love my curveballs! If Naoi and Yuri want their happy ending, they're just gonna have to work for it. But will their drama put a dent in the Battlefront operation...? Stay tuned to find out.
Enjoy!
[Chapter 25]: Pain
Contrary to popular belief, Ayato Naoi did not always like to be the center of attention.
In some cases, yes, he thrived from it, basking in the spotlight like a cat in front of a window as it soaked in the sunbeams. He got a lot of things done behind the scenes, but he ate up every moment when a gathering of Afterlife students gazed upon him as their new substitute president. They looked at him as the crowds had looked at Hayato in the art exhibit, with awe and veneration as they acknowledged his success.
On the other hand, he didn't much care for the sea of eyes when he'd done something wrong, or when he felt the attention was undeserved. When he was Hayato, small legs quivering at the front of the exhibit while art fans and critics snapped photos and the flash hurt his eyes.
As it was, he would prefer it if Yui put her camera away just in case.
Six pairs of eyes were on him now, occasionally switching to Yuri, who was avoiding eye contact with everyone. He chose to ignore their stares as best he could and focus on her.
What he'd said – what that imp had said to her – he couldn't make sense of it. It was wrong. He had to be wrong. And yet the way Yuri stared down at her shoes, hugging herself protectively, it was as if she believed it. Or was it guilt? No, that wasn't possible. She wouldn't even remember doing it. She wouldn't remember, because…
"I don't believe you," Ayato said at last. "You're making this up. You put the spell on her yourself. Conveniently for you, she can't deny anything that you erased."
Rumpelstiltskin turned away from Yuri and gave Ayato a crocodile grin. "Reassure yourself all you like, dearie! It doesn't change a thing."
He paced to the center of the bridge, tenting his fingers.
"After you divorced her, she couldn't bear the way you made her feel." He flourished his hand dismissively. "Yes, I gave her the potion. I warned her of the side effects. I didn't force it down her throat. It was Yuri who decided forgetting you was the best cure for her pain."
He gave another flick of his hand. Like magic, a golden chain slipped from his sleeve and dangled on his fingers.
"She even agreed to trade this lovely locket for my services."
Ayato stared at the jewelry in the man's grasp. The arrangement of emeralds and amethysts was unmistakable; even Yuri would be able to recognize its resemblance to her ring. For that man to have it in his possession…
No. No, it couldn't be.
"How do I know you didn't just steal the locket as you did my watch?" Ayato demanded, staring at him intensely. He couldn't hypnotize him, but he could search his scaly face for the truth.
Rumpelstiltskin merely blinked at him.
"Miss Nakamura," he said dryly. "A few months ago, did you or did you not find in your possession… oh, perhaps… a small empty glass vial?"
Yuri finally looked up, realization flooding her features. "I… I did," she said softly.
Feigning a sympathetic cringe, Rumpelstiltskin leaned in and brought his mouth close to Ayato's ear. "Em-pty means she drank the po-tion…" he singsonged.
Ayato felt sick. There was only so much he could look past, so much he could explain away.
She had thrown her wedding ring at him and disappeared into the storm. She had come home, drenched and tear-stained. She had left him that Sunday night with only a letter on the table. Refused to get the rest of her possessions herself, refused to answer his calls, refused to acknowledge him any further.
And somewhere along the line, she had traded the locket he'd given her – for a potion to wipe his entire existence from her memories.
Because he'd broken her heart. Which meant he'd still had her heart in the first place.
And that meant he'd been drastically mistaken in his interpretation of what had happened between them the night of the concert. He wracked his memories, going over them with a fine-toothed comb. If she had loved him…
"You…" She'd looked up at him with anticipation, not unease.
"Hence the part where you scrambled off of me." She wasn't mocking him, she'd felt rejected.
"I didn't realize you hated me that much."
It was this line. This line that had stuck with him for so many months. This line that had bothered him the most. At first he'd thought she was just being melodramatic, making a scene and throwing things for effect.
Then she'd run out into the storm just to get away from him. She'd moved out of the house two days later just to get away from him. She'd left Mizuzaka by December just to get away from him.
Deep down, he always knew he'd driven her away.
But then – was this choice so easy for her that she'd been able to make it in two months? His mother wouldn't even leave his father after decades of cruelty, and Yuri could just decide to fetch herself a goddamn potion to forget about him in a matter of months? Or was it weeks?
He couldn't get the thought out of his head – she drank a potion to forget him. If Rumpelstiltskin was to be trusted, she'd heard the side effects. She knew exactly what she was doing. She traded her anniversary locket as payment, because she wouldn't need the reminder anymore, because she would get rid of all the other reminders as well.
She probably burned the pictures that Ryou and Sunohara had fetched for her. He wouldn't put it past her. Apparently he couldn't even put it past her to burn the memories from her head.
All along he'd been so concerned for her, so furious at this despicable magic man who'd randomly put a spell on her to specifically forget him. Only to find out she'd done it herself.
She'd wanted him out of her head. She'd chosen to erase his existence.
"If it's your potion, then reverse the effects," Otonashi said from behind him, breaking the heavy silence that had come over the group.
Rumpelstiltskin glanced in his direction with interest, as if suddenly remembering he was there.
"Reverse the effects?"
"The magic," Hinata said sternly. "Undo it. There has to be a way."
Rumple stared blankly at them.
"There's nothing I can do," he said, and began to pace the bridge once more. "Nothing that can cure what she's got. The potion took away all her memories and her love for him. The Yuri you knew is gone, and there's only one thing that can bring her back."
"Oh yeah? What's that?" Fujimaki asked, narrowing his eyes.
"It's true love's kiss."
The entire group – minus Ayato and Yuri – flinched with a startled cry, gawking at Kanade like she had grown a brand new set of angel wings and a harmonics clone, or even accepted Rumpelstiltskin into the Battlefront just now.
"No offense, Kanade, but this isn't exactly a fairytale," Hinata muttered, rubbing the back of his head.
"Oh no, she's absolutely right," said Rumpelstiltskin, turning to him with another vague theatric gesture. "An act of true love can break any curse."
Otonashi frowned thoughtfully. "So, if Naoi kisses her—"
"It won't work."
The Battlefront turned to look at Yuri, who had lifted her head again but still refused to meet anyone's eyes. She scowled out over the water, arms folded tightly across her chest. Hinata, Yui, Shiina, and Fujimaki backed away slightly, like the anger radiating from the woman had burned them. More concerned than afraid, Otonashi and Kanade stayed where they were.
Softly, Kanade ventured, "Why not?"
Ayato scoffed at the Angel's naïveté and her unnecessary comforting hand on Yuri's shoulder. The answer should be quite plain by now; it certainly was to him. "Because it's not true love."
"Why not?" Otonashi pressed.
Yuri brought her cold gaze to Ayato, eyes set in a hardened glare. "Because I don't love him."
He glared back at her. What right did she have to be angry about all this? It was like Rumpelstiltskin said, nobody forced the potion down her throat.
"That much is clear," he muttered. "I was right. You're not who I thought you were."
Her expression darkened. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"The woman I loved never would've taken that potion if she still cared about me, not with full knowledge of what I've been through!" he snapped, meeting her head-on. "Your amnesia is your own selfish fault."
"Who says I even want to remember you?" Yuri said crisply, jabbing a finger in his face. "I wouldn't do something like this unless you gave me a damn good reason!"
"Divorce is a terrible reason! Why didn't you just grow up and get over your pathetic heartbreak like an adult?"
Yuri recoiled with an indignant gasp, backing up a couple of steps. Her sharp emerald eyes widened with anger – and perhaps hurt, though at this point he doubted she was capable of feeling such a human emotion.
"And to think," she managed through gritted teeth, "all this time I thought that you… that I had…" Groaning, she clutched her forehead in frustration. "God, I feel so stupid!"
"Drinking that potion was stupid!"
"Really? Because I'm starting to think it was the smartest thing I've ever done." She pressed her lips together, frowning at him contemplatively, then held a clenched fist to her heart. "I loved my brother and sisters, so I held onto my memories of them for a long time, even when they were painful."
He faltered. That was true; one of the most notable qualities of Yuri Nakamura was her stubborn inability to let the past go. It was likely for that reason she had still been in love with him. But then, she had sure seen fit to let go of the anniversary locket he'd given her. And all of her mementos. And Mizuzaka. Just so she could properly let go of him.
Sucking in her cheeks, she leaned in so close he could see the flare of her nostrils and the fire in her eyes.
"I was right about one thing. You must have been worth forgetting."
Ayato felt like he'd been slapped. No — more like she'd shoved her fist into his chest, clamped onto his heart and twisted, then ripped it out of his body and squeezed with all her strength until it crumbled into dust.
Well, then. At least she'd finally come out and said it.
"You've just been trying to get me to remember you because of that God complex of yours, haven't you?" Yuri challenged, poking him in the chest. "It was nothing more than your desperate need for attention, and power. Well let me tell you something, Naoi, I never want to remember you. So don't even think of using your hypnosis to make me kiss you."
Outrage clawed at his chest, then his throat, making it hard for him to breathe. So they were back to that, then? It was offensive enough that she thought he was so foolish as to believe such a thing would work, but for her to still believe he would even do that to her in the first place…
"As if I would lower myself to such practices," he spat, resentment and irritation burning painfully at the back of his head. "Keep your amnesia! I have no interest in rescuing weak little damsels in distress such as yourself."
Her eyes flashed dangerously. "I assure you, I am not—"
"ENOUGH of your bickering!" Rumpelstiltskin barked, startling them into silence. He looked far less amused by this situation than he used to be.
Ayato fumed quietly. Yuri might've chosen to drink the potion, but that reptilian scum had dangled the carrot in front of her face. Among other things. That thief had played his part in this. But for what reason?
To his and Yuri's surprise, Rumpelstiltskin reached out – and swiped the beret right off her head.
"Don't you recall? Everything comes with a price! Including information, and wasted time." He revealed his wrist and tapped the glass of a familiar watch with a sharp, dirty fingernail, sneering as Ayato growled warningly in chorus with Yuri's yelp of indignation. "If either of you two lovebirds need me, if you change your mind… you know how to find me."
With one last grating giggle, the magic man vanished into thin air.
Ayato let out an annoyed breath. He knew his mind hadn't been playing tricks on him that night. Good riddance – that man was fooling himself if he thought they would ever want to see his crocodile smile around here again.
Sighing resolutely, he turned back to Yuri with a frown. She was feeling around on her head for something she clearly knew wasn't there anymore, a dull look in her eyes. If he didn't know any better, he might feel bad for her. If he didn't know any better.
"On top of everything, my beret is gone." Yuri darkened her gaze as it settled on him. "This is your fault!"
"Oh, is it?" Ayato scoffed, matching her glower as he hunched forward slightly. "What did I do in all this? Break your heart? You're the one who emptied it."
She bit her lip, swallowing hard. He had her and they both knew it.
"You drank that potion. You took away your love." He leaned in until he could feel her shallow breath on his lips. But he wouldn't dare go further, knowing what her own lips had touched. "It's your fault that you're just a hollow, loveless shell of the person you used to be."
An emotion that could once again be misconstrued as hurt flashed across her features, and she pulled back once more. Maybe he really had offended her. Maybe he wanted to. Maybe if that stupid potion hadn't eliminated all her pain, she deserved to feel what was left of it.
After all, he shouldn't be the only one dealing with this.
That vindictive little wench.
There was a long, persisting silence, then Yuri breathed out harshly through her nose and balled her hands into fists at her sides. Her stare was as empty as he imagined the potion bottle to be. As empty as it was when she first "met" him.
"This operation is over," she snapped. Pivoting on her heel, she breezed past him and headed across the bridge. "We're done here."
Another voice called from the opposite side of the bridge, "Yurippe, where are you going?!"
"Home!" she yelled over her shoulder.
Ayato felt a sudden rush of déjà vu, which infuriated him even more as he watched her storm off.
"Go on, Nakamura! Leaving is what you're good at!" he yelled after her, following her with his eyes as she stepped off the bridge. "Maybe you should call my mother and give her a few tips!"
His words made her slow, then stop, and she swung around to look at him. Standing there on the dirt path, the sun glinting on the top of her hair and giving it an angry red glow, she sized him up from afar.
And then she said, in a cold voice, "Well, you're just a chip off the old block, aren't you?"
The phrase felt like a shard of broken pottery impaled through his stomach, twisting his innards and gutting him mercilessly. His heart froze up along with his blood, yet still it was pounding hard, and he could feel the same pounding in his head. Everything felt like ice, except for his throat, which burned and thickened with nausea.
Yuri Nakamura never compared him to his father. Never.
Who the hell did she think she was?
Satisfied with his silence, she turned again – and hurried down the path until she disappeared into the forest. Ayato watched her go, breathing heavily, his stomach turning over and over as pain and anger rammed into it along with his head, his heart, his lungs…
Someone cleared their throat. It finally registered that he wasn't the only one Yuri had left behind on this bridge. Taking a deep breath, he turned to properly face the rest of the Battlefront. They didn't look too pleased with him.
God, his head hurt so much.
Although he held it off as best he could, Ayato damn well got an earful when he got home.
Every single one of them, excluding a quiet Kanade, gave him the third degree on the trek back to his neighborhood. He refused to give either of them anything but clipped responses — not even Otonashi — and walked as fast as he could ahead of the group. Damn Yui and Hinata for being leggy and athletic!
Hinata and Otonashi seemed to give up for a couple of minutes, muttering things quietly to Fujimaki and the girls that he didn't care to eavesdrop on. Then, as they neared the house and saw the front door wide open and Yuri's car gone, they immediately started up again.
Apparently, Yuri had remembered where the spare key was and had let herself in. She'd grabbed her bag from the hall closet and left, but not before unleashing some classic Nakamura wrath. She'd knocked the shoebox off the coffee table, spilling the pictures and rings all over the floor.
Now Otonashi, Hinata, and Fujimaki were not letting him hear the end of it.
"You told us it was mutual!" Hinata growled, pacing restlessly around the TV room. "You said she wanted the divorce just as much as you did!"
"And she gave me no reason to believe otherwise!" Ayato shot back defensively. He started towards the kitchen, but Fujimaki grabbed his shoulders and spun him back around to face him.
"She moved out in days and fled town without telling you!" Fujimaki's grip tightened as he shook him by the shoulders. "Good God, man! Read between the lines!"
Ayato shoved him hard in the chest, pushing him towards Hinata with a snarl. "You keep your hands off of me!"
He burst into the kitchen, furiously opening and slamming the cabinet doors. Just as he suspected, she'd taken off with the Key coffee. Apparently Rumpelstiltskin's thieving ways had rubbed off on her. There were spilled coffee grounds on the counter, likely left there out of spite. Hissing angrily, he swept his hand across the counter and knocked the mess into the sink.
"I should have known," Hinata said darkly, hovering in front of the pass-through. When Ayato turned to him with a questioning frown, he continued, "I gave you the benefit of the doubt, especially when I realized how you felt about her—"
"What?!"
"—but I knew there was more to it when Yurippe mentioned crying alone outside." Hinata gave him a death glare. "It was never the song and you know it."
"Of course it was the song," said Ayato, feeling particularly spiteful as he fetched a drink out of the fridge. Yui certainly wouldn't be coming in for one anymore. "You heard her sniveling about it on the way to Kyuuya."
He wouldn't pretend he hadn't seen Yui and Shiina rifling through the hall closet. They'd come in to take their verbal shots at him, then gone outside after fetching everyone's travel bags and hadn't come back in. He could see them outside through the glass of the windowpanes by the door, sitting on the front porch with Kanade and hovering over the phone in her hands.
"It wasn't the song, Naoi," Otonashi said firmly. "You made her cry. She probably associates the song with the pain she felt when you broke her heart."
Ayato purposefully ignored the wretched twinge in his chest, and popped the top off his drink. Wasn't Otonashi supposed to be the smart one here? Or did he take one of those ridiculous magic potions and forget what they'd learned today?
"But that's impossible, Otonashi. She erased her pain," he reminded him. He took a sip and grimaced. It left a bitter taste in his mouth, so he hurled it at the sink in disgust. "Just like she erased me!"
"Fair is fair, Naoi," Fujimaki said gruffly, leaning against the wooden frame of the kitchen doorway with his arms crossed. "You told her she meant nothing to you, so she made you nothing to her."
"How is that fair?!" Ayato demanded, glaring at him in astonishment. "How are you all seriously defending her petty decision?"
"Because maybe she didn't want this to happen," said Otonashi, always one of Princess Yuri's most loyal subjects. "Maybe that was the reason she moved, because she didn't want to hurt you!"
"Oh, my mistake, how considerate of her!" Ayato put a hand to his heart, not even trying to thinly veil his sarcasm. "She removed me from her memories, and then to make up for it she decided to never see me again!"
Hinata slammed his hands on the shelf of the pass-through, making Ayato flinch and throw him a warning look. Yuri's parents might have paid for this house but he would have to handle repairs.
"It means it was never about you!" he snapped. "She didn't want you to find out! She just wanted to stop loving you!"
Pushing past Fujimaki, Ayato re-entered the TV room and swept a disbelieving look at his critics. He reserved the most disappointed one for Otonashi, but especially shook his head at Hinata.
"Time – heals – all – wounds!" he said sharply, hitting his fist against the wall for emphasis. Then he pointed a finger at Otonashi. "You're a doctor! You should know this!"
"So does medicine," said Hinata, before Otonashi could speak up.
Ayato was outraged. Him and his smart mouth! He just kept running it! He had a response and a defense for everything, did he? Of course he did, since he was Yurippe's best friend and all, cofounding the Afterlife Battlefront together. What more could Ayato expect from him?
"I can't believe I thought you'd ever be on my side," he hissed. Hinata faltered at that, looking almost troubled. At the moment, Ayato didn't care. "Why am I the only bad guy here? Why do you defend Yuri on everything, even for doing something as foolish and insensitive as this?"
"Maybe we trust Yurippe's judgment a little more than we trust you."
With a scowl, Ayato spun towards the kitchen doorway. "What the hell do you mean by that?"
Fujimaki shrugged, unruffled.
"Yurippe's smart decisions in the Battlefront were why we stood behind her and called her our leader. Everything she ever did was to protect us, to leave as many unhurt as she could." He raised a judgmental eyebrow in his direction. "And you… I mean, I really wouldn't put it past you to hypnotize her into kissing you."
Ayato snarled viciously and tried to lunge at him, but the other two quickly reacted. Hinata grabbed hold of one of his arms and Otonashi grabbed the other.
"You should probably go," Otonashi said, tightening his grip as Ayato struggled against his restraints.
"Please," Fujimaki snorted. "What's that little shrimp going to do to me?"
"Hypnotize you into jumping into the river?" Hinata quipped.
Fujimaki froze, and there was a brief flicker of fear on his face as he registered Hinata's deadpan suggestion. Then he headed down the hall to the foyer with a dismissive wave. "Alright, later."
The front door closed behind him. Only then did Otonashi and Hinata release Ayato from their hold. Still, growling under his breath, he glared angrily at the door. He couldn't believe he had to share a town with that imbecile.
To think, if he had moved here six months ago, Yuri could have run straight into his arms like she had done today. Then Yuri never would have taken that vile forgetting potion and she would have gotten over him. She would still have her love, and she would have paraded it around Mizuzaka. And Ayato still would have hated everything. Fate was cruel any way you sliced it.
Otonashi and Hinata were still standing behind him, hovering over each shoulder. Their arms were folded when he turned to them, like he had done something wrong. Like he wasn't completely justified in trying to punish Fujimaki for his slander. It only fueled his ire more.
When Fujimaki had insinuated that he was likely to hypnotize Yuri into giving him his way, in that moment Ayato hadn't wanted to hypnotize him into a fish. He had wanted to punch him in the face. He wanted to knock him to the ground as he had done with NPCs. It was a violent urge he was admittedly grateful they didn't let him give into, because it would have made him exactly like Kimito – a "chip off the old block," so to speak. But remembering that just made him furious again.
"I know why you didn't let me get him," said Ayato. Unclenching his fists, he pointed a finger accusingly at the two of them. "You were siding with him too! Admit it!"
Frowning, Otonashi shook his head. "We just didn't want anyone else to get hurt."
"Who else is hurt except me?!" Ayato demanded, teeth gritted. "Certainly not Yuri! She relieved her pain, she can't remember any of it! She is just fine!"
Only he was hurt in this situation, but that clearly didn't matter to them. Yuri could flee to Noroi with no repercussions and no qualms, she could run away from their friends and their interrogations, but he had to just stand here and take it. He had to remember and feel everything.
"Bull shit," Hinata snapped. "Didn't you see her face? She was devastated!" He took a threatening step forward. "I'm starting to think we got a glimpse of what happened that night. You just can't ever let her down gently, can you?"
Him! Him, let her down gently?!
"So you just tuned out everything she said to me, is that right?" Ayato squinted at him angrily. "If she's so devastated, she can go take another potion!" He laughed then, a scoff bitter on his tongue. "You heard Rumpelstiltskin. She knows how to find him."
But presently, the snide comment started eating away at him. He knew how to find the imp only because Yukine had tipped him off. How would Yuri know...? How had she known to seek him out for the potion in the first place? She couldn't have asked Yukine all the way in Kyuuya—
Otonashi's cell phone buzzed in his pocket. He dug it out and checked the screen.
"Kanade says they still haven't been able to get Yuri on her phone," Otonashi said, reading the text with a worried look. "They've tried a million times from Kanade's cell phone and Yui's, and she just won't answer."
Ayato rolled his eyes.
"Of course she won't answer her phone! She's driving," he stressed, as if talking to a child. A pang of guilt told him not to speak this way to Otonashi, but he was damn sure Yuri must have mentioned something to him about her past by now. "She may have monstrous road rage, but she refuses to talk on the phone while she's behind the wheel. Careless driving, snow or otherwise, is offensive to her!"
"Oh—" Otonashi started to say.
"So stop acting like I've broken her heart all over again!" Ayato's voice was hoarse with rage. "She's just embarrassed because I called her out for what she was!"
A hollow, loveless shell of a woman. An impulsive, selfish, spoiled princess who always ran away from her pain while somehow simultaneously letting it consume her. What the hell did she know about pain?
He glowered at her two lackeys he called friends.
"Get it through your thick heads – she doesn't care. She doesn't care about me."
Despite what they'd learned today – especially because of what he'd learned today – she never did.
He made the mistake of glancing up, and Hinata was staring at him with the exact same horrible card-reading look he'd given him when he dropped him off at his car in Noroi a week ago. He hated that look.
"And what about you?" Hinata asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.
Ayato tightened his jaw – he hated that look so much. "What do you mean?" he said through gritted teeth, knowing exactly what he meant.
"Do you love her?"
Something withered in his chest and pinched at his lungs, compressing them. He struggled to ignore the ache, but his breathing felt heavy and irregular. He hated this question more than the look. Hinata was just as bad as Kanade.
Regaining his composure, Ayato scowled even deeper. "How can I love someone who would willingly reject my existence?"
"That didn't answer my question!" Hinata persisted, leaning forward dangerously. "I asked, do you love her?"
Ayato's eyes glowed a warning. "Ask me again, I dare you."
"Do you love her?!"
Third strike for the idiot baseball boy. Heat pooled at the back of his head, quick and at the ready, as Hinata's eyes unwillingly latched onto his. The keening whine that picked up into an annoying ringing buzz was worth his stunned silence.
"You love the front door," Ayato hissed, and gestured grandly down the hall. "Go on, throw yourself into your true love's embrace!"
Obedient, Hinata charged mindlessly towards the foyer with a wild, infatuated determination. Ayato followed to the hallway in sadistic interest. He would have finally become the battering ram he was born to be if Otonashi hadn't rushed in front of him at the midway point and caught him in his arms.
"Hinata, do not throw yourself at the door!" Otonashi shouted, sounding surprisingly stern and authoritative. More so than usual, that is. As Hinata shook himself out of his daze, Otonashi's booming voice had a severe glare to match. "Naoi, that's enough! You can't use hypnotism to solve all your problems!"
Ayato flinched at Otonashi's scolding tone, then recovered enough to snarl, "Just get out! Both of you!"
How dare he take sides! How dare they always take everyone else's sides! Even after he had been recruited, it was always him versus them!
Assenting, Otonashi turned around and dragged Hinata with him to the foyer. But before he walked down the aisle to his true love, Hinata chanced a dirty look over his shoulder at Ayato.
"Jackass!" he barked.
"Toilet paper!" Ayato shot back.
The door opened and slammed behind them. He stormed back into the TV room, searching heatedly for something to throw. Then the toe of his shoe stepped on something hard on the floor. Glancing down, he realized he was standing amongst the wreckage of the shoebox. Underneath his foot was a familiar framed photograph. He bent over and picked it up, studying it for a second.
Yuri – his wife, Yuri – smiled up at him while wrapped in the arms of her loving husband. The man in the picture looked endlessly, blissfully happy, a look on his face like he'd finally gotten married to the love of his life.
Ayato hurled the frame across the room as hard as he could. It smacked against the wall perpendicular to the couch and shattered the glass into pieces.
Then he threw himself face-first onto the couch and screamed.
Preview:
"I should have seen this coming."
"She wouldn't have known if you hadn't shown her how!"
"It wasn't enough!"
"Were you so convinced I deserved this?"
"Ignorance is bliss."
"You're of no help to me."
"We both know what pushing out love does to a person."
[Chapter 26]: Guilt.
