The stone lands in the pond, splashing up multiple ripples.
Despite her pants and gasps for air, Kōki frowned slightly at the lack of waves. She watched as the little disturbances fade out, and ignoring the sore muscles in her leg from her morning run in the park, she swung her foot back again, and sent another rock, this time a bigger one, flying into the centre of the pond.
The stone lands with a much bigger splash, sending some ducks squawking and flapping and scattering away.
She watched as the ripples dissipate, now much calmer. Her tank-top is drenched with sweat and is now clinging to her back uncomfortably, her black sports bra is most probably visible through the white fabric but Kōki couldn't care less as she yanked her air-pods out and paced slowly down the little pond-side pathway where she's been running for the past hour.
She didn't get a lot of sleep last night, and had woken up around six, feeling much less drained but more frustrated, bottled up. And as young as she is she knew better than to leave it like that. As much as Kōki disliked it, she is a little like her father, a temperamental person, she did not, however inherit his uncanny ability to hide or suppress it, which resulted with many visits to the principal's office in primary school.
She never really thought of it as a problem, until one night.
It was a very small argument, just a little quarrel over something as trivial as how they liked their milk or their homework. But that quickly descended into a heated shouting match, and ended with a punch.
She'd punched her own sister then. And as she panted and watched Akemi, who was still taller than her then (though not by much, only several centimeters), sitting on the ground, cradling her cheek and staring up at her, she knew something was wrong.
Akemi was scared of her.
Her sister avoided her for the next few days, flinching away whenever she approached. And Kōki knew she had to change. She had to do something about it, she can't... she can't... She don't want to become someone Akemi fears.
She don't want to become like dad.
It's how she got into sports, really, morning jogs helps her relax, and she'd always go running whenever she's stressed, or go punch and kick the crap out of a punching bag instead of someone, or even go swimming sometimes. It's relaxing and relieving and easing, it's supposed to be relaxing and relieving and easing, but right now, all she can feel is the burn of her muscles, and an odd scorching behind her eyes, now misty with sweat and something else.
The sky is bright, clear and a crystal blue. With barely specks of clouds drifting about like brushes of stray feathers. A beautiful, lazy summer morning, though it don't deserve to be.
Akemi has always been about nonsense like that. 'Hey doesn't it kinda scare you that even if you died, the world just keeps on going? It's not gonna stop just because someone died.' ' It's a little strange to think that while I'm talking and laughing people on the other side of the world are dying. Huh.' , 'Oh shut up.' Kōki would say, rolling her eyes at her sister, who just cackled and continued typing on her laptop, musing these little theories of hers.
But now? Now she feels it.
It scares her that her sister might be dying out there. It scares her that her sister might very well be dead out there, and the world just keeps on turning. It just keeps on turning and it wouldn't stop. And this uncontrollable fear roils and coils and turns into anger.
How dare the world be so bright and beautiful, how dare everyone smile and wake up. How dare they, when her sister's gone, when her sister is suffering out there, when her sister might be dying out there! The thoughts haunts her mind, it haunts her and it just wouldn't leave. The anger rises in her and she can feel it, burning, churning, boiling beneath her skin until she couldn't even breath. White hot and painful in her veins until it explodes. She lets out a strangled cry and bought a fist back, swinging it directly into the tree beside her. The old bark cracks, and the softer crust of the wood parts beneath the strength. But her skin broke and her bones throb, though that only angered her more.
How dare the sky be blue today? How dare the birds still chirp and sing? How dare everything look so perfect and normal and fine— How dare those kids laugh and smile, how dare that pepple not split and break. How dare this tree not crack and fall? How dare it still stand? How dare it hurt her instead, haven't she suffered enough?
She wasn't the one going through everything. Of course, she knew that. She was never the one father took his anger out on. She was never on the worst end of the blow because Akemi always took it for her, Nee-chan always took it for her. She wasn't in the Hero Course, she wasn't the one who was at the training camp. She wasn't... she wasn't...
She wasn't there.
She wasn't there.
Kōki sobbed quietly as her anger redirected itself. How dare she not be there? How dare she?
Some sister she is.
The red sea glass dangles from her neck, and Kōki sniffles as she reaches up with her bleeding hand to grip it. The small specks of blood trailed down her fingers and the back of her hand then her wrist.
Akemi told her to do whatever she wanted with it, and this morning, she finally understood why when a package arrived at their house. A small package that contained two necklaces, along with a letter.
Akemi had them custom made for them. Kōki remembered this necklace, it was from their father and Akemi's held onto it for so long, she's moving on. She's moving on and now she's had two new ones made and she wanted to share it with her.
The small package now sits in her room. Two pieces of twinkling turquoise glass on two silver chains. 'Together Forever', the tag said, 'Together Forever'.
It hurts more than she realized.
It hurts so much when she pictured how everything would go if Akemi's returned normally, how she would laugh and smile and then help her put of this new shared necklace before perhaps, yeeting the old one right out their window. She might have protested, but Akemi would have waved it off and laughed, sniggering and ruffling her hair.
Kōki's first reaction to most things had always been anger. And Kōki's anger had always burned hot. red hot, white hot, steaming and burning and a madly lashing ball of fire, but now? Now it just hurts.
The hurt still burns though, it burns in her chest, it burns not like fire but water, it burns then boils then overflows, and choking back sobs, Kōki violently shoves the earphones back in, turned on the music full volume, then runs.
It feels like someone had extinguished that pool of ever burning fire in her, and sometime last night, replaced it with water. Water that is now bubbling, now boiling, overflowing and turning into a steam that threatened to combust, steam that now burned every inch of her being.
But just like a hot bath, eventually it faded. Her muscles numbed, the pain ebbed, and soon she's outside the greens of the pond and the trees and free sprinting down the seaside lane of Dagobah beach park. The smell of the sea doesn't reach her, the crash of the wave doesn't faze her, nothing does, and Kōki simply runs, runs, runs.
She runs and runs, and runs. The pound of her foot, the beat of her heart, the echoing guitar and bass and catchy, meaningless lyrics ringing in her ear. She didn't even bother to match her pace to the music as she usually would— it annoys her at times, when she's off beat. But what's the point now?
Nothing.
Nothing.
NOTHING.
NOTH—
Her trance cut to an abrupt halt as a small body crashed into her side, sending her off balance with an abrupt yelp. She went off course and barely managed to catch her balance in time, though even then she went careening into the bushes by the road side and oh, she's already made a loop back, again.
There are sticks in her hair and Kōki felt it as the familiar annoyance rose inside her, like the water's now all gone and the fire is back, a fire that is now rapidly morphing into the ugly rage she despises so much.
That is, until little hands grips the front of her waist bag, a child that radiates fear, radiates— hurt hurt and stop stop stop I'm scared I don't want to go back no no no more darts into her arms and a pale face half hidden by tangled hair buried itself into her sweat-soaked tank top, pallor a stark contrast with her own honey complexion.
"Help." She whispers, whimpers.
Peeking through the white locks were a small horn, and big, scarlet eyes.
Current Poll Results~ (from both the poll and the reviews)
Akemi's paring:
Todoroki Shouto: 25
Midoriya Izuku: 7
Ueno Hibiki: 7
Bakugou Katsuki: 5
Iida Tenya: 3
Iida Tensei: 1
Kaminari Denki: 1
Seiba Hiroi: 0
Others (Please state in review!)
Hibiki's pairing:
Shinsou Hitoshi: 8
Kimura Akemi: 7
Iida Tenya: 4
Midoriya Izuku: 0
Seiba Hiroi: 0
Todoroki Shouto: 0
Others (Please state in review!)
ERI!!!
Were yall' surprised? Please tell me you were, I made that as abrupt as I could.
Also, about last chapter's AN, yeah I'm doing it. I'm not very good as plotting as I go, actually, and sometimes I end up regretting some stuff which I posted earlier and couldn't change now. I don't know if I can ever get around to finishing it soon because seriously, Sonder isn't finished yet and I have no idea whether I should go straight through to the War arc and the Endeavor redeamation part, since I really want to do the redeamation.
I know, I know. Endeavor is a jerk, he shouldn't be redeemed, but... um, Look up Filial Piety on Wiki, imagine living in a society like that then... maybe you'll understand a little.
If you don't, I don't blame you. You don't know how common it really is, I mean, how Endeavor acted towards Shouto, if you tone down the beating, it's acceptable in China and its cultural satellites. I mean... My best friend is a victim, and it really hurts to see her disregard herself as a 'useless eldest child of the family' when she is so brilliant.
P.S LOLOLOL I NEARLY FORGOT THE DATE WTF SSKKSKSJKSJKSJKSJK—
Onto the comment(s)!
To Guest: Yeah, That's kinda what I was thinking, but with a more serious prologue or something, and more focus on the canon characters in the same time cos I've been neglecting them.
To xxjaelee: Ehhh it's okay everyone gets two choices~
I have a discord server where I share art for my fic and just chat, link here:
https/discord.gg/2S7Cy4R
