Kisaragi sighed as the dining hall screamed with noise. Picking up his fork, he sawed at the disgusting piece of chicken on his plate. Right next to him, Soleil and Eponine were arguing.

"I'm telling you, boys' love is the best! Why are you so hung up on girls?" Eponine asked.

Soleil smiled smugly. "You don't understand! Soft skin, curvy hips, plump lips. Girls are the best! I don't understand how you can be satisfied."

"We don't need to fight," Hisame interjected, trying in vain to stop the quarreling girls.

However, neither of them stopped. Back and forth, they shot retorts back at each other. Kisaragi groaned and stabbed the chicken with his fork one last time. "Can you two stop arguing?" he growled.

Everyone at the table fell silent. "Sheesh, what's up with you?" Soleil asked.

"It's nothing," Kisaragi deflected. He picked up his tray and stood up. "I'm going to go put my lunch away," he said quietly as his feet carried him away from there. That table where no one understood.

Upon giving away his lunch to the lady, he found his feet carrying him somewhere else. Exiting the dining hall, his feet turned left and carried him up the stairs. Higher and higher, his eyes remained unfocused as he kept going. Eventually, he felt something get in his way. A door. Shoving it open, he stumbled outside to feel a warm gust of air blow his hair back.

For a few moments, he stood there, in the gateway between ignorance and enlightenment. Then, stepping forward, he walked until he stood at the edge of the roof. Looking down at the green grass below and the rolling hills, he realized that everyone was inside the dining hall. No one would see him up here.

On the wind was the faint scent of roses and fresh candles. It reminded him of something, but he couldn't quite recall it. But in that moment, the quiet boy with a gift for archery and a positive mind had a few quirky thoughts.

1. He remembered his mother smiling the day before her accident.

2. He could see a man. He did not know this man. One eye was blank and accepting death, the other was lost in a dreamscape.

3. A tinfoil palette was in front of him. Mixed with a ton of colors, it held no particular one. It had no distinction, it was so corrupted.

4. In front of his gaze was a beautiful rose. Its thorns glittered in the sunlight and it looked ethereal. But suddenly, the light glittering off it was red like blood. And that flower wilted…

Kisaragi leaned forward until his head was hanging over the edge. Why? Why? Why? Why?! he thought to himself. Why, indeed. Why? The world was a very ugly place. It's filled with pain and suffering. And suddenly, that young boy didn't feel very much like living in such an ugly world.

Shuffling his feet forward, he found himself sliding down the tile. Gaining momentum, he flew off the side and went hurdling toward the ground. However, seconds before hitting the ground, another thought struck him:

Maybe the world can be both ugly and beautiful.

And with that single idea - with its simple idealism - opened the boy's eyes. And right before he struck the ground and his body crumpled like a sack of bricks, he opened his mouth in a defiant gesture to shout out. And although the sound never got a chance to leave his mouth, he remained on the ground, content with the gesture. And as the world faded away to a dizzying black, he remembered one other thing he learned in school.

Black absorbs all colors and yet is still an absence of all colors.

What a strange thing that is, he thought to himself as his consciousness faded away.

Takumi was sitting in his chair, eating his lunch with the rest of the counsellors when he heard a commotion on the other side of the dining hall. Many of the campers were chattering nervously and some were yelling or screaming as they looked out the window. Pushing himself up from the table, he walked outside to turn the corner. Of the many things he had expected to see, what was there certainly shocked him far more than he ever had imagined.

A Summary of What Went Through Takumi's Mind

Nothing.

After all, seeing your son prone on the ground, blood dripping from a gash on his face, your first thought would be disbelief. That isn't your son, right? It couldn't be.

But as he approached the figure lying on the ground, it became clearer and clearer. There was no denying that the teen lying brokenly on the ground was his own flesh and blood. And that realization was simply devastating.

Takumi collapsed to his knees and hugged the broken body of his son, tears spilling down his face. There was nothing to say. At this point, what words could possibly console him? He didn't need anything. He just needed to sob. In his stomach, there was a giant black hole that churned with grief. It burned his throat and left it raw as the salty tears poured down his face and snot dribbled out of his nose. Yes, it was an ugly, ugly scene. Because lying there on those grassy hills were two broken people. A physically broken boy and a mentally broken father. And when Takumi finally looked up at the sky, it no longer seemed blue.

It seemed cold.

I know this is kinda short, but it seemed like the best place to leave the chapter off. I have other interesting things in store for the next chapter and I thought it would lose its momentum if I left it in the same chapter. I don't really have a lot to say. Writing's picking up a bit, but I still don't know where I'll go. It's kind of branching in different paths for me. I'm happy for the support I got and I'm trying to finish this up.

I'm also really excited for the character development in the next chapter. And I hope I conveyed the rather… I don't know… Ditzy feeling of the chapter. Like, kinda whimsical but dark at the same time. And with maybe a bit of detachment at the end. I don't know if I did it right, but I hope I did. Anyway, hope y'all enjoyed~