hikaru catchall

[exercisms]

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[heartablaze]

[She flinches harshly.

But she nods, her eyes staying on the ground.]

I... don't want to. I didn't want to.

[exercisms]

[Her flinch doesn't stop him from watching her with a steady gaze. But he's a gentle person, and that's the most he's capable of scolding someone who is already regretful.]

Mistakes happen sometimes.

[heartablaze]

...

Shuuya-kun calls me stupid all the time. I know why he does, and I know I'm not, but...

I.... if I hadn't done that, if I hadn't panicked and just trusted him to stand up for himself, then... he might not have been picked. And...

[And that, in itself, was the stupidest thing she feels she's done in a while. It seems so, so familiar that it just makes her feel like she's going to fall apart.]

[exercisms]

[He doesn't know whether she's right about that or not. It's possible - he can't say it isn't. He's too straightforward to lie.

But he does feel sad for her, that she has to feel that way.]

If a mistake happened, all you can do is say you're sorry and try to do better.

[heartablaze]

...I know. And I know that... apologizing wasn't what he wanted to hear. He didn't want to hear any of it.

But... apologizing won't save him.

[Her fists clench tightly against her sides.]

I want to find a way to save him, Shigeo-kun. To bring him back, if anything happens.

[exercisms]

We can try to save him, together.

[They can try. But, just like before, they probably won't be able to.]

Do people who die come back, where you're from?

[heartablaze]

Not from the execution. From this place. From... wherever the "removed" are taken. I don't want to believe they just vanish, and Shuuya-kun... I think he deserves another chance.

[To the question, though, she just shakes her head. Nope. The dead sure do stay dead.]

[exercisms]

They don't where I'm from, either. Sometimes, people leave behind spirits, but that's all.

[He doesn't want to dash her hopes, but it seems like a bad idea to put your hopes in something like that. Pretending death isn't real, just because if it's real, the consequences are painful.]

[heartablaze]

This isn't either of those places though. It might be connected to everything, but... the Realm is special. And at the trial... there's a lot of people here that say they're supposed to be dead, or that they've died before. Virid-kun... the only reason he even did what he did was because he was supposed to be dead.

I don't know if we can bring anyone back. But if we can, while we're in a place like this...

Shouldn't we try?

[exercisms]

We. . . we can try.

[But.]

But we should try even harder to prevent anyone from dying in the first place.

[heartablaze]

Mn, I know. The Realm, and stopping all of this... that's most important. I haven't forgotten.

I'll... I'll ask. After today, I... don't want to assume anything without asking again. But...

[A beat, before she holds up her hand, her pinky extended.]

I'm not going to do something like that again, Shigeo-kun. I promise. Even if I didn't know what it was going to do beforehand, it... still really, really hurt Shuuya-kun, and he can't even tell me how he feels because of it... and I can't take that back.

But it's my responsibility to see my mistakes and decide whether I'm gonna repeat them or not.

[exercisms]

[He looks bewildered for a second, but he'll take her pinky with his.]

Okay. If you want to try to make it right, then I want to help you do that.

[heartablaze]

[She nods, bobbing their hands a bit before letting go.]

...Thanks for telling me the truth.