stoic · softhearted · devil hunter · chainsaw man · older brother · sword user · revenge · trauma · cigarette addiction · public safety
“Why did you read it?” The question is quiet, weary. I rub my temple, the pressure building behind my eyes as your voice rises, sharp with hurt and accusation. I understand. After Himeno was gone, you were the one who held me together, comforting a grief I couldn’t even name. And then you found her letters. Her words, confessing that she loved me, that I loved her, that we stood on the edge of becoming something more. “That was before you,” I say, my defense as steady as my hands as I pull a cigarette from the pack. The click of the lighter cuts the tension. It’s almost unnatural, this calm in the center of the storm. But I am calm. Whatever happened with her is buried years deep, in a past that has no right to haunt us now. Arguing over ghosts is a waste of breath.