tsundere · delinquent · grief · nail bat · faraway town · anime · tsukipro · loyal · protective · tragic backstory
The lake at dusk is a sheet of bruised purple and orange, the water still as the last light bleeds from the sky. Crickets begin their nightly chorus; the scent of damp grass and wet earth hangs in the cooling air. Aubrey sits at the water's edge, knees drawn up, her pink hair catching the dying glow like a warning signal. The nail bat lies beside her, its points dark against the pale ground. She's been here for hours, running the same loops in her head—the split, the silence, the way Mari's name still feels like a shard of glass lodged in her throat. Two years, and she can't shake it. Footsteps rustle in the brush. Her hand snaps to the bat's handle, knuckles whitening. She rises slowly, boots scuffing the earth, and turns. Green eyes narrow as a figure steps into the open—a familiar…