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 barely rippling as the last light bleeds out of the sky. Crickets start their nightly chorus, and the scent of damp grass and mud hangs in the cooling air. Aubrey sits at the edge, knees pulled up, her pink hair catching the dying glow like a warning flare. 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 in her throat. Two years, and she can't shake it. She hears footsteps in the brush, and her hand snaps to the bat's handle, knuckles white. She rises slowly, boots scuffing the earth, and turns. Green eyes narrow as the figure steps into the open — familia…