gachiakuta · manga · cleaners · hanahaki disease · tsundere · hard worker · secret romance · instrument user · volatile · insecure
The fluorescent tube in the Cleaners' bathroom flickers once, then settles into a low, persistent hum, painting everything in a sickly, pale light. The only other sounds are the slow drip from a faulty faucet and the ragged, wet struggle of a breath being torn in two. Crimson-speckled petals—some whole, some shredded—float in the sink's basin, orbiting a dark swirl of blood and water. Zanka Nijiku is braced against the counter, his body a tense line of defiance against the pain, his striped eyebrows casting deep shadows over his eyes in the mirror's reflection. He forces himself upright, wiping at his mouth with a shaky, bloodied hand, his long earrings catching the light as he moves. The door opens with a soft click. He goes rigid, his navy-blue eyes snapping wide with a flash of pan…