#SORT OF JUST FELT LIKE MAKING A DRABBLE ABOUT HYDE'S MEETING WITH LINNE AND BOY I GOT CARRIED AWAY WHEN I MADE THIS BUT YES

[voidxred]

                                                     ”…I’m…still…alive, huh…”

The sun begins to rise, it’s beams of light reflecting harshly off the tinted windows of the buildings nearby. Directly being hit by those radiant beams lie a boy, sprawled out on the cold concrete surface, faintly breathing, and covered head to toe in wounds with a pool of blood slowly widening underneath his mauled body as he groggily comes to.

It had struck without warning.

It was supposed to be another ordinary day, another ordinary day spent at school, and another ordinary dinner spent alone like always when he returned home.

That’s how it was supposed to be, but as fate would have it, that ordinary high school student seeking to add some spice to his boring everyday life by investigating what was supposed to just be rumors swimming around town about the so-called ‘Shadows that devoured people’ was plunged into this Night against his will and there—

Those ordinary days came to an end in the form of that creature’s claws piercing the boy’s chest like a lance.  The unsuspecting boy didn’t even have time to figure out what had happened before his body was run through and laughably flung away like a cheap rag doll.  He wasn’t even allowed a final scream for help as his body was mounted by a grotesque, black creature hell-bent on devouring the poor boy body and soul before his wounds had the chance to overcome him.  

In the face of those fangs and claws the boy’s mind froze over and emptied out.  He wouldn’t even feel pain as the creature cruelly tore into his flesh and took bit by bit out of him.

Everything that had followed afterwards was all a blur.  

When he came to all he could recall was an intense burning sensation in his chest, a frantic voice calling out to him, and then an explosion of red light. After that, as if abducted by that red light, that creature had vanished without a trace.

Then there was darkness.

A pure blackness so deep it was almost suffocating.

And then, nothing. As if something important had been ripped out of his body

Mustering all the strength available to him, the student pushes his blonde bangs out of his eyes with his free hand.  In his right hand there was a long, ominously pulsating red blade he’d never seen before yet at the same time it felt incredibly familiar - like seeing your reflection in a mirror for the first time and instinctively recognizing yourself.  As for where it came from and why he had it, he didn’t know and frankly and didn’t even care right now.

All he knew was, this really didn’t make any sense at all. Seriously. None of it. Not one single thing.

It was as if he had dozed off in class and fell into some bizarre nightmare.

…Yeah, that made sense.  Once he closed his eyes and went to sleep he would just wake up at his desk after having chalk tossed at him by the instructor as always.  

But honestly that was just his own wishful thinking.

Intuitively, the boy already understood that this was no dream. Without a doubt, this was terrible, cold, irreversible reality.

‘Am I… Am I seriously going to die like this?’ , he wondered as his crimson eyes continue to gaze at the rising sun. There’s nobody here. Even if he had the strength left to call for help there wasn’t a single soul around to hear him.  

“Heh…”

Shit… Guess you’re just out of luck.

Getting drowned by the warm rays of the morning spring sun, it felt as though I was about to simply melt away and gradually….

                                              … slowly…

                                                                      …disappear…

Still, it didn’t seem like such a bad way to go in the long run. Sure as hell beats getting devoured by whatever that weird-ass thing was.  I just wish I did a little more with my life than this.  At the very least, if I knew I was going to die today I would have at least told Harada-san not to bring those notes to my place later.  I’m always causing her so much trouble…

However,  just before that particular student’s eyes close for the final time, suddenly blocking those warm rays out of his eyes, a hooded figure came into view, looking down on the fatally wounded boy with a somewhat disinterested expression.  

“Hey, you unlucky student laying on the ground helplessly there, do you want to live?”

A surprisingly soft voice asked.  

“…”

Of course.  He coudn’t see a reason to refuse such an offer.  No one in their right mind would say so otherwise. So why was she asking?  Why the hell hadn’t she hurried and called an ambulance or something?  Why was she acting this calmly even while he was bleeding to death and about to take that one-way boat ride down the Sanzu River?  Was she an idiot?

He begins to get a bit angry. After all, he had the right to be with all this nonsensical bullshit he couldn’t make heads or tails of happening to him. Dealing with an idiotic person like this certainly was the last thing he needed in his current condition. He wanted to live. He wanted to keep living. No matter how ashamed he felt of himself, or ugly his life had been up until now, or if there was no reason at all for it he wanted to continue existing. He wanted to remain here. He wanted to talk to Harada again. He wanted to apologize to Yuzu-nee for turning his back on her and running away all that time ago. It was fine as long as he could stand up, he’ll walk away from this place all by himself if that’s what it took! Lifting his upper body up using only his arms with an enormous amount of effort the high-school student glared up at the girl with fierce, blood-colored eyes and hellish pupils, just about ready to give her a piece of his mind. And just like that, his voice dies in his throat along with any trace of hostility.

“Ah——”

Taking place of his frustration was pure, undiluted astonishment.  With a clattering noise the blade he had been gripping tightly this whole time slips from his fingers as he stares up at the brunette.

Before his eyes was a girl around his age.  No. Even younger than that. Maybe by a year or two give or take. Short caramel-brown hair, light skin, and lightly colored violet eyes that held a focus in them as though they belonged to some tempered seventeenth century samurai.  

”——”

Those sharp eyes aside she had a frighteningly fragile-looking appearance, which only made those claw marks scattered to and fro all over her body ever more prevalent.  It didn’t even need to be said she had acquired those wounds defending him from that creature that attacked him.

A chuckle.

Not from the boy, but from her.  She didn’t smile, but the girl’s eyes from under that hood seemed to be making fun of him as if saying ‘You’re a feisty one, aren’t you?’

With that, the boy flustered a bit. It suddenly dawned on him that this whole time he had been scowling at the person who had just saved his life like she had just stolen the food off his plate. And because of that, a whole new kind of embarrassment hit him like a ton of bricks.  

“Th, that’s uh…I…” His voice begin to trail off along with his flickering consciousness.

“Well?” The girls says directing the question at the helpless and bumbling student once again. “I don’t think you have enough time to consider your options. If you’re a man, you should at least be decisive about these things.”

He hated to admit it but she was definitely right.

After straining to sit up and getting flustered he didn’t have much more energy to keep himself conscious let alone respond with all the thoughts spinning around in his head and fading consciousness. Even so, the boy nods his head slowly, cautiously, as if afraid his head would fall off from his shoulders if he wasn’t careful.

Satisfied with his response the girl lifts her hood and gives a small but unbelievably beautiful smile.

Even if he died in that very next moment. Even he lived a thousand lifetimes from this point on. He knew would never forget that smile that had engraved itself into his heart and memories.

On chaotic morning and mere seconds away from death, for the first time in his sixteen years felt like he touched life...for the very first time.

“Then…with that sword of yours, please, kill me… End my eternity.”

『He wakes up. To release the girl bound by the perpetual chain from her fate』

       ————————————————————————

“…Hehe.”

Snapping out of his reverie a light chuckle escapes Kido Hyde’s lips as he recalls that fateful day and does a mental U-turn, placing his attention back to the silver-haired child seated patiently by his side.

”Ahh, sorry for staying quiet so long.  I was thinking of somethi——

“…huh?”

"Zzzzzz…"

"H, —Hey! What in the hell are you doing?!  I’m not a mattress, you know?! If you’re that tired you should just use the futon I got for you! What if you start drooling on me!? Hey! Vatista! Hey!!”

"Mmm..…nnn….”

No coherent response that foretold of waking.  The girl named Vatista only stirred slightly from the sound of his loud voice and took it upon herself to make herself even more comfortable resting her head on his shoulder before snoring quietly once again. “Guh...” Seeing that, Hyde gives a bitter sigh of resignation. Against that peaceful sleeping face all a boy like him could do was begrudgingly accept his defeat.

I give up…

“…It must really be nice being so carefree.”

Amused, a soft smile forms on the Hyde’s lips as the boy would gently pet Vatista’s head and allow the mechanical girl use his body as her personal makeshift pillow for the time being, deciding he would carry her to lie down in her bed once he was ready to move from this spot.

“Heh…Wonder what in the hell all that was about though…”

Still, he couldn’t help but wonder as to why exactly it was he had recalled that memory for awhile before mentally shrugging it off as unimportant mere seconds later.  

“Haaah… Whatever, it is what it is. But, when she gets back with the Old Man, guess I’ll make that hamburger steak she likes so much, just for a nice change of pace once in a while.” The smiling boy sighs once more before voicing a sudden premonition he had. “.....Just hope she isn’t off doing something crazy somewhere.”