"I wish you were never born."
Those words echoed through Kotoura's head even now, years on from the fated day her mother abandoned her. Her head was low as she made her way to the new school that was to be her new hell, body tense and heart erratic. Already she could hear a swarm of voices in her head joining with the ones inside the school gates, a cacophony that would have made it difficult to hear her own thoughts had it not been for her becoming accustomed to it. She held no hopes of gaining any friends in this place - all the others had abandoned her, considering her a freak and a monster.
"Hinata-chan, you like Ichigo-kun, don't you?" Kotoura blurted out one day, smiling widely at her friend. The eight year olds face flushed red with embarrassment, shaking her head vigorously. Before she got a chance to respond however, the aforementioned Ichigo appeared, looking confused. "Huh? Who likes me?" The young boy said, but again Kotoura blurted out a response. "Don't worry, Hinata-chan! He likes you too!" Ichigo was quick to vehemently protest however, and as his tirade began Hinata broke it to run off in a pool of tears. "You idiot Kotoura! I wish you'd just stop! You always say these dumb things!" Hinata yelled behind her, and that was the beginning of the end of Kotoura's happiness at her school.
As she entered her classroom she could hear the room go silent, and yet their voices were still clear as day in her head. Echoes of who is she? ran around the classroom, and as the teacher introduced her they all waited expectantly for her to say her introduction. "Hi. I'm Kotoura." Kotoura mumbled, more into the floor than to the class itself. As she made her way to the only seat available to her in the class, she heard the teacher think - or say, she could never quite tell without looking, - "I can see this is going to be a problem." On reflex, Kotoura murmured; "I'm sorry for being a problem.", much to the shock and chagrin of both the teacher and the students. Just before she entered her seat however, she was taken aback by the student sitting next to it. Staring out the window, his mind was nothing but blissful quiet, only the imagery of... rice, for whatever reason, floating around his head. She stared at him for a moment in sheer wonder, and soon his head turned to look at her as he grasped her presence. A moment of silence passed between them as they stared at each other, the world still and quiet for just that moment, and then he said:
"Who are you?"
And just like that it was like a breath of fresh air. To not be noticed as a freak or someone odd, to just be some new student who happened to stumble by, was something she seldom experienced. And with a quiet mumble of an introduction she sat at her desk, letting the opportunity slip by like water through her fingers. She wouldn't risk being hurt again. Not this time. Not ever again.
She couldn't.
Those words echoed through Kotoura's head even now, years on from the fated day her mother abandoned her. Her head was low as she made her way to the new school that was to be her new hell, body tense and heart erratic. Already she could hear a swarm of voices in her head joining with the ones inside the school gates, a cacophony that would have made it difficult to hear her own thoughts had it not been for her becoming accustomed to it. She held no hopes of gaining any friends in this place - all the others had abandoned her, considering her a freak and a monster.
"Hinata-chan, you like Ichigo-kun, don't you?" Kotoura blurted out one day, smiling widely at her friend. The eight year olds face flushed red with embarrassment, shaking her head vigorously. Before she got a chance to respond however, the aforementioned Ichigo appeared, looking confused. "Huh? Who likes me?" The young boy said, but again Kotoura blurted out a response. "Don't worry, Hinata-chan! He likes you too!" Ichigo was quick to vehemently protest however, and as his tirade began Hinata broke it to run off in a pool of tears. "You idiot Kotoura! I wish you'd just stop! You always say these dumb things!" Hinata yelled behind her, and that was the beginning of the end of Kotoura's happiness at her school.
As she entered her classroom she could hear the room go silent, and yet their voices were still clear as day in her head. Echoes of who is she? ran around the classroom, and as the teacher introduced her they all waited expectantly for her to say her introduction. "Hi. I'm Kotoura." Kotoura mumbled, more into the floor than to the class itself. As she made her way to the only seat available to her in the class, she heard the teacher think - or say, she could never quite tell without looking, - "I can see this is going to be a problem." On reflex, Kotoura murmured; "I'm sorry for being a problem.", much to the shock and chagrin of both the teacher and the students. Just before she entered her seat however, she was taken aback by the student sitting next to it. Staring out the window, his mind was nothing but blissful quiet, only the imagery of... rice, for whatever reason, floating around his head. She stared at him for a moment in sheer wonder, and soon his head turned to look at her as he grasped her presence. A moment of silence passed between them as they stared at each other, the world still and quiet for just that moment, and then he said:
"Who are you?"
And just like that it was like a breath of fresh air. To not be noticed as a freak or someone odd, to just be some new student who happened to stumble by, was something she seldom experienced. And with a quiet mumble of an introduction she sat at her desk, letting the opportunity slip by like water through her fingers. She wouldn't risk being hurt again. Not this time. Not ever again.
She couldn't.