[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/uxNMiyY.png[/img][/center] A gentle rain tapped soothingly on the window of Kiyo's bedroom. Water trickled outside her darkened apartment like a Siren's lullaby, mocking her inability to sleep. Instead of climbing into her bed, she sat back down at her desk. A can of Feral Energy clunked down defiantly next to her laptop. A half-lidded pair of eyes gazed back at her from the black mirror. If the screen was off, she knew she'd taken too long of a break. [color=firebrick][b]"It's too early to be looking like that. Three... no, four more days, and it'll be finished,"[/b][/color] she assured herself. The web pages she'd visited during Michi's nightmare hadn't existed, but the breakthroughs were real, and she could recall much of the information. That was the singular positive thing she could take away from it. Everything else... she didn't want to think about it. She hadn't slept the previous night, and she wasn't likely to sleep tonight, either, unless she dropped from sheer exhaustion. She wiggled her mouse to turn the screen back on. The sudden light was blinding, even with all of her applications in dark mode, like a sensible person. While her eyes adjusted to it, she decided to check on Haruna again. [color=firebrick][b][i]Because I haven't been doing that enough times,[/i][/b][/color] she thought to herself with a weary huff. . . . Something stirred in the darkness of the light girl's peripheral vision. There was a tall, black shadow, and two small, bright red, glowing eyes. After a moment of staring in stunned silence, the eyes narrowed and dropped down suddenly, as if the shadow that was sitting in that chair had sunk through the floor like a ghost—but the skittering noise that followed was proof that it hadn't. It was still in the room with her. A moment passed. Then, there was a sudden pressure on the bed. Slowly, a black blob moved closer to Haruna's face. . . . [b]"Eeaaarrrwww."[/b] It let out a drawling cry. ...A cat? Yes, it was a black cat, with fluffy fur, soft as silk. It both looked and sounded a little tired, like a grumpy, older cat. On the bedside table, just within reach, Haruna's phone vibrated. It was a text from Kiyo. [color=firebrick][b]Wakey wakey. Sleep well?[/b][/color] Haruna blinked a few times, dispelling both the haze of being halfway between sleep and wakefulness and the brief concern that a miseria had wormed its way into the hospital room with her. She blinked again when her phone went off, prompting her to rub at her eyes before reaching for the device with one hand. Her other idly moved to pet the cat, a motion that didn’t cease once she read the letters on the screen. [color=fff79a]"Oh. That makes sense.”[/color] Haruna shook the last of the cobwebs out of her head, or tried to at least, then squinted at the upper right of the screen. [color=fff79a]better than you, probably[/color], her fingers tapped out. [color=fff79a]i’ve been out for a while i think.[/color] She glanced out the window, into the nothingness the time and the rain presented her with. [color=fff79a]are you ok?[/color] The cat performed a typical 'petting ritual.' It shrunk back from Haruna's hand, sniffed, then seemed to decide that it would allow this human to display her affection. It yawned lazily, crouched down into a loaf at Haruna's side and purred, appeased. . . . Kiyo typed for a while, then stopped, as if Haruna's subsequent question had caught her off guard. Then, the texts came hard and fast. [color=firebrick][b]Only about a day and a half, sleepyhead. Everyone survived, thanks to you. Well, my team evacuated the cafeteria, so we did it together. ...That was sappier than I intended. Anyway, You haven't missed much. The school is still deciding what to do about the situation. I knew you wouldn't rest properly unless you knew everyone was okay. So, I dropped off your phone for you. Also, I tried making a cat. Is she cute? A cat's purr has healing properties, you know.[/b][/color] The next text took a little more typing. [color=firebrick][b]What about you? Besides being tired, how do you feel?[/b][/color] [color=fff79a]worried[/color] was the immediate response. It took a few moments for her to continue. [color=fff79a]that means i missed a patrol. but also, relieved. and[/color] The text cut there. A long pause ensued. [color=fff79a]a lot of other feelings.[/color] A shorter pause. [color=fff79a]the cat is very cute yeah. i like cats.[/color] Worried. Of course she would be. Kiyo exhaled, a wry smile on the corner of her lip. [color=firebrick][b]Everyone is stronger now. Missing a couple of patrols isn't a big deal. We're holding the fort.[/b][/color] She was telling her to take another day off. [b][s]I won't keep you up any longer. Get some rest.[/s][/b] [b][s]You did good, Haruna. Take some time off, you need it.[/s][/b] [b][s]You did everything we could've asked for. You deserve a day off.[/s][/b] Kiyo typed for a while, but didn't send her last text, whatever it might have been. Her finger hovered over the send button, unsatisfied. The text about cats tempted her to change the subject, to dodge uncomfortable questions like she always did. On the laptop screen in front of her, long lines of code stretched ever onward, like this moment in time seemed to, mocking her indecisiveness. "A lot of other feelings." She kept staring at those words, hoping she could determine what that meant without asking for more. Hoping she could find some feeling in her heart that would let her relate in any truly useful way, without requiring more keywords from Haruna, like a goddamn [i]robot.[/i] [b][s]I know what you mean.[/s][/b] Another unsent text. She was out of her chair now, pacing around the room. Finally, she hit the call button. [color=firebrick][b][i]Just hear her out. Don't be greedy,[/i][/b][/color] she counseled herself, exhaling slowly. It didn’t take long for Haruna to pick up. [color=fff79a]”Hello?”[/color] Confusion came through in her voice, what with the long delay and Kiyo seemingly angling to end the conversation. She continued to idly stroke the cat, despite - or, perhaps, because of - knowing it was just a construct created by the dark girl she was speaking with. [color=fff79a]”Is something up?”[/color] Concern, again. Kiyo let go of a breath she didn't know she was holding. She was being selfish, but the sound of Haruna's voice made her feel like that was okay. [color=firebrick][b]"I thought, maybe... you'd want to talk. About everything that you're feeling right now."[/b][/color] She hated that she felt this way. Her mouth felt dry, and the energy drink didn't help at all. [color=firebrick][b]"Because I think we both have some… complicated feelings right now."[/b][/color] She might have been forgiven for thinking Haruna had hung up for a moment. [color=fff79a]”Yeah. Yeah.”[/color] The light girl paused to gather herself. [color=fff79a]”Um. . . well, first of all. I should, um. Apologize. That whole thing was. . . sorta my fault. Sorry.”[/color] Haruna was clearly trying to maintain a neutral tone, but a quiver in her voice betrayed the intensity of the aforementioned feelings. [color=firebrick][b]"Haruna."[/b][/color] Kiyo's voice was soft but stern. The cat raised its head a little at the sound of her voice from the other end of the line. [color=firebrick][b]"You can't shoulder the blame yourself. We both wanted Michi to be a part of our group. We all passed her plushies around."[/b][/color] Her eye drifted restlessly to the closet. When she'd arrived back at her room, she'd wanted to rip the thing's head off and throw it in the garbage, but for some reason... she didn't. She hated these ambiguously tangled, heightened emotions. She stubbornly turned her eye back to the laptop, the buggy script reminding her that even machines dealt in uncertainty. She then gave up on it for the night, and laid down in her bed. [color=firebrick][b]"The right to veto her joining belongs to me, Roche and Rei. We had the final say, and I... should've involved those two more."[/b][/color] She inhaled sharply. [color=firebrick][b]"But I didn't want them to say no. She just seemed so hopeless, like every dark girl does when they first fall."[/b][/color] [color=fff79a]”I was the one that insisted that we all try to get along, though. I pushed her into joining the club, and toward going back to school. I’m the one who refused to actually confront her on something only I could have known about, and because of it, pretty much everyone in the club got hurt.”[/color] She sounded increasingly agitated as she spoke. [color=fff79a]”And I still don’t understand what it was she actually wanted. . .”[/color] There was an uncharacteristic note of despair in this last. Kiyo listened patiently as the light girl poured out her anguish. A month ago, perhaps, she’d have relished Haruna’s progress to becoming one of them, but now… what was this complicated feeling? [color=firebrick][b]"You were hurt more than anyone else, you know? Please worry about yourself, at least a little? I can't speak for the others, but I know I'll be okay."[/b][/color] Maybe if she said it like it was a promise, it would come true. [color=firebrick][b]"It might take a little while for the shock to subside. Michi said some pretty nasty things... but we ended up taking down that giga miseria that gave us so much trouble before. Rei isn't even mad or anything, either. On the contrary, she almost seems happy to finally get to do boss-like work again. She's already coming up with some solutions for what to do about the school."[/b][/color] She let go of another breath. [color=firebrick][b]"What Michi probably wanted was some imprecise notion of revenge. Against the city, against the world—everyone she felt let down by. Regardless, I don’t think giving her what she wanted would have done any good. Most dark girls carry with them some feeling of betrayal. ...We didn't become magical with the intention of falling to darkness, after all."[/b][/color] Kiyo paused for a moment to collect herself. That wasn't something she'd intended to say, and she was allowing her voice to sound too melancholic. [color=firebrick][b]"Haruna."[/b][/color] Her voice returned, uncharacteristically warm. [color=firebrick][b]"I... wish you could see yourself through the eyes of a dark magical girl. When I realized you'd really reached Michi, I couldn't look away. To us who are steeped in darkness... you're dazzling."[/b][/color] Rustling sounded over the phone as Haruna wiped at her eyes and nose. [color=fff79a]”I. . . I don’t really know what to say.”[/color] She took a (still rather sniffly) breath. [color=fff79a]”I’m not really good for much, if I’m being honest. But it makes me happy to hear you say something like that about me. Like, actually happy. I feel like I actually did something good for once.”[/color] She was quiet for another moment, gathering herself a bit. [color=fff79a]“Um. . . I don’t really know how. . .”[/color] she began haltingly. Whatever it was she was trying to ask was clearly an unpleasant topic, from the way the brief rise in her voice quickly dropped away. [color=fff79a]“Did you. . . hear Michi? What she said about me, near the end there?”[/color] Kiyo was glad Haruna couldn't see her. Whatever face she was making, it definitely wasn't the cool, reliable one she wanted it to be. Haruna was in pain, and she wasn't there. She wasn't sure if she wanted to slap sense into her, or hug her until she stopped crying—maybe both, just to be safe. In the meantime, her substitute—the cat—was nuzzling Haruna’s forearm greedily. [color=firebrick][b]"I... didn't. I wasn't there to catch you like I said I would. Sorry."[/b][/color] That wasn't the kind of fall she'd been talking about back then, but she tried for a [i]little[/i] levity. [color=firebrick][b]"I'm sure she only said it to hurt you. So, I'm glad I didn't. Whatever it is, I'll listen when you're ready to tell me."[/b][/color] Kiyo felt a lump in her throat after the words had finished spilling out. Wasn't 'when' a little presumptuous? [color=firebrick][b]"Unless you'd rather not."[/b][/color] She was making a mess of this by talking too much instead of just listening. She remembered Michi's accusation that she was only hanging around this Club because she wanted to be the solution to everyone's problems. The words were like a knife in her gut every time she remembered them. [color=fff79a]”N-no, I honestly can’t think of anyone else I’d rather talk to about this.”[/color] Haruna took a deep breath, audible through the microphone. [color=fff79a]”S-she said, um. . .”[/color] She trailed off, leaving Kiyo with nothing but the sound of her breathing heavily for an uncomfortable moment. [color=fff79a]”I think, maybe, this is the kind of thing to talk about in person. If that’s okay. I know you’re busy. Let’s just say, um, Michi. . . knew things. Knows things. That she shouldn’t. That I haven’t actually told anyone in town. I guess she probably got it from peeking in on my dreams or something.”[/color] The discomfort in her tone was audible, and the slight hypocrisy of that discomfort was far from lost on her. One more steadying breath, and she continued. [color=fff79a]”I want to meet you as soon as I’m out of the hospital. Maybe before, even.”[/color] Haruna paused. [color=fff79a]”I-if that’s not too much to ask. I know you have a lot to handle. I wouldn’t want to get in the way of you looking out for everyone else, you know? I’ll, I’ll be fine eventually. Er, not eventually I mean- you know what I mean.”[/color] Kiyo sat up in her bed urgently. She paused, wondering if it had made a sound on the other end. Her hesitation, and the silence were both unbearable—but it was probably even more unbearable for Haruna, she thought with a twinge of guilt. She wanted to see Haruna, but didn't want Haruna to see [i]her.[/i] [color=firebrick][b]"...I'll be there in ten minutes."[/b][/color] She'd done it, now—told someone she would do it, and now she had to follow through. It was the only way she knew to force herself to move forward at times like this. Haruna breathed a sigh of relief after Kiyo spoke, which she awkwardly cut off once she realized she’d actually let it out. [color=fff79a]”Okay.”[/color] She almost asked if Kiyo would be okay crossing town in the middle of the night like this, but something told her the dark girl was probably perfectly fine doing so. [color=fff79a]”I’m on the uh. . . second floor? I think?”[/color] She cast around the room, squinting through the dim lighting. [color=fff79a]”Room 224.”[/color] [color=firebrick][b]"Yeah,"[/b][/color] Kiyo replied, without really thinking. Of course, she'd learned the room number by watching through the eyes of the cat. It took significantly less than ten minutes for Evil Eye to arrive at the hospital. What took a little more time was waiting for a nurses' aide to open the automatic glass door for her so she could slip inside unnoticed after visiting hours. By the time she got inside, however, she grew impatient. [color=firebrick][b][i]Ah, whatever. After Shuuko's antics, everyone thinks this hospital is haunted, anyway.[/i][/b][/color] She proceeded through the rest of the doors on her own, ignoring reactions from the desk clerks. When she reached the lonely hallway housing door 224, it wasn't the staff that kept her waiting outside. She took a deep breath. Her reflection on the door's window stared blankly at her. [color=firebrick][b][i]Just don't think about what you want. It doesn't matter, anyway.[/i][/b][/color] When she felt confident that she'd 'emptied her mind,' she slowly entered. Like the cat's eyes, hers glowed crimson in the dark. [color=firebrick][b]"Haruna, I'm here."[/b][/color] She spoke softly, though she knew nobody but Haruna could hear her voice. She made her way to the chair the cat had eerily perched on, quietly moved it to Haruna's bedside, and sat. Even in the low light, her face was faintly illuminated by a red glow. Darkness lurked beneath her eyes, proving Haruna's hunch right. She hadn't been sleeping well, though that was nothing terribly new for either of them. [color=firebrick][b]"Don't worry. I wasn't doing anything important,"[/b][/color] she said, as if anticipating the concern. [color=fff79a]”Hey, Kiyo,”[/color] Haruna said, quietly. [color=fff79a]”Thanks for coming here so fast. It. . . it means a lot, even if you weren’t busy.”[/color] Her tone indicated that she didn’t [i]really[/i] believe Kiyo’s insistence, but she also failed to press the issue in any way. The light girl looked over to meet her crimson gaze. [color=fff79a]”There’s probably a couple other things I should mention, but, um. . .”[/color] She trailed off again, fidgeting in place. [color=fff79a]”Sorry. This subject is. . . hard. Really, really, really hard.”[/color] Haruna closed her eyes, then looked straight ahead, staring into the dark nothing ahead of her. [color=fff79a]”What Michi said was something about how I would always be an outsider, because everyone who could have loved me is dead.”[/color] She took a deep, slow breath, ragged despite her efforts. [color=fff79a]”And. . . well. She’s. Right.”[/color] A choked sob forced its way out of her throat. Kiyo's heart, vessel of her hatred for Michi, broke, spilling its contents into the pit of her stomach. [color=firebrick][b]"Haruna..."[/b][/color] She breathed her name, softly. Her hand, without thinking—but not uncalculated—reached out for hers. Her heart also leapt for joy. Haruna had feelings she could relate to, and out of all the people she could have opened up to about them, she'd chosen her—the wicked magical girl called 'Evil Eye.' [color=firebrick][b][i]You feel truly alone... and blame yourself, don't you? Just like me,[/i][/b][/color] she thought, but didn't dare speak those words—those last three, damning words most of all. Her heart also withered, and wanted to die. [color=firebrick][b][i]So why won't you fall, like me? How do you still have the strength to hold fast to light? Why won't you just let go of your impossible burdens?![/i][/b][/color] The real world offered no distractions, no escape from either of the girls' inner turmoil. The room contained only a deathly silence, occasionally broken by the beep of the EKG machine. They both knew Haruna wouldn't die, yet it still created an artificial sense of urgency that played into their anxieties. Relief only came when the other spoke. Kiyo knew it. Every second of silence she allowed to pass through her puppeteering fingers felt like a calculated move, a manipulative pull on Haruna's heartstrings. Still, she selfishly took those seconds to choose careful words. She simply didn't know any other way to be. That was what she told herself to assuage her guilt. [color=firebrick][b]"Do you... blame yourself for that, too?"[/b][/color] Like an IV drip, her self-indulgent words kept coming, slowly. She knew what Haruna's answer would be by now. Many desires tried to rise up from the obscuring filth of her greedy, wicked heart. She suppressed them, one by one, in a coordinated ritual dance of self-denial. Shamefully, she wondered if Haruna could see it. Guiltily, she hoped Haruna could [i]relate[/i]—another girl who poured the best parts of herself out for others until nothing remained but dregs, because feeling empty was better than drowning in her own overflowing emotions. [color=fff79a]”I. . . I don’t know. I don’t know,”[/color] she repeated. [color=fff79a]”It doesn’t make any sense. I keep thinking about it and I still don’t understand. One day they were here and then they just. . . weren’t. And I was the only one left. Because I was tired. I don’t understand why they’re gone and I’m still here, I don’t understand what they needed from me, I don’t know what I was supposed to be doing different. I-I guess-”[/color] The flow of words cut off as Haruna ran out of breath, then raggedly tried to recover it through a nose clogged with the ugly reality of grief. [color=fff79a]“I feel like. If I was. . . better. Then somehow, maybe, something would have gone differently. Maybe they would have left earlier, maybe Dad would have noticed that driver if he hadn’t been distracted, maybe, I don’t know, maybe I would have just fucking died as a disappointment.”[/color] This last came out with an uncharacteristic vehemence, a kind of bitter rage Haruna hadn’t displayed toward anyone else before. Her hand, clasped to Kiyo’s without thinking, squeezed down hard for a moment, before she realized what she was doing and let go. [color=fff79a]”S-sorry. I shouldn’t. . . I didn’t mean to hurt you. I’m, I’m trying not to listen too but it’s hard not to, you always come through really clear to me. T-that’s the other thing I wanted to say, sorry, I should have said it earlier, I should have said a lot of things earlier. . .”[/color] Haruna, despite her attempts at pulling back up, trailed off into sobbing, unconsciously shifting toward Kiyo in her pain. As Haruna drew closer, so did Kiyo. In her case, it was a conscious move—calculated, like everything else. She embraced the fragile light that threatened to flicker out at any moment, and let Haruna sob into her shoulder. [color=firebrick][b]"Sshhh... You're not a disappointment."[/b][/color] Kiyo's reflection in the mirror on the restroom door returned a mocking, inquisitive look, as if asking if those words of comfort were meant for Haruna, or [i]her[/i]. She returned its smile of self-loathing, but kept her vile emotions to herself, gently stroking Haruna's hair soothingly. Kiyo knew she was a disgusting creature. Picking with a needle at the revolting feelings infecting her heart like a cancer, she knew she could not deny the diagnosis. She knew this disease by the name of "love." It was the desire to keep this precious spark of true Light all to herself. It was what kept her from reaching her full potential as a dark magical girl. It was what was slowly killing her inside, but no matter how hard she tried to remove it, it kept coming back, and she always found herself inviting it in, against her better judgment. [color=firebrick][b]"I won't let Michi's words be true,"[/b][/color] she whispered softly, resolute. The words echoed in her mind like a judge's gavel—a condemnation. [color=firebrick][b]"If you feel like an outsider—unloved, incapable... come talk to me."[/b][/color] She tore her eyes away from the mirror, away from the Truth staring back at her with derision. [color=firebrick][b]"Please, don't go,"[/b][/color] she muttered under a hitched breath. [color=firebrick][b][i]Don't disappear into the night, like I did.[/i][/b][/color] Haruna continued to cry for a while, sobbing into Kiyo and wrapping her arms around her. From her perspective, it could have been half a minute, or half an hour. Eventually, though, the tears tapered off, and then ceased. [color=fff79a]“I-I won’t, I won’t go. I. . . no, I’m not, I’m not going to say sorry.”[/color] She squeezed her arms again, this time more gently, deliberately. [color=fff79a]“Thank you. For being here. I haven’t actually. . . talked about this to anyone, not really.”[/color] Haruna pulled back, giving Kiyo a sort of bittersweet smile. [color=fff79a]”This isn’t very Evil of you, you know,”[/color] she said, before wiping at her nose with a sleeve on her hospital gown. [color=fff79a]”Maybe I’m the one corrupting you.”[/color] The look of focused empathy in Kiyo's eyes became vacant and distant, like she was remembering something. Then she, too, had a bittersweet smile. [color=firebrick][b]"Don't you remember what Michi said... about me?"[/b][/color] Her eyes lingered vaguely on the mirror behind Haruna. [color=firebrick][b]"I'm evil enough for the whole club, Haruna. I want..."[/b][/color] Her voice trailed off. She frowned, but there was no sadness on her features. [color=fff79a]”You want?”[/color] Kiyo knew, of course, that Haruna could probably suss out what she wanted, even now, but the light girl asked anyway. The slight note of tension in the question was enough for Kiyo to know she was still grappling with the idea of her abilities and what they did, after what Michi had said. Kiyo's eyes lingered on her reflection in the mirror. A cruel smile formed on her lips as her eyes seemed to drift even further away from reality. [color=firebrick][b]"...Redemption?"[/b][/color] she tried, mockingly. [color=firebrick][b]"...No, that's not it."[/b][/color] She frowned again. [color=firebrick][b]"Maybe another time... I'll have a better answer..."[/b][/color] she mumbled, closing her eyes and shaking her head slowly. When she opened her eyes again, the haze had cleared somewhat. She seemed more tired now than anything. She stood, reached out a hand, and ruffled Haruna's hair softly. [color=firebrick][b]"Payback."[/b][/color] She smiled mischievously. Haruna smiled back, a little less tensely than before. [color=fff79a]“Well, I’ll have to watch out for that. But, right. . . I did mean to mention. Or, I kinda already mentioned it, but I was sorta bawling at the time. . . um, anyway. I don’t really know for sure why, but my ability to sense people’s desires seems like it sorta goes into overdrive with you sometimes. It caught me off guard the first time it happened. Does that. . . bother you?”[/color] Kiyo averted her gaze, contemplating. [color=firebrick][b]"That's not too surprising. Since I can... force my desires upon others, if I maintain eye contact with them long enough. Even when I'm untransformed, it seems normal humans just can't help but want to do things for me. In a way, sharing my desires with others is natural. For you, it must be like drinking from a fire hose."[/b][/color] For a moment, Evil Eye seemed regretful that she had become this way. [color=firebrick][b]"It... makes it really hard to tell if anyone actually cares about me. But, you..."[/b][/color] Her cheeks darkened in the soft red glow of her eyes. [color=firebrick][b]"You're genuinely kind. You would still treat me the same even if I didn't have 'pretty' eyes."[/b][/color] She smiled, but it didn't last long. [color=firebrick][b]"Do my eyes—my desires—scare you? Can you hear them now?"[/b][/color] Evil Eye's piercing red gaze met Haruna. The last time Haruna felt Kiyo's desires so strongly, they had been like a pair of monsters at each other's throats, competing for dominance, while a cacophony of smaller desires scrambled for shelter to not be trampled. Her heart was like a swamp: filthy, but full of life. At other times, her desires only threatened to emerge from the mire, but Kiyo pushed them back down, like that time she had briefly wanted to pet Michi like a cat—like she was doing to Haruna just a moment ago. This time, the landscape of Kiyo's heart sounded like a white noise that drowned out everything. Her lips didn't move, and her throat didn't make a sound, but Haruna felt a profound sense of yearning. Kiyo's heart was full of many things that she wanted to say, but something buried deep inside her was desperately choking out its voice. It was as if she'd made it her greatest desire to not have any desires at all—to have the entire ecosystem in her heart completely purged. Such discipline belonged in the minds of elder monks training in the foothills of Tibet, not the heart of a high school girl. Mascots approached young girls because they had lots of desires, wishes they'd spring at the chance to have granted. Just like that time she'd felt Tsubomi's desire to 'kill Tsubomi,' there was something dreadfully off-putting about this. She nodded slowly. Haruna shuffled closer to Kiyo, doing her best to avoid detaching any of the monitoring equipment attached to her. Gently, she reached her arms out, and pulled Kiyo into a less haphazard approximation of a hug than before. [color=fff79a]”Yeah. I can.”[/color] Her voice had a sad note to it, despite seeming. . . well, [i]happy[/i] was the wrong term, but in a much better place than she had been before Kiyo’s appearance. [color=fff79a]“There’s only one thing in there that scares me.”[/color] She paused for a moment, considering what, exactly, she wanted to say. [color=fff79a]“It’s okay if this makes you happy. You know? Everyone wants things. It’s not bad or good to have desires.”[/color] She gave no indication of the hypocrisy latent in this statement. Kiyo leaned into Haruna's embrace. She didn't return it so much as sink into it, like one of those padded pillars at the old dojo when she'd completely run out of strength to go on. [color=firebrick][b]"Only [i]one[/i]..?"[/b][/color] she replied, mildly incredulous. For a moment, it seemed like she might call Haruna on her bluff, but she seemed to be mulling over which one she was talking about. [color=firebrick][b]"Wanting things you don't deserve is a sin, you know..."[/b][/color] she mused with a whisper. Finally, she sighed. She sat back down in her chair, laying her head down on the side of the bed, where the cat used to be. [color=firebrick][b]"...Okay. I won't become a demon."[/b][/color] A demon? Like Schrade, the Demon of Hibusa? She didn't leave much time to dwell on the question. [color=firebrick][b]"I confirmed my suspicions about Rei. As long as we are under her watch, we'll never outgrow her shadow. We'll never become strong enough to beat Ashbringer."[/b][/color] She turned her eyes up tiredly at Haruna. [color=firebrick][b]"I was thinking... about visiting my hometown. It's just on the other side of the mountain. I'd be taking a train. ...Wanna go?"[/b][/color] The other girl nodded. [color=fff79a]”Yeah.”[/color] She took the opportunity to return Kiyo’s earlier pat, though a bit awkwardly given the relative angles involved. [color=fff79a]”You should get some rest first, though. I feel okay, so I’ll probably be out of here soon.”[/color] Haruna smiled, a more understated, but much more genuine-feeling expression than the ones she presented to most other people. [color=fff79a]”I’ll be looking forward to it.”[/color] Kiyo smiled wistfully. It was difficult to say if she felt 'better.' At least having the diagnosis was better than being left in suspense, she supposed. [color=firebrick][b]"...Thanks."[/b][/color] For a moment, she didn't move from that spot. She just let Haruna run her fingers through her silky hair. It was still slightly damp from the rain. She almost seemed to consider sleeping right there. [color=firebrick][b]"Mm. Get well soon... but also, don't rush it?"[/b][/color] She voiced her uncertainty, and immediately realized that it was unlike her. [color=firebrick][b]"I'll visit. Text me if you want me to bring something. Hospital food is [i]terrible.[/i]"[/b][/color] She laughed, and that seemed to give her the energy to stand up. She bid Haruna farewell with a squeeze of her hand, and a few scritches for the cat nestled between Haruna's feet. She nodded. [color=fff79a]”Will do. Thanks again.”[/color] Haruna gave Kiyo a final wave, before attempting to settle back into her bed and. . . well, pretend she was trying to sleep, anyway. She looked just a bit less troubled than she often did.