|Goodbye Again| kazuscara

十一

White Lies

🍁☂️

A flock of geese flew overhead in a formation, heading south. A few turtles basked in the sun across the riverbank as salmon and other fish continued to stream down the river. Summer was coming to an end.

"And what might that be? I'm all ears," Kazuha responded, somehow feeling anxiety lingering in the air even as he was a man of free spirit. This might have been the first time Scara seemed so nervous to discuss something.

Squeezing his breath out of his chest, Scara began to confess,"Ever since I can remember, I've had problems with controlling my anger. Not long ago, while I was passing by a pub, a man bumped into me, and I ended up screaming at him. I've.. done worse before, so I'm worried some day you might take it the wrong way."

Scara felt like a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders, though he knew that weight was still there. Only one question struck through his mind: How will he react?

He tried to take a sip of his tea to calm himself down, but it wasn't difficult to see how his hands shook by the ripples in the cup. After all these years of masking his emotions, he somehow struggled the most in front of Kazuha, a man of honesty.

Kazuha listened closely, taking a slow sip of his tea. It made sense to him that Scara had some anger issues. He had sensed when they first met that Scara was hiding some of his anger. It wasn't very obvious at first, but as he grew to spend more time with the other, it became more prominent.

In a way, he felt touched. "In all honesty, I'm glad you told me this. It means you value our friendship a lot, and I already understand you have a lot to say but not the trust to yet, so thank you." Kazuha could feel a smile creep onto his face. It made him happy that they were one step closer to a deeper companionship.

He looked up to the sky, where the wind billowed with leaves of oranges and yellows flowing by. "I did upset you earlier, am I correct? I acted without thinking, so I am sorry. Please do voice whenever I do something you do not like. I'd much rather know than cause discomfort for you."

Next time Kazuha drank or wanted to comfort Scara in any way, he would keep in mind not to get too close. He wasn't all too physical with displaying his emotions, but he did know a few times when he drank with his closest friend back in Inazuma, he did end up coddling him one way or another. He felt his face burn up in embarrassment at the thought. Hopefully, nothing of the sort happened when he drank with Scara.

For the first time in forever, Scara felt acknowledged by a human, and it was Kazuha, a man who he met less than a week ago. Setting down the tea he was once drinking, he began to speak his mind. "It's quite alright, I was only upset because I don't like physical touch, nothing that serious."

Such lies. Touch was one of the things he hated most, right next to that was his entire being.

"Though I'll do my best to let you know next time. I just hope one day it won't startle you." That was the truth. He would never want to hurt Kazuha's feelings. But deep down, he knew that it would happen when the time came.

Before Scara had a moment to speak again, he went into another spiral. His ears rang, his vision went fuzzy, and his head spun. It felt like he was separated from the world. A world where people like him aren't meant to be alive. An abomination like him could never be accepted by human society because he existed as a puppet, abandoned by its maker.

The sky was bright, shining through the windows of the Tenshukaku. Maids, butlers, chefs, and servants ran in and out of the kitchen until they noticed a small figure enter the dining room.