"The damage is infectious, and all that can be done is purge it all and start from scratch."
If life is a series of choices, then perhaps that just means that life is a game? To Akazawa Saki, that's all life really is. She refutes the existence of G...
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Blue skies of painted details lined the world, an image that painted such saccharine memories in ones mind. For if only a moment, it drew the concerns away and lulled the restless into peaceful content. The wind's gentle caress against her face resembled the gentle touch of a mother's gentle hand.
The clomping of hooves against the hard earth and heavy clatter of cart wheels against stones was as consistent as the ticking of an old clock, and the rustic wood cart beneath her form felt like home.
The air was crisp, punctured by the scent of pine and moisture, with the cool breeze a comfortable contrast against the humidity it held. She could feel the warmth of the sun shining overhead enveloping her in a comfortable haze, and it made concentrating on the book within her grip a difficult task, indeed. Instead, all she wanted to do was stare out at the ever-passing scenery and take it all in.
The outdoors was a bountiful, beautiful world full of life, where even the most mismatched colours were still beautiful and the symphony of nature was the music that guided life.
'Saki!' A soft voice called out, though she scarcely even realized anyone had spoken. 'Saki! Come down here!'
'Oi, Saki Girl!' Barked a louder, much deeper voice, jostling the girl right out of her thoughts. She snapped her gaze upwards to the front of the hefty cart, to see the driver turned in the seat to look back at her. He was a man with dark skin and raven hair, which was contrasted with the lightest green eyes Saki had ever seen in a person. 'Your Ma's calling you. Are you half-deaf, now?'
A squeak escaped the girl as she jostled to awareness, a faint blush of embarrassment overcoming her sun-bronzed face as she scrambled quickly to her feet.
'O-oh! Thank you Vano!' She responded quickly, and without stumbling once with the swaying of the horse-drawn cart or the sweeping folds of her full-length lavender skirt, she swung herself over the edge.
The familiar fluttering of cloth caught in the air rung as Saki's nimble form swung around towards the opened door at the back of the cart, where she landed with a sudden squeal into a pair of waiting arms.
'Oof! Saki!' A pleasant laugh sounded overhead as the form of her mother set her gently down. 'You're getting so big, now! I won't be able to catch you anymore if you get any bigger!'
'I'm not that big, Mama!' Saki whined indignantly.
'Not yet, but you're already eight years old.' Her mother responded with a small, patronizing pat of Saki's head before she shifted to sit down on the bench attached to the side of the cart wall. 'Come, stand just over here. I've finished it.'
The girl's mother was a twenty-something woman with an olive-brown complexion and dark features to accompany it. Her long, wavy black hair was pulled back beneath an ornate purple sash with gold tassels and beads hanging down, and her clothes were a white off-shoulder blouse, low-sweeping skirt in a deep scarlet, and her wrists and ankles were adorned with delicate strings of bells and gold, decorative coins. Around her waist, she wore a purple triangle of cloth around one side, which trailed down near her ankles at the end.
