K Project Misaki Yata One Shots - 1215

AU Short Story Episode 7

The first to get up was Chitose, and then Rikio, "Well! I'll take my front row seat."
"Hey, I want to sit there!" Bandō yelled, and Erik mumbled in complaint that that was his favourite cushion, but in the end they all just pulled chairs around, and Izumo stayed at his place behind the bar, watching fondly.
"So, do you really know all of us?"
I nodded, "I do. It's nice to see you all again. Any questions before I start?"
"Who were you closest with?!"
"Uh..."
"What a dumb question, Chitose!"
"I just wanna know! She's way out of your league, Yata."
"WHA-"
"None of you, really." I admitted, "Maybe Anna, for the most part. Misaki twice... and... Akagi and I were close friends once. But it didn't last long. My mission revolved around Tatara and Mikoto, so I let go of a lot of those things."
They silenced then, and I took that as a sign to begin.
"The first time I went back, it was technically an accident. I didn't know I was a strain. But, I knew about what was happening, and I learned more from a friend of mine who was close to one of the extra homura members. I saw the news and reports from after everything was over. Everything at the school, everything with the greens and the slates. I knew about you before from afar. I never got close, but I used to go to the skate park every day when it was warm out to get out of the house. That's when I started seeing Misaki. I guess, one day, I just thought about how sad it was. I thought about how things could have been different, and then all of a sudden... it was four months before Tatara's death date."
"Whoa. So, what did you do?"
"It took me a while to figure it out, but then I made a plan of action. I decided I would save Tatara's life, and then save Mikoto, and then things should work themselves out to be better from there. I didn't think very far ahead, I guess." I paused, thinking, "But... my plan was flawed. Tatara probably thought I was crazy. I insisted to walk home with him that night, and tried to delay him from walking up to the balcony, but it didn't work. He got mad at me."

"My last time... I just threw everything I planned in the trash. I forgot about everything, I was myself. I felt like I was making real friends, I felt like I was finally living. I managed to stay with you all, and be welcomed every day, until December seventh. Then, that night I thought for a moment that maybe I could just let him go. I could forget it, and at least I would be able to stay with everyone. At least I wouldn't be alone like all those other times, like the first time, because I was really happy. But I realized it would hurt all the same, so I knelt down on the ground and begged Tatara to stay."
They were quiet, very quiet, and after seeing Akagi's lip quiver the last time I looked up at them, I couldn't lift my head from my hands anymore.
"He listened. He stayed. He lived, and because there was no interaction with the colorless king, Mikoto stayed safe too. Things were actually going really well, so well I forgot to worry, to keep my guard up. It was maybe... March 17th? When the colorless king found me walking alone to the bar and put a knife to my throat. I had to go back again, or I would have died."
"Shit." Misaki cursed, they probably all felt defeated for me.
"As my last resort, I went to the blue king. But even after my desperate attempts, he told me we couldn't mess with the way things were supposed to be anymore. He put me under watch, and now here I am."
"Yuri." Anna lifted up a cloth, and I slowly took it from her hands.
I knew I was crying, but her giving me this just reminded me of the friendship we had. The day, the last time I tried to save them, when they all joked with me that I'd have to give Anna the talk.
Just the thought of their smiles, that even at the time of happiness if felt so bittersweet, because I knew the future and the past...
I lowered my face into the handkerchief and my shoulders shook. It was like my bodies last effort to cry, when I really, finally had nothing left.
Misaki placed a hand on my back, and the others stayed around me. It was silent, but that same painful 'thank you' coursed through the room, mixed with a kind of 'I'm sorry' that I couldn't understand. But I was glad, at least a part of me was, because they listened to me. Because I felt like I was back home.

When I woke up, I was still on the couch in the bar. There was a blanket over me and I coughed as I sat up, my back hurt a bit and my eyes felt swollen. Not surprising, though, I've gotten weirdly used to that feeling.
"You awake?" Misaki called out, and I turned from the window to him slowly. He was standing behind the bar, cleaning, and then he pulled out a plate, "It's late, but I saved this for you. You should eat something. Anna said she's open to having you sleep over with her tonight, since it's too late to go back to your place at Scepter Four. But if you want, I could walk you."
I got up from the couch, stretching slightly before trudging over and sitting down. He watched me eat quietly for a moment, and then breathed a laugh as I scarfed it down.
"Who made this?" I asked.
"I did."
I nodded, not questioning it. Misaki hardly cooked for anyone, but I always knew he was a good cook. He used to give Tatara tips all the time.
"So, wanna stay, or do you want me to walk you?"
"I wanna stay." I replied, thinking about the last time I had Misaki walk me home. I still got a horrid feeling thinking about the way he told me to stay away from him.
"Yuri, earlier." Misaki began hesitantly, watching me stare out the window again, "You said... you said you went back after Mikoto died, even though you saved Tatara. Did... did anyone ever know? Did you ever tell anyone? There's no way no one saw, or-"
"I told you." I admitted, "I told you that day after Mikoto died, as Tatara was sobbing in the background. I told you I would go back and try again."
"And... and then what?"
"You told me not to go."
His knuckles hardened as he fisted his hands, "Why didn't you listen to me?"
"I don't know. But... I think it's just better this way. For me not to so desperately interfere. Munakata was right. I can't mess with the way things are meant to be."
"If you could choose to have never gone back at all-"
"Don't ask stupid questions."
"I... I-I'm sorry." He swallowed, and moved to finish up a few things, taking my plate away from me and walking back to the kitchen.
I wanted to follow him... but I felt like if he asked anymore questions, I'd tell him everything and make this friendship that I finally had back turn slowly to dust.