She grew up in the clutches of poverty; He was raised in the lap of luxury.
She hated nobles; He couldn't be bothered with commoners.
Her heart hidden deep in thorny vines; His one burning in his sleeves.
She was the recently orphaned flower seller;...
My throat burnt and the tears I had been holding back broke through like a dam, "I haven't done anything, Please believe me. Please, don't kick me out. I don't want to leave, I can't leave. The villagers, they will look at me like that again. They'll scorn me even more.''
It was truly ironic how much I didn't want to go back to the village that I was so reluctant to leave in the first place. The harsh loneliness, scornful judgment and the open spite were like a long forgotten night mare that I didn't wish to relieve.
My childhood, the years of joy and innocence were spent trying to make them like me. To fit in at any cost because I nor my mother knew the vast world outside it. And despite my efforts, the exclusion followed me.
It never went away until the day Inayat came knocking on my doors and gave me the chance to be part of something, to finally fit in.
So despite my fears, I threw away the thing I had been working on my whole life. I threw away the measly chances of ever fitting in that cruel, cold village.
So what do I do if the very academy that came knocking on my doors to take me in decides to throw me way? Where will I go? Back to the village where the seal of illegitimacy in the eyes of Holy Temple follows me like a shadow?
My words must have made themselves comprehendible through the sobs wreaking my body as Dayuu hugged me to her chest.
"Where did you even get the idea that we would send you back? Huh?" she said while patting my back. She broke the hug and brushed some hair from my forehead, "Silly girl, of course, I believe you! And don't you worry, here in the academy, unless you kill someone, we don't expel students. At most students get punished. And Why are you even scared to begin with? You're innocent!'
She believes me! Even if no one does, she does. That's enough for me.
And even if the Assistant Headmaster doesn't believe me, Dayuu said he'll only punish me! That's not a big thing, I can tolerate anything as long as I get to stay here. I had tolerated much worse.
Hoppsan! Denna bild följer inte våra riktliner för innehåll. Försök att ta bort den eller ladda upp en annan bild för att fortsätta.
The Assistant Headmaster's office was a cluster of books, finished bottles of ink, and mirrors. Telescopes of various sizes were pointed towards the sky through the open ceiling. The circular observation cavity on the roof was graced by the glorious presence of full moon today. Its shimmering beauty was enough to put me in a hypnotic haze.
The moon-drunk illusion was soon broken by the sound of people entering the office. My eyes rested on a now clean Eboni whose bloodshed eyes looked at me in scrutiny as if to confirm something. I met her eyes with my own earnest ones, hoping she would see and believe in my innocence. She held my eyes for a moment then turned them towards the boy standing next to her. The boy half hugged her from her side.
Akira, I realized. The boy with pet snake was here too, glaring at me with the fury of thousand burning suns. His snake also mimicked its master and hissed at me.
