The Assassin In Twisted Wonderland

Dormmates or Friends

In a forest, Tokaku was standing in front of her family shrine, which was built among the trees, shading the shrine from the sunlight. Tokaku was watching the shrine until she blinked and saw her late aunt standing in front of her. This made the blue-eyed girl gasp. "Aunt Mako..." she called under her breath.

Her aunt looked at her with a sad face, indicating that something must be wrong with her. Then, her lips began to move as she spoke to her one and only niece. "It is not your fault. Don't blame yourself again. Your mother would also be sad if she knew you were still blaming yourself because of my death."

"My mother?" the girl repeated. Then, she began to see a silhouette behind her aunt. Just as she peered at it, suddenly, she saw a woman in a white kimono, but she was unable to glimpse her face. Only after that, she woke up from her dream, which seemed to shock her at the end. She panted and sweated in her Pomefiore bed.

When she realized that seeing her late aunt was just a dream, Tokaku breathed heavily. She was reminded of her dream and pondered about it. "What do you mean by not blaming myself for your death, Aunt Mako? You were killed for trying to protect me, but you did it because I wanted to experience city life for once in my childhood. Grandmother misunderstood you. She thought you were trying to prevent me from fulfilling my destiny as the next Azuma in our assassin family and that you were a disgrace to our family, so she wanted to make me just like you. So she killed you, stabbed you with a knife, and left you bleeding in front of my eyes."

"Why don't you blame me? Why don't you make me suffer like you did when you were bleeding on the dirty and cold ground?" As she was deep in thought, suddenly, a tear fell from her blue eyes and slid onto her face. She wiped her tears and looked at the droplets on her hand.

"Am I crying?" she thought. "It's been a long time since I last cried. Grandmother would scold me if she saw my eyes teary."

When Aunt Mako was murdered, I wanted to cry, but I couldn't because Grandmother was there. So I went home with Grandmother holding my hand while I held back my tears. I suppressed all that sadness deep down in my heart, waiting for my grandmother to sleep so I could cry quietly. My mind was filled with countless blames, while my heart was tortured with guilt and sorrow. Until now, whenever I think about that time, I can't control my emotions. I keep suppressing them, and I always find myself numb, devoid of feelings.

Suddenly... Knock! Knock! Someone knocked on the door of her Pomefiore room.

"Tokaku, are you awake? If not, get up now. Vil will extend your grounding if you break a rule." Epel's voice was heard behind the door as he was the one who knocked.

Tokaku snapped. She looked at the sunlight shining in from the window, realizing it was already morning. "It's already morning? Wasn't it just dark?"

"It's 6 in the morning. Breakfast starts at 6:30, so get up now and get ready," Epel continued.

"I'll be out in 14 minutes!" Tokaku said. Immediately, she got out of bed, made it, went to the shower, dried herself, dressed in her college uniform, picked up her school bag, and finally, put on her black shoes.

Meanwhile, Epel waited outside her room. Her door opened, and Tokaku appeared ready.

"Wow, you're so fast," Epel was amazed at how quickly she got ready.

"What do you mean? I said I'd be ready in 14 minutes," Tokaku replied.

"Yes, but you were ready in 10 minutes. Didn't you notice?" Epel's comment left Tokaku dumbfounded. She had never misjudged the time for her daily activities.

"Are you okay, Tokaku?" Epel suddenly asked.

"I'm perfectly fine. Why?" Tokaku lied.

"Because you were faster than usual, and you seemed unaware of the time, which is odd for you, especially during Potionology experiments," her friend pointed out.