Honoured and the Damned

Chapter 1: Do you believe?

Aiko never felt like she belonged.

It had taken Aiko years to really and irrevocably know that despite how much people told her otherwise, scoffed and scorned her and told her that she was deranged for thinking otherwise— she was simply not like them.

Everywhere she looked she found people who looked like her, spoke like her, ate the same thing as her but never felt like her. She used to wonder if there was something wrong with her and if she should try a bit more to be like them... but it was never enough. Still, she tried her best to fit in— tried her best to act and could proudly say that to any person she would look like the most content and satisfied person there is. Not to mention that she was also popular among her friends. Aiko would never know why.

If asked for the perfect person to get advice from, people would point right at her. For all her strangeness and peculiarity anyone who considered themselves close to her would say that she's the one who would give the most unbiased breakdown of a situation and give you the blunt reality. That she would give them the best solutions but should they feel the need for comfort, it's better to go somewhere else. Because for all Aiko was a master at life (they gave her the title behind her back), she was shit at actually empathising with anyone.

That didn't matter to most people though, seeing as many still considered her the epitome of how they should live.

(The more intelligent ones say that she was the pinnacle of how their society wanted them to be, their perfect idol. They say that she embodies what society teaches them. Strict, logical, helpful and a perfect aloof exterior to boot.)

(What is left unsaid is that they don't want to follow her example, they don't want to become what she is.)

Growing up, much of her time was spent finding hobbies, one of them being binge-watching Anime. She found it relaxing, meditative even. That was how she spent her time that day, binge-watching and reading extra notes on the characters of Jujutsu Kaisen; an anime that seemed to be calling to her.

That day when she finished studying at the library and began to go on her way home, she found herself at crossroads. A child in her arms and a speeding truck heading straight towards them. She realised one thing, that she did not have enough time.

It was pathetic really. Her first instinct was to save them both, but all she was able to do was throw away the child towards the sidewalk with all her strength and take a hit meant for the pre-schooler. She felt the blood before she saw it, she smelled it before she heard it. And before she knew it, she was falling, the sound of her heartbeats had long replaced the sound of the crowd.

"Welcome home."

"Do not lose your way—"

"With the three realms as my witness, I will fore—"

"RUN!"

"This is where we part ways, please remember to live well."

"I'll find you!"

When she opened her eyes to see the world for the last time, she found herself falling from the sky. Her body felt heavy and she was falling headfirst towards what looked like a training field.

She was sure that if the truck didn't manage to kill her then the fall definitely would. In the midst of the unexplainable and the significant blood loss, she did not why she was in the air in the first place. All she knew was that she was going to die; fall and crack open her skull.

What she could not understand was why it felt like someone was holding her. She couldn't fully open her eyes either, she was exhausted and it was slowly catching up to her as well. She was able to pry open her right eye, her left eye was throbbing violently and she gave up after realizing that a steady stream of blood flowing over the other.

She expected to see what she thought would be hell because she knew that she was not going to heaven. But what greeted her was the ocean and the universe wrapped up and squeezed into the human organ called the eyes. Time seemed to slow as she stared at the blue jewels, they reflect the universe's finest beauty and hold a power the power yet to be truly unleashed upon the world. The intensity of his eyes burns you, leaving you with nowhere to hide.

The owner of the eyes moved their lips as if saying something but all she could hear was the sound of her heartbeats.

She was delirious or at least that was what she would say every time someone asked why she never spoke of their first meeting. Because when she saw the achingly familiar eyes of the only man whom she knew had eyes like those, her first instinct was to kiss him.

And kiss she did.

To this day she doesn't remember much of what happened afterwards. Her body felt like it was on fire, her head was pounding, and she had the worst headache of her life. She tried to move, but her limbs felt like they were filled with lead. The last thing she remembered was the blue eyes that shined with madness, focusing all their attention on her.