REDSNOW: Timescape (Book 1.5)

Chapter 11

LIKE WHAT FLOWERS DO

Hagane

"You think Leo has moved on?" I ask Bloom as we enter the academy. We've just arrived from our mission involving that mind-reader kid.

Wow, I really didn't think we could meet someone with a similar ability as Psych. And a kid, at that.

"I think he's still there at the hospital," Bloom answers.

My eyebrows cross. Oh, she didn't get what I mean.

"No, I mean...from Hailey."

"Oh," she finally catches up. "Well, I think so. It has been a while after all."

True. It's been a couple of years since Hailey left. Hailey and I weren't that close. It was Bloom who had a stronger connection with her, aside from Leo.

"It must've been very hard," I mumble. "Seeing the person who was once so significant to you again after so many years...It must've felt...really weird and sad, especially because she doesn't remember you anymore. It's only you who get to be affected. That's unfair."

"Well, that's just how it works. Leo and Hailey are not the only ones who got to experience such dilemma."

"Right...Good thing, you and I will always be here."

Bloom faces me. I give her a small smile.

"Because if you ever leave me here in the academy, I wouldn't be able to move on from you either, Bloom."

She stopped walking. And I, too.

"S-Stop blabbering such corny stuff, Hagane," she huffs as she carries on.

I just smile again. I like it when Bloom's blushing like that. I like it when I leave her flushed and taken aback.

Not because I feel like I'm winning over her, but because I feel like...I'm winning her over.

There's a difference.

If Leo has Hailey as the person he valued most in this academy, I, on the other hand, have Bloom.

We may argue and bicker most of the time, but deep inside of me, I know I wouldn't be able to last here without Bloom.

Bloom has become my pillar. Although I don't really go around telling people that. Not even her.

But she is truly my pillar.

I don't know if she has realized it or if she intended to do it, but she pulled me out of my dark past. She made me realize the value of life.

Back when I was younger, when I was still living at the Nakamura's hideout, I grew up treating violence as a norm. I grew up watching people take other people's lives for the sake of money. I grew up seeing a lot of bloodshed.

With my young mind, I thought that was just how life works. It's either you become a predator or you become the prey.

Until my brother and I were taken by Terra and brought here in the academy. My brother, Bullet, is 4 years older than me. While I was still learning about life, he had already been accustomed to it. Which is why it was harder for him to break free from our dark past and what we were born and raised with.

He had always looked up to our monstrous father. He had always wanted our father's attention.

That's why when he had the chance, he ran away from the academy. He didn't even care to take me with him. Not that I want to join him on his idiotic idea to search for and reconnect with the Nakamuras.