Wilted Lotus|| fem muitan

IX

-recap-

'I can't allow anything to happen to her... but I don't know how I can help...'

-end of recap-

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As Muichiro entered her house, she felt uneasy. Like something would happen while she was there over break. Muichiro didn't want to be back. She didn't want to see her family again. Though her brother was decent, he didn't do anything to help her when her parents were hurting her. It was almost like he didn't care. Almost because, she could see the hurt in his eyes whenever Muichiro was being hurt by her parents.

No one was home yet. Both of her parents were at work, and Yuichiro was going to be back from college in a few days. Muichiro went up to her room and unpacked. Her room was as empty as always. Few colors, few decorations, little furniture. It was cold and had no carpet.

Muichiro wished she could talk to Tanjiro, but she didn't want to bother her. Tanjiro was probably spending time with her family, and Muichiro didn't want to interrupt anything. Muichiro laid down on her bed, thinking about everything she could be doing if she was able to stay at college or with Tanjiro.

Muichiro decided to read an old book that she had left at home before college. It was a love story and while she was reading it, Muichiro realized that she felt the same feelings for Tanjiro as the protagonist felt for the love interest.

'This explains a lot...' Muichiro thought. She put the book down and thought about Tanjiro. Tanjiro's beautiful crimson eyes and hair. Her smile that was brighter than the sun. Her kindness that was incomparable to anything in this world or the next.

Muichiro's cheeks were dusted a light pink while she thought about Tanjiro. 'I must like her...' When she realized that, Muichiro blushed more and hid her face. She buried her face into her pillow and thought about it more when something suddenly occurred to her. Her eyes widened. 'How can I tell my family?!'

'I can't, can I? I'm pretty sure only Yuichiro would be okay with it. I'm pretty sure he has a boyfriend, anyway. But he never told our parents... maybe I should keep it to myself for now...' Muichiro laid in her bed. Her phone started ringing and she picked it up to see that it was Tanjiro who was calling her.

Muichiro answered the phone. "Hello, Tanjiro!" "Hi, Muichiro!" Muichiro blushed as she heard Tanjiro's voice. "How are you doing?"  "I'm doing fine, what about you?" 

"I'm good!" Muichiro heard the voices of kids in the background. Tanjiro laughed a little "Hang on, I have to go deal with something" Muichiro heard Tanjiro scolding the kids in the background, saying something like 'stop fighting over small things', or something like that.(Tanjiro forgot to mute herself)

Muichiro laughed a little. She heard Tanjiro sigh before talking to her again. "Sorry about that. My little siblings were fighting again" "It's fine, don't worry" The two talked for a little while before Muichiro heard her parents get home.

Muichiro was a little nervous to see her parents again, but she knew that it couldn't be avoided. Her parents opened the front door, arguing about something. 'Great... life is already back to normal and they just got home...' Muichiro sighed and buried her head into her pillow.

Muichiro waited a little while to leave her room. She was greeted coldly by her parents. 'at least they greeted me...' Muichiro tried to have a good attitude about this. She never wanted to go back to her house. She wanted to just stay at her dorm for break, though some things can't be helped.

Muichiro was asked to make dinner for her parents, so she went to kitchen and started on that. I was almost like nothing had changed. Like she never went to college. But this time, Muichiro could notice a difference in her own personality.

Muichiro could tell that she was happier. Despite being back at her house, Muichiro still felt happier than she did before she left for college(guys help I'm losing motivation and ideas 😭). Muichiro finished making dinner and told her parents. Muichiro actually made a small plate of food for herself tonight, though she didn't want to eat with her parents.

Muichiro decided to hide in her room and eat there. Ever since her last outing with Tanjiro, Muichiro had been trying to eat at least a little bit of food each day. Muichiro quickly ate the small amount of food she had saved for herself and decided to write a little bit.

Muichiro started writing a new chapter. The contest was going to be in May, so she still had five months to finish her book. Tanjiro had finished the book cover already, so now Muichiro just needed to write a few more chapters and she would be done.

Muichiro was proud of the book so far, it was definitely better than some of the ones she had written in the past. 'I hope this does good in the contest...' Muichiro thought. She didn't think it would rank very high compared to the other writers, but she was hoping it would at least do well.

Muichiro wrote about half of a chapter before stopping. It was odd, she was already feeling tired. It normally takes until 11:00pm for her to even think about going to sleep. Muichiro checked the time. It was 11:30pm. 'Wow, I guess time passes quickly... I thought it was only eight or nine...'

Muichiro put away her writing stuff and went to sleep, though it took her a little while to actually fall asleep. Muichiro's sleep was restless. She had forgotten what it was like to be back home...

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-945 words-

Hi! Sorry this chapter took so long to get out, I haven't been very motivated with this story as of late. Thankfully, this story will soon be coming to a close. I recommend preparing yourself mentally for the ending! I already know that my writing is going to be terrible for the ending, so another reason to prepare yourself! I'm also working on about 10 stories or so currently. I'm starting a new story that is just multi-fandom oneshots, I have it planned to be 40+ chapters, but plans may change. I hope you're enjoying this so far! See you next time!

-the author