KITSUNE

➖ Retrace: Temperance

"Are you bothered by it?"

"Huh?" He looked at her.

"From not knowing who you were before."

Haise nodded. "Yeah." He answered. "He is in my head. He wants me to disappear so he can take over my body."

"You are saying he is your enemy." Hayami concluded.

"He feels like one." Haise told her. "But... I want to know who he is. I want to know who I was."

Troubled – that's how Haise looked and it was not something Aya didn't see coming. With so many connections from his past coming forth, it was hard to evade them. Haise had Takizawa call him out about Ken Kaneki and he also took Hinami under his ownership, and she saw Ken like her big brother – that was the only thing Aya knew, but she knew there could be much more that was causing Haise to struggle with his old self.

Hayami nodded. "If there is a way I can help, I want you to know that you can rely on me."

She smiled so warmly that it caused Haise to think – I knew someone like you once and I loved you. He didn't know whether he was the one thinking those thoughts or if it was he who was saying them. But there was something about Hayami that just made him feel like there was once somebody for whom he would do anything.

"Oh, right!" Hayami rose from her seat. "I got you a Christmas present."

"Oh, I have one for you too."

Just like children, they went in opposite directions. Hayami went to her bag that she had left in the hallway by the entrance and Haise went to the cabinet by the Christmas tree where he had hidden the present. He didn't want the others to poke around his present for Hayami – so he decided to hide it from them.

Hayami and Haise met in the middle of the room with gifts wrapped. Hayami handed her a gift that was wrapped in red with Christmas trees all over it and Haise handed Hayami his gift that was wrapped in simple red and a rainbow.

"You first." Haise said.

Without protest, Hayami began to unwrap her gift. She was not so careful with the paper – she unwrapped the box and tore open the paper. Haise stared at her hands, those long nails painted in black had no difficulty tearing open the present. He found himself wondering, however, about the silver ring that she had on her left index finger – a gift from someone or just an accessory?

In a wooden box, she found small packages of coffee that had different flavors. "Coffee with different flavors." Hayami smiled. "Thank you." She said. "Now it's your turn."

Haise unwrapped his gift, ever so not elegantly until a book was in his hands. "Crime and punishment."

"Mm-huh." Hayami nodded. "I have read this book more times than I can count and despite being quite complex, I found it intriguing. The protagonist struggles with his inner demons and at the same time, he's desperately struggling to keep up appearances of normalcy and innocence."

Hayami opened his mouth to speak again – but she zipped her mouth shut as she noticed how Haise stared at the book. You gave me this book – do you remember? Hayami tilted her head to the side to have a better look at his face. Being shorter than him, she managed to see the glistering in his gray eyes.

"And happy late birthday." Haise remembers giving a book to someone – the book had a title: Crime and Punishment. "I promised that I'll bring you a book with a better ending."

The girl, whose face was all blurred out, laughed as she gently took the book from his hand. "You know I actually read this book once." She revealed – her voice distorted. "But, thank you. I'll read it again."