PAPER FLOWERS ( k. bakugou )

chapter 10

' unwilling to let go '

━━━━━

Alone, in his room, she built those walls again. Soaring high like bannisters on decade old cathedrals, tens of thousands of feet and made of impenetrable obsidian. She let Tomoe inside, and when he exploded, the shards of him lodged deep into her flesh and now pain is searing her entire body 'cause removing those shards hurt.

Time is her only companion, with Tomura taking the pair of ugly fish with him and by this time, rigor mortis- stiffening of body muscles after death- has settled in Tomoe's body- corpse.

"Kaede," a head peeks through the half open door revealing Shigaraki Tomura and the latest gaming consoles in his clutches. "Want to play?"

"I don't want to," she said, past bargaining to anger in the stages of grief. "Get out of my sight."

Tomura frowned. "That's not very nice," he said. "I'll invite myself in then."

Kaede crossed her arms over her chest, glared at him. "Don't waste my breath if you're just going to barge in here."

Tomura eyed her with distaste, clicked his tongue. "Women are moody. I can't read your parameters." He was back to his usual game speak meaning he was starting to slowly move on from the death and same could be said for Kaede for the girl who had stars in her stomach was back to her usual, acrid self. Well, almost. There was that problem with grieving. Despite all alleged beliefs that you'd ultimately reach the end of grieving, in the end, you were the one whose choice was valued most. It was within oneself if they would finally cease the grieving or not.

"And people who always generalize based on slight hints of evidence are stupid," she said, crossed her legs over the bed and watched him with those icy red eyes.

Teeth grit in annoyance and he sat on the rug facing the portable screen he brought and begun the setup of the entire machine. Disentangling wires, pressing buttons, and switching the power on and it was obvious he'd failed for the screen did not display even the smallest signs of activation. Another grit of the teeth and Kaede sighed, hopping off the bed and making her way to the impatient bluehead.

"I thought... you... wouldn't play," he said slowly, about to scratch that neck of his with effloresced red marks, but she shot another deadly glare. Kaede knew Tomura wasn't scared of her, but she knew that he was aware she'd never let it go without a fight and he'd already lost a brother-

Kaede begun disentangling the wires, moving the cords to their proper places, and even plugging the godforsaken tool. "You would've disintegrated the whole thing," she said, gave him a pointed look and pressed the power button. "I'm going to stay here for the night. And Tomoe... doesn't like messes in his room."

Silence engulfed the space again, one hundred fifty five square meters filled to the brim with sparse embellishments and perpetual silence. The weight of something that could have been there hanging like an obscure, smothering fog.

"I'll watch you play," she said slowly, as if there were words in her mouth she was afraid to say and the mention of a single syllable would have made ears bleed and the blood shall water the path of thorns she walked on.

One two three seconds pass and a brief dip of the head with a crown of light blue, and eyes reflecting pixelated characters and overpowered moves. He doesn't even announce that he's begun playing the game and as usual, even with the handicap of his quirk- he'd disintegrate the entire thing if he used five fingers at the same time- his fingers are a blur.

Efficient tactics deployed, moves weakening the enemy while managing to memorize various patterns that gave him the upper hand. Kaede counted fifty five seconds before the you win sign was displayed on the screen.