"The damage is infectious, and all that can be done is purge it all and start from scratch."
If life is a series of choices, then perhaps that just means that life is a game? To Akazawa Saki, that's all life really is. She refutes the existence of G...
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In every sense of the word, Obi was confused.
And no matter how much he tried to solve the matter at hand, to come to some conclusion he could grasp, he found nothing.
It had been hours since he had trailed after Akazawa Saki at Shirayuki's behest, following her tracks through the Clarines wilderness at a far enough distance that she didn't notice. It was a long and tedious task that Obi wasn't all that eager to take on if it involved leaving the court herbalist solely in the care of a lone guard who was more interested in hiding away out of the weather than actually doing his job.
But the young miss was adamant, urging him to follow the surly maid at all costs.
'I'm positive she hasn't slept in days, Obi! She isn't well!' Shirayuki had insisted when he'd first declined her request. 'I know Zen ordered you to stay away from her, but can you do this for me? Please? I'm worried she's going to collapse out there!'
Obi found it almost impossible to argue when Shirayuki fixed him with that desperate a look, and with a faint groan he had given in with a sarcastic remark that he'll have to get her to tend to any vicious bites that the maid might inflict upon him for so much as even looking at her.
But then again, he always had a hard time saying no to Shirayuki, even when he really wanted to.
In the short few minutes it took to track which direction the maid had gone, Obi had found himself realizing just how tedious this was going to be. Following her tracks would be simple enough, but there was no snowfall, and that maid was no fool. The very instant she would notice any tracks other than her own, she was going to know something was afoot.
Though, the longer he followed the tracks, and eventually the distant shadow in the distance that he recognized to actually be the grumpy maid, the more he began to wonder what exactly she was up to. She'd been walking in a dead-straight line for the past three hours without pausing for more than a handful of seconds.
Though he'd seen her distant form waver from time to time, almost as if she had almost lost her footing.
Obi let out a sigh as he watched the maid's form wander further out of his vision from up in the branches of a tree, frowning slightly as he thought he saw her stumble slightly through the snow.
Well, he had already guessed the woman hadn't slept much since she'd been in their company, even before Shirayuki brought it up. But he was surprised to find himself consider that perhaps it really was worse than that.
He had assumed it was out of stubborn pride that the maid refused to sleep within sight of anyone, since she appeared to abhor showing any weakness or even any tangible personality trait around anyone, especially himself, but perhaps there was something more to it than that.
The mask was another thing that tugged at his curiosity.
Why wear a mask when all the people she had to communicate with at the moment all knew what her face looked like?
