Chapter 45

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Alone... again.

When life got better, the hole in his heart widened and... left him empty.

What happened?
What made him leave?
Was it his fault? ... It was his fault.

He did this.

Does that mean....

it his fault.... Kacchan left?
...
...
...
He was alone...

He needed...to do...something...

Grabbing his pencils, Izuku started to draw.

The room filled with drawings. Flowers bloomed onto the page and rivers flowed...

The morning ticked away and Inko, understanding the pain, silently made breakfast and placed it nearby on  a tray. The afternoon approached and as Inko got her medicine ready to leave, Izuku came rushing down with a sketchbook. He wanted to go to the village, was it really his fault?

The two set off to the village and the sun shone down onto the path before them. Attract wasn't there as usual, she would stay at the edge of the village unless she was needed.

The bumbling village was abuzz as usual as the afternoon market opened and people thrifted from stall to stall. Inko headed to her usual spot underneath the large beech tree and sat down with the medicine spread out in front.

Izuku climbed the beech tree, away from sight and started to draw.

He drew the small village he could see from above, doodling the people as they went up to Inko to buy medicine.

It was peaceful but to Izuku, it only served to say that it was his fault people leave.

The afternoon past and people stopped by Inko to gossip about the day before and buy medicine.

Izuku spent the day impatiently drawing all his negative emotions away. Anxiety bubbled up but he spilled them onto paper.

He was lonely and broken.

But he kept drawing.

The perception of time warped for him, as half a year had already passed and Izuku had spent every afternoon drawing.

Inko quietly supported him and made sure the things he loved were nearby. She use to fret at first but she knew the pain of losing a loved one. She understood the pain.

The paintings started to pile up so Inko asked whether she should try selling them. Izuku looked at her with no emotions in his eyes, he didn't care. He just wanted to draw more.

It was no surprise but his drawings sold like wild fire. There were even collectors from other parts of different towns turning up buy the drawings. The pictures were normal everyday sights but different emotions overflowed in them all. Just looking at one could bring tears.

One viewer in particular, with her seaweed green hair, wept as she saw a river drawing. The drawing was mostly blue and flowing with a slow moving river but in the centre, was Inko washing clothes while singing. Warm yellow surrounded her and the sun shone down. The piece was saddening but happy, a bittersweet harmony of colours.

The leader of the rescue team was getting old as she lived at the edge of the village, hiding her familiar and keeping and eye on her daughter.

Her old heart use to burn in anger as she saw her daughter look after the child but now that child had lost his will to live properly and it left her daughter in distress.

Unable to keep watching her daughter like this, she was going to do something, soon.

Each afternoon was the same, Izuku would draw whilst Inko sat below and sold her herbs. An hour and a half later, she'd go into the village and buy snacks for them before returning and climbing the tree to join Izuku. They would eat in silence before Inko would gave her son a hug amd climbed down to pack the herbs away.

Except this particular afternoon when Inko went down to the bakery to buy some raspberry cinnamon rolls, she was met with a large queue.

In that exact moment, an old green haired woman approached the beech tree and called up to the young boy who sat there, asking to talk. He nodded and the two went for a walk.

The two strolled down a cobbled path surrounded in the beautiful tall trees that casted dancing shadows around them. The sunlight streamed through them and weaved beautiful patterns all around the air.

Izuku didn't even look at his surroundings. His eyes were dead and distrustful, everyone around him who he loved had disappeared. He had to stay away from everyone, or else they left too...

The most important things in his life was Inko and Attract. He couldn't loose them too. He needed to stay away.

The woman next to him on the other hand, had never truly appreciated what was around her until this moment. When she came to the forest before, she was so sick and worried for her daughter that she couldn't see the beauty of nature.

But now it was time to get to the point, she spun on her heels and faced the boy. This boy was her grandson a d whether or not she liked it, it hurt to see him like this.

"Look around you."

She was a blunt woman and she always said what she thought.

"There are people who care about you, people who are sad, people who are happy to see you and people who sacrificed everything to make sure you're safe. Look around kid, those dead eyes of yours aren't seeing anything!"

She gently shook the boy's shoulders and eyebrows furrowed...

...

"Who sacrificed everything?"....

There was silence as the answer hit the woman's pride.

"I guess...your father did sacrifice everything for your family... I guess...no, I'm sure, he risked it all to be with my daughter... I...didn't think that it would result in the same thing if they broke their bond... but of course...the history...the-"

She stopped muttering to her thoughts as she saw Izuku's face. He was shocked and pale.

"W-w-what happened to my dad?..."

Silent Voice [Completed] |Dekubowl Where stories live. Discover now