Trust Me | Tsukimi Shin

(Part Fourteen)

During her walk to Shin's apartment, it had started to become dark, and Chizue had picked up her pace, nearly sprinting. She starts to run so fast that she can feel stinging vibrations shooting up her legs with every smack of her shoes against the sidewalk. She was still weak, so she was quick to grow exhausted and panting, her vision already growing hazy. Still persisting, her pace only quickens as the streets grow more and more familiar.

        Around the corner to the left, straight, take a right... another right... there!

        It's like she gets a second wind once the building comes into view and she books it down the sidewalk, nearly tripping over a dip and then a crack on her way there. Some of the overgrown weeds that crowded around the bottom of a chain-link fence catch the tip of her foot and she stumbles, the sandwiches flying out of her hand and smacking into the dirt. An aggravated, strangled noise leaves her as she glares down at the food, briefly pulling her hair at the roots before shaking her head and returning to a sprint.

        There's someone opening up the front door of the building, and when they hear her shout towards them, they hesitantly hold open the glass door to allow her to slide through. She mutters thanks to the stranger and doesn't bother to wait for their response before booking it up the stairs and counting the flights she ascended.

        Chizue was finally in front of the door and she's clutching her knees, wheezing, and nearly slumped forward. Her lungs, thighs, and throat were all burning, and Chizue swallows her saliva in an attempt to soothe the sting. Hand sliding up the door, she hesitates, but then her teeth clamp down on her tongue as she gathers the courage to knock. She slams her fist against the door three times, her hand aching from the force she used, and there's no response. With a sharp inhale, she does it again. Still nothing. She was growing desperate and her breathing fastens.

        With another booming rap on the door, she begs, "Please, Shin...! Open the door!" Her voice had cracked and it sounded so weak and pathetic. A loud sniff leaves her and she gives another, slower, quieter knock. "...Sh... Shin...?"

        A rattling sound of a chain on the other end and frantic fumbling has Chizue stiffening and standing stock-still. When the door opens, she doesn't see Shin's face, she only sees a blue, sock-clad foot barely visible and his hand holding the door. "If this- if this is some sort of cruel fucking joke it is not funny...!" The hoarseness of his voice shatters her heart. She scrambles to speak, her hand touching the door, "No, Shin...! It's me, it's really me, I swear to God-"

        "No, no, there's no- there's no way, there's no way-"

        "Shin-"

        "If this is some sort of sadistic bullshit Asunaro is- you're a doll! En-end of the discussion. Leave." His grip tightens on the door, his knuckles turning white. Chizue tries to push at the door but she can tell through the resistance and the reangling of his foot and hand that he's fighting her to keep it nearly closed. "Shin, I'm not a doll, I promise! I promise, I promise, I really, really-!"

        "Prove it. What's something only- only the real... only the real one would know?" He wouldn't even say her name. Chizue sucks in a breath and hesitates, mind running a mile a minute to think of something, anything to say... what would only she know? What's something Asunaro wouldn't know, something they hadn't watched...?

        "I... I-I... we...!" Maybe Chizue was an idiot to spout the first thing that came to mind, but it was too late. Her mouth was moving faster than her mind, and she wanted to quickly get anything out before Shin slammed the door on her, "We kissed- we kissed at New Years! The-the one we celebrated together right before we were kidnapped. We were drunk on that-that strawberry sake and it kind of j-just happened. You didn't- you didn't remember, and I was afraid to tell you, so I didn't...! No one would know about what happened, fuck, even you didn't know, but we never talked about it, so...! So... so they..." Her voice falters. He wouldn't move, unsettlingly still, like he was slowly processing what she said. Chizue decides that wasn't enough, that more proof was necessary. For all he knew, she could have been making it up. "I can... I can bleed, I can prove- I'll find a way to prove it. I can bleed-"