[1] [Shattered Crimson] Male Reader x Houseki no Kuni [Females]

Chapter 19 [Bark and Bite]

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[3rd POV]

The sound of his own footsteps was the only thing Y/N could really focus on. His mind was in a state of disarray. The first day of everyone being awake and things are already starting to get way too complicated with relationships. He never imagined Bort of all people would have him in the palm of her hand, although there was a slight sense of relief it was her and not someone like Red Beryl. Bort is not one for blackmail, but Y/N didn't know how far the black-haired battle maniac was willing to go with the newly acquired information. 

"You just keep on falling deeper and deeper, don't you?" Y/N stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes slightly widened for a moment before his expression turned into a death glare. 

A vision of himself with short hair and crimson regal clothes appeared by his side, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, giving Y/N a disapproving look. Y/N slowly turned to look at the hallucination version of himself, already cursing himself for even bothering to acknowledge Y/N's presence.

"I wonder what would Padparadscha think," Y/N's eyes shot open as he clenched both of his fists. 

Red Matter pooled off his body in plentiful amounts and quickly formed a spiked appendage that went to strike Y/N, but he was gone in a blink of an eye. Y/N continued to stare at the fractured wall with pure rage in his eyes as the crimson liquid spike returned back into his body. Taking a deep breath and running a hand through his hair, Y/N calmed himself down. He DETESTED these moments, moments when he felt the most vulnerable. At the mercy of his own inner demon that liked to kick him down at any chance he got. 

"Y/N?" a soft voice grasped his attention, a voice he knew well.

"Ah, hello Dia," greeted Y/N with a small and slightly awkward wave, he rose an eyebrow immediately when he saw the lustrous girl holding a bouquet of flowers in a wooden vase, "Flowers?"

"Oh!" Dia gently moved a couple of multi-coloured flowers around, showing Y/N just how many types she had in a single vase, "Well, I thought they would make the school more lively."

Y/N nodded, but he saw something hidden beneath Diamond's pleasant smile, something that felt very unlike her, "...Are you okay?"

"Eh?" Diamond was taken back by Y/N's sudden question, although she didn't immediately reply with a yes, instead, she opted to quiet down, giving Y/N more than enough hints that she indeed was not fine.

"Did Bort do something again?" exasperatedly asked Y/N, he felt bad for his sweet-natured friend, she was too pure for her own good.

"What makes you say that? Bort is never wrong..." Y/N listened intently as Diamond trailed off, tracing her fingers against the green stump of a lone flower, "...she's always, ALWAYS right."

Y/N only listened, already knowing that Diamond's opinion towards Bort was a little... mixed, to say the least. But the smile the lustrous Gem gave Y/N as she said the next few words really put the nail in the coffin when it came to her current relationship with the battle maniac.