Propinquity

Water

Ren's pov

I held out my hand to him.I generously offered him a second chance. It was beyond what he deserved but I was a gracious person.However, my generosity was shortly trampled by ingratitude when he succinctly turned me down.He told me he had them.

What? Those losers? Did he have peace of mind because he was with them? But in the end they proved to be nothing more than useless Especially that girl. They were notably preoccupied with each other.
[Why do you look at her that way...]

Sendou Aichi; there was something unsettling about her.Something familiar.
[What are these feelings I can't put to words...]

I couldn't understand. Why that failure...
[Why her over me?]
Displeased with the affront, I threw the girl a few words of truth. My, how kind of me! No one else was kind enough to tell her what she had to hear.

[It's your fault. You're weak. You let them downThey lost because of you.]

And as anticipated, she crumbled like a cookie.
[The world isn't so sweet. It's eat or be eaten.]

Pitiful child.
When I left the stadium, I hoped to never see that girl again.But fate wanted otherwise...

The next time I saw him and that girl, they were even closer.Something in me seethed with anger.
I lived to this day, hating and praying for his endless misery.

Because I knew what kind of person he was. I knew that betraying a friend would kill him inside and I relished the thought.But there he was. Smiling at that kid.
[Why. What is so interesting about that weakling?]
The more I looked at them, the more disturbed I became.And then I wondered,
[If I take that girl away, will he fall back into despair...?]
And just as I thought about it...the opportunity presented itself.When I realized she had begun to develop that power, I called out to her.

Abandoned by that person in the same way I was for receiving it.

I called out to the girl and she inevitably came.

A welling thought tried to surface but I shoved it back down.
The girl and I resonated inexplicably well. It was the only other time I saw someone else with the same ability. The same gift.Amusing. It was all too amusing.
[If she is your haven, I'll ruin her. Wreck her so thoroughly that you'll never find peace there ever again.]

The more I saw the girl, the more it felt like looking into an old mirror.
Cracked...broken and no longer useful.

A revelation.The disturbing thought that itched at the back of my head finally surfaced.
[Is this why? Are you attracted to her because she is a shadow of my former self?]

The thought was both intruiging and sickening at the same time. It was so like that fool to be caught up in the past. Always, he has been that way.

[I won't be like you. I won't look back.]

[Psyqualia is my conviction.]
[I'm not wrong. I won't be wronged.]
[Power is everything. Psyqualia will obtain me everything.]
[It is only a matter of time. ]
Twice now he threw away two people very dear to him.
Because of what? Vanity? Jealousy?
[Because you weren't chosen?]
I'll never know.It's alright, though. I'm kind. I'm gracious. Whatever you throw away like trash, I will take in.
That girl, I took her underneath my wing. Heartbroken with no where to go, I saved her the way you should have helped me.

The more I looked at that girl, the scarier the resemblence seemed.
When we were together it felt like we were one person. I was convinced I was drawn to her as well by this uncanny resemblence but...
I began to think that perhaps there was more to the girl than I originally felt.
[Ah. So there is a difference...]
Somewhere down the line of my twisted plot, I stopped seeing her as simply a means to break that person.

Admittedly, I developed a strong affinity to her.

She drew my attention wherever she went. Even when I wasn't looking at her, I thought about her and for a period of time, even that person escaped my mind.
My daily thoughts became filled endlessly with images of that girl.
She was drowning so quickly in the power, I didn't know whether to hold her up or push her down.
With each passing day the girl's corruption rose on par with her maddening obsession with the one who abandoned her.
We were the same. But we were also different.
The unity I felt with her, I wonder if it was because we were elements polar opposite of each other.
In rejection I was fueled with a burning desire to hate and despise everything.
In her rejection she felt the need to drown in and submerge everything underneath her sadness.
[Yes, she's just like water.]

She was painted blue like the sea or the ocean. I was painted red like lava or the fiery sun. I was...perhaps, attracted to her for this reason.
[But water and fire can never interact.]

Any closer and I felt as if the girl would vaporize and vanish entirely. Even so, I wanted her near me.
Being with me only serve to wittle her away and yet I still wanted her near me.
[Fade into nothingness. Dry up yourself beside me. So he will never have you again.]
So I called out to her once more. I waited for her, once more, for that girl -- believing she became just as drawn to me as I was to her.
I waited listlessly...
But he never came.
The next time I saw the girl again, she was beside him. They were standing side by side.

They no longer had the same eyes. She no longer shared the same eyes--the same viewpoint as myself.
It was then that I realized she had been recovered by that person.
Backed up by him, the girl radiated a different aura no longer like water. It was something else entirely; I could not put my finger on it.
[Why are you looking at me that way.]

[Why are you returning it to me.]

[Don't be a fool.]

[I won't be wronged a second time!]

If I had known you'd be swallowed up by him again, I would have swallowed you whole myself. Burn you into nothingness.
Every action you two do is only to mock me. To prove me wrong. To tell me I was in the wrong paft.
[I won't let you.]
The powerful will attain everything.I won't be like him. I won't look back.I'll take back everything with this power Including you.

Always near but never close. The distance between us but a meter, yet a mile before we'll ever understand each other. Even so, I accept this. I don't need to be understood. I don't need to be loved, I only need to be right.Being right is all that matters.

It's all that matters......
"Suzugamori-san. When did you stop having fun. Don't you remember what that's like anymore?"
[Ah. This is...]

[This aura isn't water...]
[This aura is..........]
[.................................]
(The sun will melt all water so Aichi became an ocean of stars...~)

END