Wisteria Eyed

51

Warning:
Mentions of anxiety attack, death, grief and gore.
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When I was younger, I thought my life was ironic — things that I anticipated to occur never did so and things that I never imagined to even exist happened to me all the time.

The only solace I had within this life of mine was that the ripples I was creating in the original plot were of my own choosing — that I had a choice and a say in things that I wanted to change and get involved in, no matter how unexpected.

However, I never realized that that wasn't ever the case either.

I never thought that my very existence was causing ripples through the plot, even when I was not directly involved in it.

I huffed a humourless laugh as I watched the last few rays of the Sun fade away, leaving the darkness of the night behind to creep its way through as I felt a strange sense of calmness.

Or should I call it numbness? I didn't know anymore, especially since there was still a dull ache lingering in my chest that I could neither express nor ignore — a most likely sign of building anxiety due to all that I came to hear very recently.

"I-I didn't do anything! It was Warabihime, who hated Byakuren House! She hated the business that House got and how it was out of reach of her influence!"

I felt a sharp ache in my chest as the words that the Hostess of Kyougoku House confessed came back to me.

"Sarota-san?"

I looked back at Uzui's wife Hinatsuru, her worried pinkish-violet eyes making me want to pat her as I gave her a carefree smile.

"I hope you are done with everything you need, ma'am?"

She nodded briefly before peeking at my face again, "Are you alright, Sarota-san? Your complexion looks quite pale..."

"I'm fine," I reassured her as we finally started moving, "And even if I am not, we don't have time for that. So, let's focus on the mission at hand, yeah?"

I knew my curt answer must have felt very rude to her but honestly, I currently didn't have enough mental space to do anything except focus on what was at hand.

I didn't get the time to properly even think about my emotions and I knew that once I did start on them, I'll break apart. That, or I will do something that I will regret for the rest of my life.

'I'll get time to process it later,' I consoled myself as we travelled to the designated spot we had planned to meet, 'I have to protect them first.'

The sun was already down, making every second very precious to us as now we were in the part of the day where the demons had the upper hand.

"At least," I subconsciously said out loud, "The streets are relatively empty."

"Was that your doing, Sarota-san?" Hina asked curiously.

"You may say that," I wondered how to answer the question while not looking like I was scheming about this for years, "However, it was Hashira-sama who helped the most in it."

The plan we had made was quite simple — divert the people by rumours and corner Daki by seeking out the hostages before she can use them against us.

The first step to the plan, that is, the rumours were already executed. I knew it would work quite well, too, since I had planted similar rumours for years now.