Bloody turquoise eyes | JJK x OC

Canto XII - Let the Rain Wash thy Blood

It was awfully quiet inside my wagon, all the seats seemed empty from where I was sitting but I knew for certain someone was napping far in the back of the carriage. There are one and a half hours left to go, I've passed most of the trip looking outside as the scenery changed before me. It was quite boring after a while, the sunlight was gone, devoured by a pall of dark clouds which threatened to bathe the city clean, the locals advised me to be cautious of the heavy weather for the next three days, it couldn't be better, you'd say.

The pen feels hefty tonight too, the more I try to write down the weekly report the foggier my mind becomes, much resembling the weather outside, and I just can't deal with it so I've left it there on the table, discarded, halfway done.

I then tried my luck by laying my head on the seat and going to sleep, letting time pass by but again, the fact I was in a state of constant movement did not help me at all, I couldn't help but stay awake no matter how much my organism demanded to be shut off. The only good thing that occurred during this first part of the trip was the inspector, this middle-aged man came down the aisle not too long ago to check the tickets. It was a great surprise when he started signing back at me, it's not every day I could have a conversation with someone without interfering with their thoughts. He sat down and we started "talking" about each other. He has a daughter back home in the countryside who's deaf, six years old the poor soul, showed me some pictures he kept stored in his breast pocket. They practiced sign language anytime he had some free time, he even complimented me for my fluency. I may have made progress in these months but I'm nowhere near fluent, he's just saying it out of courtesy.

It has been a lovely conversation nonetheless, it kept me grounded on who this is all for. He got up, silence sat in his stead as he went down the aisle. I'm no longer acquainted with silence, it's not the nocturnal quietness that usually lulls me to nod off after a busy day, no, this is lonely, tomb-like silence.

That one, who used to welcome me back into my room the first year and a half as a purifier. Ill advisor, it pointed out all the negatives as I patched myself: you let that curse get too close it could have bit your arm off, that curse could have cleaved your legs if that pillar wasn't in the way, you could have died in vain here, here, and here. It was, and still is, excruciating. But back then I had the convictions that kept me going in the long run, now, so far from home... they're not what they used to be, the lack of meaning behind what was once predominant in my life. But I'd be lying if I told you I didn't have any nowadays.

By the time I'd wake up in the morning, desolace used to greet me at the door, someday a mere envelope with the day's mission or someone in need of my service, which happened once every blue moon. Now, Megumi and Yuuji, living in the rooms next to mine, usually wait outside my door to then go together to the cafeteria. Somehow news spread about my coffee around the school, probably Gojou told them because of course he had, now my moka pot was transferred to the cafeteria so that people wouldn't amass in the corridor for a shot of espresso. Megumi in particular has grown fond of it, so much so that he doesn't drink coffee outside of school anymore. An accomplishment if I have to say so myself, given how much of a caffeine addict he is.

This came as a sort of realization, not about how I can make good coffee, mind you, but about how much I crave companionship, for meaningful connections. Didn't even come to my mind until recently, but looking back, I've led a lonely life. And now that I got a taste of it, I don't know if I'd be mentally capable of going back to how things were before.

______

Gabriele found himself in a covered parking lot, as the dark clouds preannounced, it started pouring down on the city as soon as he had stepped off the bullet train, with some flashes of lighting every now and then. Talk about bad timing, one day he had to go on a mission without the first-years and he got caught in the middle of a storm, all without an umbrella. Fortunately enough there were 24/7 shops nearby the station, so he was able to purchase it together with something warm to eat at the cost of getting a bit wet.