It Started with a Hello

xxix

Warning: This chapter contains content that may be triggering.

...

"Hi, Mako-chan!"

Hanamiya scowled at [Last Name]'s nickname for him, but remained silent as she approached him.

Since it was too risky for him being at her place, they decided to meet up at the end of her street.

"Has he hurt you?" Hanamiya asked casually.

[Last Name] hummed. "I haven't seen him awake in a while. He's been drinking a lot lately, so whenever I see him, he's passed out somewhere."

He grunted in response. "He's a shitty dad."

She shrugged. "I'm used to it, at this point. He's been like this my whole life."

They continued walking, hand in hand. [Last Name] wasn't sure if she wanted to tell Hanamiya about her newfound way to escape the pain. She did it on a whim when she cut herself. She had been picking up the bathroom, as her dad had trashed it, and found a razorblade on the ground. She picked it up and set it on the counter, but it remained in her mind the whole time she was in the bathroom.

Even after she was done and escaped to her room, she still thought about the razorblade. [Last Name] decided to get retrieve it, and brought it back to her room.

She looked at her wrists for a long time; it felt like this was the only way to make her feel better.

So, thankful that her school uniform was long sleeved, she brought the razorblade to her wrist, and cut herself.

The red of her blood put her in a trance. The sight was intoxicating, so she put more cuts on her wrist. A few days later, she switched to her other wrist.

She knew Hanamiya would kill her if he found out, but that's not what she was worried about. Even though it was two months ago, she knew Hanamiya was still struggling with his mom's death. He even had to deal with his dad, whom he moved in with, but had no relationship with him before that. [Last Name] couldn't burden him with her problems even more than she already had.

"You're spacing out," Hanamiya said, squeezing her hand a little to hard.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

He eyed her warily, as if he knew she wasn't telling him something. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing, Mako-chan."

"You only space out like that when something's on your mind."

She mentally cursed him for being so observant.

"I'll be fine," she muttered.

He sighed, knowing she wasn't going to spill.

...

Just to clear some things up, Hanamiya & reader-chan are third years in high school right now. At the beginning of the story, they were second years.

-Caity