blackbox | kirishima eijirou

38 | flowerful craters

The moon has its craters.

And each crater has its cause.

Perhaps when countless of asteroids collided on the lunar surface, it left impacts so much that the moon could only take. Maybe that was true. When the day finally comes, the day the moon crumbles to its core, the universe would wonder why there was nothing else in the system to protect it. The Earth would wonder why the moon disappeared. Perhaps the moon didn't mind, or maybe, it got used to it. Asteroids, meteoroids, comets—whatever you call it—are like the choices of what we make or even the words that we hear every day. We all know they aren't there roaming in space for no reason. They are only there for one—destruction.

And the moon survived anyway.

Well, that was because the impacts weren't really competent enough to make a crater tremendous and profound. That depends on how far or close the comets are and maybe, how big they are. But does that even matter? In the end, the moon still survives, right? It will survive until its raincloud surface doesn't even look like the circular shape that we see every night.

After all, those comets that burned its way through the atmosphere, waiting to fulfil its collision on the moon, were just like how the words Sakura have never wanted to hear from her own parents. The selfish actions coming from someone you care about was one too, and they are probably the reason behind massive craters than the humble ones.

Even if the moon got used to it, it probably hurts. Facing those comets head-on when all it could do is nothing. Perhaps the deepest craters are the ones that damaged them the most.

South-Pole Aitken basin was one of them—the deepest and largest crater on the lunar surface.

Ah.

This was probably the worst one yet. Its crater was hollow as the bones of the undead, its heart as shallow as the dead sea and its impact as strong as the unknown that even the moon least expected it. Or maybe it did.

Maybe that was how she was feeling right now as she tried to pay attention in class, hoping the day would end faster than the speed of light.

It was like the Aitken crater replaced the solitude in her heart, too bent for her to handle. With all the heart-wrenching moments she had to face in front of her parents combined, she thought this was the worst one. There could possibly be more in the future but, why should she bother when she has gotten used to this? All she did was face everything like she always does, leaving the comets to hit her like it was nothing.

The fact that this morning she woke up facing the skateboard leaning against the wall just added a new crater to the moon, leaving the stars to weep for a moment.

"—ki Sakura."

The voice belonged to the teacher in the front slowly yanked her out of her misery, and somehow she felt glad that her thoughts were disrupted. They were slowly killing her.

"Yes, Sensei?" She tried to keep her voice to a tone considerate enough to prevent the teacher from the suspicion that she had lost track.

"Explain what bile is," he fixed his stern gaze on her, waiting for her answer.

Ignoring the heads turned in her way, she answered monotonously. "Bile is produced by the liver and stored in the gallbladder. It's secreted into the small intestine for faster digestion of fats, digesting it into glycerol and fatty acids for solubility so that they can be absorbed easily."

A pause lingered.

"...Correct, Yuki." He rose an eyebrow before averting his strict gaze, continuing his lecture on Biology.