If I knew earlier that the outcome would be bitter, I wouldn't want to escape this moment in time... — One Persistent Thought, Hu Ge ft. alan
xxxxxx
The tears won't stop falling. There was no way she could stop them. They were her escape from reality in front of her.
Kasumi just wanted to get away from there. She wanted to run away and never stop running until she couldn't run anymore. She wanted more ways to fade the pain away.
How did it all come to this, anyway? Everything was going well before this. What exactly happened for everything to end this way? She didn't sign up for this pain to continue torturing her heart this way.
But it looked like she wouldn't be able to stop it, even if she tried.
"Kasumi..." It was all that her friends could say to her as she continued crying in that one corner of the dojo.
She truly wanted to leave and be by herself at the moment. Then again, there was no knowing what recklessness she could do at her state. With the realization that she won't be able to trust herself, she chose to stay where her cousins were. Being separated from any people that cared for her won't do her any good.
"She still doesn't want to leave her room, huh?"
"She would still leave, but only for a short time. After that, she would return inside the dojo and continue being by herself with no one to talk to," Yakumo answered Kagura's question as they were having tea in the reception room.
"I didn't think it would affect her so much, though."
Even Kasumi didn't think it would, as well. But none of them anticipated the events that had happened. Regardless of the fact that almost seven months had passed since they lost Hikari, she didn't think the pain would affect her so much that she felt her heart crushing by the day.
And yet, there was still something about that fight that they all participated in that felt... odd. Kasumi couldn't understand it, either. But here she was, still trying to figure out what it was that felt so strange.
At the moment, there was something she had to do to make sure she would be able to find whatever answer it was that she had to discover.
With a sigh, she stood up and put on a coat. It was already mid-autumn and the weather was becoming colder than usual. She still doesn't want to get really sick because of her negligence on her health.
"Fuu-chan, I'm going out," she said to her cousin who was busy talking to Mio at the moment.
Of course, as soon as she said that, both ladies stood up from where she was sitting and approached her.
"Are you sure you'll be fine by yourself? We can come with you," Fuuka said, worry evident in her tone.
Kasumi smiled as she shook her head. "I'll be alright. I just have to do this by myself right now. Don't worry. I'll be back before dinner."
But even with such reassurance, both Fuuka and Mio just looked at her with worried expressions. Even so, both girls smiled and nodded and bid her goodbye. They told her that they would be the one to tell the others that she went out.
With that, Kasumi left the dojo to head to that one place that she avoided since the loss she never thought she'd feel.
The camphor tree where she and Hikari last talked before the incident.
xxxxxx
Even as Kasumi continued walking to head to the designated place, she couldn’t help feeling that her feet seemed heavy as she took step after step. But she attributed it to the fact that her emotions were in disarray even more as she approached the place. Well, there was at least a hundred meters or so before she could even reach it.
Yet the thought of finally reaching the tree where her last memory of him was enough to make her emotional again. And it was something unusual for her who would usually keep her emotions in check. It was surely enough to drive her crazy these past seven months. But that odd feeling inside her was… somehow there to keep her sanity in check.
If anyone from her family would hear this, they would definitely call her insane. But for someone as rational as her, it was the closest thing that she had to saving herself from that unexpected despair.
A few more minutes… and she would finally reach it.
Butㅡ
“What in the world…?” was all that Kasumi uttered as soon as she reached the tree.
But there was a man standing beneath it, looking at the leaves with half of it turning brown because of the season. And yet, it wasn’t just the main reason why she was caught off guard at the sight of a person there.
It was the man himself that caught her off-guard.
“It can’t be…” Kasumi’s mind was still in disbelief.
Could she be dreaming at the moment?
Before she could even comprehend what was going on or sort out her thoughts so she could approach this rationally, the man lowered his head and turned to her direction. Inevitably, their gazes locked and not long after, he smiled.
“Kasumi-san.”
That one call… That one smile that he once said was just meant for her to see… It was happening again. She could see them again. She heard him again.
“H-Hikari-kun?” Even with the proof in front of her, she was still unsure. She didn’t want this to be just an illusion or a dream. Because if it was, then who knows how long it would take before she would lose it.
She didn’t want that to happen. Not just for her sake, but also that of her family and friends.
“I’m sorry… if I only showed up now. A lot of things happened. I even made the others believe that…” But it looked like Hikari couldn’t continue what he wanted to say. And yet she knew what she actually meant.
It was enough, though. At the moment, this was enough for her as proof. She took one step… then two… then three… A few more and she would reach him. Hold him. To finally feel him as real.
And she did just that ㅡ without words. Just her reaching out to him and embraced him tight.
“You’re seven months late, you know that?” Kasumi uttered as she allowed her tears to fall. At least, this time, it wasn’t something related to the pain she was feeling.
Her tears at the moments were proof of that reality she felt.
Hikari chuckled and returned her embrace. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize I made you wait that long.”
She didn’t say anything more and just relished his embrace. But even with the complaint she had about him being late, she was happy deep inside. He was here with her now. That was all that mattered to her.
She would think about other things some other time. She would complain more later on. But at that moment, Hikari was here with her.
That was enough.
xxxxxx
Just like I said in my last one-shot update, here’s the Hikari/Kasumi pair one-shot I finally finished writing. I didn’t think it would take me longer than expected to finish this. But here it is! The premise of this one-shot was set in a way that the ToQgers being kids were… kind of being put on the back burner or something. At least, that’s how I envisioned it. Then again, I never mentioned them being ToQgers, anyway. Yes, they still fight enemies. But it’s more like regular warriors or something. Maybe I should clarify that a bit in the other one-shots.
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