When Love Turns to Pain

The envelope trembled faintly in her hands, and Hale stared at it as if someone had pointed a weapon at him.

His heart pounded up into his throat.

That… that’s a love letter.

But… how did she even get this idea? And how does she know about that tradition?

It didn’t take long for the answer to hit him.

Mitsuki…

His thoughts spun, scrambling for harmless explanations, any excuse that this was all a misunderstanding.

She... she probably doesn’t even understand what she’s doing. How could she? She must’ve misheard something. There... there is not way she would...

But inside his heart and through their shared connection, he knew that was nothing but wishful thinking.

Because suddenly everything made sense.

That strange warmth he had felt inside her whenever she drew close.

That bright, pulsing echo in his wrist whenever her gaze lingered on him for half a second before darting away.

It had never been his imagination.

“Hale…?” Koori blinked at him.

He tore his eyes away from the envelope at last and met hers.

What am I supposed to do? Just smile, take the letter, and say something meaningless like 'We’ll talk later'?

No…

I’m responsible for her…

I’m the one who dragged her into this twisted world, a world warped by my own mistake.

I care about her. Maybe… more than I should.

But if I just accept this now… I’d be taking advantage of her.

His stomach twisted painfully.

“Koori…” His voice came out rougher than he intended.

She blinked, confused.

Her fingertips tightened around the envelope as she felt his discomfort and doubt through the connection between their marks.

“Why won’t you take it?”

He forced himself to keep talking, even as every word felt like sand scraping down his throat.

“I… I’m your teacher. And in some way, I’m also your guardian. I’m responsible for you, and…”

He paused, breath catching.

“…it wouldn’t be fair to you.”

Slowly, Koori lifted her head.

Her eyes suddenly seemed larger, not just expectant, but fragile.

“Not… fair to me?”

“Yes.” He looked away.

“You’re new to this world. So much is still strange to you. I don’t want you to confuse… affection with gratitude. Or with the fear of being alone.”

“But I’m not confusing anything,” she whispered. “I examined it carefully. How it feels. Here.” She placed a hand on her chest. “And here.” Her fingers brushed the mark.

She stepped half a pace closer.

“I may not understand many of my feelings… but love…”

Hale flinched when she said the word.

“…that is the one feeling I remember clearly from Mother.”

Her voice trembled, yet the words were frighteningly steady.

“Whenever you’re near me or look at me, I… know it. I want to protect you. I want you to laugh. To live. To not disappear again, but stay with me!”

Hale closed his eyes for a moment.

“Koori… maybe your feelings are real. Maybe everything you’re saying is true,” he whispered. “But even so… I can’t accept it. Not like this. Not right now.”

Silence.

It felt as though the air between them suddenly grew heavy.

“You mean… you don’t want me?”

Koori’s voice was flat, almost toneless now.

Hale inhaled deeply.

“I... I can’t give you what you believe you see in me…”

Something inside her cracked.

“But… but I did everything right,” she whispered. “Mitsuki-chan said that’s how you do it. A quiet place. A letter. Both hands. And then…”

She stopped, the thread slipping away from her.

“So… why?”

Tears shimmered in her eyes before she even realized she was crying.

Her fingers touched her cheeks, found the wetness, and stared at it with confusion and horror.

“What… what is this?”

Hale’s hand twitched, wanting to reach out, to comfort her, to take everything back.

But his fingers froze halfway.

If I give in now… I’ll only make it worse

Koori stared at him for another long moment, as if waiting for a lifeline, for any sign that he might change his mind after all.

But none came.

With a sharp, trembling breath, she yanked the envelope back to her chest and held it tightly against herself.

“It hurts,” she rasped.

“Why… why does it hurt so much?”

She turned away.

“Koori, wait!”

But she no longer heard him.

She ripped the door open and bolted into the hallway, running so fast the gust from her movement sent papers fluttering across the clubroom table.

Her mark pulsed painfully with every step, a sickening echo of her own heartbeat.

Hale stood frozen, hand half-raised, listening only to the fading sound of her footsteps echoing down the corridor.

I’m sorry…

***

The school hallway blurred into a tunnel of colors and noise.

Koori ran.

Past windows, past classroom doors, past students whose voices reached her only as distant, muffled sounds.

Halfway down the stairs, she nearly collided with Hiro.

“Sakuya-san? What are you...”

She shot past him without even slowing, her sleeve brushing his arm.

He blinked after her, baffled.

“Koori-chan?”

But before he could follow, she had already vanished through the exit and burst onto the courtyard.

Cold December air slammed into her.

Her breath steamed as she kept running, past the gym, past the storage shed, until she stopped, sniffing, wiping her tears with her oversized sleeves.

“It's... unfair...“

Suddenly distant voices reached her.

“Come on, show me properly. Don’t make me use more wind.”

“Please… just leave me alone…”

Koori turned toward the noise.

Behind the gym, half in the shadows, stood two figures.

A human girl, back pressed to the wall, clutching the hem of her skirt with both hands, trying desperately to keep it down.

And in front of her, a slender, striped Neko, one paw casually shoved into her pocket, the other raised, faintly glowing with magic.

With an idle flick, the Neko sent a gust of wind sweeping upward, just strong enough to tug the girl’s skirt higher each time she flinched.

“You humans don’t have fur,” the Neko purred, grinning wide. “So don’t be stingy. I just wanna see what it looks like without it, nya.”

The girl’s lips trembled; her eyes were glassy.

“Please… stop, Senpai…”

The Neko laughed.

“Then show some respect, nya.”

Koori felt something inside her twist.

All the pain from minutes before condensed into something else, something sharp, as her mark began to burn.

A shadow flickered across her face as she stepped forward.

“Leave her alone.”

Both of them turned toward her.