Divulgence

"...Tsuki...?" she muttered.

Shit... She saw me. What should I do? Do I run away? Do I try to explain myself? My mind was racing, but nothing at all was a good solution. Even the words that were rushing in and out of my head all seemed useless.

The only thing I could do was stand perfectly still as she reached her hand up to my face mask. Slowly, she pulled it off, revealing my face in its entirety.

She stumbled back, her eyes wide open.

"So I wasn't... Imagining it..." she said with a shaky voice. "That man... He said 'Tsuki no...' Tsuki no Ran. It was you... the whole time? What... H-how... Wait... Wait, wait, wait. Those... T-those men... All of those dead bodies... Did you... do that...?"

The moment I realized that we had become something akin to 'friends,' I knew she would find out eventually. I knew that the closer I got to her, the more it would weigh on me that I was lying to her. I knew this day would come... I just didn't think it would come so soon.

"You... You killed them..." Taiyori muttered. "H-how could you even manage... to do that...? You..."

"I'm an assassin," I said.

A gentle breeze swept past us. Our eyes fixed upon each other. In hers, she was confused, frightened, and lost. Whereas in mine... I don't know. I can't even think right now. It was as if the sounds of the world ceased altogether, leaving only the two of us.

"...What...?"

"I said, I'm an assassin. A killer. A person who hunts down others and takes their lives."

It was unnoticeable at first, but it became clear after a few seconds. Her body was shaking.

"T-Tsuki..." she stuttered nervously. "Stop kidding around like that."

"You saw it yourself. I killed five people right in front of your eyes. Every single one of those dead bodies was my doing. Still think I'm kidding around?"

Slowly, her hands retracted. Her breathing hastened. Even though I wasn't in her body, I could tell her heart was accelerating to an abnormal degree.

"You asked me who I am, didn't you?" I asked.

I lifted my shirt, and when she saw my bare chest, her eyes widened with shock. Upon the skin of my body, tens of scars cluttered, each one no more than a few inches away from another. From slash wounds to bullet holes, I've experienced everything.

"This... This is who I am."

Her reaction was just as I expected. People in the normal world are blind to the darkness lurking beneath the surface. They can't grasp that people die every day—sometimes by accident, sometimes by design.

I am an assassin of the Hunt. One of many who silently push the cycle of death forward—a sinner who has sinned countless times and always walked away. I may target the corrupt, but in the end, the world makes no distinction between good and evil when both are equally condemned.

For as long as I've lived, I've kept my identity as an assassin hidden. Never once have I crossed the line and revealed the truth to anyone outside the Hunt. Taiyori Ayaka is the first—and likely the last. She deserves to know... even if it means she chooses to leave me.

"What do you mean... you're an assassin...?" she mumbled. "N-no, I know what it means, but... what..."

She took a couple of steps back, resting a hand on her mouth as her eyes were trembling. Her breaths became audible—hyperventilation. She's terrified... and I can't even blame her.

"T-Tsuki..." she stuttered nervously. "Tell me... that this is all a joke... please. That you weren't in your right mind. M-maybe this was just a prank that you somehow managed to pull off... right...?"

I kept my mouth shut, unable to look at her. The fact that she's still trying to rationalize what she witnessed…

I feel sick. My head is pounding, and my heart races—not for the usual reasons. This was always meant to happen. This is my fate. That's what I’ve told myself repeatedly.

Yet, I can't shake the pain in my chest. This... agonizing realization that I'm the one causing her suffering. I don't want to see her like this, but what can I possibly do?

That’s just it… There’s nothing I can do. She's a normal girl, and I'm not. We don't belong in the same world. Never have. Never will.

"Is that why... you stay up so late?" she asked. "Is that why you always resort to violence? Because you're actually someone... who kills people like it's nothing? You're telling me... that I trusted a murderer?"

Again, I remained silent.

"Why... did you approach me? Why did you talk to me? If I was your target, you wouldn't have bothered to do any of that."

I opened my mouth, yet nothing came out. I wanted to tell her something, but what could I say? Would she even believe me anyway? She now knows who I really am. Anything more would likely fall flat.

It's true that I came to save her, but she wouldn't understand, no. She saw me commit murder with her own two eyes. If nothing else... then perhaps it's better for our relationship to end like this.

I'm no sane person in any regard. I'm not normal. It's a stretch to even consider myself a human being. I'm... I'm just a... monster.

"Tsuki... What were we...?" Taiyori muttered. "Was everything we went through... just a lie...?"

"...Would you believe me if I said that it wasn't?" I asked.

This time, she was the one who stayed silent. Of course she wouldn't believe me. Even if it's the truth, what I say now won't matter.

Taiyori turned away, refusing to answer me, just like I thought she would. She then walked off, but she stopped only a couple of steps away. Without turning around, her voice echoed in my ears just as cold as it did upon our first encounter.

"Don't... Don't ever talk to me again," she said. "Don't text me, don't approach me, don't even look at me. From now on... We're less than strangers."

With that, she disappeared into the night, leaving me alone once again.

Alone... That's right. This is how it's supposed to be. No matter how I feel about her, I can't involve her in my life that is constantly filled with blood and death. That is not something she can handle, and if I have any ounce of guilty in me, then I will keep all of it away from her.

It's... It's better like this. This... is my reality.