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He’ll live.” The nurse reassures her but Mizuki doesn’t smile. She knows the nurse is hiding something from her, so she pleads, “Please tell me everything.” The nurse can see that Mizuki is serious about wanting to know and her smile turns into one of sadness, “He’ll live. We’re just unsure of when he’ll wake up. His blood vessels endured a bit of trauma. The blood pressure to his brain was too much for it to handle, causing him to collapse.” The nurse answers truthfully. Mizuki can’t help but feel guilty ‘if only I thought for a minute before acting’ were the types of thoughts swirling in her head. She placed all the blame on herself which wasn’t too far off the mark. It continued to trouble and plague her mind going into the night.
The next day Mizuki had withdrawn from the tournament and went to the hidden room. As normal, the guy was still there and he could immediately tell that Mizuki wasn’t there to train or practice. Mizuki speaks first, looking down with a desolate expression “I’m done learning.” The guy simply cocks his head to the side with his same smile before responding “Hmm... why do you say such a thing?” Mizuki continues to look down and answers calmly, “It’s too dangerous, i-it can hurt people, and I don’t want that.” “I don’t think it’s dangerous. Perhaps those who get injured by it are simply too weak,” he says as he walks closer to Mizuki while continuing to talk.
“Why let another person's weakness hinder your ability? The reason people are becoming so weak now is because of all the rules they must follow. You hurt someone and got in a little trouble...” Mizuki looks up at him, his face wearing a cruel smirk; he continues “So what!? You won right? Isn’t that proof that you were stronger! Your killer instinct led you to win and yet here you are letting something as weak and pathetic as
morals and law stop you from proving your strength!” Mizuki looks at him in fear as he rants. Hesitantly, Mizuki opens her mouth to speak, “W-who exactly are you?” a question she should have asked long ago. He laughs, “Me? I’m a forgotten curse. A descendant who was executed simply because I was too powerful and I did any means necessary to gain the power that I have. As for you? Well you are a perfect representation of my power. The moment you were born with those red eyes it was set in stone.” Before he could go on, Mizuki shakes her head and speeds out not wanting to hear anything else. He doesn’t chase after her; he just stands there and watches as she leaves, maintaining his usual eerie smile, the one that can be seen in his self-portrait.
Mizuki didn’t return to the room again. Days passed, and every now and then she could swear she could see him in the corner of her eyes or hear his voice urging her to do things. It was driving her crazy, some of the whispers said she couldn’t get rid of him, or how she craved power, they were spewing off all of his less than ideal views. At the same time, Mizuki had been following all rules and orders given to her which was also in turn driving her off the edge. She was tired and fatigued; one thing telling her to break the rules even at the expense of others, while the other kept suffocatingly strict restrictions on her, feeling almost like a tight leash. Mizuki lived like this until two months had passed. Mizuki had gotten word that her opponent from her last round had awoken from his coma and was on track to a full recovery. The news brought her some relief in her dark times and she went to go visit him.
Mizuki sat next to his hospital bed as he beamed a smile. In that moment Mizuki couldn’t hold back and tears streamed down her face as she apologized profusely, her guilt washing over her as a brand new