Lonely Castle in the Mirror

by Mizuki Tsujimura

“I—” You should never say you hate anyone. Her mother had always said this. That no matter how disgusted you might be with a friend, you should never speak ill of them.

“She’s the kind of girl that people often misunderstand, and I’m sure there were things that hurt you, Kokoro. But I talked to Sanada and she’s concerned about you. She regrets it.”

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“Shouldn’t we first hear, directly from Kokoro, what happened? Just as you’ve heard Miss Sanada’s account.”

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If his wish can come true, I’m willing to give up my own.

She understood the fear. Not knowing what the future would be for her, not knowing how long she’d be like this. Seeing people who were moving on was enough to make her feel an excruciating pain in her chest.

I do have friends, she told herself. Even if I never make any more, I’ll know I did have friends. Right here. Right now. And I’ll have that for the rest of my life.

I did nothing wrong, and it’s me who’s not going to forgive. But there I was unconsciously expecting to be forgiven by them, which is so stupid.

What sort of reality did this girl face that made her feel it was preferable to be eaten, for it all to be over?

Perhaps I’m the one who invented excuses for not fitting in.

“I never had any particular talent,” her mother told her. “And if you have talent, Fuka, I’ll do everything in my power to help you.”

Please, make my life a bit more tolerable.

You never knew how chance could change things.

She knew she’d make it. She could go anywhere. It wasn’t as if it was always going to be easy. There’d always be people she disliked. That reality wasn’t going to go away.

There was a person who’d said she didn’t have to struggle if she didn’t want to.