Lonely Castle in the Mirror

by Mizuki Tsujimura

Spending so much time alone in her bedroom—gloomy during the day despite the orange curtains—feelings of guilt welled up in her. She felt she was being blamed for being slack and lazy.

Do our best. Kokoro had no idea if she could live up to her mum’s expectations, but she went ahead and agreed with her anyway.

But her words shot straight to the very core of Kokoro’s heart. She hadn’t thought of it that way before, but now that she did, she realized that yes, she had been trying to battle through each day.

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.