Lonely Castle in the Mirror

by Mizuki Tsujimura

You could be on the brink of an adventure, and you’re telling me you really don’t care? Use your imagination for once in your life!”

Kokoro caught her breath. She thought she caught a whiff of old paper. The musty smell that hit your nostrils whenever you ventured into the far corner of a tiny bookstore, the place where few people ever went. A smell she loved.

Oh God I wish I was there

schools, they’re regimented systems for people who prefer to go along with the crowd, and because everybody else is going.

I don’t care if you don’t forgive me, she thought. Because I’m never, ever going to forgive any of you.

Worrying would only make her feel ill,

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.

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.