𝚒𝚗𝚋𝚘𝚡 — 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚗𝚒𝚊.

[sacral]

EVEN WHEN THE BOUGH BREAKS

Comments

[hallowedly]

( A peel of rare incidental amusement. )

I don't even have exclusivity over my birth date.

[sacral]

You've bargained it away. You've —

Put it under my protection.

[ A question, flourished. ]

[hallowedly]

Was there another way to safeguard it against you?

[sacral]

[ To safeguard, to surrender, to exact selfishness... ]

...no, maybe not. I won't make another bet with you.

But I will agree to what you're asking.

[hallowedly]

I've asked nothing, but you've gained everything. Funny.

[sacral]

Then let my assumption be right.

It's Fushiguro Megumi, isn't it?

[hallowedly]

It's you. ( But. ) And it's him.

You like your tragic boys of blood and duty.

[sacral]

[ Fibrous, taut heartache. Dutifully boxed and buried. ]

He knows of the Sumeragi and the Sakurazuka. [ Bleeding honesty at the end of a garrote. ] As a measure of seeing if our practitioners aligned.

[hallowedly]

( A sudden syncopation. )


...oh. You think I'll kill him. For what you've said already. No. No, I briefly wondered. But no. Don't demean yourself.

[sacral]

I think he has your attention.

[ Be that as it may, art to art. ]

What do you want kept away from him? From anyone?

[hallowedly]

The rites.

[sacral]

There are many.

[hallowedly]

There aren't so many.

[sacral]

[ Recognition palpitates. Not so many, so few. One. ]

Your family's.

[hallowedly]

Our family's.

[sacral]

No, it — [ was undone ] ...the Sakurazuka's rites aren't mine to tell.

[hallowedly]

I'm pleased we could reach a happy arrangement.

[sacral]

You had my agreement from the start.

[hallowedly]

Because like most of your clientele, I paid upfront?

[sacral]

It's not like Seishirou-san to be reckless.

[hallowedly]

You might have bartered for more.

But then, you'll say you'd have accepted less.

[sacral]

I've already asked an unfair question.

[hallowedly]

You're a beautifully unfair man.

[sacral]

You made me that way. [ Indulgence broken free of the dream, now awake. They do wake up. ] How are your illusions?

[hallowedly]

( The first wave of sheer chills, overdue. )

Still better than yours, kouhai.