/jp/ - Otaku Culture

>>45460521 (23/-—p2)
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The silence was deafening, even in the middle of a bustling forest. Her eyes on mine were beyond dumbfounded, and the delight of every second was exacerbated by tiny hearts beating against mine. Mystia slowly reached out for the broom she had released, Danmaku fading, her face contorting into something akin to neutrality, struggling to keep her eyes off the children in my arms. "So? Good for you, I guess." And she resumed sweeping the floorboards.

I frowned… And then, rage boiled to the surface, arms itching to crush something—of course I didn't, holding my babies. "How can you be like that?! You threw them to death!" I yelled, and though she winced, she kept her eyes off me. "Look in my eyes, you birdbrain!" I got up and jumped, landing in front of her, the children in my arms growing a bit restless with the commotion. "You tried murdering us; have the courage to look in my eyes—"

"I didn't try to kill you!" She yelled back, body tensing. "I expected you to just t-throw them to the predators and run—the thing anyone with a brain would do!"

The rage grows impossibly. What kind of logic is that?! I lean forward, scorn painting my whole face. "Why?! Why any of that?! These are two of your sons and daughters; why, Mystia?!" She refused to look at me and with my shoulder, I bumped her against the bark, forcing her to look at me. "WHY?!"

In her eyes, a myriad of feelings.

"That's how things are for me! That's why! Can't you understand I'm different than you?! That I'm not half human, that I live inside a tree on the outskirts of the Youkai Trail and not in your fancy village?!" Leaning forward, she points the broom end at my face. Aki and Kuramochi are sobbing. "The winters here are harsh! Mother and father had to throw five of my siblings out of the nest when I was a hatchling because of food scarcity—we couldn't eat humans anymore, not with the Hakurei miko slaughtering anyone who tried, so to not starve the entire nest, they did what they had to do! And they continued doing it as we grew up! How many do you think I saw being thrown off the nest?! How many father and mother saw when they were young, too?! Gran, grandpa? Their parents?!" She's crying. My babies are crying, too. "You don't understand a SINGLE thing about me, my species! You're another human that just sees what you want to see!"

Despite the melodic crying echoing—arms unconsciously going up and down rhythmically, trying to put them at ease—I kept staring at Mystia, my eyes broad. There's deep rage in her eyes, eyes laddered with desensitization and thick tears, and though I want to keep lashing out, taking away all that from my chest, all she made them go through…

I swallow a big chunk of ice, turning my gaze downwards and injecting it with a great deal of love and care, whispering saccharine words to appease their cries, rhythmical moves gradually calming them down. Mystia watches.

With the silent seconds, my wrath cools down but does not disperse. "… That's your best excuse?" I ask.

"Excuse…?! Didn't you hear a word—"

"I have no job, Mystia." I calmly say, and it's much more effective than any yell to shut her up. "I was fired for something out of my control, and since I never expected it to happen, I had no way of maintaining myself. I still don't. Every day, people sneer behind my back, calling me names because of lies. They raise the prices of condiments necessary for me to survive during the winter… But I still accepted Aki and Kuramochi into my life. And you know what I do to get money to survive?" My grip tightens, and Mystia is looking at me as if I had grown a second head. "I fish."

"Liar." She scowls. "Fishing would never get you by; don't you think I do the same to keep myself aflo—"

"I fish at the bottom of raging rivers, where seasonal fish are at their most carefree." Her eyes go wide, mouth straightens to a line. "I jump there, almost naked, and fish what I can before the cold becomes unbearable."

"W-What?!" Her disbelief comes with an uncertain giggle and creased browns. My semblance doesn't change. "That's… Idiotic! You could die any moment! Why go so far?!"

"To provide for them, what more?" I can't help but let some pity slip into my voice. Trying to justify the murder of her siblings, blaming her sins and her parents and their parents on nature… If we were animals, I would understand. I would. But Mystia cried as she said all that, her body shaking and, unconsciously, shrinking… Yet, she stares at me as if she can't comprehend my words, mouth opening to speak—but I cut her, my browns creased in an uncharacteristic show of anger. "Sacrifice for survival is what animals do, Mystia… You may have a home, sell food you make and provide for the children you didn't toss off this balcony." I stare straight into her face, venom in my words, eyes dangerous. "But you're no better than an animal, neither were your parents and their parents—a mother would never give up on her children. An animal would."