“ better terrible truths than kind lies. ”
❝Terrible truths... I think I see that, now.❞ Haru muses, one hand tracing the other as she replays it in her mind. Sugimura’s hand closed around her wrist and the way she was unable to escape his grip, no matter how much she struggled. And, worst of all, the fact that she was unable to help Mona. Thousands of those kind lies had pushed her towards a breaking point.
Ann’s blue eyes are wise beyond her years in this moment, and soft with empathy. Haru cannot help but let her memories drift to the rumors that circulated about Kamoshida. The way she had heard Ann’s name tossed around carelessly in the midst of it all, her part in the matter twisted and embellished to a sickening degree. Although she had never taken an interest in gossip and kept a careful distance from her classmates, it was impossible not to overhear bits and pieces just by walking the halls of Shujin.
--Haru’s not about to breach a painful subject for her. But she knows Ann is coming from a place of understanding in this moment, and it helps her open up a little.
❝I chose to bear it all with a smile, simply because that’s what was expected of me. I wanted my father’s approval so badly, because I thought...❞ Haru confesses, wearing a deceptively natural smile even now, as though to buffer her emotions somehow. ❝I suppose that’s where I went wrong. Approval and love aren’t the same thing, are they?❞
Enough of that. She breathes out and shakes her head, bolstering her smile in spite of the stab in her chest. Now that she’s surrounded by people who genuinely want to help--
❝–It makes me happy to hear you say that, though. For so long, I was told exactly the opposite. I believed that I would have to go on living that way forever.❞
@takanyakis