🌸 Teen Audiences
🌸 1k Words
🌸 For the @noragamizines!
It was almost eerie how beautiful the sight that greeted him was.
Serene and secluded mountain terrains that were undoubtedly explored by many others before him, yet none would've imagined that they were strolling right past a corpse. A twisted joke was displayed in front of the blond with the appearance of tranquil flora, which surrounded something that didn't quite belong.
A broken refrigerator— Haruki's gravesite.
Hello everyone! Alice here! ^^
Another project I was helping cook up this year was the Noragami Finale Zine! I was assigned to write a story for the Ooharai Arc (aka where my boy Yukine just goes back to his rebel roots), and I'm honestly quite happy with how it turned out~
Noragami was the first series that truly got me into anime, and that's why it will always hold a special place in my heart!
“I believe our mother was intercepting the letters, and maybe even sending them back, too…” Yuka spoke barely above a whisper, her eyes never leaving the crinkly old envelopes that lay in the box in front of her.
Haruki could only stare in disbelief at the words that left his sister's mouth. Their mother couldn't have possibly done that, could she? During his entire childhood, the woman had been nothing but kind and supportive to them both, her only flaw ever being how forgiving she was of their father's actions. Yet the blond couldn't bring himself to blame her for leaving him with that monster, even if he wanted to.
But if what Yuka said was true, he didn't know what to feel anymore.
“Not even she wanted you. Nobody wanted you.” The voice in his head whispered those ugly words as it'd been doing so recently, but Haruki did his best to ignore them. They weren't true after all, since he knew for a fact that his sister loved him. Even if no one else did.
“I knew what he was doing to Haruki, yet I never mustered the courage to actually go see him.” His sister's voice wavered as silent tears began rolling down her cheeks. “I was worried he would hate me for abandoning him, so I never stopped apologizing in my letters, hoping that one day he'd come see me so we could work things out…”
“I did come!” The blond couldn't bear hearing her say these things. Lies that she fabricated in her mind out of guilt. “I could never hate you! I'm right here, Yuka!”
In that instant however, reality came crashing down on him when the young girl from his memories turned into an older woman, features still the same, but laced with the inevitable grip of mortality. Wrinkles appeared on her forehead as she forced a smile. “But he never did. That means Haruki's dead, isn't he?”
“You worthless brat… wanting to leave me too, huh? After all I've done for you!”
Hiyori placed a hand on top of Yuka's in a matter of reassurance, but at this point everything they were saying was white noise to Haruki's ears. His breathing became raggedy and agitated, despite the fact that his lungs didn't require any air. Not anymore.
“That bitch don't care about you! Nobody does! Why you think she took your sister instead o' you?!”
Images of his father began seeping into his mind uninvited, and it all immediately prompted him to leave the house and travel to another location that at some point his mind had started to forget. He didn't want to believe it—he really didn't—so he had to see it for himself. He wouldn't believe it otherwise.
It was almost eerie how beautiful the sight that greeted him was. Serene and secluded mountain terrains that were undoubtedly explored by many others before him, yet none would've imagined that they were strolling right past a corpse. A twisted joke was displayed in front of the blond with the appearance of tranquil flora, which surrounded something that didn't quite belong: A broken refrigerator.
Haruki's gravesite.
“You dying ain't my fault. It's divine punishment…”
Shivers ran up his spine as his knees gave up on him, causing him to collapse as he stared at the open makeshift casket. The place he took his final breath as he kept begging for an explanation, for mercy, for anything. But the eyes that looked down on him held nothing but pure unadulterated hatred.
“See ya, Haruki.”
“I'm dead…” Haruki's voice quivered with silent tears staining his clothes. Memories flooded back in a rush, and it was all too overwhelming as he gripped at the grass below his feet. “I-I'm actually dead. I don't belong anywhere—”
Suddenly something bumped against his palm from the inside of his pocket, slightly bringing him out of his dismay. After searching into his coat, the blond was surprised by what he'd discovered, eyeing it with curiosity. The wooden omamori was rough against his fingers since it was most definitely carved by hand, and the discarded yet familiar name written on it brought a warmth to his nonexistent beating heart.
Haruki had received it from Yato a long time ago—a memory from a life that didn't seem his own despite having become a Blessed Vessel in order to protect it. The feelings of jealousy and rage that consumed him back then seemed inconsequential now, while holding a physical reminder of the people he'd left behind in search of his truth.
Haruki had simply thrown them all away.
“How will they ever forgive me?” The reality of the situation was beginning to dawn on him as if he didn't have enough to deal with already. His betrayal, joining forces with Father, fighting those he swore he'd protect with everything he had. “Dad was right… nobody could ever love someone like me…”
“Yukine!”
The voice calling out eventually reached him, making Haruki realize that at some point his physical form left the battlefield to come to this place. Tentative steps could be heard rustling the grass, but the blond didn't have to look up to know who it was.
“Yukine… Are you okay?” It was a silly question, but laced with so much worry that Haruki couldn't help but lift his gaze to look into those familiar blue orbs. They held nothing but concern, which was the straw that broke the camel's back.
Yukine launched himself into the man's arms, sobbing and burying his nose into the scent of sweat that he missed so much. His entire body was shaking. “I-I'm sorry… I'm so sorry!”
Yato held him close with tears of his own flowing onto the blond's cheek. “It's okay Yukine… It's all going to be okay.”
Yukine didn't know what the future held. Fate was messy, convoluted and not always fair. But there was one thing he knew for certain—he'd never have to go at it alone.
Never again.
✦ 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤 𝐌𝐲 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐝 𝐓𝐨 𝐅𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐌𝐲 𝐒𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐬! ✦
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