Misfortune

The angelic light of April's estate was like the stairwell to heaven, where the gates were those seeking worthy judgment for entrance. Ryo couldn't help but find April to be even more attractive in the night where the luminosity of April's spirit combined with her majestic estate; a perfect homecoming after a long day of endless worries and battling was all that Ryo wanted. He tucked his right hand into the pocket of his black jeans and wiggled his fingers to delight in the laminated texture of his present. He had hoped that she would find merriment in accepting something generous from him to ensure that he was doing better than before.

The distant sound of a vehicle stopping startled Ryo. He turned to his right and saw nothing in the dimly lit streets. April opened the gate, forcing Ryo to turn back.

"Hey," April greeted, gently smiling with her hands behind her back. "You came to visit. I've got someone that I want you to meet. I think you'll be super happy!" She stepped back inside the gate, letting Ryo inside.

However, Ryo denied her request. "Hang on a second," He called, pulling out the guitar pick from his pocket. "I want to give you something first. It's a gift for taking care of me the other day. I would have died if you didn't do anything."

April stepped back outside and left the gate hanging open so that they wouldn't be locked out. Her face blossomed in redness as she gently bent down to examine where the present was located.

"That's so sweet of you. What did you get me?" She asked as her voice raised new levels of high pitches.

Ryo held out his right hand to reveal the cat-themed guitar pick that he purchased at the gift store. The white cat's paw shimmered in the dimly lit light from a nearby street light post. April's face brightened in excessive glee at the sight of the guitar pick. Her smooth fingers touched the laminated texture of the holographic pink, blushing in extreme amusement. Ryo smiled for the first time next to April, believing that it truly made her night.

"Ryo… this is…" April's breath was stolen by the guitar pick's beauty and Ryo's first case of kindness.

"This is amazing. Did you buy me a present? And you remembered that I had a cat and I played guitar. This is perfect..."

"How could I not remember that beautiful voice of yours?" Ryo replied, reminding her about the first time he had seen her sing so pleasantly on stage. Ryo realized that he had gained some type of self-confidence in his abilities after joining Sunlight and defeating Natia. He began to realize how precious people were and how they treated him in contrast to his past. He wanted to make sure that he could designate his wholehearted emotions to theirs as well. "I'd never seen anything so bright before."

April looked into Ryo's eyes and noticed something shifted inside his mindset. It was a small fragment of hope, lighting a path for his loneliness. She could sense that little boy treading through snowy footsteps across the wintry wonderland of her estate. The path was wide and clear, and the boy began sprinting as fast as he could. The light at the end of the path was April, standing there and waiting for him.

"Your eyes are brighter…" April whispered, rotating the cat's paw guitar pick to visualize its holographic details. Before she could speak any further, April's vision of Ryo's path had come to fruition. Pristine tiny snowflakes and crystals began raining down from the sky, delicately tickling their faces as it lightly drizzled opaque snow crystals from the sky. April stepped out from the gate, holding both of her hands in the air and rotating like a ballerina to catch them. She laughed aloud as she danced along with the snow. Ryo watched from a distance, chuckling together. "It's snowing! It's snowing again!"

Ryo kept his hands in his pockets. "It is." He said.

April stopped dancing and placed the guitar pick in her pockets. She latched onto Ryo and dragged him in the middle of the street where more snowflakes descended the skies in a wintry paradise. Their hot breaths were creating fogs of steam in the bitterness of the weather, and their feet stepped along in tandem as April began rotating happily around Ryo in a divine dance.

Ryo couldn't help but notice how adorable April was frolicking around the neighborhood of her estate. Mixed layers of frosty chilled snow covered the boughs of chilled pine trees in a mound of fluffiness. Myriad amounts of cold drops of dew oozed from the weighted branches of the pine trees, splattering below the tree's stems in the formation of dew puddles. The dimly lit golden street lights covered in heaps of snow plunging onto its base flickered in an arrangement of ticks to create a disproportionate and disturbing sound of bones clattering throughout the shadows.

The illuminated and radiant patterns of the bright stars above the night sky created a unique version of violet and turquoise cosmos, showing a vastly and massively unique constellation in the form of a ladle exclusive to the Christmas season. The violet-generated light from the cosmos created a bright hue of light upon Aries, forming an aurora-like paradise above for all to indulge in. Ryo and April both noticed this beauty and stayed together to experience its arrival for the first time.

"I've never seen this before…" April said as her mouth opened in beautiful surprise. "It's so pretty. Look at all those stars..."

The glistening reflection of the violet hue and the twinkle of the stars reflected upon Ryo and April's eyes like precious diamonds infinitely sparkling. The snowflakes delicately dropping against her cheeks rested well within their hearts as something that could never be forgotten. However, Ryo looked at April's celestial relationship with the violet cosmos and had never seen anyone so beautiful before. Her emerald eyes glistened in the hue flawlessly.

Before he knew it, Ryo had unconsciously moved towards April's warm body, holding her from behind to envelop her warmth. Her blonde hair tickled Ryo's cheeks as he held onto her. April lightly yelped as she blushed after feeling his warm embrace. There was something about their minds that connected after appreciating nature's grace together. Even though they had known each other for a few days, there was something about April that Ryo envisioned as affection. And there was something that Ryo had in him, despite being a criminal, that April could see as a symbol of love. A yearn for peace, quiet, and solitude from his inescapable past.

"Ryo…" April spun around as their faces met with one another. Both of their cheeks flushed at the sight of each other's eyes. Ryo didn't want to let go, for he felt connected. "Did you buy me that… because you're in love with me?"

Ryo gulped. "I…" He softly stated.

With hesitation in his voice, April stared into his eyes once more and found something that completely conflicted with his idea of peace. The little boy running towards her dream estate had stopped and begun walking back into the lingering shadows, permanently shackling him from ever coming in contact with anyone. There was no one on the path that he had returned to but himself.

April knew what was wrong, but she didn't want to speak a word of it.

At first, when he had brought the guitar pick to April, she could see that glimmer of hope, respect, and affection inside his heart.

But now it was massive corrupted repression of affectionate feelings from the guilt that he had in his heart. At first, there was a mellow and dynamic path that she saw in him as hope for the future. But that path faded as the darkness reigned supreme. That guilt was an overbearing burden that enveloped the little boy in an inescapable plague, tangling with his mind and senses to the point of no return. April desperately called for the boy and ran to rescue him, but there was no answer and no plea to be rescued. It was as if the boy had accepted his fate and left her to be alone, all over again.

The somber feeling of loneliness afflicted Ryo, and April soaked all of it in as salty tears drove down her flushed cheeks. Ryo couldn't respond because she knew he couldn't love anyone. This alone brought April to tears, separating their grasp together as she failed to contain her wounded heart. It began to tug at her mind's strings as if she blamed herself for being unable to cure the affliction of Ryo's guilt. Even though they had experienced something so beautiful together, it was still not enough to end Ryo's past.

"You…" April's breath whispered, wiping the tears streaming down her cheeks. "I don't want to see you again." She regretfully stated.

"Wait! April…" Ryo called, reaching his hand out for her as she began to enter towards the gate.

"I don't want to hear it!" April shouted, gazing into his eyes again. The same feeling of loneliness returned once more. She believed there was no point in rescuing the unrescuable. There was no reason in caring for the permanently wounded. "You can't tell me that you love me? Isn't that how you feel? Then why do your eyes…"

For nothing mattered, just like April's identity. She looked at her hands and began to doubt her strengths. She rescued Star and Chiaki, but there was no purpose behind it other than to do so. There was no mindset she had to rescue lost souls except the temporary feeling of affection. But even so, danger remained afoot. She had no affections, no long-term goals, and no dreams. She lived in a secluded estate alone like a princess trapped in a castle. Only this time, she was a witch who had no hopes of curing anyone.

But how could she cure anyone if she couldn't cure herself?

"That look in your eyes…" April glanced up once more at Ryo, whose body was frozen as his skin was cold and clammy. Something triggered inside her head suddenly discharged a feeling of hopeless insanity. Her generosity was suddenly replaced with belligerence. Her warmth was enveloped by a devilish coldness that numbed her brain. "Stop looking at me like that…" April's slurring voice could barely enunciate anything properly.

"April? You're…" At the same time, Ryo was experiencing the same feeling of discontent with himself, as April did. Something triggered his mentality to explode in a fiery sea of negative emotions swelling up his mind. Both of them clutched their minds in sudden aching pain.

However, he managed to brave through it for only several seconds. He knew that April was right about him. He couldn't let go of his fears and worries. He couldn't let go of his guilt and problems.

But he wanted to try. He watched as April turned back to enter the gate. His right gentle hand extended forward and his eyes began to glisten in the violet aurora once more.

A split second before Ryo could touch April's hand, she could sense another change inside Ryo's eyes for a millisecond before the insanity began to take over. Her psychic abilities were tampering with her brain, causing a nosebleed that streamed down her mouth. But before all of this unfathomable pain had suddenly struck her, the look on Ryo's eyes rang clear as day to her. That one final look that April read brought something that strangely warmed her up once more.

The little boy inside, despite being devoured by the darkness, didn't cry out for help. Instead, he requested that she wait for him no matter what the cost was. April's light suddenly enveloped the encroaching darkness in an unknown angelic aura. A seal of good faith. The heart of a bright future ahead.

This was the final feeling that April had in her heart before her mind shattered before her.

"April-" Ryo called. But as his muffled voice failed to ring clear to April, the distant juddering sound of a car speeding across the street came through. Ryo, who had been standing in the center of the street, was vulnerable to a traffic accident. The car sped through lightning-fast without any intention of slowing down. Ryo's right hand pulled back as he attempted to press his chest to activate his nanosuit, but there was not enough time for it to properly equip itself to reduce its blow.

The little boy reached for April's hand at the end of the light. April's glow bathed the little boy as the darkness began to brush away in the winter breeze. April extended her hand forward and examined closely to see that the boy was Ryo, who had promised to wait for her.

"Ryo!" April shouted at the top of her lungs. She shoved the little boy aside after a random stunning flash of light struck her left eye. Her body went limp and numb the moment the light passed through her body, seeing nothing but crimson fog contaminating her eyes in metallic saltiness. She blinked once and found herself soaring across her neighborhood's street as the vehicle ran against her. She could see Ryo's eyes open widely, and his jaw nearly fell at the sight of April's lifeless body floating at the vehicle's impact.

April's head slammed against the pavement as her body rolled around like a ragdoll. Crimson blood poured from the back of her blond hair, soaking her golden appearance in dense viscous blood. The guitar pick fell out of her pockets and laid next to her, also soaked in blood. The speeding vehicle rampaged onwards without stopping, vanishing from sight in a matter of a few seconds.

"No…" Ryo whispered as his eyes fogged up in tears. The traumatic flashbacks of Ash Meguro's near-fatal incident struck his mind once more but amplified it to a maximum. He could sense blood on his hands even though he had not touched April. Sophie's judgmental eyes began haunting his visions. Sez's overpowering laughter began appearing in hallucinations, yelling at him to murder. His time spent trapped in the Yakuza began ringing as clear as day to him.

But this time, nothing outmatched the crushing moment of April's lifeless body slugged across the street in such a brutal manner. He was about to reach for her hand the moment she stepped inside the gate, but his doubt clouded his mind in a sea of worries. He could have chosen to enter the estate and then reconcile with her gift, but his overbearing affection for her generosity took over.

He could have told April that he loved her. For he did.

"April…?" Ryo's pulsing mind couldn't break free from the traumatic chaos. He kneeled next to April and saw her face bruised beyond return. Her eyes were bloodshot and her nose was leaking with more blood. "April?" Ryo's voice couldn't take any more pain. The guitar pick was drenched in April's blood, and Ryo didn't want to touch it.

"Why...?" Ryo whispered to himself, slamming his fist against the road. His eyes were overburdened with tears as he gazed up at the violet aurora. "Why does everything always die around me? If I'm supposed to find redemption, then how come I can't protect the ones I love? Sumire… Chiaki… Sophie… Ash… and April..."

His heart suddenly ruptured in volatility and hostility. "Huh?! Why is that, God?! Is this your punishment for what I've done?! What are you trying to say to me?! Is this what you're going to do to me for the rest of my life?!" He began maniacally chuckling as he collapsed on the ground once more. "Nothing has changed. Absolutely nothing! Fucking nothing!" He spat saliva all over the pavement as his heart crumbled.

Ryo heard a gasp from his side. Chiaki, who had stood by the gate pushing Star behind him, had also frozen in place. Ryo couldn't believe Chiaki was there, but his heart prevented him from reacting to his sudden return. Instead, he looked back at April's body as it began convulsing and twitching from her massive injury.

"No…" Ryo whispered. "I won't let you slip through my hands."

That rosy complexion on the stage returned to Ryo's mind once more. Her angelic voice rang back to his ears. Her cherubic voice was irresistibly irreplaceable. The charm of her confident face appeared before his eyes. Such beauty was something that Ryo ignored when he was a child. He never had the chance to appreciate anything in his life, until now.

But this time, he wasn't going to let it go.

"I won't let you go," Ryo whispered, shaking April's body. "Help!" He screamed at the top of his lungs as tears escaped his eyes nonstop. His voice began to crack the more he screamed. Chiaki began sprinting back into April's estate to locate a phone. Star slowly peeked outside to see April's limp body bathed in her blood. "Someone please help! Someone! Anyone! Please help me! Help!"

Star rushed towards April and began tugging on her arm. Ryo watched as she mourned for her as well, holding onto her winter sweater. As Ryo continued shouting for help, Star took notice of him and held his shoulder tightly to join him. "Help!" She screamed. "Help us! Please, someone, help us!"

It took several seconds for bystanders who were nestled comfortably in their homes to take notice. They darted outside to see April's body in the center of the street and began calling for help and conversing among themselves about the situation.

"Someone call for help!" A desperate voice rang in the darkness.

"What happened? Someone call an ambulance!"

"Oh my god, oh my god…"

Ryo shook April as Star cried on his shoulders. "Don't die on me, Ash! Goddamn it, don't die on me! I won't let you die! Ash, please! Don't die on me, goddamn it! Please don't go…" His voice squealed in excruciating pain, noticing that he had accidentally called April's name Ash instead.

Several minutes later, an ambulance had finally arrived. Robotic soldiers with the hospital logo painted on their chassis arrived and moved Ryo, Chiaki, and Star aside. Using professional technology that Ryo had never seen before, a machine lifted April automatically from her spot and onto a comfortable flatbed. Ambulance and hospital workers began to block Ryo's view of April's lifeless body.

Ryo sobbed into Chiaki's shoulders and Star did the same, holding onto Ryo's legs as she quivered dramatically. Traumatized beyond belief, Star could resonate with Ryo's feelings as well. Chiaki had never seen Ryo so grief-struck before, and he noticed that Star's innocence must have split apart as well.

The gentle pitter-patter of the delicate snowflakes dissolved from Ryo's grasp as he descended a never-ending spiral of insanity. He had lost something dear to him once again, and he couldn't envision his life being something worth trodding through with ease. He closed his eyes as Chiaki caught him, feeling his heart's grasp fail itself.

Your song…

Your voice…

Your smile...

Is it lost?

If it is…

Then I deserve to die.