Prologue - My Life Was Never The Same

He was merely an orphan that time.

The gentle breeze flowed through the curtains and the faint shine of sunlight gaze upon the room. Countless young childs of age of 3-5 played with vigor as they sense the change of season.

Yes, spring has come. The time of the year when flowers bloomed and saplings sprout in the fields. It surely was a colorful time of the year.

People of all age change as they inhale the life breathed by spring. But somewhere in the corner of a room where the rays of light can't reach, lay a young boy seemingly unaffected by the breath of life.

"So boring..."

He lazily laid his body in the floor and stretched his arms. He yawned and let out a low sigh. He stayed in the floor for who knows how many minutes before he heard a knock in the door.

Knock~ Knock~

"Akashi! Are you there? Sister Totsuka will come in, alright?"

With a click, the door opened and a young woman entered as she look around the room.

The room is the bedroom of the childrens with bunk beds lined up. The woman called Totsuka looked around the room searching for the young boy till he reached the corner of the room. She still couldn't find Akashi with his faint presence until she stepped into something.

"Ouch..."

"Eeeekkk!!"

The low pitched, hoarse voice startled the woman and she inadvertently screamed in horror as she quickly took a couple of steps backward.

She breathed in slowly to calm her nerves and once she calmed, her eyes met those sunken lifeless black eyes and was about to scream again but she blocked her mouth.

"Ah..ehem.. ahh..sister Totsuka what's wrong?" As Akashi fixed his voice, he tilted his face and looked at sister Totsuka.

"My god, don't scare me like that next time Akashi, alright?." Totsuka heaved a sigh and beckoned Akashi to come with her as she walked towards the door.

Akashi slowly stood and walked towards her side. As he came to her, Akashi scratched his head and stared questionably towards sister Totsuka.

Sister Totsuka didn't say anything as she continue to walk in the hallway. The hallway was brightly illuminated and a fair amount of pictures were hung in the walls.

There were photos of young children with a man and woman in their side. Photos of graduates in schools with their diplomas in hands. And pictures of children together with the sisters with them.

Akashi gazed at those photos with lifeless eyes but it was just for a second and he quickly turned his head away and looked at her sister Totsuka's back.

Soon they reached the backyard of the orphanage and the scene in front of Akashi made him daze.

Childrens of different age ran across the yard. They played with the swings, some tended the flowerbeds, and some were even climbing trees as they try to catch some beetles hovering the branches.

It was a scene completely different from the room that Akashi stayed and so he felt a weird feeling in his heart. It was some sort of alienation. He felt like this world in his eyes aren't meant for him. It was a completely disturbing feeling.

So he snapped his thoughts out of it and turned his gaze towards his sister Totsuka. However he was then greeted by the deep stare of his sister.

Sister Totsuka sighed as she looked at Akashi softly and casted a faint smile. Yet Akashi knew, behind that beautiful smile he could sense bitterness. After all the world he just saw will never let him in.

"Um sister what did you call me for?" Akashi asked with his most normal voice that he could muster but his voice could not help but tremble.

"Ne, Akashi come with me I'll show you something, alright?" Without waiting for his response he walked away, deep into the garden were a group of plants lay softly on the ground.

Akashi hurriedly followed her sister Totsuka with haste and walked by her side. Moments later his sister Totsuka stopped in his tracks and picked an unassuming sapling in a small grey plot.

Sister Totsuka gently caressed the little sapling and handed it over to Akashi.

Akashi was confused at her actions but she still extended his hands and held the plant in hands. The moment his fingers came in contact with it's leaves, Akashi felt an electrifying sensation. The loneliness in his heart was somewhat alleviated.

"Teacher.. this..?"

"Hold onto it. I want you to take care of it. Today onward I want you to water it and tend it's soil properly. I want you to cherish this little one as if it was your brother, alright?"

It was to sudden that Akashi was speechless. His sister Totsuka suddenly barraged him with this responsibility so his gaze subconsciously turned towards the sapling.

It gently shaked it's body towards him as it's two leaves fluttered as the wind blew and it's soft and tender branches swayed with the breeze of spring.

Akashi wanted to decline but as he saw the life sprouting in this tiny little thing, he felt somehow fulfilled. It truly was a very mystifying feeling.

And so he only had one urge. To protect this life that was given in his hands. With that resolve he gently wrapped his arms around it and with it, his destiny was also sprouting in the unknown universe.

* * * * *

A month has passed and now Akashi was not alone as he tend to the little plant that gave him hope. And so he also named the little plant Nozomi.

Day by day he tended to it with care. Without sparing a single day, he worked to make sure the little guy in his hands to be safe.

That's why he also felt defeated. He fell into despair and the hope that he nurtured in his heart began to crumble.

Nozomi was not as healthy as it was before. Yes, the moment it fell into his hands, it started to lose life.

At first it was still lively and was the same as how Akashi met it but after a few weeks it's vitality began to weaken.

Today was also another day that Akashi visited Nozomi.

Akashi slowly walked out of his room sluggishly. He walked in the hallway and stared at the photos of kids in his age possessing a vibrant smile.

He walked into the backyard and the seemingly colorful atmosphere of it was dyed grey. There was no one. The brightest place ever in his life was now devoid of color.

The world that he deemed himself to not belong to is now calling him, just that there was nothing in it but the cold air of solitude.

Biting his lips, he walked towards a huge tree in a relatively remote corner, away from that place. Beside the tree, there lay a withering plant as it lean its body downwards.

Akashi knew. His life was never meant to be with someone. The road that he is supposed to traverse was solitary and everything that he laid his hands on would lose all its color. He was a bringer of misfortune, and the tiny hope of flame in his heart, to this day, is finally extinguished.

Akashi clenched his fist, with his nails piercing his delicate skin and trickle of blood was slowly oozing out. He gritted his teeth as a horrifying sound was made.

"Why..."

Why was he alone? What did he do wrong to deserve this? Why can't he be the same as others.

"Why...?!" Akashi groaned as he plopped his knees on the ground and held the the grey pot in front of him.

"Just why?!!!!!" Akashi screamed on the top of his lungs and tears streamed out as if a dam bursted out and words began to be stuck in his throat.

Just why was his world monochromatic?! Why was there no color to it?!! Why is is there nothing inside it?!!!

And so Akashi slowly let go of the life in his hands and all strength seemed to seep out of his body. The tears that fell in his eyes began to be emptied. The consciousness that stubbornly clinged in his eyes began to fade and his life to him was no more.

"Just why is my world so!!!... empty..."

It was at this time that he began to be consumed by hatred. The world's most terrifying individual was about to be born. A person destined to be the destroyer of worlds. The Fate to be the End of all things.

Yet he met her.

Akashi found a light deep within his fading consciousness. It was a blindingly, bright light yet it was so small that it was overshadowed by the darkness of his heart.

However it was because of that that he felt it. That if he didn't grab hold of this light before his eyes, he would be lost and nothing of him will be left. But he was scared. He was terrified of the fact that, this hope that was given to him will also be nothing but a sham.

"Don't worry it is real."

So with those words that serves as a fuel into his dying heart he began to extend his arms. His hand mustered all the strength left in his body and grabbed ahold of that tender light.

There was a spark, and then the next moment a blindingly bright light engulfed him.

Right now he could feel it. The spring that he yearned for.

He could feel the gentle breeze of spring wind wrap around his body. The warm light basking his own existence as if he was being reborn. The trees in his surrounding swayed softly and the flowers around him began to flutter.

Now there was a color. Colors began to surface in every single corner of this world. Now he could understand, that there truly is life that exist.

Akashi slowly opened his eyes and his consciousness began to return to him. Right now he could feel something warm.

Something warm and soft is embracing his body that brimmed of misfortune. Unknowingly Akashi wanted to remain in this place now and forever.

"That's not possible you know."

Hearing that voice, Akashi slowly took his face out of that embrace and he slowly raised his eyes.

What greeted Akashi was a dazzling smile. It was a smile that illuminated all life in his body and he froze in his place. After all he just witnessed it, the most beautiful thing in the world.

"Life is not as colorful as always as you perceive it to be, you know."

The young girl gently took the pot in the ground where the little sapling was.

"Life is Life because it's not that colorful. However it is not empty as you say it to be."

"Just the fact that you continue to grieve is a fact that it is not empty. As long as you care, your world will inadvertently have its own color for sure. As long as there is life, there will be life."

"However as I see, you think that your world is as empty as it is but it is not. If you truly insist so, then I'll be there. To make your world not as empty as it is to be, even if it is solely me, I will be there to accompany you into your empty world."

Saying those words the flower in her hands began to look not dying as it seems to be. In her hands the withering leaves stopped to fall as if time came to halt.

She turned his face towards me and extended her hands towards me.

"I'm..."

The words that flowed out in her mouth was imprinted in my mind. My life was now vibrant because she was here. The name that she said was the hope that gave my life a reason. A reason to exist.

"What's your name?"

I slowly stood up but realized that I don't any strength left in my legs and wobbled before falling down again.

Maybe it was also called fate. Fate that I have to reach out to that hand in order to stand up. Maybe it was also because of that, that I feel like like I became the strongest person in the world.

"My name is Kageyama Akashi."

The day I met you, my life was never the same.

Yet that's also why.

The day I lost you, my life was never the same.