hairstroke | ic inbox ✧ recolle

[ Mio still has school to go to, so it's only after classes are done that she decides to meet up with him at his place-- of course, she's hoping to retreat into his room or at least move somewhere else if they really have to. She's honestly really relieved that no stray thoughts have been heard ever since they got back, so she can't actually be upset about that.

But...

Leon's worried about her. She can't hide that. And she does need someone to talk to about all of this. She won't knock or doorbell just in case, but instead she just sends a text message, hurriedly: ]

I'm here.

[ Likewise, Leon had school as well so by the time Mio had stopped by, he got back home not too long ago. If it wasn't for the fact that he was so exhausted, he wouldn't have been able to sleep.

Given his own memories that he recalled yesterday. As confusing as they were, none of them truly got under his skin like this one.

However, he had to put on a brave face for Mio. As annoying as the telepathy was, it wasn't that bad. He would have liked to hear her thoughts so he knows how she feels but at the same time, it's a good thing because he didn't want to worry her with his own awful memories.

In preparation for her arrival, he finished brewing some tea when he sees her text message and immediately walks over to open the door to greet her. ]

Hey.

[ Even though he crashed hard last night, it's obvious he still looked tired. He opens the door wider for her to enter. ]

Would you rather talk in my room for privacy?

Hey.

[ She manages to say that with what seems to be a soft smile; one that doesn't tell just how bad she's been feeling. In fact, outwardly she even seems to look fine. But that's something that's come rather naturally for her like it's practically nothing.

And she nods at his question. ]

I don't want... anybody else to hear this. Nobody will hear if we're in your room, right?

[ In a way, seeing her give off the air of everything being perfectly fine is almost unsettling. He knew that something was bothering her but the way se said it so naturally worried him even more.

Mio Sonozaki is a fantastic actress and it scares him to think about what else she might be hiding. ]

Yeah, we should be good. You can head into my room right now if you want, I'll be there in a moment with some tea and snacks.

Okay! Thanks for letting me come here, by the way. ☆

[ Keeping up a rather cheery voice, she beams, walking right on in as she does the usual when coming into his apartment, which is to take off her shoes. She's wearing something on the simpler end in terms of colors, but it's still rather fashionable enough. Thank goodness for having a good sense of fashion.

She'll head into his room as soon as she's gotten the okay as she nods, although she's admittedly a little more nervous entering it now on her own for... particular reasons. But she's here to talk seriously about certain things, so she can just.

Leave that alone for now as she just goes ahead and plops herself onto his bed. It's kind of embarrassing, especially as she's crashing face first into whatever pillow he has on there, staying almost a little too attached to it as she even wraps her arms around it to keep it close to her as she waits. ]

[ As Mio made her way to his room, Leon headed off to the kitchen. He finishes warming up the green tea and begins pouring them into two cups. Once that's done, he neatly stacks two slices of pandan cake onto two plates and pulls out another plate that's filled with jiaozi.

Okay, maybe he went a little overboard on snacks but he figured that since they both just got out of school, they deserve some good food. With his tray in hand, he makes his way back to the room and opens the door with his foot.

He's getting ready to greet her, but instead... he's smirking at the sight in front of him. How cute... she was hugging his pillow. ]

Making yourself at home? I see you're getting quite comfortable.

Ah—

[ And the moment that she hears his voice is the moment when she grabs the pillow, adjusts herself so that she's sitting instead of laying down and just brings it close to her face to hide any possibility of red cheeks. ]

You don't mind, do you...?

[ Perhaps she should probably let go of it, but instead she just tightens her grip on it instead. ]

[ Okay now she's even cuter trying to hide her embarrassed face with his pillow. Everyday, he's amazed by how adorable she is. As he pulls over a fold out table in front of the bed, he lets out a snicker at how cute her reaction his. He then places the tray onto the table and sits next to her.

Of course, he doesn't forget to pat the top of her cute head. ]

I don't mind at all. In fact, I think it's quite adorable to see you clinging to my pillow like this.

[ He runs one of his hands through his hair. ]

I see you just can't get enough of me, you have to smother my pillow too.

[ A-Adorable?!

If her face wasn't red already, it certainly becomes more of a beet now, especially since she's embarrassed. It smells really nice, so she can't help herself. Although she does pull it down and closer to her chest, as her gaze shifts away from him, even though her cheeks are still pink. ]

Stupid... anyway, I'm not here to talk about that!!

[ That reaction makes her even more adorable. If it wasn't for the fact they were about ready to have a serious discussion, he would have poked fun at her even more. ~~But it's not going to stop him from teasing her at a later date.~~

At the topic change, Leon's smile transforms into a much more serious expression. ]

That's right. We're here to talk about yesterday. What did you remember, Mio?

[ She's quiet at first, unsurprisingly so as she squeezes onto the pillow. It's true that she doesn't want to remember this, much less talk about it. ]

So... I'll go with the easiest one first. [ "Easiest", she says, as if she's trying to soften the blow. ] You know how I told you that I remembered dying, right?

I remembered... [ She buries her face into the pillow. ] I remembered dying again.

What?

[ He didn't mean to have such a short response, but he's so shocked to hear that he's almost at a loss for words. Mio died twice?! How is something like that even possible? Fuck. Just when retrospec couldn't get anymore confusing... ]

I see. Now I understand what you mean by contradicting memories.

[ Poor Mio. She had it rough already but to somehow remember a second death? That's way too cruel. One of his arms reaches over to wrap around her shoulder and brings her close to his body, letting her feel his warmth. ]

I'm sorry, Mio. I'm frustrated for you. Whatever that application is doing is sick, it's cruel for you to remember something like that.

Well, that wasn't the only contradictory memory, though...

[ She says that before he suddenly wraps his arm around her shoulder, causing her to drop the pillow she's holding as her just goes ahead to bury her face. He can probably tell just how distressed she is by the way her body shakes in fear, the fact that tear drops fall onto the bed when just moments ago she was acting completely fine.

Even though she's crying, she somehow manages to keep her composure while speaking. ]

You don't... have to apologize, okay? It's not your fault. But I remembered something else, too.

[ And it's here where she wraps her arms around him, fingers trembling even as she's so close to him. He's the only person who can comfort her at this moment as she even recalls it. The noises of it all are loud in her ears as her breath catches. It's horrifying, but she needs to get these words out.

She promised she'd tell him.

She promised. She'll always keep her promises. ]

I knew it was coming, but... I finally remembered. [ She laughs, like broken tiles but it's also a laughter that's terrifying. It's chilling to the bone because it's not happy laughter at all, but instead manic. What keeps it from being something dangerous, however, is the choked tears that come out after she's done. ] I killed someone with these two hands. No, you can't even call it that. What I did was I tortured her.

I stabbed, over and over and over again because I enjoyed it. Because I was angry at her for being so strong when I was so weak. You see, Shion was an idiot. No... that's wrong. I'm the idiot. When the person I loved back then disappeared, I didn't trust that they would ever come back. I just simply left him for dead and forgot about him.

[ Another laugh, but this time, it's hollow. ]

Ahaha, and I guess I forgot him again, huh? That's. Ironic, I guess...

[ It's not like he wants to see her cry, but he's relieved when he sees her finally letting her emotions out. He was well aware that Mio's a good actress and it worried him that she was hiding her true feelings. The last thing that needed to happen was for her to suffer alone, he wanted to be there for her and give her comfort that she so desperately needed.

If he's the only one that can comfort her, then he's good with that. As selfish as it was, he wanted to be the one that makes her the happiest in the whole wide world.

The mention of her killing someone does cause the color to drain from his face. Not because of her actions, but because he was reminded of his own recent memory. How he wanted to execute people without a single shred of remorse. It's almost laughable how similar they could be at times. ... Even in their memories. ]

Mio, you're not an idiot. The you in this lifetime didn't do any of those things. I'm not going to condemn you for your actions because of the things I did in my past life but I will say, it's awful that you have to remember such things.

[ Her laughter is pretty unsettling and he can't deny that he was spooked out by it. As terrifying as it was, the choked sob that followed after hurt his heart more than anything. He keeps his grip on her and brings his hand to stroke the top of her head.

He frowns a little when she says that she forgot about him. It hurt him how much Satoshi mattered to her but it's not like he could do anything about it. He was a part of her memories and that's something he needs to accept. ]

Does it matter to you, Mio Sonozaki, though? It's not like you wanted to forget... about him.

[ It's honestly disheartening that she has to deal with this. She hates it so much that she has to go through this because she just simply wants to live a normal life. She wants to be a normal girl. But that's impossible now.

Mio Sonozaki can't have something like that now.

And it's only when he speaks up that she finally looks up at him, teary eyed. ]

... I-

[ She shakes her head, quiet as she wipes the tears that start at the edges of her eyes. ]

I don't know. It's not like I had any choice, though. To forget or not. But, um, did you... remember something too...?

[ He hates this too. All he wants is for Mio to live a happy, normal life. Of course her life was anything but normal since she's the Sonozaki heir, but things took a major turn for the worse after they had this god damn app installed.

This is just another reminder of how much he detests everything Retrospec stands for and how it's making the love of his life suffer like this.]

You're absolutely right, Mio. It's not your choice, so don't beat yourself up over it. [ His hand that was patting her head moves down to cup her cheek, stroking the tears away with his thumb.

Upon her question, he falls silent. ... Was she able to tell that something was bothering him? It wouldn't have surprised him. Not only is he easy to read, but Mio knew him best. ]

Yeah... I did. Don't worry about it, though. Just talk to me about what's on your mind.

[ Because he did not want to pile on her worries with his own. ]

Hey!

[ She pouts at him, narrowing her eyes as she yells out that single word, even if he's patting her head in a way that she likes, not to mention wipes the tears away. ]

The moment you say don't worry about it is going to make me worry, Leon. I want to know. It's not fair if you're just spoiling me like this and letting me be selfish.

[ And she reaches out, placing both of her hands on the side of his face, staring at him with serious eyes full of clarity. She doesn't want to be treated like she's weak and needs to be entirely coddled. ]

Please. Tell me. I want to help you, too.

[ She leans in close, enough that their foreheads touch. ]

I told you back there, didn't I? I want to support you, too. So it's okay... I can continue after I hear from you.

Mio...

[ Even though he may give her a hard time about being rude, he knew that Mio had a kind heart. Not once, did he ever think of her as being selfish, since he wanted to listen to her troubles and worries.

A light tint of pink flushes his cheek as the feeling of her soft hands touching his fast. His eyes glistened with fondess as he brings one of his hands to cup hers. It warmed his heart to hear that she was willing to support him. ]

... Thanks. I appreicate it. I just want to let you know, what I'm about to tell you isn't pleasant and it's not going to be easy to hear. You might not see me in the same light.

[ In fact, he wouldn't blame her if she didn't think of him the same way again. His eyes avert to the side, looking a little nervous. The hand that was on top of hers was slightly trembling. ]

I remembered that some guy named Zhuge Dan started a rebellion. [ Which also makes him wonder just how many rebellions were in his past life? Oh well. Hopefully he'll figure that out later. ] I think I was talking to my superior, I'm still unsure about that but apparently, some of Zhuge Dan's troops had defected to our side.

However... [ He shakes his head and turns his gaze back at Mio. As much as it bothered him, he couldn't chicken out; he had to be completely direct and honest with her. ]

My superior asked for my opinion on what to do with the defectors. Without a single trace of hesitation, I told him that we should execute every single one of them. I... even had the nerve to say that if I were in charge, I wouldn't show compassion to prisoners of war.

[ He falls silent for a few moments, wanting to let that sink in. It's something that he remembered just yesterday and hell, he's still trying to come to terms with it, even if the hints were there within the few things he recalled. ]

Mio. That combined with my supposed rebellion, it's evident I was the farthest thing from being a good person in my past life.

It's okay.

[ She knows full well that there's nothing that he can tell her that will change her mind about him and how she feels about him. That tremble in his fingertips, though... worries her. For a second, she almost thinks that it's her own but soon realizes that it's him.

So she takes a deep breath, closes her eyes and simply just listens to his voice.

He's talking about a rebellion, and then he keeps going and then. Talks about execution. And he then admits that he wasn't a good person in his past life. It's those words alone that make her want to cry for him, but she refuses; instead, she opens her eyes to look directly at him. ]

It's okay... it's okay, Leon. Thank you, for telling me. I won't judge you, okay? Our past lives are both horrible. But I still love you regardless of that. That's fine, right?

[ Despite that he has an air of confidence surrounding him, deep down in the depths of his heart, he was scared about what kind of reaction she would have about his past life.

Of course, all of his worries were immediately proven to be silly. If he wasn't so intent on wanting to be strong, he would probably cry at Mio's words. It still doesn't stop him from intertwining his fingers in between hers as he stares at her with the utmost love in his eyes. ]

... Thank you, Mio. The same goes for me.

[ He's so overwhelmed with emotion that it's so hard for him to gather his thoughts. The only thing that he could say for certain was that he loved Mio so much and nothing will change that. ]

No matter what, I promise to always love you as well.

[ He thanks her and she can't help but feel a warmth in her chest, strangely relieved that he said those words. Squeezing his hand with as much affection she can muster, she can't help the small smile that manages to settle on her lips. ]

...

[ This sure is embarrassing to say, but-- ]

Pinky promise, then?

[ At her suggestion, a soft smile curves on his lips as he extends his hand, holding out his pinky towards her.

He happily nods his head in agreement. When was the last time he did a pinky promise? He honestly couldn't even recall. Plus if he did, it was most likely when he was young and with either Xiaolang or his sisters. ]

It's a pinky promise. Together, we'll swear an oath with this.

[ And she takes her own pinky and interlocks it with her own and then says in Japanese, the usual yubikiri lines: ]

"Finger cut-off, ten thousand fist-punchings, whoever lies has to swallow thousand needles."

[ Yeah, for anybody who isn't familiar with those lines... it's kind of morbid. ]

[ Luckily for Leon, he's familiar with that saying so it doesn't catch him too off guard. But for anyone that didn't know, he could understand that it might scare people off.

He responds in Japanese, with a small smirk curving on his lips. ]

It's like we're forming our own blood oath in a way. Since it's you, I don't mind at all.

Ahaha... that's like saying you would die for me, Leon.

[ With the talk of blood oaths and things like that. ]

2/2; action in the afternoon

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cw: child abuse/torture warnings + murder, it begins

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