Jitsu -A different story-

At that moment, Shizune could perfectly feel how her body was being hugged by Kurono while she also hugged him with all her strength. She was aware of the tears that were running down her cheeks, not because she was experiencing enormous sadness, but rather it was because of the feeling and pain caused by seeing Kurono suffering from those memories that had been tormenting him all his life.

Several minutes had passed like that, Shizune had no reason to let Kurono go for any reason, but he had no intention of separating from her either. Kurono felt incredibly weak, obviously due to the mental burden that had hit him as well as all those feelings that originated from him.

If he were alone, he would possibly still be completely immersed in them, but on this occasion, Shizune was of great help to him since he did not feel any qualms about letting off unburden, in addition to the fact that feeling her by his side was giving him a peculiar calm that was slowly spreading to him, so much so that it didn't take long before he began to slowly separate from her.

Shizune noticed Kurono's action and didn't stop him, the small light that filtered into the car was enough for them to see each other's state, as well as the traces of all those complicated feelings. Kurono raised his arm and put his hand on Shizune's cheek before starting to wipe away the small tears that were in them and starting to speak once again.

"I'm sorry to make you feel this way…" It wasn't hard to guess that Shizune had been affected by the situation and that itself made Kurono feel like a fool for making Shizune cry, even though he really shouldn't feel that way, and it would be quite clear to him after seeing how Shizune shook her head and listened to her words.

"You don't need to apologize, it's not something we could control in the first place." And repeating the Kurono action, Shizune also brought her hands to Kurono's cheeks to wipe away any trace of sadness that was on him. "Do you feel calmer?"

Maybe the feeling of calm was the best way to define Kurono's state right now, so Shizune's question might be a little unnecessary, but Kurono didn't think about any of that and simply nodded.

"I think I was able to get some of everything I had been hiding off my chest… I never thought that all those memories would continue to affect me so much, although I guess it's not strange after trying to ignore them all this time." Kurono formed a small expression of pity that he knew was directed at himself, but that wouldn't last long because of Shizune.

"The fact that you are sharing all that with me shows that you don't want to continue that way, and you shouldn't feel more complicated because of it. If you say that you were ignoring them all this time, the best thing is that you try to accept them, and understand that they are part of who you are, that's the way you can continue moving forward, and I managed to understand that after I was able to tell you about my past." Shizune adopted a serious attitude at that moment, she really wanted to express in the best way possible to Kurono that those memories they should not continue to be shadows in his heart, despite being painful and sad… It was not something that should simply be forgotten and thrown away.

"I know… And you're right, if I just had the intention of continuing to hide all that, we wouldn't be in this situation, I'd keep closing in on myself trying to make you ignore how I feel until I could show you the me you're used to… But I didn't want to keep doing it, it wasn't fair to you, but, above all, I didn't want to keep hurting myself." Kurono didn't feel complicated by Shizune's words he appreciated that she could be totally honest with him, she didn't need to comfort him or make promises that he might not keep, he needed someone to speak the truth and make him understand that he couldn't continue in the same way all his life.

Shizune also agreed with Kurono, she was a good example of what she was trying to express to him, she had lived for so many years with those painful memories, with that feeling of sadness, and although there were still slight traces of all of it, she knew that it was It had marked a before and after when she was able to be honest with Kurono.

…

"I think I need to finish what I have to say…" A few more seconds had passed in which both Kurono and Shizune remained silent simply looking at each other, it was a quite characteristic calm that neither of them wanted to break, but neither did they could stay that way, especially since Kurono wanted to make Shizune understand everything he had been through.

Shizune did not stop Kurono from continuing with what was on his mind, and just as she had been doing up until this moment, she took one of Kurono's hands. He noticed that instantly, and a feeling of calm was what came over him just because of it.

...

"I don't remember how much I cried and lamented that day... Everything seemed like a horrible nightmare, but that was the sad reality... That day I had once again lost someone important to me." Shizune remembered Kurono's words, those where he wondered why he had to experience the death of his loved ones at a young age, and she was sure that those were words that had become quite ingrained in him. "It was due to a complication with her condition and they had to undergo emergency surgery… But she couldn't... After so long of fighting against her own body, she couldn't give more of herself..."

It wasn't like Kurono could understand how Mei would have felt at that moment, but it was what he believed, what he could tell after seeing Mei in that same state for a long time. It clearly hurt him to say all that, but after lamenting, suffering, and crying so much, Kurono didn't want to do it again, not after thinking that Mei probably wouldn't want to see him that way...