Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume16 Prologue (section)

===Part 1===

Alone inside her own room, she was sitting with knees drawn up to her chest.

Her face was forcefully buried between her thighs. Her long silver hair dangled on the left and right sides, forming a tiny inviolable room in front of her chest where none could trespass. An extremely small space filled only with her thoughts&mdash;Or one could call it a cage.

Her shoulders kept trembling. Hence, the cage trapping those irregular breaths also shook continually. And just like a rain leak, warm water droplets kept dripping down from the top of the cage.

(I can't believe... I...!)

If one were to paint this cage with color, the utter pitch-blackness of darkness would be the only possibility.

Regret, despair, self-loathing, fear, sorrow. The same color as these emotions.

With black as the background, a scene surfaced in her view. As branded, engraved on her retina, that scene persisted forever.

That of Haruaki's left hand, with the missing fingers.

(Sob... Sob...)

She&mdash;had done something irrevocable.

Unbelievably. Unbelievably. Unbelievably unbelievably unbelievably, she had&mdash;Was it unavoidable, in order to protect him? An excuse. He was harmed as a result. Stupid. She had failed to consider the worst case scenario. Despite knowing clearly it was very risky. Too naive. Too confident in herself. Too complacent. She had made a great mistake. Why was she so hopelessly incurable? She really wanted to start over again. But starting over was impossible. Why?

&mdash;Die, die, die.

&mdash;Her foolish self should just die already. Break. Disappear&mdash;

With feelings of resignation and self-abandonment, she kept rejecting herself nonstop. That was all a prisoner aware of one's crimes could do.

However, at this moment&mdash;

"...!"

Suddenly, she noticed what seemed to be a commotion happening outside her room. Something was happening in this house that had been shrouded in silence and gloom until now. Needless to say&mdash;

Him... He probably woke up at last.

After many hours, she lifted her dainty face from between her knees, letting the long-absent air from outside enter the tightly shut cage. Likewise for her face, drenched with tears, she experienced the empty coolness indifferently.

Having received treatment, he had slept the whole time till now. Knowing he had woke up, what she felt inside was&mdash;

Relief, as well as&mdash;

So massive that those emotions, circling nonstop inside the cage so far, could not compare at all&mdash;

''Terror''.

She really wanted to see him. She really wanted to talk to him, face to face, She really wanted to converse with him. But she also did not want to see him. She did not want to converse with him. So scary. So scary. So scary so scary so scary&mdash;!

Hence, when she noticed that movement had resumed in the house, when hurried footsteps soon made their way straight towards her room...

With her mind totally blank, she did the one thing in her power&mdash;