Chapter Text
Iruma-chi!
Iruma-sama!
Iruma kun!
Iruma doesn't recognize these various voices that call out for him as people one by one begin to flash through his head.
A tall pinked haired man with clothing that seemed straight from a prince, a short green haired girl with a bag around her waist that could pull out anything you could imagine, and strange looking people all smiling and surrounding him lovingly.
'But... who-?'
"Please be well, Iruma. I'm sorry for dragging you into this."
A warm yet wrinkly hand grazes over his forehead, as Iruma feels himself subconciously lean towards the person... Before feeling the man twinge in what could've been regret, as shortly-
Slice!
"Ah- AHHHH!"
Iruma can't open his eyes, but an overwhelming pain succumbs him as he feels his ring finger get chopped off. He's screaming, and he can't help but do anything but scream. That feeling of betrayal that washes over him when he feels is someone close to him hurt him like this.
No... No. He should've expected this, right? It's not.... Grandpa's fault.
Almost immediately, Suzuki Iruma is reminded of his parents. (Of course... It was at some point early in his childhood, he found that rather than 'trust' for his parents, he only carried 'longing'.)
"Mom! Mom, I-"
"Iruma~ please do this for mommy, okay? It'll make us very happy!"
...
"You couldn't do it, Iruma? F*ck... I can't believe you. We just asked one favor from you..."
Deeply ingrained in his mind, he felt it. Fear, Deeply rooted anxiety, that kept him frozen in place.
"Bad children stay outside."
...
"Mom! Dad! Please, I'm so sorry! Let me back in-!"
The younger Iruma cries, as it becomes so cold, and he notices the bears that lie in the bushes around their house.
He's not sure when, and if they'll pounce, however...
Crunch.
It's that next morning, he runs for his life for the first of many times to come, not even a sound will escape his lips, even though his mind races in nothing but jumbled panic.
Tears pour out of his eyes as he drifts- into something his mind has always tried to suppress. Like his mind has become a running faucet that's leaking and cannot stop.
'It feels so cold...'
But then again, hasn't it always been?
⚔⚔⚔
He's dumb. Suzuki Iruma has faced many dangers during his life, and through that, Iruma has never been able to trust anyone fully. He may not have been able to refuse someone's request, and he's always smiled every time anyone asked him for something, but he'd never... He's never had friends.
'But why?'
He knew why.
Alice-kun... (...)
Clara... (Who...)
Grandpa... (I don't have a grandpa.)
Opera...? (The music?)
Iruma could not understand why his mind was calling out these names he did not know. But suddenly, he felt lonely. And the world became cold, like he was sinking in deep water. He struggled to breath, as his lungs began to fill with a heavy, suffocating substance- until breathing no longer became an option.
Iruma struggled. He squirmed, he gasped, he tried to reach a hand out for someone someone to help him- Wanting to claw, to pull himself out of wherever he was stuck in right now.
He was going to die if he did not move. He remained paralyzed in place.
There was something wrong, but all his instincts told him was he need to let...
Go.
Iruma's body relaxed as bubbles bubbled up from over his body, as his body began to flow in the sea. The water that filled is lungs had already weakened his tired state, as his body shutdown...
With a final exhale, he drifted into the so-far-away yet familiar land.
遠く (Far Away) City.