❇ ⁞  classroom

@ᴅ ⁞ ryujin s 。 the tone of her voice was so unfamiliar, something never genuinely directed at him. it terrified him. the mere thought of losing his best friend has always been a haunting thought but to hear his own name laced with such underlying anger was too much to bear.

he didn't know what to say. rather, there was too much to say but he felt as if there was no time. life seemed to be rushing by as he stood, frozen, in front of ryujin, the tremors in his hands failing to cease. swallowing hard, he wills himself to calm down as best as he can, there being hardly a difference.

'my father,' he paused. or rather, his hands wouldn't move. it was as if his whole body was fighting against him, keeping him from revealing the truth just like he had trained himself to do for all these years.

'my father ,, he killed your mom.'

@○ ⁞ hyunjin h 。 she's watching him with such an enraged gaze, his hands flying hurriedly with the intentions to elucidate whatever plausible reasons there were for him.. to have the ring of her late mother. but the more she's granting time to deliberate it over, none of it makes sense. he knew something she didn't and it's what she's been missing for the entirety of her last six years.

though her mother was taken from her at such an early age, she was ryujin's best friend, prior to hyunjin. just as all mothers should be—she was sweet, protective, and genuine. always having guided her only daughter to a path that would continuously motivate her, with the absence of her quirk, for she didn't want her to rely on it. all this time, ryujin believed that it was pure evil that took her, the face of an unforgiving monster that held absolutely no remorse for what family meant—and , she doesn't want to believe it, but could it to be the face of her best friend?

"hyunjin," she calls out, anger evidently at the tip of her tongue. it isn't him, she tells herself. it can't be. so, she allows him to offer a brief explanation, but with a bitter taste of impatience and anxiety brewing within her mind. "what happened to my mom? you know it, i know you do."

"..was it you? did something—go wrong? was it an accident?"

@ᴅ ⁞ ryujin s 。 it was as if all time had stopped. the moment he glanced down, it was too late. it was time for him to finally pay for his sins and all the years of forced silence hadn't prepared him for this very moment. no matter how many times he had imagined this very scene, none of them were as painful as this very instance as he met eyes with ryujin. his full of fear and hers, full of anger.

he suddenly couldn't breathe, heart racing as the beats seemed to thunder in his ears. there was too many things he wanted to say, his entire being overloaded with unbearable emotions as he seemed to malfunction in front of her. his lips opened and closed, wanting to stammer out an apology, his hands were frozen, trying to piece together his explanation.

in the back of his mind, he could hear the threats of his father come back to life. the haunting voice that tortured and terrorized him for all these years, eating away at him from the inside. 'you'll keep your mouth shut,' his father had said, his blood stained hands gripping a young hyunjin's throat. 'you'll stay quiet. and she'll be able to avoid the same fate as her mother.' the words that had chained him down and suffocated were now being swept away by the need to explain to his best friend, to get rid of the rage that was filling her up and making tear in their relationship that could never be mended.

he reached out, hands trembling as both fear and remorse were painted on his expression. 'i'm sorry,' was all he seemed to be able to sign, rapidly repeating the motions as he hesitantly took a step forward. 'ryujin, please. let me explain. i can explain it all. please.' he was begging now, panic overtaking him as he reached for her, his best friend, his everything, his life line.

'please.'

@○ ⁞ hyunjin h 。 it isn't like her to necessarily 'ruin' the mood, and as she's repeatedly mentioning her late mother without an answer from her best friend, she figures that maybe she should change the subject. so, with parted lips, she nearly fulfills the silence between the two until an echoing clatter to the tile flooring captures her attention. "oh." she mumbles, immediately crouching down to retrieve whatever it'd been, and for too long a moment, she's left confused, just staring at the object laid beside her shoe.

it was her father's.. ring?

she reaches for the chain around her neck for her thumb to feel her father's ring still dangling from it, only further baffling her. this one looked just like it though? the only other person to have a ring similar to her father was—her mother, and she was confidently sure she's never seen it in six years, ever since her mother's passing.

"what?" she whispers underneath her breath, almost forgetting about hyunjin's presence with the surge of bewilderment scouring through her veins, evidently shown through her visage. just as she lifts her chin to meet gazes with him, the brief rip of his backpack catches her eye and it's as if something.. she'd never imagine clicked; hyunjin—her best friend—had this.

her earlier vulnerability is well replaced with a driven, desperate need for answers, and the mix of confusion and profound rage laced with it, is what prompts her next words. "what the is this?" she stands, clearly holding the dainty piece of jewelry within her palm for him to see as her face flushes in flashes of anger. and yet as she confronts him, she was also fearful of the truth that were to come.

"do you even know whose this is, hyunjin? why the hell do you have it?"

@ᴅ ⁞ ryujin s 。 he froze in his steps, faltering for a moment before continuing to walk beside her, his own heart just as heavy, if not more. the burden he had bore for all these years was growing with every passing day, a suffocating weight on his shoulders as he refused to allow himself to look at his best friend, worried that he'd break right then and there. he didn't know what to say, his hands gripping onto the straps of his backpack, giving it a little tug to keep it from falling off his shoulder. a hole at the bottom of the bag ripped further, something falling through and clattering to the floor as he wondered if he'd carry the weight of his father's sins for the rest of his life.

@○ ⁞ hyunjin h 。 truth to be told, there was a reason behind her abrupt trip down memory lane, and although it's a touchy subject for her, she encourages herself to express barrage of thoughts for hyunjin, for he was her best friend. so, as they saunter down the hallway, on the way to their respective classrooms, her lips part with an initial lighthearted tone. "hyun, i actually lied. or well, bluffed, earlier. i was rewatching that video because it's one of the clips i have of my mom," this next statement comes with a deep inhale, eyes trained onto the tiled flooring. "today's her death anniversary. six years today. and.. i don't know, i'm just missing her a lot nowadays."

[ incoming call from the devil ]

that's what he was and almost every day, there his contact was to remind her. her phone buzzes and naturally, she lets it with no movement—merely just watching as it vibrates in brief increments. she had no intention of answering the call, never did. and she harbored an inkling that the other line expected it. the same way she'd gotten her tresses colored, helix pierced, and skateboard scars—he predicted it because it wasn't perfect. to him, everything she did was imperfect. one could say it's why she commits to it in the first place, out of pure spite. and so, if a perfect daughter answered her father when he called, then that's exactly what she wasn't going to do.

[ call declined ]