2. Leftovers (2/2)

ushed his hair back from his eyes. moving as soundlessly and efficiently as possible, i held a hand towel under a cold stream of water from the faucet momentarily before wringing it out and offering it to him.

"it'll help reduce the swelling and redness of your face." i answered his unspoken question all knowingly, because i've done this a million times before despite the fact that the majority of those occurrences had been in a different body.

not acknowledging how his shadow slumped over when i turned around as to not wound his delicate sense of pride, i mixed up leftover salad and chicken in a bowl. after shoving a fork in it, and pouring a glass dangerously full with orange juice, i sat down across from him at the table and slid the meal over to him.

"i'm not hungry." he murmured decisively, blankly staring down at the contents of the bowl.

"i know you aren't," i replied, "but i'm not going to watch you waste away. you're skin and bones, raito. you have to eat even if you feel like you're chewing rubber. i know how you feel, and i know that you won't get any better unless you allow yourself to be."

he raised his gaze from the salad to meet mine, and simply stared at me for a moment. he felt terribly far away from me in that moment, even after i reached out to rest my right hand on his left forearm in an attempt at offering solace. his gaze flickered between my eyes and the food

iefly before deciding to rest upon the bowl. he then proceeded to stab through the meat and lettuce with the fork before slowly raising it to his mouth to take a bite. he chewed at a painstakingly slow pace, and when he finally swallowed he had the expression of someone forced to swallow shards of glass. he began to repeat the process again, and my hand felt like lead weighing down on his arm.

"thank you." he muttered quietly, going on to raise the fork to his chapped lips.

he suddenly didn't seem as far away.

a/n: hello, everybody. thank you all for taking the time to read my story, it really means a lot to me. if you could take the time to leave feedback or such, that'd be great, but i understand that many of you won't, so it's alright either way. i hope all of you are enjoying my work so far.

also, i'd like to clarify that sayu's beliefs are not based upon my own, but more based on how i think her experiences and personality would dictate. please keep an open mind when reading my work, as there will most likely be some opinions she has that you might not agree with.

if you're interested in listening to songs that go with the story, i have a link to a playlist on my profile.