Chapter 12 - Blinded

Blinded (Misaki's P.O.V)
Nighttime. The peaceful sound of the crickets outside, is all I can hear, along with the rustling of the wind. That's what I would've said, if only my friends would try to keep it down. "Everybody Shut Up!! It's already evening and you guys are making a ruckus! Most people in this city are already asleep, try to keep it down!!" I snapped. As soon as I calmed down, I can see the horrifying faces my friends have, I guess I overdid it. "Sorry, I suddenly got mad. I'm gonna go outside to get some air." Even as I said that, the silence in the room was awkward, it felt like I was suffocating, so I needed to get out for a bit. Getting out of the elevator, I slowly moved to the exit, when I got out, I saw Gray. "Oh, Misaki, glad I saw you. W-Would you like to take a walk with me." I felt uneasy, it was Gray who was talking to me after all, I hasitated, but in the end I accepted his offer. While we we're walking I told him about my problems. "I mean, I know we should celebrate, since we've been getting a lot of good points in the competition, we're even in first place now. But I don't think we should always celebrate, we can't let our guard down. There are still a lot of strong people in the games, they're caliber is way above ours. And we've just trained not too long ago, so we should still be wary." I'm not against fun or anything, but we've been celebrating and partying too much, it'snot good anymore. "I get what you're saying, but remember that you're friends are not stupid, they know their limits. It's not like they're not training or anything, celebrating is just a way for them to be able to releive themselves from stress." I'm not one to go against Gray when it comes to topics like partying and celebrating. After all, their team are the experts. I nodded in response to him, i felt so stupid as to not see that they were just trying to have fun, despite the fact that they have a lot of problems. I couldn't help but cry after that. It was the first time I cried after this whole mess started, I was blinded by a lot of things, and I wasn't able to take into account the feelings of my friends. Right then and there, I felt a hand rest on my head. It was cold but at the same time warm.

I was so embarrased, I was with Gray and I cried right in front of him. "It's alright to cry, it's bad if you hold it in. Two days have passed from the competition, just five more days and the games will be over. So when we go our separate ways, if you feel like you're uneasy, when you wanna cry, or when you want to talk to someone, just hold tightly to this." As he said that he put a neclace around my neck, I couldn't help but blush. Gray just put a necklace around me, we--we're like a couple.. teeheehee!!! "I have to go now Misaki, see you later." I waved at him as I said goodbye. "I was mad just a moment ago, but now I'm so happy!!" As I looked at the necklace, I couldn't help but smile. Just as I was walking back to Crocus Garden, I was stopped by a woman wearing a cloak. "Can I help you, are you lost?" Even though I just asked her a question, she just chuckled. I couldn't make sense of what was going on, until the woman raised her hand to point towards me. "Shitsumei." As soon as the word was uttered I fell to the ground and was unconscious, when I woke up I heard Kazuki and the others, they were apologizing to me, but there was a problem.... "Kazuki, Sakaki, Everyone... I can't see you... I... can't see..."

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