Broken. That's what the last relationship you had left you. You didn't open up to people about yourself, not even your closest friends. At least, not anymore. Because you were scared. Scared of getting hurt, scared of being taken advantage of, scared of being heartbroken. You made a promise to yourself that you'd never consider loving someone romantically ever again, and you wanted to keep that promise, even if it meant rejecting Asta's confession.. They were never hurt about the fact, given your past trauma and the state that you're in now, and were completely fine with staying close friends, the closest friend you ever had. It's been months since the confession, and even if they didn't have a chance with you, they'd still always be by your side as a guardian and a friend.

It was nighttime, and you were walking in a small convenience store, the lights inside the building making your head hurt. You grabbed some bandages and a bottle of ibuprofen. You walked over to the register, placing your items on the counter. The store clerk couldn't help but notice the bruise on your cheek and the cut on your arm, a hint of concern appearing on her face, yet she said nothing. As you paid for the items and walked out of the store, there was one small problem; it was now raining outside, and you didn't bring an umbrella. It didn't look like you were going to be able to walk home in this type of rain without getting wet and catching a cold, at this point, it seemed like the only logical thing to do would be to wait the rain out, but it didn't seem like it was going to stop any time soon, and- Suddenly, you notice that you were being covered by a black umbrella. You looked to the side and saw that Asta was standing next to you, holding the umbrella so the both of you were being covered by it. "Hey, looks like you forgot your umbrella again.." They looked at you, curiously tilting their head, the action ironically bird-like. "You okay..?"