He was not a hero anymore.

Kunigami's hands clenched into tight fists, his nails leaving small crescent moon shapes in his palms. You and your unshakable resolve stood like a pillar before him, eyes trained on him with the same questioning gaze that drove him up the walls.

"You can't keep going like this," you'd say and he would only shut you out more. Because he couldn't trust you. Not you, not anyone.

"I can and I will," he'd retort. This is how it went every. Single. Time. With you watching him turn his back on you, burying the last somewhere far, far away. And you? You'd always wonder why. Why someone so sweet, so kind, so gentle and caring would suddenly turn into this? This cold, untrusting, emotionless person.

The ginger continued to pace around the room, the carpet muffling the sound of his steps. A thousand different thoughts went through his mind, some darker than the rest, as if his mind itself was still struggling to come to terms with this new, modified version of himself.

He was stronger now. Better. But at what cost? Was passing through those doors worth it? Was Wildcard worth it? "I'm just trying to—"

"Well, then stop trying!" His head whipped around, voice raised as his eyes, blazing with a mixture of fury and something... something akin to vulnerability locked on you. But then he froze.

His sisters were asleep in the bedroom next door. Kunigami listened intently for any sound that could indicate he had woken them up, but thankfully, nothing happened. He swallowed, then forced himself to meet your piercing gaze once more. You were still waiting for someone would never come back.