#junkan

Excerpt from Shipping of Epicurus chapter 4

“Tsumiki… why the bandages?”

“You know… I've been practicing drawing blood. M-maybe a little too much… But don't worry. I don't feel anything anymore.”

“On yourself?

Let me see.”

“Ahhh?! W-why do you want to see that?”

“Curiosity. What else?”

The girl slowly unwound the bandage.

Her arm...

The skin looked pale, almost drained of color.

Small purple dots surrounded some of the needle marks, and faint veins barely showed beneath the surface.

Some patches had taken on a sickly yellow tint, while older bruises lingered in muted shades of violet.

Junko took her arm gently.

It felt cold, and the skin no longer seemed to have its natural elasticity...

She pressed it lightly with a fingertip.

The indentation lingered before slowly fading away.

“...Wonderful,” she murmured.

"That want to be held by her. To feel her warmth, even when she's like this..."

"...I should get myself some water, looking over Junko like this always gets me so worked up and parched."

Mikan slowly walks out of the bedroom and goes to the kitchen, getting herself a glass of water. She watches as it slowly fills up to the top, a small stream of bubbles with it.

"...If I can speak freely, since one of you asked me about my dreams... I'd like to share a nightmare I've had as well."

"I-I don't actually have nightmares t-that often, surprisingly... I think I was so work focused as a nurse that those kinds of things, j-just didn't enter into my mind as much."

"B-but since Junko's woken up... they've started becoming reoccurring."

"It's nothing too graphic, at the least. I usually find myself waking up in my old classrooms, the only one still there. Sometimes it's Hope's Peak, sometimes it's Lapis Lazuli. When I exit out into the hallway, everything's empty too. No signs of life being there at all. S-So I just walk out of it, I-I try to find any person or people to talk to..."

"It's so quiet. My footsteps echoing. I-I want to call out and see if anyone calls b-back... but my mouth feels locked shut. I can't get a word out. Maybe it's for the best."

"I walk and walk, and soon enough I leave the building. There's nothing for me there. So I head home. I walk and I walk. And no one else is there. It's just me."

"W-when I get home, my mother is there. S-so is Junko. They're both looking at me as I walk in, approaching. My mother, s-she hugs me and pats me on the back."

"She tells me 'it's over now, Mikan. You don't have to worry anymore. I love you.' before she backs away. Junko steps up and holds me next. She just holds me and we breathe together. She leans into me. She says 'It's alright. It's over. Don't worry about hope or despair anymore, Mikan.'. She sounds... sad. They both do."

"And then, they walk past me and right out the door. It closes behind them, a-and that's it... I have no way out. I am trapped in my home. My room. My tomb. It is dark, and no one else is there. I am alone. I am always alone."

"Oh, no no no, this was very important! J-Junko clearly was in need of aid, and I'd never forgive myself if I hadn't known!"

"I hate seeing her like this, all sick and pathetic... she looks just like me..."

"...So weak and p-pathetic, the Ultimate Despair herself... clinging to me for life, n-needing my aid, my care, my attention... she needs me..."