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Sunset updates tag list.

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The younger girls that you met with before had initially attempted to mimic the behaviour of such people. You supposed that these people were their role models, dispelling their fabricated hatred over to you and expecting the still impressionable minds to follow suit.

Personally, you found that sort of thing to be strange in humanity, quite ugly, actually.

How odd was it that time and time again, that humans were often the cause of their own assigned hatred.

No wonder you existed.

The younger girl who carried a plushie in her hands tried to offer you kindness instead, just a simple smile that was soon squashed under the gaze of a bystander.

“Don’t pay any attention to something so filthy,” an older woman hissed, although she couldn’t have been that much younger or older than Geto. You watched as she ushered the girls away from your sight, muttering something hateful under her breath. “This thing is worse than a monkey and it doesn’t belong here.”

Suguru however passed by, curious as to what the commotion seemed to be just outside. He found it odd that Manami was scolding the girls and dismissively interacting with you, finding that he didn’t quite like when others tried to discipline his daughters. They were both well mannered enough, so what could possibly be the reason?

With a deep sigh, he stepped in to intervene at the scene. “Honestly, enough with the theatrics,” he said to the woman, gesturing his hands to have the girls return to his side, “you’re acting like I don’t bring things in here without a purpose.”

You watched him in the background as this whole scene unfolded, almost curious about how he treated others and especially to someone he claimed earlier to you was essentially like family.

Suguru wearily tried to read more into the situation. In truth however, a part of him did acknowledge that this sort of environment went going to be right for you because of your nature, but also, because not everyone had the capacity to understand. It wasn’t Manami’s fault for being uncomfortable around you, she was already on the fence about his own stored spirits. Maybe after witnessing what you were capable of succumbing to after the incident on the stage, he shouldn’t be allowing you to freely roam to begin with.

This caused him to conclude something in his mind, deciding to speak a notch louder as though to reel in the attention of the other bystanders as well, “Remember, any interference with my own plans means that you’re committing treason against the cause, which will be dealt with accordingly, regardless of your loyalty.”

Despite the threats and warnings he dispensed, you couldn’t help but feel as though there was a hint of possession in his tone. While it didn’t feel as though he was actually defending you, there seemed to be something ever so slightly more behind his words that carried a different sort of weight.

You could feel it, even.

Some sort of tension that hung in the air as he spoke.

All of this revelation and yet you still didn’t understand your place here, though. The way he addressed you, the way he spoke to them—it felt more as though as you were a pest—rather than the promised salvation he kept labelling you as.

Instead, you found yourself believing the words people claimed you to be.

Filthy.

Disgusting.

Maybe even a monster.

~~~

It didn’t take too long for Suguru to lead you away from the prying eyes of his own community however, leading you off into what he dubbed to be a supposed safe sanctuary within his own personal quarters. The girls were conveniently displaced for now, sleeping elsewhere on the grounds.

You couldn’t help but feel worried about his intentions as he led you into his bedroom, feeding you ill-intended promises that nobody else can get into the room.

You simply just didn’t understand the sentiment, you supposed.

Some lingering tension continued to brew in the air the longer that he kept quiet, but then he broke the stagnant atmosphere by pushing you gently towards the corner of the room, forcing you to take several steps back.

His eyes darted around the twisted corners of the bedroom, his voice adopting an amused tone as he began to explain your circumstances to you, “This part of the room is quite interesting, actually. I had someone manipulate it for a… special reason.”

“A barrier…?” you cautiously asked, unable to see the cursed energy that was otherwise presently keeping you contained.

Suguru laughed softly as he shook his head, “Close, but not quite. You see, it allows humans to pass by freely, however, as for you…”

You narrowed your eyes as he trailed off, immediately getting an uneasy feeling as he let the implication fester. You took a few experimental steps forward, finding that an invisible wall blocked your path, no matter how much you tried to force your way past it.

“It’s for your own good,” Suguru spoke in an attempt to assure you, his voice however once again taking on a possessive edge. “This way you’ll keep safe, unable to stray away where you don’t belong again.”

Your reaction this time was visceral as both his words and the invisible wall quite literally held you captive. “I-I don’t like this.”

“Stop resisting,” he replied, his voice carrying a flicker of warning, something in his tone that hinted at something darker, “or would you like me to remind you what I’m capable of should you try to disobey?”

Wanting to hold onto your life, you resigned to a weary sigh. You accepted your fate for now, supposing that as long as you remained alive, then that’s all that mattered for your survival instincts.

You wanted to live.

You wanted to return back home to your unrestricted forest, but you couldn’t. Instead you were forced to remain confined within the shadow of a man crazed, without a single clue of what his intentions truly were.

Just before leaving completely, Sugutu stopped to tell you something else, “I’ll come for you when I need you.”

With that, he left you all alone in the manipulated pocket in his bedroom as a reluctant guest, where you hoped for nothing more than to leave, already certain that you were long overstaying your welcome.

~~~

It was night when he returned to you, finding you in an almost dormant and eerily still state right where he left you. He thought that you looked almost similar to a statue rather than as living, breathing being. Such a feeling was only confirmed further as he reached to touch you, finding that your skin felt firm beneath his touch, although not quite like stone, perhaps closer to hardened clay.

Noticing you opene up your eyes, he took a step back, feeling slightly startled. “It’s almost creepy with how still you can get.”

“I’m not like you, that’s why,” you replied coldly. “I can pass through time like this, sometimes even years.”

He snorted in response, feeling a little fascinated. “So… what? You can hibernate?”

You nodded albeit warily, noticing how his eyes settled on you once again. Much to your continued dismay, you watched as he took a step forward again, pushing his palm flat against your chest, as though searching for a heartbeat to remind himself that you weren’t a human.

Feeling uncomfortable, you tried to step back, finding that you had nowhere to go as he kept you locked in place against the wall. Suguru studied your features closer, feeling both fascinated and uneasy the longer he stared.

“You’re pretty, I’ll admit that much,” he softly told you, “but uncanny.”

His feelings of almost conflicted desire continued to both manifest and stir the longer he looked into your eyes, finding your appearance just as alluring as unsettling at the same time. Perfect, yet frightening.

His fingertips lightly dabbed over your face, carefully tracing over your skin. He took note of how unblemished your flesh seemed to be, so soft, so smooth—nothing like touching a person at all.

“Do you feel emotions?” he asked flatly.

“I do,” you replied calmly, “just not in the same way that you do.”

Suguru could only furrow his brows in deep thought, an unreadable expression forming on his face. For someone who saw you to be so lowly in his company, his touch was so gentle and almost even kind. He couldn’t help but feel mesmerised by your cursed marks, following the bleeding lines down the clothes you wore.

He had seen it before, when he watched you bathe; washed marks sitting over your skin like spilled ink, swimming down the contours of your flesh like cursed watercolour.

He couldn’t help but stare at you in awe; his eyes lingering—settling—on you, his gaze haunting and almost starved.

Finally however, he pulled himself away again as soon as the conflict returned. His voice quickly abandoned the softness from before, adopting a colder, rigid edge, “You’re just a cursed spirit though, aren’t you? You were born through human negativity, so while you think you can mirror what it’s like to be a person, you’re nothing actually close to a real person… are you?”

You didn’t reply, watching him stir away within the confines of his own hateful rhetoric.

“You’re less than…” he trailed off for a moment, surrendering to the hate he broke up earlier. What a hypocrite. “Less a monkey. Simply filth. You’re nothing more than dirt beneath my shoe.”

And despite dishing out those choice words to you, there was something that warred within his mind as he stared at you, as if to imply that he didn’t actually mean what he said. It was as though he told you these things as a way to convince himself not to get any closer to you.

Suguru simply didn’t know how to deal with all of this though, especially as his fascination with you slowly crept into something that closer resembled obsession instead.

It was driving him crazy.

It was as though he wanted to both control and consume you at the same time.

Was it because of what you were?

Because of what he could do…?

He turned away from you momentarily as those sorts of thoughts continued to invade his headspace. While the manipulated space meant that you couldn’t harm him in his sleep should he lay to rest, he found that’s not what actually bothered him.

No. Instead it was the realisation that he didn’t actually mind having you in the same room, being the problem instead. In fact, the idea of you being somewhere else, such as freely roaming the temple, was a prospect that bothered him much, much more.

Steeping away and climbing into bed, he shook off those thoughts before taking one last look at you.

Despite his inner conflict, you remained as till and passive as ever. Completely indifferent and more importantly, unaffected by his tormented desire.

If only you knew just how much he wanted to take you right then and there though, even despite his unease and what he would claim otherwise.

Oh, how Suguru longed to do so right now actually, but stopped himself because of one little thing that bothered him.

When he asked you if you could feel emotions, you told him that yes, you do.

So does that mean you would feel sadness if he forced you?

Hurt?

Anger?

Or being what you are, would you feel anything at all?

~~~