YOU'VE LOST YOUR WAY IN THIS WORLD.

Biting into a persimmon, chewing noisily.

Upon hearing those words repeated to him, Yasu stilled, uncharacteristically quiet.

He remembered those afternoons spent with his mother well, when the sun bid farewell and day gave way to night. He remembered fireflies, and beautiful flowers, a warm voice and warm hands. If there was a paradise in this world, Yasu was certain that was it.

But the sun had set long ago, and the night was cold.

He continued his task in a pensive silence, his grip tightened around the plant— some herb he'd been running low on, he didn't even notice the thorns until he felt a small prick of pain around his finger, and a drop of tainted blood.

"... What if you're just not a good person? What if you feel nothing for this world? Wouldn't it be fake?"

Be it cruelty or kindness both, Yasu was an impostor no matter what he tried.

Picking his ear, nice.

What is better? To be born good, or to overcome your evil nature?

That is the main question that has haunted Yasu's existence since birth. Things like kindness and empathy do not come natural to him, as his existence is akin to a spider in a garden of butterflies. He is prone to insensitivity, to callousness. Humans are easy to hate, especially when he has always been met with distrust and fear. Like he is a calamity waiting to occur, a tragedy in the happening.

It is all too easy to give into that hate.

And that is precisely why Yasu chooses kindness over hate, he chooses patience and understanding over fear and prejudice. That is why he refuses to take a life.