Misaki tugged on her own bandages, the one that had become stained with the remains of her blood.
Even with the right amount of treatment, she still needed to replace the bandage every three days, at the very least. It was fine to leave it out after a while, but if it's not replaced, the wounds under it might catch an infection.
...She already injured herself too much, perhaps the others might've noticed.
'No, they didn't.' Misaki thought to herself as she shook her head.
If the others truly did notice, they would've nagged her already.
Although she would've found such things annoying, them doing so meant that they at least treasured her enough to care.
...The same way she treasured them.
Step Step
Light steps echoed as Misaki looked through the window, noticing the very bouncy Kasuka returning back from a walk.
Although, she seemed to be alone. Didn't she bring Hiyori with her?
The only people home right now are Misaki and Atsuko. Since Atsuko seemed to be sleeping right now, only Misaki was around to greet Kasuka back home.
And so she stood up, not before adjusting the bandages around her arms and thighs.
Even if they look dreadful, at the very least she wanted them to be presentable.
"Welcome back, where's Hiyori?" With that said and done, she greeted Kasuka through the window. "You said you were bringing her along?"
"Ah? She's not back yet? I thought I told her to return back before me... Should I go search for her?" Kasuka turned around as she heard a sigh.
"No need. Hiyori can be independent too, most of the time. I know you haven't known her for long, but it's ok to trust her too." Misaki said in melancholy. "After all, we're all family here..." She said the last part quietly, as if she didn't want others to hear.
...If she doesn't want her to hear, then she'll pretend she didn't hear!
"What was that?"
"Nothing. I'm just telling you to not worry about her too much. She's as competent as us, even if that was barely reaching the level of our bottom line." Misaki shook her head.
"Is that so? I'll trust her then." Kasuka smiled before entering the house through the front door. Then, she appeared inside the room Misaki was in, where the only thing separating the outside and the inside was a mere window.
"...What are you doing here?" Misaki asked the smaller brown haired girl.
"Am I not invited in? If that's the case, I'll go out right away."
"Who said that? This is our house. Nothing is not yours. Everything in this house we share together." Misaki sighed at the bubblehead's question.
"I'm just wondering why you choose this room of all places to enter. The kitchen is pretty empty too."
"Exactly because it is empty that I didn't pick it. Plus, the other room is too close to the place Atsuko-hime is resting, any sudden noise would just wake her up." Kasuka said. "Isn't that also the reason you're here?"
Misaki stayed silent for a while before shaking her head in acceptance.
This girl... she learns too fast.
Not that it's a bad thing.
"You're right. I also forgot just how much you love others' personal space." Misaki adjusted the bandage on her arm, feeling that it might've been too tight since she didn't have time to fix it earlier.
"Is it too tight? I can help. I'm experienced with replacing bandages." Kasuka suddenly let out.
"..." Hearing this, Misaki was reminded of the incident just a week ago. They trusted that Kasuka could replace her own bandage, and how did that turn out?
"...I'm not going to lie, your bandaging skills are top-notch. But if you did what you did last week again, I'm not sure the others would take it as calmly as they did last time."
Without saying anything more, Misaki lent her hand out. Seeing this, Kasuka tilted her head.
Misaki sighed. "You said you'll help me. Was that all merely a talk?"
Kasuka's eyes lit up as she began to brightly replace the bandages on Misaki's arms.
Misaki scrutinized Kasuka's face with great attention.
And... She doesn't see anything out of place.
There's merely joy and gratitude at being trusted.
If that's the case... How would she react to this?
It was finally time, Kasuka was about to take off Misaki's bandages on her arms, the wounds she had hidden this whole time was about to be revealed to their youngest member.
Though Misaki felt a bit weird, seeing that the one she's showing her wounds to are the one she had built the least amount of connection to.
Swoosh Swoosh
And the bandages fell, revealing to the world some unnatural red lines, seemingly made using sharp objects intentionally.
The moment the bandage fell, the wound began to bleed again.
Misaki turned her gaze down slightly in hesitation before finally building up the courage to look at Kasuka's face.
After all, no matter how clueless someone could be, there's no way they would mistake this wound as something natural.
It was obviously self-inflicted.
Yes, she had cut her own wrist.
And she's hidden such a secret from her original friends.
The only one who knew of this was her... and Kasuka.
But as her gaze swiped Kasuka's expression... Nothing... changed...?
"...Ah."
"Did I hurt you? Sorry, I'll be gentler!" Kasuka said as she prepared to disinfect the wound. "Don't worry, I'm a professional! You won't even notice the bandage has changed!"
"...I could clearly see the bandages are off." Misaki pointed out the obvious. "Not noticing the bandage changing is impossible, no matter how you think about it."
"You're right!" Kasuka exclaimed, her hands moving swiftly. "Ah... Maybe I'm not a professional?"
"..." Misaki didn't say anything to that.
A few minutes passed before Kasuka finally finished changing Misaki's bandage.
At this time, none of them said a word.
Misaki's mouth slightly opened, nothing escaping for a while before she finally built up the courage to speak, "You're... not going to ask?" She rubbed her own bandaged arm, the one she had just watched Kasuka replace.
'It's very clean.' As it turns out, Kasuka was indeed skilled in bandaging people.
"What kind of question would you like me to ask?" Kasuka stored the kit back inside the bag before tilting her head.
"You... You know..."
"Hm?"
"...Nevermind." Looking at those pure eyes, it sounded like she was just about to taint the pure soul. Perhaps if she did say what she wanted to say, those eyes would become downturned.
'Does she... not know what self-harm is?'
That could be the only explanation here. Otherwise, she would've definitely questioned Misaki's wounds.
Step Step
Then, the sound of footsteps echoed. Misaki and Kasuka peeked out the window and noticed the color of teal walking closer and closer.
"Welcome back~" Kasuka greeted her through the window, almost bending over the frame. Had Misaki not held onto her waist, she would've most probably fallen over.
"A-Ah... hello... I'm back..." Hiyori responded before immediately running through the front door.
Though, right before she entered, her gaze met Misaki's, the words being conveyed through her eyes were clear.
'We need to talk.'