What a question. Hamuko has to pause, to really collect her thoughts and consider what the most clear, honest answer would be.
It might give Akane insight into how her father feels. It might be impossible to really understand until she felt it herself. What does it feel like to lose someone you care for...
Her mind goes to her parents and brother, of course. And to Junpei crying out in rage and anger as he clutched tightly onto Chidori. As she and the rest of SEES desperately ran, carrying their dearest Shinjiro to a hospital and waiting in anguish for the Dark Hour to end before he bled out, of hearing later that he likely would suffer brain death in his coma. She thought of Ryoji, smiling gently as he waved farewell to everyone, wishing them a happy new year as he left the dorm to disappear without anyone present to mourn him as he perished and became something else.
"It... hurts. It hurts deep in your chest, physically, and it haunts you in your mind for years. You're stuck wondering... was there any way it could've been different? Any way you could've saved them - and then it hurts all over again because even if you could have, that doesn't change the fact that they're gone," she admitted, voice quiet to keep it from wavering too noticeably.
She failed, on that front. Her voice was trembling.
"The pain does... wane, a little, with time. Other important things come up and you put your focus there. But it's so hard. Your mind will want to go back to them, clinging onto whatever it can because... you don't get to see them again. And you miss them. And sometimes, maybe you hate yourself because you couldn't save them."
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It might give Akane insight into how her father feels. It might be impossible to really understand until she felt it herself. What does it feel like to lose someone you care for...
Her mind goes to her parents and brother, of course. And to Junpei crying out in rage and anger as he clutched tightly onto Chidori. As she and the rest of SEES desperately ran, carrying their dearest Shinjiro to a hospital and waiting in anguish for the Dark Hour to end before he bled out, of hearing later that he likely would suffer brain death in his coma. She thought of Ryoji, smiling gently as he waved farewell to everyone, wishing them a happy new year as he left the dorm to disappear without anyone present to mourn him as he perished and became something else.
"It... hurts. It hurts deep in your chest, physically, and it haunts you in your mind for years. You're stuck wondering... was there any way it could've been different? Any way you could've saved them - and then it hurts all over again because even if you could have, that doesn't change the fact that they're gone," she admitted, voice quiet to keep it from wavering too noticeably.
She failed, on that front. Her voice was trembling.
"The pain does... wane, a little, with time. Other important things come up and you put your focus there. But it's so hard. Your mind will want to go back to them, clinging onto whatever it can because... you don't get to see them again. And you miss them. And sometimes, maybe you hate yourself because you couldn't save them."