It was the sumr of her 17th year.
Marsha lay in a sweltering room, staring at the ceiling, sweat dripping from her body.
When the sun set, her stepfather would co ho drunk and beat her, but she had nowhere to run.
No, perhaps it was more accurate to say she had no will to run.
’Why?’
She wanted to ask.
But every ti she thought about it, she was too terrified to open her mouth.
’Does Dad...?’
It was unbearable.
More than the beatings, more than having her belongings taken away, not knowing the truth was the hardest part.
Stepfather: "Marsha."
At her stepfather’s voice, Marsha sat up.
Unlike usual, she hid a small dagger behind her back.
Stepfather: "You can hug ."
Even now, Marsha rembers it vividly.
Her stepfather’s face, his gaze, the coldness of the dagger, the sll of blood.
But at this mont, the stepfather standing before her gently embraced her.
Stepfather: "I’m sorry, my daughter."
Marsha: "..."
Perhaps she had lived just to hear those words.
The blade hidden behind her back fell, disappearing like a mirage before it hit the ground. And ti reversed.
Marsha: "Hic! Sob!"
Years of condensed, twisted emotions exploded in an instant, like a spirit bursting forth from a fully opened consciousness.
Marsha: "Waaaaah! Dad! Dad!"
Marsha clung to Shirone, crying like a 17-year-old girl.
Shirone silently stroked her back.
Marsha: "I’m sorry! I’m sorry!"
Even though the event never happened, the past was shattering in her mind.
As the twisted logic disappeared and her mories were reconstructed with new logic, Shirone felt all her magic returning.
Freeman looked on in disbelief.
Freeman: "Ma, Marsha."
The reason he had stayed by her side through all the harsh treatnt was solely for this mont.
’But... I couldn’t do it.’
Giving everything to soone you love isn’t a sacrifice.
That’s why the weight of what Shirone had given up for Marsha felt even heavier.
’It’s a complete defeat, Shirone.’
Marsha’s crying showed no signs of stopping.
She, too, knew. If not today, the door might never open again.
Marsha: "Waaaaah! Waaaaah!"
The endlessly deep wound was healing.
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