Kairos continued to watch the memory.
After the girl had that conversation with his younger self, she ran back to her own place. Her expression showed that there was quite a lot on her mind that she was trying to sort out. Upon getting back to her bed, she once more collapsed onto the futon, as tired as could be.
Yet, she still couldn’t fall asleep. Instead, she simply remained still with her eyes wide open, staring aimlessly at the ceiling. If it wasn’t for the fact she occasionally blinked, Kairos would’ve thought she fell asleep with her eyes open.
ƥαṇdα-ηθνε|·ƈθm
Once more, the girl picked up her wooden sword and began swinging it. Yet, for some reason it felt different. It was a little strange to say that something changed when realistically she was doing the same thing she was earlier.
But still, it felt less robotic.
Her arms seemed a little less tense than before. Like swinging the sword was once a requirement in her life, but now it wasn’t like that.
Very quickly, her breathing got far worse. Her aching muscles had not yet calmed down, mostly because of her lack of sleep. Gradually, she began to slow down her pace, though as she was about to stop, her legs felt a strange sense of weakness.
They gave out from under her, causing her to collapse with twitching legs.
It was probably because she had forced herself to run at night despite the fact she had abused them during the day. Shortly after, the door to her room slammed open. Her father looked at her with great concern.
“What happened?”
The girl’s expression twitched in pain, but other than that her reaction was completely suppressed.
“I’m… fine.”
The dad crossed his arms with a stern expression.
“Then why did you suddenly collapse during your morning training?”
The girl blinked a few times, answering after a brief pause.
“…I couldn’t fall asleep, so I tried running to get tired. But it didn’t work and I wasn’t able to sleep.”
Her father pinched the bridge of his nose and squinted hard as though he was in pain.
“What are you doing? Is there something wrong with you? Just go to sleep during the night! Don’t exercise!”
With an exasperated sigh, he shook his head and left.
“Hold off on training for now. But if you do this again, you’re not allowed to leave your room.”
The girl simply stared back at her father while still a crumpled mess on the floor. Normally, she would’ve just followed along with it without complaining, but she couldn’t help but think back to what Kairos’ younger self said to her.
That maybe her father wasn’t always right.
And when she thought about it, that seemed to be the case. She was trying to fall asleep. It’s not like she wanted to stay awake like that. If he was so judgmental about it, then why didn’t he suggest a solution instead of just pointing out the problem that she already knew?
Though right as those thoughts boiled to the surface, filling her with hot air, they suddenly dissipated.
She felt strange, like two different thoughts were each pulling at a separate arm, threatening to tear her apart.
Kairos wasn’t sure how he could understand those thoughts she had when she was just laying there in a painful position, but it seemed that the vision just had ways of making that work.
In the end, after a small break, she took her wooden sword, pushed the tip against the ground and hoisted herself up. From there, she limped out of the house, using it as a walking cane.
She wanted to talk to Kairos once more.
The girl walked down the same street she ran. It was nothing like how it was before, the once empty streets now bustling with people. She began to regret this decision. As she was limping on ahead, someone accidentally bumped into her, making her stumble dangerously towards the streets.
She was able to catch herself by slamming the wooden sword against the sidewalk, but it was still a close call. Her brows furrowed, realizing that this would be far harder. Regardless, she resolved herself to continue.
Though it wasn’t a surprise, it took far longer for her to make it down the street compared to last time. Not only was she now limping instead of running, she had to make her way through the bustle of people.
After what was maybe an hour, she had finally made it to the end of the street. There was a sense of relief that made her legs wobble. But then, she realized that Kairos wasn’t there.
Though, that should’ve been something she expected. After all, they never agreed on a time to meet nor a place, which was probably a little negligent on both parties. A strange feeling of despair began to settle onto her, though that was probably a grandiose overreaction.
Yet, before that despair consumed her, she grit her teeth and raised the wooden sword in her hand. She then continued to limp about on the streets, searching for him. This was rather stupid, there were better chances of finding him if she had just remained at the spot where they last met. Though, it didn’t seem like the girl realized.
She slowly continued down the streets, but did so with determination. The girl herself didn’t seem to truly understand what was pushing her to go forward, but it felt true to her core, like it couldn’t be shaken.
And so she went, just moving forward. The girl didn’t even take care to remember where she was going so that she could get back home. All that was in her mind was to continue, and continue.
After walking for an unnaturally long time, now a sweating mess, she came across a park. It was a rather old and run down park, but was still relatively clean all things considered. And at that park, was a single kid playing in it.
Kairos.
He was on the swing set, going back and forth without a care in the world. Unknowingly, a smile blossomed on the girl’s face as she slowly, but excitedly made her way over. Naturally, Kairos took notice of her fairly early. There was a shocked expression on his face. He got off the swing set and rushed over.
“Are you ok?”
The girl seemed a little bit confused, looking back at him almost like she had seen the boogeyman.
“What do you mean?”
Kairos was rather stunned by that response.
“What do you mean, what do I mean? Look at yourself! Did something happen to your legs?”
The girl blinked a few times.
“Ah, you’re… you’re… scared for me?”
Kairos furrowed his brows for a moment.
“Er… I guess that’s one way to put it. I’m just worried about you.”
The girl wore a dumbfounded expression, like she was having trouble processing those words.
“…That’s the first time somebody ever said that to me.”
Kairos blinked a few times. After a few moments he casually nodded.
“Ah, ok. But more importantly, you should sit down!”
He clumsily tried to support her, awkwardly placing his hands on her arms. Realistically, it didn’t help that much but the girl still felt touched by his efforts. The Kairos that was watching all of this felt his face twitch.
Internally, he chastised his younger self.
‘What are you even doing?’
After getting the girl on the swings, his younger self got on the other one and looked over curiously.
“Why did you come all the way out here?”
With a bitter smile, the girl answered.
“I just… wanted to hear what you had to say.”
Kairos looked back strangely.
“Eh? But I didn’t have to say anything.”
The girl pouted. One of her hands awkwardly grasped at the chain of the swing while the other let the sword droop down to the ground.
“…Then tell me how these things work.”
After a bit of clarification, Kairos found out she was talking about the swings, after which he explained how to swing back and forth. The girl tried, but her limbs were far too weak to do it.
After a bit of thought, Kairos set the wooden sword aside and began pushing her lightly, so that the swing would go moderately fast.
A scared expression formed on the girl’s face while her eyes flew open. As her hair danced with the wind, her expression of fear gradually became excitement.
“Wa… Wahaha!”
Kairos felt deep buried memories slowly come to the surface. He had honestly forgotten about this time in his life, despite remembering many of the things he had done with Edward and Nicole.
This made him wonder why he forgot, though that wasn’t something he dwelled on.
After having fun with the swings, Kairos got back in the other swing, lightly swaying back and forth.
“So what did you want to talk to me about?”
The girl let out a hum as she kicked the wood chips on the ground beneath her.
“I think… my dad is wrong sometimes.”
Kairos gave a quick nod. A small smile formed on his face.
“Of course. Everyone is wrong sometimes. Didn’t you hear the saying? Nobody is perfect.”
The girl smiled bitterly. It seemed that she was thinking about how the saying fit herself more than her dad.
“Ah… I guess.”
A moment of silence lingered between the two. With a small pout, the girl spoke once more.
“Tell me more.”
Kairos looked back and seemed to be a little off put.
“Huh? What are you talking about?”
The girl shyly muttered.
“More things like the ‘nobody is perfect’ things.”
Kairos looked baffled, but after a bit of thought he decided to comply. From there, he said whatever quote came to mind and his thoughts on them. The girl listened intently. Without realizing, she began to smile happily.
At first she was interested, but after a while it didn’t really matter what he said. She just wanted to listen.
Once it gradually darkened, getting closer to night, the girl realized that she had to go. She was reluctant to, but the strict rigidness that her father beat into her made it feel as though she could only go back.
“Hey… can we meet each other here again tomorrow?”
Kairos tilted his head to the side before nodding with a smile.
“Sure! The same time?”
The girl was about to nod, but then furrowed her brows.
“U-Um, I think I can only come at night. Is that ok?”
Kairos raised an eyebrow in curiosity but did not complain.
“Ok.”