[D6, Eve, Closed] Gazing at the Night Sky

"Oh? Conversations were sparse for me today. My classes went well at least," she says. "Mako-chan wasn't in singing class, which was a little sad, but I understood once I saw the schedule."

"I think Shibatsu-sensei and I have reached an understanding concerning the Goblin," she says, tilting her head in nervous curiosity. "He seems quite fond of Akane-chan."

"Speaking of, I did have a good lunch with Akane-chan. Caught up with an old friend," she says. Her hands squeeze just a little, a tense digging into milky thighs. "I asked her to speak to you on a specific matter. And I hope you two didn't fight over what I asked her to speak to you about."

On the matter of Eito, she nods.

"He was in singing class, briefly. There was almost a conflict but he volunteered to leave before anything happened," she says, recalling what would end up a minor outburst. "He'll be contacting me through faculty channels for tutoring instead. Perhaps I can try to work on his temperament?"

When the matter of Akane was mentioned, the resolution of it described, Hisui let out a bated breath. She had been worried. She wasn't sure what outcome would happen. What kind of pain the talk would call up from the depths. To hear that Fuyuko was tempted to kill the former Lioness we alarming, but what came after was comforting.

Yet, a question lingered. One that shook her as she spoke it.

"Pardoned years ago? So you knew you'd been cheated on by Kuneho-san?" Hisui's voice quivers. There is something old there, something deeply shaken. Something that can almost be interpreted as anger. "But you called her loyal. Devoted. You talked about her as if she was some kind of paragon."

She finds it hard to process, those words. Unlike Fuyuko, she never quite got over betrayals. She gave loyalty to those she cared about and asked for little in return. Only their own loyalty, really. To be so calm about being cheated on bothered her, disturbed her.

Someone who would do anything to try to help others.

What that a comparison? The Crane had to have known that Hisui was aware of her own self-destructive outreach. Of how Compassion consumed her, to the point where it hurt. Did her dour lover just compare her to someone from the past? Did Fuyuko truly think Compassion, of all things, could justify infidelity?

Hisui wanted to end that train of thought. She truly did. It went to dark places she didn't want to go. It made her ask a question she would never have thought of before.

Does she think I'd…

She couldn't even finish the thought. But her mind didn't have to.

"You forgive so easily," she says. "I don't think I'd be able to, in your place."

It surprises her, that response. She listens to the story and very visibly winces at the staged duel of poetry. She looks about ready to burst in outrage at the idea, but then she hears the reasoning.

She weeps. Not for herself, not for Kuneho, but for Fuyuko. So broken, so alone, so scared. Yet could be so affectionate, so caring, so…human. How could anyone not see her? How could anyone hurt her? How could anyone not love her?

"I am trying to understand." The truth. Far from ideal, but the truth. She will not lie to Fuyuko. Not now, not ever. "If you say this is no longer a concern, I will believe you. You're a kinder person than I am. Twenty years and I still haven't forgiven a certain woman."

"If I betray you, I don't want forgiveness. I wouldn't deserve it."