Chapter Thirteen: Shibahime Tsubasa: Somewhere She Doesn't Want to Be

These sharp pangs around her heart, the ringing in her head, the stinging in her eyes as she walks down the hallway, trying not to kill herself by turning the wrong corner and ending up somewhere she doesn't want to be …

Are these pains real, physically? Something tangible, something she can stop? Or is she simply imagining them?

Tsubasa wants to be able to say, "Oh, that. Yeah, I'm okay now," and move on with her life.

But something inside her stops to shake its head in disgust.

It can see where she's headed, and knows that she knows better.

Who is she honestly supposed to turn to now?

How is anyone to help, if she asks for assistance?

Is there anyone out there who can prevent someone from experiencing the worst sort of pain: heartbreak?

Soichiro could have been this person for Tsubasa.

But people were fickle; their hearts were never constant enough.

Thus people like Tsubasa required an extra shield, an extra layer of immunity. They were the ones most likely to get hurt in this world; the ones who allowed their hearts to get trampled on; the ones who fell apart so easily.

When it came down to it, this was no longer a debate of Tsubasa's physical strength but of her emotionally.

The very same person who could heal your wounded heart was also the only one who could honestly slash it to pieces.

She didn't know how much more of this she could honestly take.