Virtue Memoria ( Den's Point of View Part 1 )

I grinned with excitement when Chie approached me for a hug. She had a shy smile on her face which usually meant she made drawings for us.

She's always drawn us pictures since we met her in the hospital years ago, and Hiro encouraged her to become an artist.

"Hi Chie," I said, gently moving some hair from her eyes.

"Wow, your hair is getting so long! Would you like me to braid it for you one day?" I asked as I watched her run back to the couch and pick up a small stack of 4 pieces of paper.

"Can you do it before you leave?" She smiled, handing me a drawing.

"Of course!"

"You drew us another picture?" Yuki said excitedly but softly, she always had a gentle tone with children as if she was scared they'd be scared of her. It was sweet.

Chie hummed happily and nodded, handing Yuki hers next and then Seina and Natsumi. We thanked her happily and studied what she drew for us.

The drawing she gifted me looked as if it had me with a large circle, on my arm and a stick in my other hand.

I looked at Chie curiously. "What's this circle?"

"That's a shield! I couldn't make it as pretty as my dream," She spoke as if disappointed in herself.

"Aw no, it looks amazing Chie," I smiled at her, feeling bad to see her disappointed.

"Dream?" Yuki asked curiously.

"Yeah, Chie had a dream we all had powers and fought monsters," Isao explained as if he was the proudest older brother in the world.

"Maybe your dreams are like your big brothers," Seina said, almost jokingly.

Chie's eyes lit up at her words.

"That would be so cool!" She said loudly.

"You look so cool," Yuki said softly, she was leaning on Natsumi's shoulder to see the drawing Chie made her.

"With four arms?" Natsumi questioned with a raised brow.

Yuki shrugged and got off her arm. "You could probably pull it off, you always make lame clothes look nice."

Natsumi slowly turned her head from looking at the drawing to Yuki with a strong blank stare. In return, Yuki just looked confused.

"You're really stupid Yuki," I said soft enough for just her to hear, watching the two of them.

Being the only one in our group, to my knowledge, who knew Yuki's sexuality and seeing how much she failed to talk properly to other women always gave me secondhand embarrassment and stress.

Even Isao and Hiro aren't as dumb when it comes to talking to girls. I just know I'll grow grey hair the day she tells me she fell in love and needs advice.

"What? I was complimenting her," Yuki said looking back and forth between me and Natsumi.

I sighed and shook my head. I knew she liked Seina, but if she likes Natsumi too then I truly wish her luck.

Seina laughed softly as she watched the three of us.

"Alright, thank you for all the gifts Chie, but we have something we gotta do, ok?" Isao said, tapping her head gently as if to tell her to leave.

She lightly slapped his hand away in annoyance. "Alright, I'll go back to my room then. Can I come to play with everyone later?" She asked curiously.

"Of course! I brought a new game we can play!" Seina said happily. 

"Ok!" Chie said, nearly jumping in excitement before running to her bedroom.

We all gathered around the table in the living room, most of us sitting on the couch and only Yuki, Isao, and Hiro were on the floor.

As Isao shuffled the cards in his hands I noticed Hiro staring at Isao as he shuffled, but his stare seemed off. Almost as if he wasn't there or lost in deep thought.

I wanted to ask him if he was ok, but Isao prefers to not get distracted when he's doing tarot.

I glanced around at everyone, curious to see if anyone else noticed something was off. But everyone besides Isao, Keiko, and Yuki seemed upset for some reason.

Nyoko was sitting beside me, so I carefully leaned over to her to whisper.

"Did something happen?" I asked worried, maybe I wasn't observant earlier, but to me the mood shift was sudden.

"Don't know... Hiro's just been upset for a bit but wouldn't tell me why. He wouldn't even look at me after you guys got here and talked to Chie..." She whispered a sad and equally worried tone in her voice.

I frowned softly and looked back at Isao to see him organizing the cards that fell. He studied them closely and silently.

Everything felt grim. I didn't like it. It was never like this before, so why was the air so heavy now?

I ended up getting distracted by my thoughts and worries I could barely pay attention to what Isao was saying.

All of his words were a blur, all I knew was that the cards were saying good things. I didn't feel like that was true though. But why would Isao lie?

Were we falling apart? How long has this been happening? Am I noticing it too late?

What about the promises we all made? I don't wanna lose them.

I grabbed firmly onto Yuki's shoulder since she was sitting in front of me on the floor, and I gripped it tightly out of fear. I wanted someone to hold onto.

I know it was just my thoughts getting the better of me, but I was terrified. I can't imagine my life without all of them, I just couldn't.

I felt as if I blanked out from my spiraling thoughts. I hated how much the thought of losing them hurt me, but I didn't want to go back to the way it was before them.

I was scared of being alone, of feeling like I was in a different world than everyone else, like I didn't belong.

I knew I couldn't control it, I was just overthinking.

Right?

I blinked when I finally realized Yuki was on her knees in front of me, she looked worried and was holding my hands gently.

"You ok?" Yuki asked softly, all of them were looking at me worried and surrounding me. Nyoko had her hand gently on my back.

"Did something happen? You looked like you were having a panic attack," Nyoko's voice was soft and concerned.

I took a few deep breaths in an attempt to calm myself down.

"I'm sorry everyone, I just... I don't know," I failed to collect my thoughts, staring down at my lap before looking back at Yuki. I felt tears slowly sliding down my cheeks.

"Can I talk to you about something Yuki?" I asked, Yuki just nodded in response and we both stood up. I saw Yuki glance at everyone else as we walked to the sliding door that led to Isao's back yard and we both exited and went to the far corner where they couldn't see or hear us.

Yuki looked at me worriedly "What's wrong?".

I stayed silent for a few minutes, I didn't know how to say it but I wanted to tell her something was off about everyone. I was scared, and I didn't know exactly what was going on.

"I-... Can you talk to everyone? See if things are ok with them?" Yuki's confusion just grew after hearing my words.

"Did I miss something? Everyone seemed fine to me,"

"No, it's just... I don't know... Everyone just felt off and it scared me..."

If something was wrong I needed her help. I wasn't good at comforting others, but she was. Yuki wasn't really smart, but when she wanted to she always found a way to sway people's emotions in her favor.

Yuki smiled sadly at me. "It's ok Den, you're probably overthinking. You heard what the tarot cards said right? Things are gonna get better for all of us, so there's no way somethings gonna tear us apart. We have been through so much together already anyways, what're a few obstacles gonna do?" Her voice was soft as she attempted to ease my worries.

When I just stayed silent again she spoke up once more.

"Maybe they're just scared of the big scary monsters in Chie's dream? Are you scared of the monsters Den?" She teased with a large grin and small laugh, making me roll my eyes and nudge her arm in annoyance.

"Fine, whatever," I said choosing to trust her words that I was overthinking. She was right, we did go through a lot in the past after all. Maybe we just all need some time.