Inazami Kozume.

She was the black sheep of her family, pushed out and rejected because of her differences.

She didn't inherit her mother's rich brown hair, nor her father's jet-black locks.

Her eyes, too, were unlike her mother's fiery red or her father's deep, shadowy black.

Instead, she possessed strikingly unusual features: hair of pastel purple and eyes of a piercing violet.

Even from a young age, her extraordinary reaction time and speed set her apart from her family.

Talents that she was born with.

While her parents moved through life at a leisurely, almost sluggish pace, she was a whirlwind of motion, agile and swift, able to anticipate and react in ways that seemed almost supernatural.

This stark contrast only deepened the rift between them.

Her talents, which should have been celebrated, were viewed as a curse by those around her. They whispered behind her back, casting sideways glances filled with suspicion and fear.

Her parents, unable to understand or accept her differences, distanced themselves emotionally and physically.

Her unique abilities, combined with her distinctive appearance, made her a perpetual outsider in her own home.

To her family and community, she was an enigma, a figure that defied their norms and expectations.

Her pastel purple hair shimmered in the sunlight, a constant reminder of her divergence, while her violet eyes seemed to see a world they could not comprehend.

Thus, she grew up in the shadows of her family, yearning for acceptance but finding only isolation.

Her two older siblings always reminded her that she wasn't welcome in their family.

They took every opportunity to underline her differences, their words sharp and cutting. While they shared their parents' brown and black hair and eyes, forming a unified front of familial resemblance, she stood out like a vibrant flower in a field of weeds.

Her brother and sister, both slow and deliberate like their parents, found her quickness unsettling.

They taunted her for her agility, mocking her swift movements and keen reflexes as unnatural.

"Freak," they would sneer, their eyes filled with a mixture of envy and disdain. Their constant jibes and cold shoulders built an invisible wall around her, brick by painful brick.

In the small, tightly-knit family, meals were a daily ritual of exclusion.

Her siblings would sit close together, sharing inside jokes and stories that didn't include her. They whispered behind their hands, casting sidelong glances her way, ensuring she felt the weight of her outsider status.

The family photographs that adorned the walls captured a semblance of unity, yet she always seemed slightly apart, a stark reminder of her alienation.

The pain of rejection gnawed at her, but it also steeled her resolve.

Each reminder of her unwelcomed status fueled a fire within her, driving her to hone her abilities and embrace her unique traits.

She knew she was different, but she also began to suspect that her differences were not a curse, but a gift.

While her family saw only an aberration, she began to see potential and strength even though she suffered through the way.

Izanami lived her 15 years quietly, trying to understand her abilities and hone them into her weapons.

Though she didn't know what she could use them for at that age, she felt a sense of relief when she could be herself.

Her unique traits were a double-edged sword: while they isolated her, they also gave her a semblance of identity and purpose.

The young Kozume's childhood and early teenage years were marked by a relentless barrage of bullying.

Nobody wanted to befriend her, and she endured the torment in silence, never rebelling. She became accustomed to the whispers, the laughter behind her back, and the cruel pranks designed to highlight her otherness.

Through it all, she kept her head down, internalizing the pain and channeling it into perfecting her extraordinary skills.

It was around her fifteenth year when she met the kind granny who lived at the end of her street.

Tomori was her name.

This elderly woman, with her warm smile and gentle demeanor, took Izanami under her wing.

She offered the unconditional love and support that had been missing from the girl's life.

Tomori's home became a sanctuary, a place where she could truly be herself without fear of judgment or rejection.

This kind woman, with her wisdom and warmth, became a mother-like figure, providing the nurturing that her own family had denied her.

The purple haired girl found solace in their time together, cherishing the moments spent in the granny's cozy home, filled with the scent of baking bread and the sound of soft laughter.

The elder woman's kindness and acceptance were a balm to her wounded soul, and she clung to this newfound source of love with all her heart.

For the first time in her life, she felt valued and understood.

Tomori's unwavering support gave her the strength to embrace her differences fully.

In this loving environment, she began to flourish, her abilities sharpening with newfound purpose.

Izanami Kozume no longer cared about the opinions of those who had shunned her; she had found her family in the one person who saw her for who she truly was, and she didn't needed to be bound by blood to be able to cherish Tomori fully with her heart.

From that moment on, the elder woman became her entire world, the center of her universe, and she needed no one else in her life.

But you can't always keep those you love close to yourself.

Because one mistake or misstep and they might slip away from your desperate grasp.

Three years later, just after the youngest Kozume's 18th birthday, a Kaiju attack shattered the fragile peace she had found.

Kaiju were immense, sentient beings that roamed the world, seeking to cause destruction and devour humans.

They had always been a distant threat, an ever-present danger discussed on TV screens and in hushed conversations, but she had never seen one in real life.

It was just a quiet night in their neighborhood where usually nothing exciting wad happening.

Both Tomori and Izanami were enjoying each other's presence in the living room, both minds lost in the white sheets of papers decorated with ink.

It was just like any other night.

That was until panicked screams echoed through the neighborhood, snapping both woman out of their thoughts.

In the middle of one of the crossroads nearby the elder woman's house the ground split open, and from the depths, a colossal Kaiju rose, its eyes glowing with malevolent intent.

Due to its large figure it could be easily spotted from the windows of every nearby buildings.

Looking at the gigantic form of the monster, the purple headed girl and the granny clung to each other, the house shaking around them.

Izanami new they had to move, but the sheer terror of the moment momentarily paralyzed her.

The ground heaved again, and the walls of the house began to crack, quickly snapping her out of her frozen state.

At the moment she didn't cared about what might have happened to the people who shared the same blood with her, instead only cared about the elder woman standing next to her.

"Tomori-san, hurry!" she desperately called out.

Grabbing onto Tomori's hand, pulling her towards the back door, but the elder woman's frailty made escape difficult.

As they stumbled outside, they could see the Kaiju's massive form towering over the neighborhood, its maw opening to unleash a terrifying roar.

The deafening sound made both women weak in their knees, but they still managed to move.

In their desperate flight, Izanami and Tomori were thrown to the ground by another violent tremor.

In an instant the Kaiju's massive claw came crashing down, and in the blink of an eye, Tomori was caught in the destructive path.

"Na... Nani?"

Silence.

"Tomori... san?"

Izanami couldn't hear anything other than her own heartbeat in her ears.

Before she knew it she was screaming in desperation, reaching out, believing that she can still reach Tomori.

But she was already gone, crushed beneath the rubble, her life extinguished in a heartbeat.

Like she didn't even mattered.

The purple haired girl fell to her knees, her heart breaking as she stared at the spot where Tomori had been.

"Where did you go?" she called out to her, not wanting to believe what just happened.

But the pain was unbearable, a deep, wrenching sorrow that tore through her.

The only person who had ever loved her, the one who had been her true family, was gone.

The world around her seemed to blur, the chaos of the attack fading into the background as she was consumed by grief.

As the Kaiju continued its rampage, Izanami felt a profound sense of despair.

She no longer cared about her own survival, feeling that without Tomori, her life held no meaning.

"Please..." Izanami Kozume wished for her own end, to escape the misery that now engulfed her. She stood amidst the destruction, waiting for the Kaiju's final blow to blow out the dying light of her candle.