The drive itself wasn't long, but for Aizawa, it felt like his entire life was stuck in that one moment. This wasn't supposed to happen. What parent wants to bury their child?

The entire wake went off smoothly, but her portrait haunted him. Her eyes followed him.

It judged him.

Her angelic face judged him— eyes held contempt. Those beautiful bejeweled sapphire-like eyes— followed— boring holes into him

He could not look at her, for guilt made him feel ill. How could a sinner gaze upon an angel?

Shouta is a failure... Daddy is a failure.

How could he be a good father if he couldn't even protect her from this fate? Time went by fast, but at the same time slowly. He was stuck in limbo forever watching his world go by as he was trapped at that moment.

He could barely remember the words spoken by others, during their speeches. From the tears of his peers, all were lovely words, but they were nothing to him. Sweet and passionate words won't bring her back— if words could every great poet would be a saint.

He wished every great poet would cry for her, maybe then she would come back.

If God cries will he give her back?

It was such a nice day out, sunny but not too hot. It was the perfect temperature— on days like these he'd find her sprawled out on the pavement taking in the heat from the concrete. The trees had a delicate scent of their pride pearls— buds were finally blossoming and the flowers were prettier than ever. A soft pink hue, just like her round cheeks, the blushing of her body.

— It all made him feel sick. It was the dawn of new life. Shouta hated it.

The smell of spring in wavy breath, the sounds of baby birds set a rhythm to her funeral, and the slightly cold breeze all signified spring— her favorite season.

This season was the time she spent cuddling up with him under blooming cherry blossoms. The time she steals his sleeping bag and dirty it up by laying it on the dirt.

He would always have to fight her off for his bag back. Those big luscious eyes were manipulating him. Their bejeweled effect. It was like looking into an expensive sapphire— every shade of blue greeted him back.

It was only recently that she joined him for naps. Slithering her way in. Purring like a truck engine. Making his body vibrate to the point he couldn't ignore it.

She slept like a kitten. His kitten.

The season they go out and eat way too much mochi. The time of year she throws up an ungodly amount of hairballs— he never discovers where they come from. He got mad at something so trivial...

The seasons Hizashi and Nemuri come back with over ten bags of frilly dresses and cute hair accessories. Shouta never stopped them— she looked so adorable in every outfit. But he no longer had room in his house for all those dresses— good thing she never grows out of her clothes.

It was also the season of their anniversary— the season he adopted her... The season she died.

Spring ruins him.

He had nothing to live for anymore.

Nobody to live for.

Everything is meaningless.