The weight of their situation started to get on Kai and Kaori's nerves as they kept walking around the city in search of the most secure way to get to the market. The tension between them increased with each step, building until it finally burst into a furious dispute.
"We should have gone back the way we came!" With a hiss, Kaori broke the stillness of the ruins with her voice. "We've lost our way, and now we're wandering blindly into danger!"
Kai grew stern-faced. He shot back, "Going back would have been a death sentence." We could feel the yomigaeri closing in.
"You can't be certain about that," Kaori yelled, her eyes glimmering. "There was another route we could have taken. We're currently short on supplies."
Kai snarled and balled his fists. "If we had stayed, we would have been sitting ducks." "We needed to get away, and fast."
At last, Kaori's patience gave out. She said, "I thought you were supposed to be some great fighter by now!" with a hint of bitterness and disappointment in her voice. "You trained all this time, but you didn't even stand to fight. You simply fled."
Kai's expression grew serious, his brows deepening with pain. "Fight what"An entire swarm of yomigaeri?" he shot back. "It wouldn't have taken long for us to be killed. The best course of action is to run sometimes."
Kaori's body tensed with annoyance, her lips becoming thinner.
With a low, menacing voice, Kaori snarled, "You abandoned our mission." "Instead of scurrying aimlessly about the city, we should be looking for supplies. You've forgotten what really matters."
"Our survival is what matters," Kai retorted, his eyes flaming. "We would have died if we had stayed. With the knowledge at hand, I made the best decision I could."
The tension between them was palpable as they both refused to budge from their positions.
"Surviving depends on finding supplies," Kaori angrily declared, her words piercing the night like a knife. "And now we're lost and have nothing to show for it."
"It's not your fault that you're a coward," Kaori bitterly and coldly stated. "Your entire life, you have been in control. It's innate in you. When your sister was being torn apart by those creatures, you ran away, leaving her to die alone. You were unable to accept reality."
The comments struck Kai like a blow to the sledgehammer, every sound a sharp reminder of his shortcomings. His body trembled from the intensity of his emotions, his fists clenching and unclenching.
Kai felt the accusation as if it were a physical blow, the words reverberating through his mind like a bad dream. "Stop talking to me about running," he muttered, fury glaring in his eyes. "It was you who abandoned your brother to the Yomigaeri. You chose to live him."
Kai's face twisted in agony, his lips pulled back in a snarl of raw pain. "You think you understand me?" he hissed, his voice low and venomous. "You know nothing about my pain, my guilt. And you have no right to judge me. At least I didn't sacrifice my own flesh and blood to save my own skin."
Kaori flinched at the words, her eyes welling up with tears. "You don't know what it was like," she cried, her voice cracking with emotion.
Kaori's jaw squeezed into a tight line as her face became tense. "I chose to live," she retorted, her voice quivering with wrath. "You don't get to judge me for that."
Their comments were like weapons in a deadly combat, and there was an air of hatred between them.
Kaori's breathing became more rapid and labored as the raw passion in the air intensified. Still reeling from the verbal barrage, Kai balled his fists more tightly, whitened knuckles.
The only sound in the ensuing quiet was the pounding of their hearts, each one serving as a reminder of how precarious their survival was.
As they continued their movement through the shadowy remains, the stillness that separated Kai and Kaori remained tight and fragile, binding them together. There was only the sound of their footsteps, reverberating off the broken streets and collapsing walls.
Walking side by side, they exchanged no words as their minds were consumed by the weight of their feelings and their statements. The heaviness of their losses and the resentment of their disagreement lingered all about them like a dense mist that obscured their judgment and eyesight.
Kai's keen eyes caught a glimpse of a building in the distance, its form barely visible. With a hint of hope, he turned to Kaori, a sense of excitement beginning to build within him.
"Look," he whispered, his voice breaking the silence between them. "That's the house we are supposed to pass by to the market. That is the building. Maybe we're not as lost as we thought."
Kaori's gaze followed his outstretched finger, her eyes widening slightly as she took in the sight of the building.
Kaori's silence was deafening, her footsteps echoing in the stillness of the city ruins. Without a word, she began to move toward the building, her pace quickening with each step.
Kaori's voice broke the silence between them, her words tinged with regret. "I'm sorry," she said softly, her eyes fixed on the ruined building ahead of them. "I had no right to use your past against you. My own is no better."
Kai looked at her, his heart breaking at the sight of the pain etched on her face. "You were just angry," he replied, his voice low and gentle. "We've both been through too much. We're allowed to be angry."
Kaori turned to face him, her eyes glistening with unshed tears.
"No, I was wrong," Kaori insisted, the emotion in her voice raw and unguarded. "You were just trying to survive. Just like I was. You didn't deserve my anger. It was just...easier to lash out."
Kai took a step closer, his arms reaching out to embrace her. "It's okay," he whispered, his voice choked with emotion. "We're still here, still fighting. That's what matters."
Kaori leaned into his embrace, her body trembling with the weight of her pain and her regret.