The days turned into weeks, and the Sins found themselves steadily gaining the ability to interact with the physical world around them. It started small - Greed could pick up loose change, Gluttony could open snack bags, and Wrath could knock over precariously balanced objects.
With each tiny success, their excitement grew. Pride beamed as he was able to turn the pages of a book without them fluttering through his ghostly hands. Lust delighted in being able to adjust her appearance, even just slightly. Envy preened whenever she could hold and examine objects that caught her eye.
But it was Sloth who made the biggest breakthrough. One lazy afternoon, as she floated aimlessly, she passed through the couch - and kept going. Her form settled onto the cushions with a surprised "oomph!"
The other Sins immediately crowded around, awestruck at her sudden solidity. Sloth simply shrugged, a faint smile playing on her lips.
From that moment on, their mission became clear: if they could harness the ability to become corporeal through their commitment to helping Kazekabe, perhaps they could finally break the curse binding them.
Life in the haunted house took on a new rhythm. When Kazekabe returned from work or his therapy sessions, the Sins were there - solid and supportive. Lust offered reassuring embraces, Greed helped keep his finances in order, and Gluttony made sure he was well-fed. Wrath encouraged him to find productive outlets for his anger, while Envy reminded him it was okay to want more from life.
Pride's booming voice rang out with affirmations of Kazekabe's worth, countering the insidious whispers of self-doubt. And Sloth...Sloth simply listened whenever Kazekabe needed to vocalize his struggles without judgment.
Slowly but surely, Kazekabe's depression loosened its grip. Having the Sins as a physical, supportive presence made a world of difference. They weren't just his friends - they were the personifications of the very things he'd been lacking: confidence, motivation, passion, a sense of self-worth.
Of course, there were setbacks and relapses. Days when Kazekabe felt too drained to engage, or when the Sins' vices slipped out in unhelpful ways. But they weathered those storms together, learning and growing in their bond.
One evening, as they relaxed after a long day, Sloth looked around at her companions with an uncharacteristically contemplative expression.
"You know...I've been thinking," she said slowly. "Perhaps we've become...overinvested in Kazekabe's journey."
The others turned to her quizzically. Pride puffed up a bit.
"Overinvested? Nonsense! We're merely being exceptionally dedicated to our mutual goal of assisting -"
Sloth waved a tendril, cutting her off gently.
"What I mean is...our entire existence has become wrapped up in his struggles. Don't you think that's...unhealthy? For both him and us?"
An uneasy silence fell over the room as her words sank in. Envy twisted a strand of her smoke uncomfortably.
"She's right...we're so obsessed with helping Kazekabe, we've lost sight of our own identities outside of that purpose."
Greed looked torn. "But if we don't stay hyper-focused on being there for him, how will we ever get strong enough to -"
"To what?" Lust interrupted, a crease forming between her elegant brows. "Become fully human again? Is that what this is all about?"
Her question hung heavy in the air. The Sins had been so consumed with the idea of breaking their curse, they hadn't stopped to consider what came after.
Wrath was the first to deflate, the fire in his eyes dimming. "You're right. This was all supposed to be about Kazekabe getting the help HE needed. Not us trying to solve our own problems by living through him."
Gluttony sniffed, a solitary tear trailing down her plump cheek. "I don't want to go back to being something...less than what I am. I like being able to give Kazekabe real hugs and make him real food."
"We've become co-dependent," Sloth said simply. "Obsessing over Kazekabe as a means to our own ends. It's an imbalance that can't remain if we want to be true friends to him."
One by one, the others nodded in reluctant agreement. As freeing as their newfound physicality was, it had also blinded them. Their existence had folded inward, revolving entirely around Kazekabe's healing at the expense of their own.
Envy sighed heavily. "So...what do we do? Just...let go? Move on?"
The words felt like a death knell. But Sloth simply smiled that same soft, wise smile.
"No. We create boundaries. We continue supporting Kazekabe of course, but we don't enmesh our entire beings with his path." She looked around at each of them in turn.
"We're the Seven Deadly Sins. Forceful presences, overwhelming by our very nature. Perhaps the middle way is to...temper ourselves. Give Kazekabe the space he needs to grow on his own, while walking beside him."
Her words spurred a renewed sense of determination in each of them. They were more than just Kazekabe's personified nagging issues - they were titans of the human condition. Primordial embodiments of the struggles all people faced.
By taking a step back, respecting boundaries, and integrating their own identities separate from Kazekabe's journey...perhaps they'd find the balance they seek. The Sins resolved to be supportive presences in his life, while also being their own cosmically larger-than-life selves.
Kazekabe, noticing the shift in atmosphere, looked around at his roommates with a bemused expression.
"Everything okay over there?"
They all smiled - the same achingly human expression, finally at peace.
"Everything's great, Kazekabe," Sloth replied contentedly. "Just...recalibrating a few things."
An uneasy silence fell over the room as Sloth's words sank in. The Sins exchanged furtive glances, a heaviness settling in the air. It was Greed who finally broke the quiet, her verdant mist roiling with agitation.
"She's right, you know." Greed's voice was uncharacteristically soft, laced with an edge of sorrow. "Perhaps it's time we..." She hesitated, seeming to struggle with her words. "Perhaps we should distance ourselves from Kazekabe."
The others reacted with shock and dismay, tendrils whipping about in protest. But Greed raised a tendril for silence, her expression pinched.
"Hear me out. We've become...obsessively entangled in his journey to the detriment of our own identities. Our very existence now hinges entirely on his healing, his personal growth." She shook her head slowly. "It's an unhealthy, consuming attachment. One that, despite our best intentions, may be doing more harm than good."
Pride looked as if she wanted to interrupt, chin raised defiantly. But Wrath beat her to it, his essence churning like smoldering embers.
"So what, you're saying we just up and abandon the guy? After everything?" His voice was a dangerous growl.
But Greed didn't flinch, green mist swirling with resigned determination.
"I'm saying we leave. At least temporarily. Give Kazekabe the breathing room to find his own way, free from our... suffocating presences always forcing him down a path, no matter how well-meaning."
Envy scoffed derisively. "Yes, let's just kick him to the curb at his lowest, brilliant strategy."
"It's not about abandoning him!" Greed's outburst silenced them all. When she continued, her tone was hushed but intense.
"Think about it - we're immortal vices, imposing our cosmic burdens onto a fragile human soul. Of course he's gotten mired in codependency with us. It's taxing him, drowning him in our desires and neuroses when he should be finding his own equilibrium."
Her eye smoldered with an eerie conviction as it swept over each of them.
"We delude ourselves thinking we're helping solely for Kazekabe's sake. Deep down, we're addicted to being needed. It's time to sever that attachment so he can thrive without the weight of our entire existences pressing down on him."
A heavy pause followed Greed's admission. Because as much as it stung to admit it, they all recognized the toxic pattern she spoke of. No matter how pure their motivations had started, the Sins could never fully escape the gravitational pull of their own obsessive vices.
Wrath was the first to deflate, the fight seeming to go out of him. When he finally spoke, his gruff voice was tinged with resignation.
"She's right...we're like leeches, draining Kazekabe just by being around him."
One by one, the others' resistance crumbled. Gluttony sniffled mournfully, Envy stared at the floor, and even Lust's simmering tendrils stilled in contemplative silence.
Pride was the last to bend, chest deflating like a collapsing star. When she spoke, her usual grandiose bravado was nowhere to be found.
"Very well. If a...temporary leave of absence is what's best to preserve Kazekabe's spiritual integrity, so be it." She inclined her regal head towards the unmoving lump of blankets that was Kazekabe, mercifully oblivious to the agonizing decision playing out.
"We'll allow him the space to find his way without our Burdens weighing him down further. He has enough demons to overcome without our constant, smothering influences."
At that, Greed seemed to shrink in on herself slightly, the first flickers of hesitant remorse crossing her features. When she spoke again, her voice was barely above a whisper.
"He won't understand at first...our leaving. It will hurt him, possibly drive him deeper into darkness before he finds the light on his own." She risked a glance towards Kazekabe's huddled form, sorrow etching her mist.
"But we have to trust that this path, as cruel as it seems, may be his greatest liberation in the end. Freedom from us..."
Her words hung heavy in the air, more being spoken in the weighted pauses. This would be temporary anguish, a self-imposed sacrifice so that Kazekabe could finally spread his wings unfettered. It was the hardest path...but perhaps the truest act of love they could offer.
To let him go.
One by one, the Sins turned towards the door, their essences seeming to dim and leach of color. Greed was the last to follow, pausing at the threshold to take one last, tortuous look at the only realm that had ever felt like home.
"Goodbye, Kazekabe," she breathed, the words barely audible. "We'll miss you every agonizing moment..."
And with that, a kaleidoscope of fading trails slipped through the doorway and dispersed into the night, leaving an oppressive, hollow silence in their wake.
Moments passed in stillness. Then, a rustling from the heap of blankets as Kazekabe finally stirred, eyes blinking in confusion at the empty room around him.
"Guys...?" he called out hesitantly.
Only silence answered, seeming to mock the tremble in his voice. Slowly, realization set in - they were gone. The chaotic presences that had become his sole anchor were nowhere to be found.
Panic clawed at Kazekabe's chest as he lurched upright, sheets falling away.
"No...nonono, you can't...you can't just LEAVE me!" he cried out, voice breaking on the last word.
His eyes darted wildly around the vacant apartment as if they might simply reappear. But there was nothing, just the mocking emptiness pressing in all around.
"Please...please come back...No...nonono, you can't...you can't just LEAVE me!" he cried out, voice breaking on the last word.
His eyes darted wildly around the vacant apartment as if they might simply reappear. But there was nothing, just the mocking emptiness pressing in all around.
That's when his gaze fell upon the artifact - the ancient, star-shaped object that had first bound the Sins to this realm. It lay on the coffee table, surface dull and lifeless.
A hairline fracture ran through its center.
Kazekabe felt his breath catch in his throat. Trembling, he reached for the artifact, cradling it in his hands. Faint wisps of colored smoke trickled from the crack, dissipating into the air.
It was broken. Shattered from the inside.
A chilling realization gripped him - the artifact was the tether anchoring the Sins to this plane. And now, it was falling apart.
"No...nononoNO!" Kazekabe clutched it to his chest, desperation clawing at his voice. "Please...please don't go! Don't leave me alone!"
But it was too late. The fracture was spreading like cancer, fragmenting the artifact into pieces that began disintegrating before his very eyes. Smoke poured from the fissures in thick plumes, swirling around Kazekabe in a dizzying vortex.
For a brief, insane moment he thought he saw flickering shapes in the roiling clouds - faces, figures reaching out to him. The Sins, fighting to reach him one last time.
"Please...please come back..." Kazekabe's anguished pleas dissolved into muffled sobs as he crumpled back into the couch, hugging himself tightly. Bits of the shattered artifact turned to dust, slipping through his fingers.
Their connection was severing, unraveling into the ether. The Sins were being pulled away, ripped from this existence.
Gone. They were gone. Fading into the void like a wisp of smoke, a half-remembered dream.
And he was once again utterly, hopelessly alone.