I watched her walk away, her silhouette shrinking over the wooden planks that creaked beneath her high heels with every step.
The words she had spoken floated in the air, sharp… yes.
Once, they would have broken my heart, would have crushed me to the ground in a silence of death and despair. But that night, the pain remained absent, replaced by an empty neutrality that almost frightened even me at that moment.
A slow understanding settled in my mind, chasing away the last doubts that still clouded my judgment. What had happened in that dark alley was not the result of an imagination twisted by pure despair.
The wish had truly happened. I did not know by what miracle, but… what had just occurred with Kyte confirmed that it was not merely a hallucination.
I had been foolish to deny my own request… because what I had wished for that night had not been a whim. It had come from the deepest part of my heart.
Was the hesitation caused by the fact that I was with Mia? By that human warmth that had made me believe in a new beginning in this world?
Kyte had been my sun, just as my mother and my sister had been before their tragic and brutal end. That was how this world worked, tearing the light away from those who dared to hope for a gentler future here below.
I had worked like a madman, sacrificing my nights to studying after my biological father betrayed us. He had left everything to a stranger, leaving us alone to face misery and the general indifference of people. My sister worked herself to exhaustion to pay my fees, but fate had struck her down violently without the slightest remorse.
My mother and she had died in the most horrible way, leaving behind an unbearable and dark void. I had been an idiot to let myself be lulled by Mia's kindness, that false glimmer in my daily darkness now. I slowly bent down to pick up the documents, feeling the paper crumple loudly under the pressure of my fingers. I straightened up, my back firm, and fixed my gaze on the back of the one who was walking away without even a single glance toward me. "Kyte…" I called out, my voice echoing with a new authority in the silence of the bridge that had suddenly become deserted.
She froze instantly, her body stiffening from surprise before turning toward me. Her gaze remained icy, capable of shaking even the strongest man with its sheer contemptuous intensity. "What?" she asked, her lips tightening to underline her deep annoyance at my sudden and calm call.
I remained still, feeling a faint smile form in the shadows of my thoughts as I stared at her without fear. "Can you buy me some meat… I really feel like eating some," I murmured, letting my words drift between us.
Kyte blinked several times, her expression shifting from irritation to complete bewilderment, almost comical to see. The world around us seemed frozen, the few passersby slowing down to observe our strange exchange on the bridge.
A tension stretched between us, amplified by the sound of the wind rushing beneath the dark stone arches. She frowned, her lips forming an ironic sneer as she shook her head with obvious and persistent contempt.
The silence dragged on, heavy with meaning, while I held her gaze without flinching for even a second before her pride.
Her irritation slowly gave way to poorly concealed curiosity, as if my audacity struck her more than my pathetic state. "What are you talking about?" she finally asked, her voice betraying a real and audible hint of surprise.
I took a step toward her, reducing the distance so our eyes met. "I said… can you buy me some meat? I absolutely don't have any money on me right now, you understand?" She remained silent, searching my pupils for any trace of a joke, but she found nothing there except absolute emptiness.
She stepped closer, gripping the straps of her handbag with a force that turned her knuckles pale. "I don't know what you're trying to do, but I'm not your mother, alright? So go find your meal somewhere else," she spat with icy dryness.
Her voice marked an impassable boundary, a clear will to exclude me forever from her flawless golden world. I nodded slightly, accepting her answer without protest, yet my gaze remained anchored in hers with patience. "Just buy me this meal… and I will leave the university by next Wednesday without making the slightest scene, Kyte."
My words spread softly through the evening air, carrying a promise she could hardly refuse for the sake of calculation. She seemed to think for a moment, weighing the cost of that bill against the peace of her precious academic future.
Her gaze hesitated, then she let out a sigh of exasperation, finally looking away from my overly calm face. She gave a quiet scoff, a sound filled with reproach and a weariness that no longer affected me at all.
"It's incredible to be as pathetic as you. How can you dare ask that after everything?" She opened her bag with a sharp motion, pulled out a fifty-dollar bill, and held it out to me with contempt. "In the end, trash remains trash… just make sure you don't show up at the academy."
I simply took the money, my fingers brushing against hers for a fraction of a second, a brief, physical, cold contact. The wind blew a strand of her blonde hair across her face, but she made no sudden movement. I inclined my head slightly in thanks, slipping the bill into my pocket with complete calm.
"Thank you."
I spoke the word in a low voice, almost a whisper, before turning away to begin my final departure.
"Anyway, I was going to stop studying. I don't have anything left to pay for my education now," I added without slowing my pace.
I could feel her gaze weighing on my back, trying to pierce the mystery of the calm I displayed without shame. I raised my hand in farewell, a simple, silent gesture heavy with meaning toward the sky.
"Goodbye."
I kept walking, feeling each step carry me farther away from the shadow of the one I had once loved more than anything here. The streetlights were turning on one after another, casting moving silhouettes on the murky waters of the river below. Kyte eventually looked away and turned on her heels to leave the bridge with a haste that betrayed her unease.
I breathed deeply, feeling the weight of that encounter fade into the cool air of the night that was finally beginning. My heart beat calmly, but my thoughts remained sharp, focused on the hunger that cruelly devoured my insides.
If I have changed because of that wish… I can only smile and say thank you.
At that moment I felt like the freest man in the world… without knowing that I had not changed… I was in the process of changing.
I was walking down the street when my phone vibrated against my thigh, breaking the relative silence of the moving city.
Mia's name appeared on the screen, and a faint smile, almost imperceptible, formed on my lips for a moment. "Hello…" I said in a calm and neutral voice as soon as I answered to hear what she wanted to tell me.
"Uh… hi," she replied, her voice trembling slightly as if she feared disturbing me unnecessarily. "Actually, I was calling to let you know that I'll be arriving at the apartment soon. My evening is already over, Eren."
I continued walking, adjusting my posture. "Didn't you say you had gone to meet someone important for your personal matters?" I asked with curiosity.
She hesitated for a long moment before answering, her breathing becoming perfectly audible through the phone's speaker. "Actually… the person canceled at the last minute. Anyway, I'll be there in a few minutes," she said before abruptly hanging up.
I put the device away and raised my hand to hail a taxi approaching me with its yellow headlights.
The vehicle stopped right in front of me with a soft screech of tires on the dew-damp asphalt. I climbed into the back seat, sinking into the worn leather that gave off a faint smell of tobacco.
"Sir, do you know a place where they sell a lot of well-grilled meat?" I asked the old bearded driver.
The man thought for a few seconds, his eyes fixed on the road through his thick glasses.
"Yeah… I know the perfect place," he replied with a smile that revealed teeth yellowed by time.
"Why the question, kid? Got a wolf's hunger to satisfy?"
I simply answered yes, letting the driver start the car with the rumble of a tired but still powerful engine. The man smiled even wider, throwing me a warm glance through the rearview mirror as we picked up speed.
"Alright, I'll take you to a good joint not far from here. I used to go there a lot in my wild youth."
"I'm glad," I said while watching the city lights rushing past behind the dirty taxi window.
The taxi stopped in front of a small establishment whose smoke rose in thick swirls into the cool night air.
The smell of grilled meat instantly made my mouth water, awakening that monstrous hunger that had been tormenting me since the bridge. Customers chatted quietly around wooden tables while the cook busied himself in front of a large smoking grill.
I paid for several generous portions at a reasonable price, carefully keeping the rest of the bill for my future needs here.
Once the packages were in my hands, I took another vehicle to finally return to the quiet home of my friend.
The street was deserted when I arrived in front of the house, the silence broken only by the wind in the trees.
I entered quietly, noticing that Mia was not there yet.
I placed the packages on the kitchen table, the smell of roasted meat instantly filling the room. My hunger doubled in intensity, but I had barely begun to sit down when voices rose from the entrance.
One was soft and familiar, but the other clearly belonged to a stranger whose tone seemed much firmer.
I put the meat in the refrigerator.
I straightened up at the exact moment the door opened abruptly on Mia, who seemed particularly eager to get home at last. She looked slightly out of breath, her cheeks flushed from what was probably the fast walk she had taken to get here.
Behind her stood a young woman I had never seen before, whose gaze carried a cold intensity.
She observed me with an almost disturbing insistence, as if trying to pierce my darkest and deepest secrets.
Her arms were crossed over her chest, her rigid posture revealing an instinctive distrust toward the stranger I was to her.
She stared at me for several long seconds, her gaze shifting between silent judgment and a rather palpable unhealthy curiosity.
She finally spoke, her voice measured but direct.
"I finally see the face of the one who lives with my little sister."
Little sister?
[COMPLETION RATE 25%: HAS ACCEPTED HIS CHANGE, BUT NOT HIS NEW NATURE]