Bird in a Cage

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coop--Fate Deviation 1st

A rosy, plump apple, its insides long since rotted away—in the instant you saw her, you understood her identity, her profound, contradictory darkness and sense of self.

She wore a mask not to protect her true self, but because she simply did not know what face to show the world—she was the kind of person you hated most. Naturally, you knew exactly how to deal with her.

Give her hope, even if it was false. Give her a harbor to rest in, built upon a beach soon to be swallowed by the waves. Give her brief, false comfort...

Lies had been woven into a net. The hunter was about to reap the harvest, and she, swayed by those lies, seemed at last to have stepped onto the path you had designed for her... had she?

A bird in a cage had no right to speak of fate.

Lavenza's voice, paired with the tranquil moonlight, carried a light, ethereal air. Even after hearing his somewhat unusual assessment, Tangze's hands did not waver.

Tangze kept his eyes fixed straight ahead as he controlled the steering wheel.

The low beams were framed by trees and blades of grass on either side, as though they had spread a blanket of moonlight over the narrow road.

Knowing Vermouth's fate was clearer and more tragic than it had been in the original story, Tangze could not claim to be completely unmoved or hard-hearted. A bleak past was always enough to evoke sympathy.

But even now, Tangze remained very clear on one point—Vermouth was an enemy whose position stood in stark opposition to his own.

At the end of the story, given a certain degree of mutual understanding between them, Tangze might not treat her as harshly as