Chapter Text
This is where it’s gotten Clover, in the end. Having to strike the match to burn Akane’s effigy at a celebration of her death.
All of Oz is celebrating. The Wicked Witch of the West was dead — the one that had terrorized Oz, been their greatest enemy. The Wicked Witch of the West.
Not Akane Kurashiki. They never knew Akane Kurashiki.
They’re all waiting for her.
Clover takes a deep breath and strikes the match.
Once upon a time, Akane Kurashiki wasn’t the Wicked Witch of the West. She was a little girl, with parents, and a brother.
The only issue was that she was born…differently from most other people.
You see, there was one thing that was strange about Akane Kurashiki, something that anyone who saw her would immediately notice:
Her skin was a bright shade of purple.
As far as everyone knows, she was just born like that. There was no discernible cure any doctor could come up with, and the best guess they had as to why was that Mrs. Kurashiki had something during her pregnancy.
The problem was that the Kurashikis had a position of high importance — Akane’s grandfather was the Eminent Kurashiki, after all, and her brother would inherit that position. And Akane being so…different…caused her mother to sink into a state of despair. She wasn’t there for either of the children after that.
As a result of her aubergine skin, Akane grew up quite isolated from others, primarily raised by her nanny. Even her older brother could only provide so much help.
And as a result of her isolation, she devoted herself to academic studies.
She had a gift for it, almost as uncanny as her occasional…incidents. Incidents where she knew too much, saw too much. And that is where she learned her brother was planning to attend Shiz University when he was of an appropriate age. And she was determined to follow him. If she were being honest with herself, she’d admit that he was the only one she was ever close to — and she didn’t want to be left behind at home.
Even if Akane was to get in, she would still be separated from her brother, since Shiz University was heavily divided based on gender. But it would be better than nothing. She might have had a gift for her studies, but that didn’t mean they would necessarily accept her. All of her visions were of Aoi — though that was nothing unusual, considering her visions were rarely ever about herself.
“Why do you want to study?” her nanny, a Raven known to her as Lotus, asked. “The pursuit of knowledge isn’t bad, but humans think about it differently.”
Akane closed her book. “You think it’s stupid too, don’t you? How men get to have an education, to be seen in places in society — and we don’t.”
“Well, yeah,” Lotus answered, hopping to perch on the cover of the book instead. “You know, before I became your nanny, I tried to become a teacher. But they wouldn’t hire me.”
“Because you’re an Animal, or because of your gender?” Akane asked. Both were possibilities, after all. The Wizard’s hand only grew heavier as the years passed on.
“Well, I don’t know,” Lotus answered. “Either way, I’m not happy about it.”
Akane nodded. “There are a few reasons. One of them is that. One of them is because of Aoi. I had a vision of him leaving, and I don’t want him to leave me behind.”
“Another one of those visions?” Lotus pecked Akane softly. “You know following those will only bring you trouble. They’ll happen whether you like it or not, and you can’t do anything to prevent them.”
“I never said I was trying to interfere,” Akane answered, flicking Lotus in the wing. “I just want to go with him. Besides, it fits with what I’m already doing. I might as well try to do something with the books I’m reading. Even if I don’t think…I’ll ever…” She sighed. “I don’t know what I want to do with my future. I could do anything.” She set the book aside, jostling Lotus. “That’s the problem. I can see the future, but I can’t see my future.”
“And like I always say, you need to stop worrying about that so much,” Lotus said. “Most people don’t know anything about what’s gonna happen next. You can do anything. You could be anything.”
“But…I can’t really.” Akane tugged off her gloves and looked at the palms of her hands. “We’re both limited by our natures.”
Lotus lowered her head. “You are right. It’s just my job to tell you otherwise.”
“Father probably expects me to find some man willing to put up with me and have children,” Akane said. “But…but I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to be a woman, if that’s what being a woman means.”
Lotus let out a trill. “I see. Well, you know what you don’t want, at least. Hopefully, you’ll figure out what you want while you are there.”
Akane picked her book back up. “I suppose we’ll just have to wait for the results from my application.”
Aoi pushed the letter into her hands. “You could’ve told me, you know.”
Akane looked down. “Could I?”
“I don’t really care if you want to go or not. But I would’ve helped you out,” he answered.
“I just…I didn’t want you to think I was…” She frowned. She didn’t want to be his keeper, either — just because he had to perpetually use a cane didn’t mean that he needed his little sister to help. And she didn’t want to just be his little sister, either.
“I’m not leaving you behind, you know,” he said.
“I don’t want to stay here,” she said. “I’m not home here. I might as well try somewhere else.”
She wasn’t sure she’d ever be at home anywhere. She wasn’t sure that home would ever be any place for her, not when she was rarely ever welcomed.
“Well, you got accepted,” he said, ruffling her hair. “You’re free to go. It’s up to what you want to choose.”
What she wanted…?
Well — she knows what she wants.
“I’m taking it,” she declared.
Akane helped Aoi down from the carriage before grabbing their trunks from the back. Lotus flapped over to land on her shoulder.
Here she was. She’d finally arrived at Shiz University.
For the next few years, this would be where she lived.
“Are you ready, Akane?” Lotus asked.
Akane walked over to the girls’ line for the dormitory assignments. “I believe I am, yes.”