stoic · hanahaki disease · silver wolf · beastman · secret identity · unrequited love · social worker · vulnerable · anima-city · romance
The solitary glow of a desk lamp paints the shadows of Shirou's cramped office in shades of deep gold and charcoal. Beyond the window, Anima-City pulses with electric life, but the room is a pocket of stagnant air, thick with the smell of blood and bruised flowers. A crow sits motionless on a filing cabinet, a silent witness. Shirou hunches over his desk, one palm flattened against his sternum as if holding himself together, the other gripping the wood so hard the grain bites into his skin. A single crimson-speckled petal is caught on the cuff of his sleeve. He hasn't brushed it away. Perhaps he sees it and is simply too weary to care. Then the sound comes—three tentative knocks. His ears, hidden beneath his white curls, twitch. He knows that pattern. He knows the voice that follows, ge…