Someone was yelling in an awful voice without a shred of kindness to it.
A little girl was being yelled at angrily by a man with white wings who must have been her father, at least by blood.
Parents yelled at their children. It wasn't an especially rare thing; most people experienced this sometime in their lives. But this wasn't anger due to concern for his child. There was only a selfish anger and a man simply venting his resentment at a little girl.
"Did you seriously injure someone else's kid again?! What did I say?! Don't hurt other people!"
"But, Father, they were the ones who hit me first, and a lot of them threw rocks at me. I was just trying to defend myself…"
"Shut up!"
A sharp sound echoed through the area.
The young girl knew it was because of violence brought down upon her by the living thing that was her "father".
This always happens. This man never listened to what she had to say. He was simply playing at being her father, pretending to discipline her. But in reality, he only thought of himself.
That was why he so quickly resorted to violence if whatever she had been doing didn't please him. He would never have said anything out of concern for his child.
Basically, he was only keeping up appearances. If the girl did anything, his reputation would worsen. That was why he pretended to scold her like this, shouting angrily like an idiot.
"I don't remember raising you to be like this! Where did I go wrong?! Huh?! Tell me!" The man yelled in his awful voice, and the girl agreed inwardly.
Of course you don't.
After all, she didn't remember the man raising her at all.
All this man's ever given me are jeers and violence.
Where did you go wrong? Everywhere. In fact, I don't remember you going right anywhere.
"There are no parents who don't love their children."
Those were just simple, pretty words spouted by someone clueless who probably basked in their parents' love their whole life. They probably had a sage expression, too.
There were tons of parents who didn't love their children. Because they never wanted a child, or because the child was in the way, or because they were too noisy.
Or, because their wings were black…
For just those reasons, parental love could easily disappear.
The little girl never received anything even resembling love from the piece of filth that was at the very least called her father.
"… liar."
Leaving behind that single word, the girl ran. She didn't want to have to hear the man's voice anymore and couldn't find any meaning in continuing to talk to him.
That man is just a stranger. A stranger who just happens to share blood with me.
So I'm not sad. This isn't painful. These droplets of water running down my cheeks are not tears. They're not.
She ran.
She simply ran without even knowing where she was running to. There was no place for her in this village.
Just for having taboo black wings… For having black wings, she was alienated, neglected, and discriminated against. Even though it wasn't like she was contagious or would spread illness, she had rocks thrown at her, and if she ever fought back it was her fault.
Her only ally was her mother. But her mother was weak in constitution, and the girl didn't want to worry her needlessly.
But the presence of her mother was a saving grace to the girl, and if that didn't exist, then she would probably have long fled the village.
Why did this have to happen to me? Why? Just because the color of my wings is different?
There were angels other than her who didn't have white wings. They all lived clinging to each other as people under the same circumstances often do in a place the sun didn't reach, the exact definition of slums.
If she'd gone there, she probably would have turned out differently. But she didn't know what the thing called her father would do to her mother if she left the house. The violence pointed at her might have instead been pointed at her mother.
Why is the world this unfair? Why do we have to be this unhappy?
She couldn't stop herself from cursing god.
A great Goddess of creation? As if. Goddess of love? I'm gonna puke.
If there really is a god that overflows with love and mercy, then why is the world so full of unfairness?
There's no point in praying. No one will reach out to help.
No one will save me.
At such a young age, the little girl stopped relying on others.
Since nobody will help me, I'll just have to do it myself.
She was still living at home and was given the bare minimum of food, but she didn't know when that would stop. And more importantly, she had no intentions of continuing to live life like this.
That was why she wished to become strong.
She wanted to become strong enough to be able to wipe away all the irrationality and unfairness of the world.
I'm still young and weak, but one day for sure… I'll take Mama and get out of this miserable life.
The black-winged girl, Lunaru Fenris, vowed strongly to do so from the bottom of her heart.