If she made the slightest mistake, her father would slap her across the face without warning. When she cried from the pain, her brother would laugh at her.
And when she begged — truly begged — to be allowed to go to school, they just shook their heads and said the same cold words:
"Girls don't need an education."
Every night, she went to bed cold, her belly empty, her body sore, and her heart broken.
And then, the nightmare repeated.
Again.
And again.
And again.
The pain never changed. The cruelty never stopped. Each version of the scene hit harder than the last, dragging her deeper into the darkness.
Mirai thought her heart would break into pieces.
She felt her soul being crushed under the weight of it all — the hunger, the silence, the loneliness, the unfairness that never ended.
She screamed into the wind, her voice raw with emotion, "Stop it! Please! I get it! I understand now!"
But nothing changed.
The world didn't stop.
