Three Words or More
They're talking about nothing in particular, sitting in what remains of the former council room. After a brief quiet period Shizuru says her name, and she turns around, waiting for the teasing joke that will make them both feel normal. Instead Shizuru just smiles, and somehow that does the job anyway. "You should smile more," she says inanely – doesn't Shizuru always smile? – but for some reason the comment causes a sudden coughing fit. The burgundy eyes can't look at her, can't look away, so they close as the normally unflappable kaichou tries to recompose herself. Natsuki can't help feeling somehow victorious.
"I wish you would stay," she finds herself saying, as she stares at the suitcases absently. Shizuru freezes in place for the space of a heartbeat, then laughs lightly as if her world hadn't just stopped for a moment, and reaches for the next item to pack. She can't not leave, at least for now, and both of them know it.
It's a phone call late at night, after Natsuki has spent one too many sleepless nights catching up on all the studying she didn't do while shooting Orphans and Children (capital letters make everything okay) and generally making a mess of things. She blames the late hour for her sudden topic, "When you get back..." and for the half-hour conversation that follows.
She gets back to her apartment after a late day in the lab, opens the door to find Shizuru sitting there drinking tea like a permanent fixture. Maybe the number of sips marks the hour. Maybe she shouldn't have mailed her spare key on a whim. Maybe that was the best idea she'd ever had. "Hi," she says, as her organs squirm back to where they're supposed to be. A very long second later, she adds, "Welcome home."