Sachi POV

I sat there in the usual place. On the swing that I had been sitting on all day. Waiting. Waiting for Yuu-kun. Like I had said I would. I was so sure he would come. It was my birthday after all. But it was already evening. And my confidence was wavering.

"I guess...he's not coming after all..."

"So yesterday really was…goodbye…?"

As soon as I muttered those words, I wish I hadn't. A deep wave of regret and despair flooded over me. It was as if saying those words had made me realize just how true they were. Deep down, I already suspected he wasn't going to show. He had said as much himself after all.

Something wet was rolling down my cheek. I catch it with my tongue. Salty. Ah, I see. I'm crying aren't I? That made sense. I had liked Yuu-kun very, very much, after all. And now he, like my parents, was gone. I was alone. My tenth birthday, a day I was so sure that I would spend playing with him, a day I was so eager for, and I had wasted it all on this playground, sitting on this swing, waiting for a boy that I would never see again.

It was enough to make me want to shout at the sky. Frustration and pity swirled around my body, creating a lump in my throat.

It also occurred to me how terribly I had treated my parents this morning. They were so nice, today. Unusually nice. It was all I ever wanted. And what had I done? Rejected it viciously. I had ran out the door, and tried to get away. And for what? "Why now?" I had thought to myself at the time. "Why are they only being so nice now?" But the more I thought about it, the more ridiculous that sentiment was. It shouldn't matter why. I had what I wanted all this time right in front of me, and it was me who turned my back on it.

Ah, I'm truly a bad girl. Mom and Dad must hate me now. I began to wonder if this would mean I would have to live by myself from now on. But of course, I was smart enough to realize that this was impossible. I guess that meant that I was probably going to have to find someone else to take me in…ah what was the point? Somehow, I had always managed to lose the ones I cared about. Such must be the fate of a bad girl, I thought bitterly. But, then I heard voices.

"Sachiiii!"

"….Sachiii!"

Huh? That voice...that was Mom and Dad. I raised my head with a jerk. They were looking for me? I jumped off the swing and hurried over to the source of the sound. There they were, just on the other side of the road. They were covered in sweat.

"Daddy! Mommy!" I called out to them. My voice was hoarse from not talking all day. But that didn't matter to me right now. I had to tell them how sorry I was, for being so selfish. Maybe, just maybe, they would take me back.

"Sachi…!" Dad and Mom looked in my direction. Was that relief I saw on their faces? Or was it annoyance? I couldn't tell, the way I was, and honestly I didn't care. I dashed out to greet them, overwhelmed with happiness. At the same time, Dad started to cross the street-

"Dear, watch out!"

And suddenly, Mom pulled him back onto the curb, just in the nick of time. A truck had sped through a red light, narrowly avoiding Dad, who had a bemused look on his face, before the situation caught up to him.

"Bastard!" He turned and raised a fist at the back of truck. "Watch where you're going!"

Seeing him then and not really understanding what was going on myself, I trembled. Since he was usually a mild-mannered guy, I had never seen such an angry look on my Dad's face before. Was he going to be just as angry at me?

Mom played the voice of reason, trying to calm him down. "Dear! Dear!"

"Piece of shit nearly hit me! Fucking bastard ran a red light! My life just flashed before my eyes!"

"Dear, Sachi!"

"...Ah."

For some reason, my name seemed to return him to his senses. My parents now turned their attention to me. With no truck in sight, they crossed the road all too quickly.

"Mom...Dad..." I managed to croak out. My body was numb with fear. I still considered the possibility that they had come to reject me. Surely, something bad was going to happen to me. But I decided that I had to do what I had to do.

Throwing my body on my ground with my head bowed and eyes tightly shut, I yelled with all my might.

"I'm sorry!"

I waited for Dad to yell at me. I waited for Mom to slap me. I waited for something to happen.

But it never did.

Where they even there still? Apprehensively, I opened my eyes and slowly lifted my head to face them. And I saw a sight that I could never have expected to see.

Two warm smiles and four caring eyes were shining on me brighter than the sun itself. Two hands, one from each reached out to me, offering me to rise from the mud.

"Sachi, let's go home." Dad said gently.

I was stunned. Then they really had forgiven me? This was real, right? This wasn't some trick or delusion?

"Sachi, let's go home." Mom this time repeated those beautiful words. And in that moment I had felt more blessed than I had ever felt in my life. A happy smile broke out on my face as I accepted the outstretched hands held out to me.

"...Yeah!" I answered. Half in bliss, half in disbelief, I rose to my feet and together, as a family, we crossed the street and walked home.

However, it wasn't all as perfect as it could of been. Once I had returned from my high, I once again noticed the unexpected feeling of something wet was rolling down on my body. However, this time, it was on my legs...

I had not gone to the bathroom all day.

With this realization I suddenly faltered a step, and both my parents looked over in concern. Hastily, I tried to adjust back to the normal speed, hoping against hope that they hadn't noticed but-

"...Sachi...why...?" My Mom had started to say but abruptly decided against continuing, obviously deciding it would be kinder to me not to continue, but the damage had been done.

I blushed deep red and averted my eyes to the ground in shame. My mother's words repeating in my mind endlessly.

"Sachi...why...?"

Those words would haunt me for an eternity.

Note: I had the idea of working on a something like this for a while, but I had wanted to complete a few chapters before I release it. Then as I was working on a second chapter, I saw that someone put out a story with almost the same concept that I came up with so I decided to just release and leave it like this.