"Hey, Mugi..." said a pretty young woman, looking at her boyfriend as he cooked the day's dinner.
"Yes, Yuu?" he said, as he flipped his tamagoyaki, preparing to add in the second scoop of egg.
"Tomorrow…"she started uncertainly, "I'll have to go to America for a week…"
"Eh?" said Mugi, looking up from the cooking egg to his live-in girlfriend. "Yuu… Why?"
"Mama… She…" Mugi watched as her lips quivered and the tears well up in Yuu's eyes. As she sank to the floor, he abandoned the stove and wrapped his arms around her.
"What happened?" he asked, as made cooing sounds, rubbing her back. No.. must… ignore… bra strap…
"M-mama… She's in hospital… C-c-arr crash…" Yuu shook in his arms, and Mugi didn't need anyone to tell him that she trying to keep herself from crying in front of him.
He just held her, hugging her more tightly to tell her that he was there for her. Yuu and Tsukasa needed to be with their mother at this point of time, he knew they all needed it. Mugi stroked her hair gently as she cried in his arms, letting her weep for a good while before saying softly, "Go, you know you want to. I'll wait for you."
Yuu looked up, and Mugi could see that she had finished cry, and he delicately wiped her tears away with his thumb as she sniffed.
"Thank you," said Yuu, smiling, for his sake.
Smiling, Mugi called out loudly for Tsukasa.
"Yes?" said Yuu's sister after a moment as she appeared at the door to the kitchen.
"Pack," Mugi said, his voice forceful from resolution.
"Pack? What for?" Tsukasa asked, puzzled. "What happened?"
"Your mum, hospital," said Mugi. "Pack and go now. I'll go explain things at school."
"Mama? Hospital..?"
"Yes, quick, pack now. Go see how she's doing."
Tsukasa looked at Mugi for a moment first before saying quietly, "Thank you."
"I'll… Go pack too," said Yuu, as she stood up. Mugi merely nodded, and Yuu knew that all that he wanted to tell her in that one nod.
Both Yuu and Tukasa were done packing quickly. Yuu merely said that they could just buy whatever they lacked when they reached America when Mugi asked if they were only carrying so little in their luggage.
Mugi hugged Yuu tightly before they left, and Yuu let herself melt into his embrace, his comforting arms letting her know it was his small little way of comforting her before they left.
"Call me when you reach," he told Yuu, his next sentence directed at both sisters. "Take care of yourselves, both of you."
As they both nodded, Mugi patted their shoulders as a sign for them to move. Tsukasa had started to walk, but Yuu remained stationary. Tsukasa looked back and saw them, but continued to walk down the path that led away from their home.
"Yuu?"
His girlfriend merely took a step closer to Mugi and kissed him. This was only their fifth kiss, but Mugi could already tell the sorrow from Yuu's kiss, and let her continue to pour her sorrow into the kiss, as he poured his love and concern into it.
"You'll be here when I get back, right?"
Mugi let a small smile appear on his lips to reassure her. "Of course I'll be here, ba-a-ka," he replied to her rhetorical question.
He felt Yuu's sorrow as she put on a smile for him, and he looked on at both sisters as they walked down the path, Yuu catching up with Tsukasa.
The next few days were slow for Mugi. Mako-san was at her friend's place at Miyoshi, and he felt that he couldn't disturb both Kazuki and Manami in his gloomy state. Of course, they weren't going to let that hinder them from trying to comfort Mugi.
Both of them spent most of the day with Mugi at his house, and only left in the late afternoon so that they could have some time to themselves. Mugi never said it, but he knew that Kazuki and Manami didn't need him to thank them.
Back at school, it was the same. While every other boy was lamenting the fact that 'their Yuu' was away, he was miserable that his Yuu was gone, but he understood that she had to be gone. It just didn't make things easier for him. This, of course, meant that the Number Two of Miss Onomichi High, Murakami Kiku, was getting the brunt of most of the male testosterones.
As promised, Yuu had called, and told him that her mother's condition had stabilized. She had apologized for being able to go back to see him soon, but Mugi insisted that she stayed until her mum got better. Since then, she had called every night to chat with him for a while each night. Every night, he would offer his reassurance and send her mum his well wishes.
By the fifth day that Yuu was gone, Mugi was already used to the emptiness of the house. He was just about to start on preparing dinner when a girl's voice rang from the front of his house.
"Finally, you're back, Mako-sa–" Mugi stopped mid sentence when he realised that the one at the door was not the busty woman who lived under his roof, but the extremely pretty Murakami Kiku, and she seemed to be carrying her luggage with her. "Murakami? What are you doing here?"
"Hello, Mugi," she said simply. "You mind if I stayed here for a while?"
A/N: Canonically, this fic is set after chapter 89. It deviates from chapter 90 onwards, seeing as the scans for chapters since then haven't come out yet.
This fic's pairing, for now that I intend, is a MugiXKiku fic, but personally, I'm not sure how it'll end up.
In any case, I hope that my readers can give me their support and give me some guidance!
