Ryo downed the last can of beer as Saeko set the dinner. Saeko spent most of her time in here, these days. She has recently retired from the police force, and had nothing to do at home. They ate their dinner, in comfortable silence. It seemed like after having gone through so much, together, they had nothing left to talk about. They were just two people waiting for death.
Ryo thought about how Saeko had replaced everyone, Makimura, Kaori, even Aiko. There were some things in the world that no one else could understand. Like why he needed to talk to the tombs in the graveyard, why he insisted on keeping Kaori's room exactly the way it used to be, why he kept carnations in the vase by the window. There were some things that could be shared only in silence, only with the people who have been through it.
Aiko had chosen her path, she had chosen who she was. She lived in her own world now, a world of thick books and professors and seminars and knowledgeable friends. It was a world he didn't belong in. He had never been to school. All the education he had ever received was at gunpoint.
Ryo liked Joe more than he would like to admit. He was a man who stood his ground, who wouldn't back down from the things he believed in. Of course, he was not the kind of man Ryo would've chosen for Aiko. He would have chosen someone strong, someone who could protect her. Someone who would love her from afar, who would never say it out loud, but she'd know. He would have chosen someone who loved her the way he had loved Kaori.
Because Kaori had always known.
He guessed it wasn't his choice to make. He guessed she'd have to learn to protect herself.
After Saeko left, he sat in the dark, wondering whether he brought up his daughter well, if he had been a good father or not. He realised, that he had never been a father at all. Aiko had just grown up on her own.
