'Hi.'

Takeru should have just left the door. He should have pretended to not be home. Was it too late to jump out the window? Fifth floor… he might survive.

He has so many regrets in his life.

For whatever reason, he steps aside and lets her walk into his apartment; Hikari has finally asked him to move in with her, so a lot of his stuff is in boxes and there's plastic wrap over most of the furniture. The place looks empty already. He wasn't really attached to the place - he's more attached to his girlfriend.

She looks great, for her age. Her blonde hair hasn't faded at all, and her skin looks good. She doesn't look old at all. Still thin, still pretty - she's hardly changed. Clutching her shiny black-leather bag with two hands, she has a quick look around the apartment. It's a habit of hers - judging on the first look. She doesn't wait for stories - she digs for them.

'You're… moving.'

Takeru briefly wonders if Yamato told his parents that he had declined their offer to play happy family. He doesn't care, but it'd be interesting to know.

'Hikari wants to keep me closer, she likes my company.'

He won't talk to her simply. She likes to be as long-winded as possible, he can play that game too. He grew up with it.

'I see.' she says, her voice steady and accepting. And yet, she doesn't sound like she's accepted the futility of her visit at all.

She sits down on one of chairs, and stares at him as she sets her bag down. Takeru hates when she looks at him like that. She shifts on the plastic, scuffing the floor with her heels.

'Have you been eating?'

Was she sizing him up, or sizing him down? Takeru can never tell what she wants.

'No, I photosynthesise and Hikari waters me every other day.'

Her mouth wavers between a glower and a smile. 'Hmm, you always were the funny one.'

'Someone had to be.'

She gets stiff when she gets defensive. Sitting up straighter, she says, 'I presume Yamato told you about our new situation -'

Takeru doesn't get why she's decided to become so evasive. He wants to shout at her, to tell her to get straight to the point, to leave, but he has long since learnt restraint.

'Yamato doesn't tell me shit.'

'That's your brother you're talking about-'

'Yamato didn't tell me shit.' Takeru repeats, speaking more clearly and slowly, insuring that she fucking listens.

She sighs, and regards her son with a strained brow. 'Takeru, we'd love for everyone to be together after all this time-'

'Oh, and I'm getting in the way, that it?' Takeru bites, pulling a chair from by the wall and spinning it around to sit across from her.

'You… and Dad, and Yamato, y-you - you all left me.'

He doesn't want to cry. He won't.

'You guys built your life. I have mine. You think you can fix things and that everything will get sorted out, but it doesn't work that way.'

She hasn't even blinked. They just stare at each other. Takeru can't help but think that she's delusional.

'Takeru, I'm sorry you didn't hear about this from us. Maybe, we were wrong to not come to you ourselves.'

'Saying 'we', like you never got divorced, like it wasn't messy. That's so fucking rich.'

Takeru leans back, and tries not to laugh. 'I wonder how long you'll last this time?'

She looks like she wants to slap him, but she won't. She won't let anyone get to her like that. The only person who ever could was her ex-husband. She'll act like it doesn't bother her, like his language doesn't bother her. Instead, she'll retaliate. She throws a curve-ball his way.

'You went to hospital, recently. Will you at least share some details…?' She asks, sounding more like the practiced journalist she is. Takeru wouldn't have been phased if she pulled out a notebook and pen from her purse. She likes being in control of the conversation.

He recalls succinctly, 'I was on lithium-based meds, but the doctors decided that I'm more sensitive to lithium being in my system than most people, so they've taken me off it. Prescribed me something else. Koushiro - you remember him - he called the ambulance.'

She nods. Yamato hadn't managed to wring out so much as a drop of detail from neither Takeru, Hikari nor Koushiro. But, his visitor was a stickler for detail.

'That- that's good, I suppose.'

She's such a bad actress - she says that like she didn't know everything he'd told her already. Koushiro would've told Yamato as much.

'You would say that. You didn't see me about to die.'

She has that look; the edges of her eyes crinkle and her lips quirk just enough that Takeru knows she's close to tears. She's not one of the blubbering types - she'll go from zero to a hundred in milliseconds.

She looks at the ceiling and almost hoarsely, she says, 'We never know when something happens to you. We're your parents, we should at least know.'

Takeru isn't sure who she's angry at. Herself… Yamato or Dad… she seems to regret something. But it doesn't matter to him. He's done. He let go of them.

'You should speak to Hikari about that.'

She looks at Takeru questioningly, and he further explains, 'She's listed as my next of kin, see. She makes a lot of decisions for me.'

'It's because of her that you dropped out of university. I'm guessing you're moving in with her because she told you to-'

Takeru smacks the table behind him with a fist, and she actually jumps in her seat.

'Don't you dare talk shit about her. You don't get to say anything against Hikari. She's nothing like you!'

Takeru sees the glass of her eyes shatter, and he knows that he's thrown enough punches. She has to understand - she left him, not the other way around. She threw him away, hoping he'd get fixed and returned like a car being taken in for a service.

Cars don't attempt suicide.

She brushes her hair back, away from her face, and notes, 'Hikari means a lot to you.'

He loves Hikari. He really, really does. If she deems him tolerable enough one day, he'll marry her. He thinks it's entirely plausible that they can enjoy a life together. He loves Hikari that strongly and more strongly still. Nothing anyone says will ever change that. Even if she tries…

Takeru rests his elbows on his knees, leaning forward as he scratches the back of his head. He can't work out her game. Of all people, she would have one. He never saw that side of her growing up, but, it was probably always there. Conniving… no, that was too brutal a word. She was just so cunning. She got what she wanted by any means. Takeru doesn't know what she wants. She's already wrecked his week by coming here, what more could she want?

'We put up with each other. That's more than you can say about-'

'All those years -' she cuts off, knowing what he wants to say, '- and you never complained. Never asked why. Never sought to call us out on our stupid arrangement-'

'You raised a proud boy.'

'Pride will only get you so far. And you were better than that.'

Were. That's a low blow and then some.

'You made it clear you wouldn't like me digging, so I didn't. I listened to you. I respected you.'

She sighs, knowing what he really means. He doesn't respect her anymore.

'Yamato was angry, but at least he was honest about it. You, you were so easy about it. You… why didn't you ever say anything to me? We butchered your childhood, I know. But you bottled it up and now you're suffering, all these hospital visits-'

Takeru doesn't want to raise his voice but it happens instinctively anyway. 'I was suffering. Once upon a time. Not anymore. I'm over it, and I'm over you. Don't kid yourself, thinking you can come and play mother when all the heavy work is already done. It doesn't matter who you think is at fault. I've made my peace.'

He can't even look at her anymore.

'And apparently you're making yours.'

She doesn't even deny it. She left for a reason, and that reason is more powerful than she knows. But he knows.

'So Yamato did tell you we're back together-.'

'He said that you and Dad were in contact again. You've just told me the rest, just now.'

She looks jolted, and Takeru find it bittersweet. He doesn't want to ruin her life, but he wants to do something because she ruined his. He can't be perfect for Hikari because of what his parents did. He's just so done with it.

'I think you should make a move, maybe even have Yamato committed to a psych ward before it's too late. Just don't send him back here on some stupid mission for you.'

She looks defiant, ignoring his defensive sarcastic barb as she tries, 'I… I didn't mean for things to turn out this way.'

Thankfully, she stands of her own accord, and strides to the door with as much grace as she can muster before turning to address him once more.

Softly, she says, 'I'm sorry for hurting you. For not helping where I could've. I'm so sorry for not being around enough.'

Takeru's watery eyes are hard like ice. 'You could've called. You just didn't.'

Slamming the door behind her is as good as he's going to get, he thinks. It was a complete farce, all of her apologies, her efforts, her explanations. She sounded almost sincere, but Takeru's happy to trust his instincts on this one. If she thinks he'll ever forgive them after everything he's been through, or ever call her his mother again, she's just insane.