Chapter 12: Hypothesis

"... Why do you want to know Miwa?..."

The peach haired girl whispered softly as her blue eyes drifted towards the cards in her hands.

"Just curious, but if you're uncomfortable I could ask Aichi later"

The blond replied, wondering if mentioning her brother would make he answer him.

"No, don't mention our father anywhere near Aichi... He's gone so it doesn't matter about him"

Emi sighed, putting her cards away after temper stilt losing interest in them.

"Oh they were close... I see"

The girl hesitantly nodded slowly, the brunette could tell by the look of hurt in her eyes that it was not the case at all. That she probably thought that he was in jail because of how he treated his son.

"I've got to go now..."

The peach haired girl whispered before nodding a goodbye and leaving the store. Miwa frowned as he walked back over to Kai.

"You made me scare her away!"

The blond whined, not liking that he had made a friend feel uncomfortable, the brunette ignored his friend's whine.

"So that's what the repayment is..."

The brunette whispered to himself, Miwa looked at his friend in confusion.

"What? I'm totally lost..."

Kai sighed realizing that he most likely needed to fill in his confused friend as to what had transpired.

"When we went in different directions a came across Aichi... And his father..."

"But I thought he was dead..."

The brunette nodded because he used to have the same thought.

"Yeah... Anyway his father was hurting him and talking about repayment... And judging by the way Emi acted at the mention of her father, I'm guessing that he went to jail for hurting Aichi and blames him"

The blond frowned at the brunette's guess, it seemed too odd to be true yet at the same time it seemed liable. The blue haired boy had been extremely quiet and shy while being bullied is what he had been told.

"So if you're right, what's next?"

Miwa asked, a little overwhelmed by all the new information he had received.

"I don't know... I'm pretty sure that Aichi would be angry if Emi and his mom found out about his father being out of jail..."

"If he even was in jail"

The blond added, Kai nodded he didn't want to get perfectly stuck to a theory only to have it completely wrong, which was very likely to happen.

"Maybe I could ask Aichi..."

The brunette replied softly as he was deep in thought.

"Yeah, and spend hours chasing him again"

The blond sighed, causing the brunette to narrow his eyes slightly. It was true that the younger boy kept intentionally evading them, however now that they knew about his dad he wasn't so sure that Aichi would keep running and be unsure as to what they would do.

"Maybe... Or he would talk so that we don't do anything he wouldn't like, he's not stupid after all"

The brunette said as he got up from his seat, slightly startling his blond friend.

"Ehh, where are you going?"

Miwa asked, wondering why the brunette suddenly got up.

"To the Sendou residence, I want to ask him now..."

A cheeky grin appeared upon Miwa's face after his question was answered.

"And you're worried about how bad Aichi is feeling?"

"..."

The brunette went silent as he left his grinning friend, not bothering to respond to the question knowing that he would be teased and this his time wasted.

Kai knew where the blue haired boy lived, even before he had started following the boy for he had once seen Aichi enter his house as he was was walking by on the way to the store.

He wondered how the smaller boy would react when he saw him at the door, he knew that he wouldn't be a normal visitor. He guessed that saying that he wanted to wish the boy good health would seem odd to both siblings, however that didn't matter if his mother believed him.

The brunette hesitated slightly as he approached the Sendou residence's door, as the thought of the blue haired boy denying him entry popped into his head.

He was relieved when the one who opened the door wasn't either of the two siblings but instead a cyan haired woman with matching eyes.

"Hello?"

She asked as she opened the door and saw the brunette standing in front of the doorway.

"Hi... I was wondering if I could visit Aichi, I heard that he was unwell and I wanted to check up on him..."

The brunette replied, feeling guilty for lying to Who he assumed was Aichi's mother.

The cyan haired mother's eyes lit up with unexplained joy as she quickly motioned the brunette to enter.

"Please do, Aichi's never had a friend visit him before, I'm sure it'll make him feel better"

She replied happily, the brunette nodded, grateful that the blue haired boy had a loving mother.

"Ah, thank you miss Sendou"

The cyan haired girl smiled before pointing to a staircase.

"You can call me Shizuka, Aichi's room is right at the top of the stairs"

The brunette murmured a soft thanks before walking up the stairs he paused before the first door, nervous as to how the boy would react or how bad his injuries were.

Kai swallowed before knocking on the door.

"Come in"

The unmistakable voice of Aichi called softly from inside, it seemed odd that he didn't sound sick at all. He also wondered if he would have been allowed entry if the boy knew it was him.

Kai slowly opened the bedroom door, expecting to see the younger boy lying in bed. However the sight that he was greeted with was one he didn't expect.

Aichi was in the room, yet not on the bed, instead the young boy was sitting on the floor wearing a baby blue shirt and grey shorts, looking rather healthy except for a few things that made the brunette angry when he noticed.

Sapphire eyes widened in shock as he noticed the brunette, then quickly grabbed his blanket over him to cover up the visibly fresh injuries that littered the boy's small frame.

wonder how bad the injuries are hehe~