A/N: Breather chapters are the best (another short one since this chapter is mostly Haru, Rin and Yuki)
Minami went to go see her grandfather, with none of the other relatives there, because she didn't feel like causing another incident like previously. Shigure even offered to come with her, which was nice, but of course she said no.
"Aah… did you come down just to see me?" Her grandfather asked, her cats Shiro and Kuro had taken it upon themselves to follow her the entire way. The cats walked around the bedside, but never on him. "I'm really happy, thank you. Is everything okay for your career counselling interview?"
"Yes, Shigure's coming." Minami said with a soft smile on her face. "Are you feeling alright?"
"I'm fine. Other than my back, I'm alright I feel like I'll melt sleep like this all the time." He looked off at something I couldn't see, a distant but happy look in his eyes. His next words made Minami freeze. "I even dreamt of Katsuya and Kyoko again. It brought back such fond memories… Katsuya and I didn't used to get along that well before… Kyoko became like a bridge between us. Since Katsuya himself had certain quirks. I'd worried whether things would work out with Kyoko…"
"I even dreamt about Tohru, I hadn't seen her in so long." His smile lowered a bit. "She was always so kind and so selfless. But she always had her own issues, and she couldn't seem to overcome them in the end. Whether that be mimicking her father's speech patterns and personality traits to remind Kyoko of him after Kyoko's…. breakdown and abandonment of the two of you. With the hopes that it would keep her mother form leaving her….. Or due to my own family's statements about Tohru's parentage."
"But why were always so kind and seemed so happy when they had each other. And when you came into the picture, it seemed to light up their small worlds even more…. So why did the three of them end up passing away. I want to see them once more even as ghost would be fine. I want to see them… I want to go see them…"
He then drifted off to sleep. Minami stared down at her grandfather's face and no matter how hard she tried to move, she just couldn't seem to leave the house, until her other relatives opened the door. "You're still-" Her aunt was about to say until she saw the look on her face. They stared at each other for some time until her daughter made her way past her mother.
She looked over at Minami and passed her some tissues, not looking at her face. Minami blinked up at her confused. "Your eyes are bloodshot." Her cousin told her. She held out her hand and Minami took it.
"Thanks, Aimi." Minami said and quickly wiped her face away as she pulled her up. She was about to move past her aunt until she felt something on her head. Minami grabbed whatever was on her head and saw it was a box of a pocky. Minami looked over at her aunt who quickly went inside the room and into the kitchen.
"Don't mind her." Aimi said. "When Katsuya died, my mother took it to heart, she blamed Kyoko, Tohru and you, although it was never any of your faults." She paused. "She can be childish and immature, but she does care when she wants to. No she's not perfect but she's not evil either. Not everything's black and white right?"
Aimi paused. "I'm sorry for not sticking up for you… before… My brother, he's worst and it doesn't help that Mom allows it, I'm usually in the shadows in this family. So I thought that if I didn't help you, then maybe I'd receive more attention, though I realize it now that it was stupid to think that way."
She placed her hand on Minami's head as she bent down to her height. "You're not bad luck you know, kid's like you should be enjoying themselves not blaming yourself for the things you couldn't control." She took a stick of pocky from the box. "So cheer up, I'll call you when grandpa's better."
She sent her a cheeky smile and waved goodbye. Minami looked down at the pocky and felt tears run down her eyes, not from being sad, but for feeling.. For the first time that she might have a chance, no matter how small, to be accepted into this family.
Minami took a deep breath, opened the door and yelled. "I'm leaving!" (* 行ってきます!)
"See you soon."(* 行ってらっしゃい) She heard two voices call softly.
A/N: Tohru's aunt always blamed Kyoko and by proxy Tohru for the death of her elder brother Katsuya. Although it was never their fault, I did want to bring some more character development to at least Aimi and her mother, because I overall don't think that they're bad people. Especially Aimi because she never said anything bad about Tohru she was mostly just upset that she had to share at room with her and was shocked she was living with three guys. Aimi was complacent in Tohru/Minami's emotional and verbal abuse.
I thought that if Tohru's aunt or Natsumi as I named her, just walked in on Minami crying then some of her emotions at least towards Minami would change. She started to warm up to Tohru in the series but still remained distant, but since Minami was never biological related to Kyoko or Katsuya, Natsumi never had any reason to care about her and forced all of their deaths onto her. No it's not right, but I do think that they'd be willing to change overtime. It's not like they're going to be close, but I do think that allowing Minami somewhat into the family wouldn't be that surprising especially since Daichi wasn't there and Minami doesn't live with them.
Minami saying 行ってきます and her relatives responding with 行ってらっしゃい is a pretty important shift in their family dynamic that hard to explain in English.
