Blueprint

I woke up inside a room that wasn't my own with my face stuck to the futon via a puddle of my own drool. It was inexplicable to me how I had shut down so hard the evening before that I could sleep like a rock until morning. The last thing I remembered was the pounding of my heart as I imagined Shimamura taking a bath.

"Hng!" I had pinched my arm painfully to distract my mind from that mental image. Being at her house was doing weird things to my head. This room kind of smelled like Shimamura. It was faint, but she had spent many sweaty days in here. My thoughts were so disgusting, but if I pinched myself every time they popped up, my entire arm would be covered in bruises soon.

Soon…

I glanced at my laptop that was closed while charging. Soon we would live together. Every day would be like yesterday. Every night might be like this night. No, that's not accurate. Unless we made some extreme room allocations, we would be sleeping in the same bedroom. Just like that night where Shimamura had slept in my bed. My pulse was increasing just thinking of that night. Would I be able to survive if this was going to happen every night?

But I wanted to sleep with her. Next to her. Not in a weird way. That wasn't it at all. Just hearing her regular breathing near me was giving me so many colorful emotions and I wanted to experience that more. We wouldn't even sleep in the same bed, that was a given, but her presence would be closer to me than before. Two adults sharing a room wasn't anything out of the ordinary. That's it.

But I was odd. Maybe it was time to accept that part of myself already, because once we started our shared life I would be unable to compose myself anymore. The fidgety, confused, stuttering me that clung to Shimamura so much would have to go. I needed to regain the control that was once normal in my daily life. Because if I did not contain these feelings Shimamura would definitely regret moving in with me. More than enjoying her presence, I was scared of earning her ire. Her disgust.

She was entrusting herself to me. Me. I could not hope to understand what Shimamura was going through below that carefree exterior, not yet. All I knew was that she had been hurting for a long time and that I was the first person she opened up to about it. And yet here I was getting excited all on my own. I was so… base.

While cracking my neck rather painfully I opened my laptop and checked out the apartment we had ended up choosing. A place that was close enough to the station so that we could conveniently walk there. Anything a bit further away was still easily reachable by bike. Maybe I should buy a bike for Shimamura too. Although I wanted her to ride on my back again, she would probably prefer to have her own. Yeah, that was decided then.

I spent a good while browsing for bicycles before I finally noticed that the clock in the corner had reached nine. The rays of the sun had warmly caressed my back for a while already, but I had failed to sense them. This ceiling room switched between cold and warm quickly. The heater Shimamura had put in the corner was probably unnecessary already.

"Breakfast." I whispered as I picked up the smell of food from the door. Just like when Shimamura had made something for me last week I once again felt a weird clump in my stomach. Someone making a meal for me was nostalgic, but not in a pleasant way. It reminded me of the times I still lived with that woman.

I forcefully slammed the laptop shut and rose to my feet. Then I extended my hands to my sides and – smacked my cheeks! It was very painful and the ringing inside my head didn't stop for a while. This was necessary though. The kindness that the Shimamuras showed me should not be treated like a burden. I commanded my mind to ingrain this fact completely. They were not my mother. I was not stuck in that suffocating cage anymore!

Sitting at the living room table like a family to eat together was something I could not get used to, but that didn't mean it had to be painful. All I needed to do was act normal. Normal.

With that resolution in my heart I made myself presentable and walked downstairs to face this hurdle head on.

"Already awake? You will be a great role model for Hougetsu." Shimamura's mother greeted me casually from the kitchen where she was preparing the food. "The rest of my flock has a habit of sleeping in on Sundays."

I greeted her quietly with a lowered head and stood still near the door frame. It was hard to step over this arbitrary line for me. Seeing Mrs. Shimamura in her pajamas leisurely chopping food was at least putting me at ease a little. She was a carefree woman. Maybe that's where Shimamura got this attitude from.

"Why are you standing over there? No need to be scared, I know how to handle a knife!" She said as she spun the knife dangerously between her fingers.

I swallowed audibly. No use getting cold feet now. In a mechanical way I moved through the kitchen and stopped at a carefully measured distance from the woman. Just out of knife range.

"Is there anything you'd like to eat in particular? Hougetsu didn't give me any response yesterday, that lazy bum."

"No, but thank you very much. Shima- er, H-Hougetsu asked me, but I didn't have any preferences." I was getting really nervous already.

"You must like something."

"Toast?"

"That's a start." She smirked and pulled a plastic bag filled with toast slices from some basket. In a rather elegant motion she managed to pull two slices out and throw them into the toaster without letting go of the knife she used to cut more vegetables. She already prepared my food before the others even showed up.

It was hard to speak up in this quickly shrinking kitchen with my friend's mother. Discussing food was not much of an option for me and now that my toast was getting heated I had carved out the only topic for small talk I could conceive. If I knew more about Mrs. Shimamura I may have been able to say something, but as we were there was only deep silence. Standing next to the sink and looking at my feet I was probably giving off a very unsociable impression. That was spot on, but I felt bad about it. I really did. Shimamura's mother was kind and she was entrusting her daughter to my care. Or was it the other way around?

Ding!

The toast was ready and flopped over the edge of the silver toaster straight onto a plate held ready by the master of the kitchen. She handed it to me and then opened the fridge to give me something to put on the dry slices. In fact she pushed half the contents of the fridge into my arms. A bit nervously I held them in my arms and hurried towards the table. That gave me an idea. I returned quickly and picked up the other dishes and silverware to set the table. Mrs. Shimamura watched me clearly, but didn't speak up.

There were five seats and an equal amount of dishes. I ordered the food in a way that made it reachable from most positions, except my own. I didn't need to ready anything for myself, because I had time to prepare my own food beforehand. I preferred to eat on my own anyway. Was that bad? It would probably make them stare at me if I just sat at the table with an empty plate. Their impression of me would only worsen the longer I stayed at this house.

"You can eat already, there's no telling when this herd will find their way to the water hole." Just as I was wrestling with myself about what to do, Mrs. Shimamura had pushed me into the chair and then sat down diagonally across from me. That was the seat she had taken during yesterday's dinner as well.

Everyone in this family had their set constellations. Next to her was the seat of her husband and across from her sat Shimamura. Then next to her sat her little sister, which only left the head of the table for me. I could have pressed myself between Shimamura and her sister, but that would have made our arm space too tight. It would also be way too rude. Even so, deep down I would have preferred it.

"Uhm, thanks for the food." I spoke a quiet thanks with folded hands before biting into my barely covered toast. The strawberry marmalade was very sweet.

"So polite. You must have gotten your manners from Atsuka." Shimamura's mother was supporting her cheek on one hand and watched me eat unabashedly.

My mouth stopped mid chewing motion and my heart sank. I had almost forgotten that Mrs. Shimamura knew that woman. I didn't want to hear any more. I didn't want to know anything about their relationship. To her I may have just been the daughter of an acquaintance, so she wanted to talk about that. Sure. I could understand how she felt, because I wanted to talk about Shimamura with people who knew her as well. But if I had to crush my curiosity to avoid hers, I would not have hesitated.

"Were you the one who proposed to live together?" Unexpectedly she completely changed the topic. I glanced at her from the corner of my eyes and saw an unfaltering smile. Had she seen my gloomy expression and changed course?

"Yes."

"Thought so. As if Hougetsu would have the determination to make such big decisions." She chuckled.

"Shimamura… I mean Hougetsu, she is always doing a lot for me." I had hastily swallowed the piece of toast and spoken my mind. It was not like I was upset by her words, but it felt like if I didn't defend Shimamura I would have been a lousy friend.

"So it would seem. All the more reason to be impressed by you."

I could honestly not tell whether she was messing with me or meant every word she said. Whichever it was, there was just an aura about her that made her thoughts unreadable and her smile mysterious. I doubted that I would ever understand this woman even if I tried with all my might. Shimamura sometimes also acted cryptically, but that appeared to be more of a defense mechanism, while Mrs. Shimamura's intentions were a complete mystery to me.

"Don't look so dreary, I'm complimenting you, seriously!" She laughed and took a sip from her carrot juice. "You probably don't know it, but getting Hougetsu to care for you is more than a bit impressive. Take it from the one who had to keep her motivated when she studied for her final university exams. She tried to give up about a hundred times in those weeks." She shrugged as if it was none of her concern.

"I think graduating is very… amazing." That was not the exact word I had in mind, but it wasn't empty praise either.

I had left school with average scores, because I never took the time to study properly. I had simply not cared at all. I missed so many lessons that I could have felt proud for managing to do so averagely, but my apathy had been endless back then. University was simply not an option for me, even if I had not needed money to move out. So the fact that Shimamura went through years of extra education without quitting seemed like an act of determination in itself to me. Scores, degrees, achievements, I could not really say what they were worth. What determined their value was just what other people thought of you, maybe. And Shimamura's achievements made me think better of her as well. Was it so strange that I had no regard for my own track record, but admired hers?

"It was a sloppy last minute effort, but an effort that paid off. My research into brain food was definitely what tipped the scales." She boasted while tapping her temple with a finger. "Speaking of my amazing cooking, how will you handle it when you move in together?"

"We decided to take turns."

"If Hougetsu accidentally poisons you give me a call anytime. I know of some potent herbs that could save you." She grinned like the Cheshire cat.

"Shimamura's food tastes good." I replied seriously.

"She actually served you something she made? I'm starting to think my daughter was replaced by aliens." She pretended to be shocked. "Of course aliens don't exist, but if they did they would probably prefer to eat rather than cook."

I was starting to wonder if airheadedness just ran in the family. It was a bit comforting to know that Mrs. Shimamura could joke about it instead of admonishing us for our lacking skills. It gave me a subconscious feeling that everything would turn out well somehow.

"Haaawaah… mornin'." The loud yawn and heavily dragged feet of a freshly awoken woman made my shoulders jump up in surprise. "Adachi and mom?" Shimamura rubbed her sleepy eyes and double checked our presence. To say she had wild bed hair would have been an understatement. I really liked that look to be honest.

"You got up before your father. Did your rumbling stomach wake you up?" Her mother was giving her a snarky greeting as usual.

"Stop making me sound – haaaww – like a glutton who is controlled by her stomach." She retorted and flopped down on the chair next to me. "Do we have any rice?"

"Pah! You will definitely get bloated if you keep that up. Adachi dear, keep her carb intake in check or you will have to roll her out of bed by next year." She smacked my shoulder enthusiastically and I simply pretended it was a detached mannequin arm or something to bear the pain.

"Don't drag Adachi into this." She grumbled a response and grabbed an untoasted slice of bread to cover in butter. It was definitely a layer thicker than anything I had ever eaten. "I'm so glad I'll be out of here soon."

"Aww, I know you will miss my cooking. Will you survive doing the laundry and cleaning by yourself?"

"I'm not a child anymore. If you are so worried why don't you get a part time job as a maid and come over to take care of it?" Shimamura made a pretty sharp comment, but it didn't seem to bother her mother at all.

"My skin may be as youthful as yours, but even I think that I'd be pushing it with my age if I applied for that job." She shrugged again. So nonchalant.

"Yup. Aren't you going to eat?" Shimamura pointed her knife at her mother's plate.

"I will wait for your dad. He gets grumpy if I don't eat with him."

A married couple was full of such tics and oddities. That's what I had read in a magazine at least. I could not even remember what my parents were like when they were still living together. Marriage was not something that ever crossed my path until now. It was a bond that turned two strangers into a family. An artificial connection stronger than blood. Sharing something so binding and powerful would require either a deep seated love or a serious look into the future. Eventually everyone around me would be married. That's what my colleagues at work always talked about when I turned my back to them.

Everyone? Even Shimamura? My eyes were definitely fixed to her face. It was impossible not to stare. She didn't seem to notice at all and kept lethargically chewing on her breakfast. I hoped she wouldn't turn my way, but at the same time I wished she would look at me. This conflict in my chest was making it hard to breathe.

Shimamura was going to live with me. The happiness that knowledge brought me was invaluable. But now I had to face the reality that eventually we would separate again. This sapling of happiness was already torn out by the root before it could grow into a flower. Was this happiness worth it if it was snuffed out without fail down the line?

I had lost my appetite already after just two slices of toast. Not that I tended to eat much more in the mornings anyway.

"You alright, Adachi? You're pale." Shimamura spoke between chews and gave me a worried look.

"Yes. I just need to go to the bathroom. Thanks for the food again." I pushed back my chair and excused myself.

Behind my back I could almost feel them exchange dubious looks.

The shower helped my mood substantially. While the hot water prattled against my neck and shoulders I felt comfortable and let my thoughts wander. Being in Shimamura's house, eating breakfast with her and getting to plan our combined future made me happy. I focused on those positive feelings and enlarged them in my mental space until they pressed everything else into the corners.

Once we shared an apartment I could experience this kind of simple joy every day. Nobody who got to live with their most important person could be truly miserable. It was embarrassing to understand just how highly my heart rated Shimamura's existence already, but I was bad at fooling myself. For a while now I had known my feelings. I had no comparison, the last time I thought I had feelings of that kind was erased from my memories. Maybe it had never happened to begin with. The ever-same Adachis before me could not possibly have held such powerful feelings for anyone.

As I wiped myself off and dressed up I felt a lingering warmth on my skin. This feeling after taking a relaxing shower was quite similar to what I felt after finishing my calls with Shimamura in the evenings. That was surprisingly the most accurate comparison I had ever thought of. Shimamura's voice enveloped me and cleansed my spirits. And even after all traces of her left my body, I still felt her presence on me.

My flushed face pushed out of the bath.

"Ah." My swimming eyes met with someone slightly shorter than me. Shimamura's sister. I had not seen her since dinner yesterday and was quite surprised to meet her upstairs. She seemed to prefer staying inside her room from what little I had been able to gather. "H-Hi."

"Morning." She replied quietly.

Today was just full of awkward meetings for me. If Mrs. Shimamura was a mostly sociable and friendly woman, her youngest daughter was more of a reclusive introvert in comparison. That was probably unfair, because I had no idea how she acted with family or friends. I could very much relate to the trouble with strangers. It was just a bother to try and adapt to others, that's why I didn't want to bother her more than necessary and tried to walk into Shimamura's room.

She blocked my way.

"Do you play games?"

"Huh?"

That one line led to a surprising turn of events. She dragged me down to her room without any explanation. The moment we entered she opened the blinds to let in precious sunlight. The room had been extremely dark and gloomy before that, but now it revealed a mostly clean space with two beds and a huge multimedia set-up in the center. The siblings were apparently fond of bean bags, which explained where Shimamura had gotten hers from yesterday.

I could definitely tell who slept on which side, because of the mess on Shimamura's side. I doubted that her sister was wearing office wear. At least she hadn't flung her bra into the open like myself. I felt increasingly hot shame clutch at my cheeks.

"Sis beat me last night." The cool and collected younger sister revealed openly. She turned on the TV with a remote while booting up some game system I had never seen before. So she was talking about those kinds of games.

That reminded me of a question Shimamura had asked me when she stayed at my place. She had asked me about video-games as well. Maybe she had been thinking of her sister back then. Siblinghood involved these kinds of contests as well. I wouldn't say that I was jealous of their bond, definitely not. If Shimamura asked me to play with her I would definitely have agreed to it. She just had to ask.

"If you are a newbie, then we should play this." She muttered as she went through a pile of plastic game boxes.

With the amount she had in the shelf below the TV I could really tell this was an expensive hobby. I had seen games in ads before and they cost more than several books combined. And yet she had a collection comparable to a full bookshelf there. I had rarely spent my allowance on anything but food back in my high school days, but to see what she had achieved with hers I was curious how much the average high schoolers spent each month.

"We are going to play?" My brain had eventually caught up to the situation when the girl handed me a controller.

"Obviously." She went through a menu with her own controller.

Could I have asked her the reason for this? It may have been overstepping my bounds. Then again, I was dragged here when I had to prepare my future with Shimamura, so maybe I did have a right to object. Even if it was her sister, this situation was just too sudden.

"I don't know how to play." I admitted. I might even have held the controller the wrong way, that's how inept I was.

"There will be a tutorial before the matches. It'll be fun." That was her reassurance.

I half-heartedly grabbed my controller in an imitation of her hold and looked at the screen where colorful characters were choosing a chain of mini-games for our route through the map. Shimamura's sister selected the dolphin character while I just automatically defaulted to the brown dog. It reminded me of Shimamura…

Just as she said, before every game we got a tutorial screen that explained the controls. I still found it very hard to learn them so quickly. It was the worst kind of multitasking that reminded me of my job. The only difference was that cute animal characters were the ones ordering me around and getting in my way.

"Hahaha." The girl next to me laughed when she earned a crown and I fell into the bottomless abyss. I didn't see how this was supposed to be fun.

A few games later I managed to throw a bomb in the center and knock out all three of my opponents at once. It was an instant victory and my dog did a cute dance.

"Yes!" I pumped my fist.

"Lucky shot."

Maybe this was a little fun…

The game ended with me in third place and the sister's absolute victory. It was to be expected, but I still felt a little vexed at the last minute crown theft she had committed with a special card. This game was devious. Unfair. Totally rigged.

"It was a close call." She admitted and smiled while stretching her arms. She seemed very pleased with herself despite her humble words.

"Hmph." I must have been more childish than I admitted, for being such a sore loser, but I just crossed my arms and glared at the screen. Then I looked at the clock on the blue-ray player and realized we had spent an entire hour playing already! Scary. This was seriously scary. Some kind of time-bending black hole technology.

"You are more fun than I thought." She suddenly said without looking my way. "I hope you can have fun with Sis too."

What an awkward girl. Not that I could talk, but that was really how I felt. She had challenged me without explanation and she had won in her home turf. All so she could see what I was like? I felt like we did learn some things about each other in this battle. I could not keep up with a high school girl for one, but also other things.

"You know Shimamura really well, right?"

"Maybe." She gave me a slightly melancholy expression. In that moment I could really see the resemblance between the siblings the most. "Sis always changes and I don't think I can keep up with her."

So she felt the same way. I nodded seriously.

"I don't want her to go." She suddenly burst out. Her expression that had been forcibly straight for so long was now torn up. "I don't want her to leave me, but she is happier with you. So how could I possibly stop her?"

"I can't say whether Shimamura is happier when she is with me at all." I kneeled in front of her - my hands pushed onto my knees and my back upright - and returned her gaze without breaking contact. "But I know that she loves her family the most, that's the one thing that I can say with confidence. I don't think I can ever compare to that. That makes me frustrated, but I won't back down. As long as Shimamura stays with me I want to be a source of happiness for her as well. I want to be important to her."

She looked back at me with slightly widened eyes and then nodded her head tentatively. We must have reached some understanding. I especially wanted her to understand my feelings, because I couldn't express them to myself.

"Sis said you two aren't dating."

"Hrng?!" My throat made the weirdest surprised noise as I was dealt such an unexpected blow.

"If you're serious about her you need to do your best!" She commanded as she pointed her finger at my face.

"R-right." My overheated mind malfunctioned and my response just slipped out.

A bit later I was back to the living room where Shimamura was giving me a raised brow, but no complaints. It had been a few hours since breakfast by now, so she had every right to wonder where I had been. In front of her stood my laptop in charge mode. It seemed she was ready to continue.

My eyes sprang wide open when I remembered that I still had a dozen tabs opened that related to bicycles. My heart started pumping wildly as I sat down next to Shimamura and anxiously glanced at the closed laptop. This was seriously not good. I wanted it to be a surprise and I didn't know how she would react if I did this behind her back. I was such an idiot.

"Feel better now?" She seemed doubtful, what with my rather suspiciously flushed face.

"I'm fine!"

"Alright. I was talking to mom about the apartment we found and she agreed that it was a good choice."

"That's great." I nodded and sneakily pulled the laptop over with the screen turned my way. I hastily closed all tabs that weren't relevant to our plans. Wait. If she showed the apartment to her mother then she must have used this laptop…

"She brought up a good point, though. We need to think about furniture and stuff like that."

Shimamura wasn't giving any hint that she was aware of my inner turmoil. Unlikely as it may be, she might have not paid attention to the other tabs? Or she had simply thought I was looking for a new bike for myself.

"Furniture?" I snapped out of my panic and considered her words.

"We definitely need more chairs. You don't want to sit on a cardboard box forever, right?" She smirked teasingly.

"True. And we need another bed."

"Also a couch. I really think you need a couch if you live with people." She pointed her thumb at the large squishy couch in their living room. It was near the large TV and looked comfy enough to sleep on.

I quite liked my armchair, but this was definitely nice. It was a chance for us to sit together as well. Shimamura lying stretched over the couch as she leaned her head on my lap-

I started to cough violently and slapped my hand on the keyboard.

"Are you sure you aren't sick?" Shimamura rubbed my back as I recovered my breath.

"'m fine!" I repeated, this time with swollen eyes and a stupid pose of my arms.

"Ahaha, I will never get tired of your weird reactions." Shimamura chuckled. She could be quite blunt sometimes.

To drown my shame in something more constructive I looked up furniture online and compared prices. It was not like we needed the most expensive options, but with how barren my apartment was we actually needed quite a lot. Shimamura could bring along a few things like futons, the kotatsu and her necessities, but she didn't want to take any of her family's stuff. Apparently she had argued with her mother about exactly that while I was busy being defeated in video-games.

As it turned out we needed a bigger fridge, the mentioned couch and chairs, a new bed, as well as extra shelves and a lot more. That combined with the costs of renting the moving truck from a company and we had a sizable sum on our hands.

"You should accept your family's goodwill, my prideful daughter." Without a warning Shimamura's mother appeared behind us and poked her daughter's cheek. How she had managed to sneak up on us in an open room was a mystery, but I managed to suppress a squeal.

"Stop it. I'm serious, I don't want your stuff."

"It's normal to take some furniture and kitchenware with you when you leave your parents. I did the same when I left my mom and dad." She was acting like a real adult right now, which made it hard for Shimamura to dismiss her as quickly.

"Grandma is good at pushing stuff on you." Shimamura said with a wry smile.

"Absolutely. And I am indeed her daughter, so this ability was inherited by me!" She put down a bottle of soda and two glasses she had carried on a tray. "Now stop being stubborn about this or I will haunt you forever at your new place."

"You would totally become a vengeful spirit just to bother me." Her daughter sighed deeply. "We don't have spare stuff lying around here, so I won't agree. I'm already taking the kotatsu and the mattress."

I had rarely seen Shimamura this resolute. Even though she had just gone along with my request, she was taking the move out very seriously. I even would go so far as to say that she might have enjoyed planning out the details. Her arguments weren't bad either. Nonetheless it was hard to refuse a mother's kindness.

"Spare stuff, hm?" Mrs. Shimamura leaned against one of the chairs and got lost in thought.

"I want to check the basement for anything useful at least."

"I will go with you." I was ready to get up, but she pushed me down by the shoulder.

"It's really dusty down there and you've been coughing enough. Can you look for some sales in the meantime?" She was way too considerate.

"Okay." And I immediately obeyed.

So Shimamura's long hair drifted behind her as she turned the corner and went for the basement. It would have been nice if I had been able to contribute more so that it didn't feel like I was a burden on her. The more I looked at this, the less I seemed to be able to do. Shimamura wouldn't accept if I spent more money on this than her, but money was all I had. There was no other resource for me to tap into.

That's when I noticed Mrs. Shimamura's eyes on me. She hadn't moved at all since she had fallen into thought and I had nearly forgotten about her. But now… now she was giving me a look that I could only interpret as considerate. The same kind of look Shimamura had just given me. What was the matter today?

"This might be hard to answer, but it makes things a lot quicker. Say Adachi, do you ever visit your mother?"

My heart froze. I lowered my head and stopped moving the mouse.

"I happen to know that Atsuka has a big house that she barely occupies. I doubt she has moved a single thing since you left, that's just how she is." She tapped her fingers on the table and looked at her phone. "It's none of my business, but I think she has plenty of furniture she doesn't need lying around, gathering dust."

Why did she have to bring this up? Just why? This was the worst. I didn't want this. I needed to escape. I clenched my hand around the mouse and forced air into my lungs. I had to breathe. Think. Get through this. Breathe in. Breathe out.

That woman had nothing to do with me anymore.

"She doesn't-" I needed to say it out loud. I had to make it final.

But the words got stuck again. My throat was useless. I was useless. Why was I so useless?

"It's okay to rely on your parents until the end. Total independence comes after you say goodbye. Have you ever said that to her?"

Those were the words of a mother. They stabbed me deeply to my core. In that moment I felt truly vulnerable and childish, like I was getting clarity after a long tantrum.

"As Atsuka's friend I just want to help her get rid of stuff she doesn't need. And as Hougetsu's mother I want her to be happy in her new home. It's up to you if we can make that happen." She was purposely putting on theatrical airs, but I could sense the sheer goodness of her intent. This was the face behind the mask, right?

To rely on that woman after I had slammed the door behind me, to return to that prison of my youth after I had escaped, that's what was asked of me here. I would have rather used my entire savings and worked overtime for the rest of my life.

I didn't want this.

My eyes jumped to the two glasses on the table. Shimamura's was half empty and I could still see her fingerprints on it. She refused to completely rely on her parents, but she was also practical enough about it to use what she could. She left a mark and was marked equally.

I tried to wipe all the prints off myself, but even after I had run from her, somehow she had returned to my life. My mother. She was still waiting at the same spot that I had last seen her. Her last words still rang in my ears, no matter how much I wanted to forget them.

"Can you call her?" I asked with a heavy heart.

"Already did." She handed me the phone with an encouraging smile.

"Hello? Yoshika? What is it this time?"