It was been three days after her bout with Rosemary and Meimi was hiding on the roof of the Haneoka family residence. She was very disgruntled and it only made her irritated to be around people. She released a small huff and her parents were just watching her wallow in anger. Genichiro turned to his loving wife, Eimi. "We need to get her down from there." He was very concerned and while Eimi was concerned as well, she knew what could happen if they pushed Meimi too far.
"Would you mind making cinnamon rolls?" She asked and he nodded his head.
"You think she would be up for them afterward?" He asked. Eimi softly smiled.
"They're sweet and you know how Meimi is about sweet things." She answered and Genechiro sighed softly.
"I will bake the best." He had decided, walking back into the house. Eimi sighed as she turned back to look up at Meimi.
"Meimi." She called out to the girl. Meimi huffed at her mother calling her but she knew that she still had to be polite to her.
"Yes?" Meimi called back to the woman and Eimi smiled. Well, she's still responding to me so that's good. She thought.
"Do you want me to come up there with you?" Eimi asked her and Meimi peered down at her mother. The way her shoulders had rolled, Eimi had realized that it was a shrug but she knew what it had meant and so, Eimi climbed to the roof as well and she sat beside Meimi.
She knew what to do.
She knew how Meimi rolled.
Eimi would allow Meimi to glare about until she was ready to talk. She knew that Meimi didn't know how to control her tongue just yet when it came to adults. With Seira, Eimi knew that it was the complete opposite because Meimi cared about the things she could say when she was angry and she never wanted to hurt Seira. That's why Meimi was lovingly pushing her away. Meimi had to tell Seira twice that it wasn't her. I almost did say something to her but I had quickly remembered that Seira was just concerned. She's my sister in everything but blood. Meimi thought, not realizing that she was speaking to her mother. When she noticed her mother looking at her in shock, Meimi gave her a questioning look but she then realized. "Oh, I said all of that out loud, huh." Meimi spoke softly.
"You're really mad, aren't you?" Eimi asked her. Meimi released a small sigh.
"Yes, I suppose I am." She softly answered. "Rosemary's shenanigans would have been fine if she hadn't involved Daiki and Seira." Meimi scowled at the memory. Eimi was then concerned about Meimi's words.
"Daiki and Seira? Meimi, what did she do?" Eimi was very concerned because she knew how Meimi was. It was one thing to kidnap her boyfriend. It's an entirely different story when you involve her best friend and Rosemary just managed to do both at different times.
"It was simple with Daiki because she already had him. With Seira, it was completely different. She had grabbed her after I had shown the city her real name on my captor notice. I was so worried that she was going to hurt Seira with how angry she had looked but she had given her back to me like a second after that." Meimi revealed to her mother and Eimi was in shock. Did Rosemary grab Seira just to get Meimi's attention? She wondered.
"Meimi, did Rosemary threaten Seira in any way?" Eimi asked and Meimi's eyes darkened but she then relaxed. What was that? Eimi wondered.
"No, she didn't." Meimi's eyes were glistening and Eimi immediately knew that Meimi was lying.
"Meimi, what did she say?" Eimi wanted to make sure that both girls were okay. Meimi seemed to have realized this as she took a shuddering breath and begin to speak again.
"She said that Seira would have ended up like Daiki if I didn't leave her alone." Meimi spoke. "I knew about Maju's abilities to make a person believe something that wasn't true and I wouldn't have allowed her to do that to Seira. I just couldn't." Meimi had turned away from Eimi, feeling ashamed.
"Meimi, did you get into an actual tussle with Rosemary?" Eimi wasn't going to be mad at Meimi if she did; she just wanted to know.
"I did. I socked her one good time before Seira had stopped me." Meimi smiled at the memory. Eimi could also imagine the scene as well but she then turned back to Meimi.
"Why are you angry?" Eimi asked, getting to the root of the problem. Meimi is angry about something and I don't know if it's guilt or not. She wondered if it even was guilt.
"I'm angry because I promised Seira I couldn't hurt her. I was harsh with Seira after Rosemary had left us alone. I knew it wasn't her fault and yet, I wanted nothing more than for her to be safe." Meimi remembers seeing and hating the hurt look in Seira's eyes when Meimi had turned away from her. "So I forced her to stay at the church." Meimi remembered it like it was yesterday and she hated it.
It was after Rosemary had left the two girls alone. Meimi was holding Seira by her wrist as she pulled her along. Seira was trying to keep up with Meimi's angry steps but she knew that the girl was too angry. "Meimi-chan, please. You're hurting me." Seira spoke up and Meimi stiffened at Seira's words. She then dropped Seira's wrist and she turned to look back at Seira.
Seira flinched.
Meimi was glaring but the glare wasn't aimed at her. Meimi approached Seira and she lifted Seira in her arms with a grunt. "Meimi-chan?" Seira questioned. "I'm sorry." Seira tried again.
"Don't. I should have known better." Meimi's voice was rough from all the growling and snarling she had done earlier.
"You couldn't have known." Seira tried to appease Meimi's anger.
"I should have." Meimi released another growl. "Rosemary knew what she was doing." Meimi hated that she was scaring Seira. I'm supposed to protect her. She thought. "You could have gotten hurt because of her." The girl tells her best friend and Seira frowned at Meimi's words.
Meimi carried Seira back to the church and she sets Seira down on a pew. "Meimi-chan." Seira called out to the girl but she didn't seem to have heard her. Seira knew to not try again as it meant that Meimi was angry.
"You're not going anywhere without me from now on." Meimi spoke all of a sudden, shocking Seira with her words.
"Meimi, that's not-!" Meimi immediately had Seira in her arms.
"She used you to get to me. You're my best friend. Rosemary exploited that." Meimi tells Seira and the girl looked at Meimi with fear in her eyes.
"But we can learn from that, Meimi-chan." Seira was begging Meimi to change her mind.
"You're staying here." Meimi had already decided and Seira was begging Meimi to change her mind.
"Meimi-chan, please." Seira begged once more and Meimi had enough.
"You're staying here! That's final, Seira!" Meimi shouted, her eyes glaring at Seira.
Seira flinched and Meimi immediately turned away from Seira, guilt welling up in her soul.
After Meimi had told her mother the story, Eimi sighed as she smiled softly at Meimi. "You were worried that Rosemary would hurt her." Eimi spoke softly and Meimi shook her head.
"I went about it the wrong way. I could have said it differently or something." Meimi spoke. "I didn't want to shout at her." Meimi tells her mother and the woman was still smiling softly at her daughter. "Why are you still smiling at me?" Meimi demanded the woman and Eimi then got serious, seeing that Meimi was growing angry again.
"You were angry because you were worried. I know you wouldn't really shout at Seira for no reason." Eimi tells Meimi and the young teenager took her mother's words to heart, knowing that it was true.
"Thanks, Mom. I really appreciate it." Meimi tells Eimi and the woman smiled at Meimi.
"I'm your mother, Meimi. It's my job to give you advice when you need it." Eimi responded and Meimi huffed a little bit at the response, unable to believe her mother sometimes.
After Meimi had finished talking to her mother, she was finally ready to apologize to Seira and when she did say "I'm sorry" to her best friend, she smiled at her.
"It's okay, Meimi-chan. I know you were just worried about me." Seira had smiled that same sweet smile and it made Meimi smiled back at her. She was happy with how things had been resolved.