Hinawa woke up the next morning and groaned. He had a few more things to do before he left, and the sky was ominous outside the window.
He looked over at Maki, who was still sleeping beside him. She was huddled under the covers, and the gentle sounds of her breathing were soothing.
It looks like snow , he thought. We should leave early.
As he stood and stretched, he debated on the importance of the things he had to do. He sighed as he plugged in the kotatsu.
There was one thing he wanted to do.
He crawled under the kotatsu and let the heat seep into his sore legs. He reached over and grabbed his bag and dug around inside it.
"Ah, here you are," he said softly, pulling out a novel.
He checked to make sure Maki was still asleep before cracking open the book. Her back was to him, and he could see a sliver of her purple pajama pants peeking out between the sheets.
He was immersed in his book when he heard Maki stirring from her sleep. He watched as she sat up in bed and yawned.
"Good sleep?" he asked, laying his book down.
"I wish."
"The kotatsu is on."
Maki stumbled over to the kotatsu, carrying one of the pillows from the bed, and sat down across from him. She snuggled under the kotatsu and fell back asleep.
Hinawa sighed as he picked his book back up. He read a few more pages before closing it and setting it inside his bag.
"Maki."
"Hmm?"
"I have something I need to do, will you be okay by yourself?"
"Mmm."
Hinawa stood up and stretched, his body warm from the kotatsu. He walked into the bathroom and locked the door behind him.
Mom, there's so much I need to tell you, he thought as he began to remove his clothes. He turned on the shower and stepped in.
As he washed, he thought about everything he wanted to tell his mother before leaving ― his time in the military, his promotion to lieutenant of Company 8, his father's death.
His relationship with Maki.
You don't have a relationship with Maki, you fool , he thought angrily. And Mom probably knows that Dad died.
"Lieutenant!" Maki called, knocking on the door.
"What?" he yelled. His anger at his own thoughts was present in his voice, and he softened his tone. "What is it?"
"I have to pee, hurry up!"
Hinawa rolled his eyes. He rinsed off, letting the hot water run over his back. He stepped out of the shower and began drying off.
Damn, I left my clothes outside.
"Lieutenant!" Maki whined.
"Shut up!"
Get your attitude under control. It's not her fault.
He cracked the door open. "Turn around."
"Why?"
"Just do what I said."
Maki turned around, her back to the bathroom. Hinawa slipped out past her, a towel around his waist. He grabbed his bag and dug around inside.
"Um…"
He looked up to see Maki covering her face with her hands. He tightened his grip on his towel, feeling a wave of queasiness wash over him. Shit. Shit shit shit.
"Maki, turn back around," he demanded.
"I… uh… s-sorry!" she cried, turning her back on him.
Hinawa quickly pulled a pair of underwear out of his bag and pulled them on. He laid out the pants and shirt he was going to wear and set his bag aside.
He quickly put his pants on and zipped them up. He sat down on the bed and sighed.
"I guess this makes us even?"
Maki turned around and sighed in relief. She sat down at the kotatsu and laid her head on her arms. "What do you mean?"
"I saw you, you saw me."
Maki blushed. "I-I didn't see anything, though."
Hinawa placed his hand on her shoulder. "I know you didn't."
He put his t-shirt on and pulled his coat out of the armoire. As he put it on, he turned to look at Maki, who was snoozing at the kotatsu again.
"I'll be back soon, Maki. I'm going to visit my mom's grave one more time."
"Okay."
Hinawa took a deep breath before he left the room. He walked down the stairs and into the lobby of the inn, where the innkeeper's son was wiping down the counter.
"Heading out?" he called out to Hinawa.
"Yeah, I got one more thing to do before I leave."
"Be careful, the forecast is calling for snow."
Hinawa looked at the clouds. They looked as if they were ready to bottom out on top of them at any moment. He wanted to take his time but with an ominous sky like that…
"I'll keep that in mind," he said.
Hinawa walked up the sidewalk toward the worn patch of dirt that was the start of the climb to his mother's grave. He stuffed his hands inside his coat pockets to keep them warm.
As he came to a stop at his mother's grave, he noticed that the flowers he had put out just the day before were gone.
"Dammit!" he roared, kicking the ground. The one time he got to visit his mother in years and pay his respects, and someone steals the flowers he searched for.
You're not here to complain, you're here to talk to your mother, he reminded himself. He sat down at the foot of her grave and sighed.
"So much has changed since you left, Mom," Hinawa started to say. "I don't even know if I can tell you everything."
He grabbed a handful of dirt and grass and let it seep through his fingers. It didn't make him feel closer to his mother, but the cold earth made him feel somewhat calmer.
"I joined the military," he started. He wanted to tell her how and when his dad died, but even he had problems with it. "I became a sergeant and trained the current general's daughter."
All wonderful achievements she'd be proud of , Hinawa thought. Of course, my mom was always proud of me.
"I'm a lieutenant of a Fire Force company now. The general's daughter is one of my subordinates. She even came all the way out here with me to see you. She's really something else, Mom."
Mom would have liked Maki.
"Dad — he died a while back, but of course you know that now. He got really bad sick." Hinawa picked up a stick and pushed it around in the dirt like he used to as a kid. "Yeah, there wasn't much the doctors could do except keep him comfortable, near the end."
He wiped his nose on his coat — the cold wind was making his nose run, or was he crying again?
He couldn't tell.
"I'm sorry it took me so long to come back and see you. And I put flowers out but — "
He stopped talking. Just thinking about the stolen flowers made him angry. He would have to get some more and bring them back up here before he and Maki left.
"Lieutenant?"
Hinawa turned at the sound of Maki's voice. She was properly dressed in a long, purple cowl-necked sweater and jeans, and in her hands were beautiful yellow and white flowers. She knelt and placed them in a cemetery vase she had brought with her.
"Maybe you can come out once a month and change the flowers for her," Maki said quietly.
"The flowers I brought yesterday were gone when I came to talk to her," Hinawa said quietly. "It just bothers me that people can be so cruel."
"I just wanted to tell you that the innkeeper said that it should start snowing soon."
Which means we should be leaving, Hinawa thought. He stood up and brushed the dirt off of the seat of his pants.
"Bye, Mom. I'll come back when I can."
Hinawa walked with Maki back down the hill. He waited a few minutes before speaking.
"Is something wrong?"
"No, nothing's wrong."
Maki shivered as a strong gust of cold air blew between them, carrying with it a flurry of snowflakes. Hinawa shrugged his coat off and wrapped it around her shoulders, his face pink.
"You can wear my coat until we get back to the inn," he told her.
"Thanks," Maki said quietly.
The gentle placement of his hand on her lower back as he guided her toward the inn made her heart flutter. Where was this coming from all of a sudden?
Suddenly all she could picture was his hands grabbing her bottom, sliding up her sweater to cup her breasts as he gave her her first-ever kiss.
Does he know I'm still a virgin? she thought frantically.
"Maki!"
Her brain snapped back to attention as she realized she was standing right outside the inn, the door being held open for her by the lieutenant.
She hurried inside, the warmth enveloping her.
"Daydreaming?" Hinawa asked her.
"Kind of. Sorry," she said.
"Don't apologize. You won't have time to daydream when we get back to the cathedral."
"Yeah, you're right. We got lots of work to catch up on."
She walked up the stairs to their shared room, Hinawa following her. She tugged at the neck of her sweater, unfamiliar with the design. It trapped her hair under the collar, causing her to itch terribly.
"Is that sweater new?"
"Huh?"
Maki looked back at the lieutenant, who was pulling out the key to their room.
"I haven't seen that sweater before. I was wondering if you got it recently."
"Yeah, I got it a few weeks ago."
"It's a nice color on you. It brings out your eyes."
Maki blushed and looked away. She'd have to thank her mother again for the early gift when she got back.
She shrugged Hinawa's coat off onto the bed as she walked in and pulled her own out of the wardrobe. She tossed it onto the bed and began rummaging through her bag.
"Maki."
"Yeah?"
"What are you doing?"
"I'm making sure all my stuff is packed."
She shifted the books in her bag around — they were still in there, untouched — and sighed. Everything was accounted for. She zipped her bag back up and set it on the bed.
"I'm ready."
Hinawa was straightening up his own bag and hadn't heard her. He placed his book back on top of his clothes and shoved his handgun in between his carefully folded underwear.
"Lieutenant!"
"I heard you!"
He pulled the zipper on his bag and cursed when it got stuck on a pair of underwear. He tugged the zipper in the opposite direction and growled — it wouldn't budge.
"Here, let me work with it," Maki offered.
"No, I got it," he said. It'd be a cold day in hell before he let Maki touch his underwear.
He continued working with it for another five minutes before Maki took his bag from him.
She slowly worked with the zipper on his bag, gently tugging on his underwear as she tried to unzip the bag. She squealed happily as his bag finally came unzipped, the contents spilling out.
"Oops," she said, holding his pair of underwear out to him.
Hinawa yanked his underwear from her hands. "Don't worry about it, just help me get everything repacked. And don't touch my underwear," he said.
"Wouldn't dream of it," Maki mumbled.
She just knew that the ride home was going to be awkward.
