"Take care."

These were the words that Natsuki Naoko uttered as her son Subaru went outside to buy some snacks at the nearest convenience store in their area. As always, Subaru didn't leave a reply, nor a glance at her as he closed the door on his way out. She sighed with mixed emotions, happiness with the fact that her son went outside for the first time in weeks, and sadness with him not initiating any interactions with her. Even though this scenario has happened multiple times now ever since Subaru became a shut-in, she could never get over the feelings she feels towards him.

Naoko decides to sit on a sofa in front of their television screen, and leans her head back. She lets out a sigh as she's alone in the house, with Subaru out to buy some food and Kenichi working the night shift. She checks the time, sees that it was 8:19 in the evening, and then she starts to reminisce about the past once again, back when Subaru was still a cheerful ball of energy, always willing to make other people smile. That's not to say that she hates the current Subaru, there's no way a mother like her could hate her only child. No, she's just saddened and a tad bit frustrated at his current state, with those feelings worsening a little due to her knowing the reasons why he had regressed into the state he is currently in.

After a short while she puts her head upright again, only to take a glance at an old picture hanged at the left of the television. It was her and her husband Kenichi hugging a young Subaru to commemorate him getting the highest academic award in the school he was in at the time. She got up from her seat, walked closer to the picture, and held it in her hand, letting out a little smile as she did so. Oh, if only the camera captured so much more. She remembered his shining wide eyes and open mouth as he stared closely at the medal in his grasp, and hugged it close to his chest saying, "Mommy, Daddy, look! I actually did it!" with Kenichi carrying him swiftly by the shoulders and lifting him up high replying, "Attaboy, champ! You're truly making the Natsuki family legacy proud, even more so for me and your cute mom!" She also remembers having watery eyes and a little blush due to Kenichi's compliment and Subaru's feat.

She always knew that Subaru had always admired his father, and she could understand why he, herself, and many others think the same. He was an upstanding, popular man who was talented in multiple areas and aspects of knowledge, with a loving and caring personality for others, especially his own family to boot. With Kenichi having all of those characteristics and traits that make him who he is, it's no surprise that Subaru admired him both as a dad, and as a person, to the point of him just wanting to be like his dad as one of his main goals in life. And... Subaru made a tremendous effort to. He was doing very well physically and mentally, getting high marks on most if not all of his subjects, and made multiple friends as well, basically making him the center of attention.

The problem was that through certain compliments from other people in their community, with the most frequent ones being "You really are his kid!" or, "As expected from Kenichi's son!", Subaru began to view becoming like Kenichi in a different light, with it being more of an expectation from others than it being a goal. And as years passed, Subaru changed, especially during middle school.

That was when she noticed Subaru's eyes slowly losing its light. She assumed that the reason why was because Subaru became aware of what he can be capable of, and how other people could do better than him in his perspective. Although she gave encouragement and support to Subaru, saying that he could do better next time if he felt like his efforts wasn't enough, she felt like he didn't really let her or her husband's advice stay in his mind. Subaru started to become a bit of a troublemaker, getting him and a few other of his friends in crazy situations, stunts, and the like. Naoko thought that this was probably tied to his admiration of Kenichi, but she couldn't really get Subaru to vent, clarify, or confess when she asked him what was wrong. The same went for Kenichi when he also tried to get Subaru to open up.

Then came the time when Subaru was going to high school. Naoko didn't really want to reminisce about it. One day he just decided to not go to school. She wanted to know why but Subaru didn't want to explain. She just accepted it and let him rest for the day. Him skipping a day of school turned to him skipping multiple days, then weeks, then eventually, he didn't want to go at all. Both Naoko and Kenichi both tried to convince him to go back to school, but to no avail.

Naoko: "Oh Subaru..."

As soon as Naoko spoke, she snapped out of her reverie, gently let go of the photo, and let out a yawn. She checks the time on the wall clock and it read "8:46 p.m." A bit shocked at her nearly 30-minute long reminiscing spree, she went ahead to her room and decided to take a nap. She took her phone, set an alarm for 9:30 p.m. so that she could cook dinner for Subaru once he came back, and laid down at her bed, her eyes slowly drifting shut.

As Naoko wakes up from her slumber, she notices the sound of crickets, which made her confused, considering they usually don't really make noise unless it was extremely late at night. She blinks twice, and immediately realizes the situation. She checks her phone, and sure enough, she slept through her alarm, the time shown being "11:13 p.m."

Naoko: "Wait, did I leave my phone on silent mode by any chance?"

She tried fiddling with the volume levels on her phone and finds out that indeed, she did forget to turn silent mode off.

Naoko: "Ohhh... I'm such an idiot..."

At this point Subaru was in his room, probably wide awake playing video games. As much as she would like to cook dinner during this time, she knows that Subaru must have eaten some of the snacks he bought from the convenience store by now. How does she know this? Well... this is an occurrence that happens sometimes with her and Subaru, so he's gotten used to it, although Naoko's frustrated at the fact that it was her fault that Subaru had to adapt this way. She'll just make up for it by cooking him his favorite food for breakfast.

Naoko gets up from her bed and walks to the door of Subaru's room, locked. She knocks on the door twice and greets him good night.

Naokoo: "Hey, Subaru. Hope you have a good night's rest. I apologize for sleeping through my alarm again and not cooking dinner for you. I'll make up for it tomorrow, okay?"

Once again, there's no response to be heard. It stings her a bit, but that's fine. Natsuki Naoko was much stronger than this. She speaks out her final words to him for the day, just to remind him or one undeniable fact:

Naoko: "I love you."

She steps away from the door slowly, gets a glass of water from the kitchen, and goes back to sleep again.

She's suddenly woken up by Kenichi past midnight.

?: "-aoko! Naoko! Naoko, please, wake up!"

She stirs a bit, and opens her eyes narrowly. She recognizes the voice as Kenichi's, he must have gotten back from work. But it was still dark out, so why was he waking her up so suddenly at this time?

Naoko: "Wh... what's going on, Kenichi...? It's... way too late for-"

Kenichi: "It's Subaru, Naoko. He's nowhere in the house."

That got a reaction out of her. Her eyes widened, and she immediately sat upright.

Naoko: "What?! Subaru's not here?! But how-"

Kenichi: "I couldn't find his shoes anywhere near or on the entrance carpet. He might be missing for all we know!"

Naoko: "Then why are we still talking?! Kenichi, grab the car, quick!"

Kenichi: "O-on it!"

The two worried parents were suddenly in a mad rush to get in the car and drive around the district in order to try and find the whereabouts of their son.

It's been 40 minutes since they left the house. They tried looking around the area of the convenience store as well as the store itself, asking a member of their staff (who apparently hasn't seen Subaru at all, making the Natsukis come to the conclusion that this wasn't the person who was working at the cashier during Subaru's shopping), and talking to any passerby they see. Naoko could only watch her husband drive. She's not sure if she could speak at the moment. She probably doesn't want to try to. Kenichi noticing this, accepting it, and trying to make her feel better was nice, but that still doesn't pull her away from the harsh reality of their current situation. And so they continue their search, praying and hoping to find their precious child.

Every single time Kenichi repeatedly asks people if they've seen their son, it increases her worry.

Every single time a person replies something along the lines of "No", she sinks further into despair.

Every single time Kenichi turns the car to another route and sees no people around, she cries more and more tears.

Every single time a minute passes during this frantic search, her body is racked with grief.

Natsuki Naoko doesn't think she can take much more of this.

The sun is already starting to rise. Both Naoko and Kenichi are aware of this, and that they haven't slept a wink, but they don't really care for the matter. All that matters to them at the moment is Subaru.

It is now 9:27 in the morning. They've tried asking every person they could find. They went back to the convenience store to talk to the staff member that had their shift when Subaru was present. He remembers the boy and him exiting the store, plastic bags with snacks in hand, and nothing more. They went to the police, opened up a "missing person" case, and plastered as many missing posters of Subaru as they could. That was all they could do at that point, so they went back home to try and get some rest. It was unsuccessful.

Naoko now has a worn-out look on her face, the light of her eyes gone, and eyebags more present than they ever have been in her entire lifetime. She has been looking down for as long as she had been in the house, seemingly broken due to this situation. Kenichi goes to Naoko's side, and puts his arm around her.

Naoko: "W...wh-what if... S-subaru's-"

Kenichi: "Naoko."

The mention of her name makes Naoko face the direction of where the voice is coming from. Kenichi gives her a reassuring smile.

Kenichi: "We'll definitely find him. 100 percent."

For the first time in a while, she lets out a smile, albeit a sad one.

Naoko: "Mm."

And for the first time in a long while, she puts up a mask around her husband, and responds in a manner where Kenichi can believe that she will be okay.

But she's not. She's nowhere near okay.

And she'll probably never be okay until Subaru miraculously comes back in their lives.

Until then, Natsuki Subaru, the child she loves so dearly, her shining star...

Is gone.