Time moved by in a blur.
A few years passed, and I decided that we should move out and away from Kenjirou. I may have always looked up to him, but the way he acted after Ayano's death gave me the vibe that we weren't wanted anymore. Plus, Kano seemed to hold some sort of grudge against him, so I started taking odd jobs around town and by the time we had finished high school, I had enough saved up that we could at the very least rent a place for the three of us to stay.
I also thought about that girl in the forest. I hadn't seen her since the death of Ayano, which had been a few years now. I guessed she must have felt pretty lonely during that time.
"Seto!" I watched as girl with long white cream puff waves of hair opened the door to greet me, an enthusiastic smile plastered on her pale, perfectly round face. "How are you? How is your siblings?"
I remember struggling to smile as she ushered me inside the threshold. She ran to the kitchen to make some tea, nearly tripping in the process. I caught her just before she stumbled, and she tilted her head to look at me shyly before I helped her upright and she wandered off, mumbling to herself to be more careful. I sat down at the small wooden table and gazed out the window. I watched as a mother bird taught her children how to fly, coaxing them out of the messy round nest.
It was a little late for them to be taught how to fly, but I guess they must have hatched late, hence them leaving around the end of summer instead of the end of spring. Two of the baby birds were tossed and flew just fine, and I heard a few tweets and saw what I presumed to be the father bird watching from a higher branch. The other two flew up to him and waited for their other siblings to go.
It was hard to see from the glaring sun, but I was almost certain that the next bird glanced at the bigger sibling behind them, but before it could chirp the mother tapped the bird and they were sent tumbling out of the nest, stumbling but eventually catching flight. The final bird stepped forward and I watched with a faint smile as it touched the edge of the woven twigs and spread its wings.
And then it hit the ground with a dull thud, and everything came rushing back to me.
"Seto?" I heard Marry call to me from the kitchen. Apparently she had been talking, but I had been too wrapped up in the birds to notice. She set down the serving platter and the dishes on it clanked together loudly. She put her palms on the wooden oak surface of the table and stared at me, her pinkish red eyes widening as she leaned closer and closer to me. Finally, she brushed a hand against my cheek, her thumb grazing beneath my eyes.
"Seto...you're crying...?" Her voice was confused, and if I had looked at her I am sure I would have seen her absolutely dumbfounded. Her knight in shining armor, the one who had rescued her from fear, was sitting before her, and sobbing his eyes out. I let my black eyes roll over slowly as I craned my neck slightly to greet her gaze.
I opened my mouth to say something, but my thoughts were interrupted by the sound of joyous tweeting and a chorus of harmonized chirps and a shadow flew upwards. Marry and I both looked towards the window, and I watched as the bird rose from the earth and into the sky, soaring higher than the others and flew off into the distance.
"Seto, is everything alright?" Marry asked.
"Yeah. I was just distracted. Let's have some tea, shall we?" I asked her, and though I knew she could see through my façade, she sat down and began to pour me a cup. I was thankful for her cooperation.
When I went to see Marry again, I brought Shuuya and Tsubomi with me. I figured it would be useful to have them get to know the new tenant before I suddenly forced her upon them. Also, they would be helpful when it came to gathering up her stuff in boxes before we made the move. Tsubomi seemed to get along well with her, despite her being slightly annoyed by her clumsiness in the beginning. Shuuya left a lasting impression on Marry, and I think I will have to deal with some minor fights in the future.
"Hey, Seto?" Marry asked me when we were putting some of her books in a box, "Are you feeling any better since last time you visited? You appeared to be really upset at that time."
"The bird reminded me of something at that time. Sorry, it still hurts a little to talk about it." I said, trying to focus my mind on the books and not the images of my older sister that were flashing in the back of my mind. I saw Marry pause and look at me, and I think Shuuya and Tsubomi overheard from the other side of the room, for I heard all motion stop around me, but then it started up as quickly as it had started.
"Damn it, Kano! You almost broke something!" Tsubomi yelled and kicked Shuuya out the door. Marry picked up her journal and placed in carefully in the box and I just tried to process everything except that blurry image threatening to return to my mind. I didn't need to shed tears here, not now.
"Come on, Marry. We have to get back to the entrance to the forest and load some of these boxes in Kenjirou's car. We'll come back later for the rest, ok?" I said, standing up and picking up the rather heavy box. Marry smiled and nodded, and she linked arms with me as we walked out the door into the forest sunlight.