Her mother's embrace was tight and warm.
Normally, Saya would have complained and joked about being squeezed to death, but not this time. This time, she hugged her mom even tighter, enjoying the notes of bergamot and gardenia from her signature scent.
"We'll call you every single day," the older woman promised as she let her daughter go.
"I know." Saya forced herself to smile.
"And you can call us if anything happens." This time, the one who had talked was her father. "Or even if nothing happens at all and you just miss us, or–" he tried to suppress a sob, but there were streams of tears running down his cheeks.
It made for a rather funny vision, considering what a large man he was.
"Oh, dad," Saya snorted, giving a couple of awkward pats on his muscular back. "I'll be fine."
"I know." He wiped his tears and runny nose with the back of his hand.
The three of them just stood there silently for a couple of heartbeats. There wasn't much else that could be said, words upon words of advice and precautions having already been spilled out earlier.
"We really should get going," the mother said. "Missing our flight would be such an inconvenience."
"Yeah," was all the man answered.
He gave his daughter one last hug.
"I'm serious, Saya," he repeated, holding both her shoulders with his massive hands one last time. "Give us a call if anything happens."
"I will" the girl smiled again. It looked a bit forced, but no one could call her out for that. "Just hurry up and leave before any fans catch you sobbing at my front door," she teased.
He grimaced and her mother stifled a delicate laugh.
"Saya's right," she declared, grabbing her husband's hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze. "Pictures of this would sell incredibly well, wouldn't they now?"
They both walked to the car that would take them to the Shizuoka airport, where they would take their flight back to Sapporo.
A couple more goodbyes were said and then Saya was left alone in front of the apartment house they had rented for her in Musutafu.
She let out a sigh and headed back inside quickly.
She closed the door behind her and started bawling her eyes out as she unceremoniously took off her shoes at the genkan. She donned her white bunny slippers and beelined for the couch, where she sat until her sobs began to subside.
She hadn't thought she would cry over this, but the reality of what was going on seemed to only really had hit her when her parents left. She was alone now. She lived alone now. In a completely new city where she knew nobody.
It wasn't that uncommon for teenagers in Japan to start living on their own in order to attend some prestigious high schools, but the speed with which everything had actually come to pass still felt… weird. Like she hadn't had enough time to mentally prepare.
She sighed.
She felt a buzz coming from her hoodie's pocket and hurried to grab her phone in case her mom or dad had forgotten something before leaving.
The call wasn't from any of them, though.
Oh, she thought, right.
She did know someone in Musutafu.
"Hello, Mrs. Bakugo?", she answered the call.