If / Then | Manjiro Sano

𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐔𝐄 | love, loss, and legacy

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PRESENT DAY

The water from the tap continuously churns down the drain. What was once pellucid now irked with crimson hues. Jewelry from her wrists clinked from the vigorous scrubbing of palms together, as if it was enough to cleanse the misdemeanor it perpetrated.

"I dropped your cut on the location. My job's done." She let the leather jacket slip off her shoulders, speaking to the phone laid on the counter.

"Ow." [ Y / N ] winced upon seeing the forming bruises on her knuckles, acting carefully so as to not alert the person on the other line.

"Yeah, I'm on my way there now."

"Hey, this is my last job, alright? I'm leaving you guys to him from now on." She replied.

"Alright, pleasure doing business with you—" She immediately ended the call with a beep.

"Mom?" Upon hearing the sweet, novice voice of her daughter, [ Y / N ]'s eyes darted to the mirror before her and made eye contact with the young girl, then did a double take.

"Sweetheart, why are you still awake?" Now patting her forearms on the woolly hand towel, [ Y / N ] faced her daughter with full heed.

"I was just finishing up packing our stuff." Morin answered. "Oh, right..." [ Y / N ] replied and once again took the discarded jacket to rest over her shoulders. "Uh, I found some stuff... I don't know where you want to place though, mind checking them?" She added.

"Let me finish up here, monkey. I'll be there right after." [ Y / N ] simply answered.

"Yeah, okay." She nods in response before returning to the living room.

Turning the bathroom lights off, [ Y / N ] secured her bruised knuckles with the help of a bandage, now heading to the room where her daughter had been.

"Alright, let me see them." She spoke just as entering the room, seeing her Morin surrounded by antiques and trinkets from [ Y / N ]'s younger years.

Tilting her head steady to see the items laid on the floor, she walked over them before sifting through the things she remembered packing the first time they moved in this penthouse.

She picked up Mikey's iconic Toman uniform, as it stood out from the rest. Her thumbs soothed over the fabric, then to the embroidered characters on it. Another one that stood out was a plain white shirt she remembered getting for him.

The one he wore that day in Manila. The day he...

Her eyes scanned through the bleach stains she remembered ended up leaving when she tried to get the blood stains out from when he... From that dreadful day.

She set the shirt to the side, finding Mikey's wallet next. She picked it up, not expecting to see that everything inside was untouched. Even the small amount of cash was still in there. [ Y / N ] couldn't bring herself to touch anything inside, but the printed photo on display.

[ Y / N ]'s 2005 Dodge Challenger was parked, with her and Mikey seated on the hood as the rest of Toman posed by its side.

"I didn't know we had these." Morin spoke.

"These are— uhm— these were your dad's." [ Y / N ] replied, reminiscing through every item that came in sight. Her thoughts were flooded by the times she was with Mikey, and after seeing all this memorabilia, she wished now more than ever that things could've turned out differently.

Has it been really that long since he was gone?

"Wow." Her daughter marveled over the photo in Mikey's wallet. "Who are these people?" It pained [ Y / N ] that her daughter didn't get to know at least his very best friends. Her very best friends.