ღ ℌ𝔢𝔩𝔩 | ᴋᴀᴋᴜᴄʜᴏ | ʙᴏɴᴛᴇɴ ღ

TᗯEᒪᐯE

(Nari's POV)

Jun has already gone out to buy the things I instructed her to get. Earlier, even before she exited the house, I asked her if she could treat me with a brown sugar milk tea, and she only raised her middle finger at me.

I focused on rubbing the sponge on the plate I was holding in the kitchen, while Mom dried the cup beside me.

Mom inquired, "Did Jun deny your order earlier?" when I turned to her, her gaze was still fixed on the mug she was drying.

"Yes, at first, but she eventually gave up and became annoyed."

"She gets upset easily these days, especially with the lack of sleep and stress," she observed.

"You're not used to it? She's usually like that, always stressed."

"What can you say about it?" she asked another one. That question surprised me because she had never asked my opinion when checking on Jun.

"It's complicated. It's like work and friend over health." I answered.

"I can't guarantee this as 100% true, but even though she has accepted her friend's death, she cannot move on because of her guilt. She's punishing herself by forcing herself to look into every little detail that could be used as evidence to learn the truth about her teammates' deaths." I elaborated.

Even if it's strange for me to be concerned as her sister, I'm still worried.

"She's easily irritated with everything because her head is bombarded with many thoughts. She doesn't let it rest." I added.

"So you're saying that she won't be satisfied until the case is solved?" mom asked, her face turned to me.

"I don't know. Maybe?"

"But wouldn't that take years? Especially if their foe is the worst organization. Not to mention, they have other criminals to deal with, not only them."

"I don't know," I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know anymore."

She signed, "Time flies so quickly. It's like she was only bullied yesterday. But now, she's having her own life."

"You still remember that?"

"The time she got bullied back in elementary? Yes, of course, I remember it. I'm not that old," she scoffed. "I also remember the time she had a crush on her friend named... Uh..."

"So we're talking about her crush now, huh? Mom, that's a pre-school topic." I pointed out, but I don't think she listened as she continued to guess the name.

"Hush... it's already on the tip of my tongue, but I can't tell."

"Come one, you said you're not that old," I laughed as I glanced at her.

"Hanagaki?"

"Who?" I never heard of that name.

"Take... Takechi?... Yeah, I think that's his name."

"How did this become the topic of our conversation?"

"Well, I don't know. Just good old memories of Jun being more open than she is today when she never spoke about her problems."

"Of course, she won't talk about her issues, she's always busy with work, and so are we."

Eri yelled across the living room, "Big sisss..."

"Yes? What is it?" I said loudly enough for him to hear me.

"Can you help me... I don't know this," he shouted again.