𝑺𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒊𝒅

ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝟛𝟜 - 𝕋𝕙𝕖 ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕟𝕘𝕖 𝕠𝕗 ℙ𝕖𝕣𝕤𝕡𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕖

Haruko had looked up at the clouds from his bedroom windowsill. He stood up as he lifted his arms up until a popping sound was heard. The apartment was dimly lit, and Haruko felt that this home had always been empty after she left. He felt incomplete as their journey together these past 2 years was that they were always together. Even after the unspoken conversation between the two of them, they would immediately understand one another.

Now, everything is empty. Despite that nothing much of (Y/n)'s things were taken from her departure, it never felt that everything was the same. Half his heart was in discontent with the foreign feeling he had felt, even if Mikey and the rest of his family were all present in the same city. No one could replace his sister's presence. Although she had promised to send him letters which contained all her sincere thoughts, her guilt and homesickness included, as well as the encounter with the man she met 2 years ago, those letters were not enough. He also appreciated that she had kept her promise and also responded in each letter.

A knock on the door was heard as he immediately rushed towards it. There revealed Emma, along with a bag of groceries. "Let me give you a hand, Emma." He took the bags she carried and went to the dining room to place them on the table. It had been a routine recently that both Haruko and Emma would visit one another as Mikey and the others were always together, along with his friends.

The friends that Haruko never acknowledges.

"Ah, Haruko, Did Yuki-chan send another letter?" She beamingly asked. Haruko only shook his head in response as he unpacked the bags that Emma bought. Some of them have several ingredients, and some are for other necessities. "Nee-chan said in the previous letter that the next letter would be delayed." Haruko said, placing the cans in the dry storage in the kitchen. 'It was probably due to her workload that she couldn't send another immediately.' He thought to himself.

"It has been months since she left. When will she be back?" Emma thought aloud as she placed some on the fridge. "That is something I wouldn't know about."

Haruko rose with a frown on his lips at the thought, although he had been just fine after she left. Mikey would also invite him to their meetings when Toman was officially formed a few months after she left. Haruko was hesitant, but Mikey was undeniably stubborn, so he begrudgingly did what he wanted, but he never included himself in a fight that they had started or were involved in. He is not that strong, but he thought of (Y/n) in the past few months when he was persistent, all because he wanted to protect her rather than be protected. (Y/n) is already exhausted with how things are. She doesn't verbally express it, but he somehow knows that she wasn't feeling that pleasant whenever violence was used leisurely.

Emma looked at the young boy as if he had noticed her intense gaze on him. He was in an awkward position, not knowing what that act would lead to, so he spoke:

"Why are you staring at me like that?"

It took a couple of minutes for Emma to respond, and she said, "Staring at you so closely made me realize that you don't have the same features at all."

Haruko's eyes widened, but then he remembered when both him and her sister stared at the mirror for several minutes and had a small conversation.