This Warmth Of Yours

Chapter 17 - Reaching Out For the Light

"Haru!!! You should've told us if you were tired. Don't leave us behind...!" Kana wailed as she squeezed Haru close to herself.

Yuki placed a lollipop in her mouth. "Don't be too loud, we're in a hospital..."

"Hmph, yow we won fhaf gush schay ower," Kana begrudgingly replied, eating the lollipop. Yuki stared at her blankly, Rika stepping in. ""You're the one that got to stay over!" is what she said. I'm jealous too!"

"You understood that...?" Yuki asked.

"Her younger sisters all speak gibberish like this. She's a master interpreter now," Nami answered.

All of them went "Oh..." at the same time, seemingly experiencing flashbacks of their night over at Rika's house. Haru wasn't sure whether to interpret their expressions as positive or negative.

Regardless, none of them were supposed to be in this room yet, especially not all at once. They simply snuck in with no regards for the rules. Haru wondered what would happen if they were caught, brushing the thought off as an inevitability, given how effortlessly loud they were.

Haru glanced at Aoi, a smile on his face like always. She figured that it was no use keeping anything from Kana anymore. "Aoi... I'm sorry for what I said at the beach. And- I already said it but- thank you for helping me." You're very kind.

He scratched the back of his head, "Eh, no bother. I have something I want to say too."

All eyes were on him, curious and inquisitive in nature.

"Kana, I didn't push back too much because I was afraid of mom pushing my dreams away. If you inherit the shop, mother wasn't going to let the other child get into culinary arts too.  Even though I knew how much you were going through, I thought that as long as it wasn't me, it was fine."

He continued, "I thought that... as long as I take good care of you... It could make up for everything I willingly put you through, even though I was supposed to protect you."

He avoided her eyes, his body subconsciously stepping further away from her.

Rika leaned into Nami's ears. "Should we... leave? This is personal, right? I feel like I shouldn't be here."

"This is an important moment. Shh!" Nami whispered back.

Kana spat the lollipop out of her mouth. "Hey- we already had this conversation, I told you it was fine!" She looked around at her friends, frantic. "Besides- I get it. I would probably make the same choices you did for my own dreams too. The both of us aren't perfect, and that's oka-"

"No!" He accidentally raised his voice. He took a moment to recompose himself, taking a deep breath. "If it wasn't for your friends outright telling me how you felt, confirming what I was trying to deny to myself as true, I'm sure... that I would've never changed a thing."

He looked at Haru, and by proxy, everyone else too since they had all unconsciously bunched up in the same corner to make space for the siblings to talk. "I'm sorry for getting defensive. You only wanted to help, I see that now. Thank you so much for caring about her. I... should've been the one doing that from the start."

Aoi then turned his attention to Kyoya. "And you, the tall one." Kyoya perked up as his description was mentioned. "You're just a kid, I should've been the mature one as the adult. I apologize."

"... Nah, it's my bad too. I shouldn't have been physical no matter what," Kyoya replied, maintaining a straight face.

"Wait, what? Physical? WHAT?" Kana's eyes darted between the two men, both of them avoiding her gaze. Nami muttered out loud to Rika and Haru. "Oh right, she wasn't there."