This Warmth Of Yours

Chapter 18 - A Loving Family Listens

A blur.

Fragmented memories scattered as days to weeks passed.

Everything fell back into focus as Kyoya invited everyone to his home.

The two of them stood in front of a rather modest building. "Well, here it is. I live on the fourth floor. Let's go in."

Haru had arrived earlier than the others, Kyoya personally walking her to his home so she could wait for the rest comfortably.

She had no idea a building was constructed here, a housing one no less. Though it didn't seem to have many residents, it seemed lived-in. There was a community project around painting this one wall that anyone could contribute to as well. However, rather than drawing properly, they seemed more interested in drawing multiple two circles next to each other with a long half-oblong line connected to it in as many different ways as possible.

... She tried not saying what it was directly.

The paint was fresh, indicating that this happened rather recently. Haru wasn't sure if that was appropriate for anyone to add, but it looked like they had fun...

Kyoya cracked up as he walked by the wall, instantly clearing his throat and pretending like he did nothing. They waited for the elevator to arrive on their floor when an annoying voice wafted into Kyoya's ears, causing him to perk up.

"Kyo~! There you are!" An older woman greeted him, seemingly in her 20s. "All of us were worried sick when you didn't come home yesterday!"

He snickered, "Hah, no you weren't. I've stayed out before and none of yall got on my ass. I know what you're trying to segue into, and the answer is no."

She peered behind him to glimpse at the petite girl, doubt sowed in her eyes. She laughed as Kyoya stood between the two of them. "Hahah! Chill! So, just a friend, huh? Nice to meet you, I'm Fuyu!" The woman gave out her hand for Haru to hesitantly shake. Haru steeled herself for human interaction. "Hi, I'm Haru..."

Fuyu squealed. "I wanna just eat you up! So cute!"

Kyoya sighed and pushed through her to enter the elevator, pulling Haru with him. Laughter echoed as the doors began to close. "Right, Granny wants all of us to come over tonight! She's making us all dinner!" Fuyu yelled, right as the doors closed.

"Granny?" Haru asked.

"Not my actual granny, none of us here are related. We just call her that because she wants us to."

Both of them entered his house, Haru shocked as she went in. The door opened straight to a small kitchen on the left consisting of a stove and several cabinets and a bathroom on the right. Going straight would lead to a single decent sized room that fit a bed, a table and a TV. Despite the lack of space, he still managed to fit in tons of bookshelves for books and games. He didn't seem to own any pictures, outside of a few that featured cute girls from his own books. It was a huge contrast to his usual appearance.

There was a sliding door at the end of the room that led to a balcony, where he hung his clothes up to dry. It was smaller than she expected. Even more so... "You live alone?" Haru asked.

He nodded. "I cut ties with my folks, took the money I earned and moved here. I came from Tokyo, y'know?" He watched her eyes widen as he told her all of that. "Well, I had my own reasons as to why I moved to this town specifically, but the apartments here are dirt cheap, and the community's nice."

"It feels like home."

He was suppressing it, but she could tell that he wanted to smile. There was no need to hold back his emotions, she felt. He had found his family here.