As the front door shut, Ryoba called out to her husband.
'Do you want coffee, darling?'
'Yes please, sweetie.'
Something about their exchanged seemed odd. Wooden and fabricated. Wrong. She glanced with little subtlety between her parents, masking the confusion she felt with a dull stare. She couldn't remember anything from before about them, and when she tried, it was white noise. She remembered them separately, her mother warm and sweet, her father foreboding yet gentle. But together? She looked up at their faces, her mother's filled with love, but her father's... smiling, yet his grey eyes seemed hollow. Loveless. Empty. She could've sworn she had seen something like hatred flash in his eyes, but it was gone with a smile. She dropped her gaze and blinked rapidly, unable to process what she had seen.
Her mother turned around with three slices of cake, her father holding two cups of steaming coffee. With a flurry of hands, they were placed upon the table and everyone was sat. Ayano took her fork and moved her plate to the centre of her red weaved placemat. She began to eat small bites of the cake, only just resisting the urge to push her face into the plate. She looked up from her food and met eyes with her mother, who was playing with her food on the other side of the table.
She swallowed, 'Mother? Is something wrong?' concern filled Ayano's voice.
'N-no, sweetie. I'm just, erm...' she paused, 'Sweetheart, you know how happy we are now you're home?'
'Yeah, you've not told me a million times mother.' she said sarcastically, smiling warmly at her mother and chuckling. Her mother gave her odd look. It lasted for only a second, but still it made Ayano double-take. She stopped chuckling and glanced at her father for reassurance.
'There was a minor earthquake whilst you were...' Ryoba looked down, dejected, 'sleeping and, well...'
Ryoba stood up from her seat, focusing on Ayano but speaking to her husband. 'Darling, would you mind if we left the table early?'
'It's fine, we're all finished anyway. I'll be washing up.' Kyosei untucked his chair and took their empty plates to the sink.
'I'll dry when I come back down.' Ryoba called to him. He nodded at her and turned back to the dishes as she gestured for Ayano to follow her. Furrowing her brow in confusion, Ayano got up from the table and followed her mother. When they reached her room, Ryoba stood in front of the door and looked at her daughter sympathetically.
'It's ok! I'm sure my room is fine, mother.' Ayano said calmly.
Ryoba reluctantly stepped aside and behind Ayano, allowing her daughter to open the door. She turned the handle and pushed the door open. Her eyes widened as she saw the devastation of her room. Everything was on the floor and smashed, all except the corkboard to her right. The contents of her bookshelf lay sprawling on the floor, and the pieces of what looked to be a shrine were everywhere.
She turned to look at her mother, who looked to be expecting the worst. Ryoba hid her shock at the calmness of her daughter well. Truth to tell, Ayano didn't feel sad or upset about her room. Only one question was on her mind, why was there a shrine in her room? She knelt by fragments of glass from a picture frame, picking the pieces up. Hidden by the splintered wood was a picture, what looked like a boy beneath a cherry-blossom tree. The picture was torn in half; she couldn't tell who it was. Something about him seemed familiar. She reached out to get it, fingers curling around the photogra-
'SHIT! Ow ow ow owwww.' Shards of glass dug into her palm. She shook her hand, sending glass flying. Her face scrunched up as she clutched her hand, refusing to cry. She opened her hand carefully, and showed her mother.
'Oh, sweetheart!' she cooed sympathetically, 'Come on, we'll go downstairs and get you sorted out.'
Still wincing in pain, Ayano asked timidly,'Can I redecorate? My room seems a little brown .'
Her mother took her uninjured hand and they walked into the kitchen, 'Well, we'll have to clean you up first, and then the room, but we have the money. We'll go into town tomorrow for paint and anything else you might want.'
'Thank you, mother.' Ayano wrapped her arms around her mother, smiling to herself.
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Chapter Updated! First Upload - (18/12/2016); Most Recent Upload - (25/06/2017)
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