PAPER FLOWERS ( k. bakugou )

chapter 39

' halcyon days '

━━━━━

Weeks pass. Although, Kaede will not exactly say weeks. More of two weeks, two days, three hours, fourteen minutes and fifty six seconds.

Fifty-seven now.

"You know," Yuko says, sits on the foot of Kaede's bed with a curious expression, "I heard you were going to be discharged tomorrow."

"I see," Kaede says, counting from one again in her mind. "I guess it's back to prison for me."

"Do you want to go back to prison?" Yuko asks, her cornflower blue eyes still curious. And Kaede knows that sooner or later, she'll have to stop derailing the conversation.

Kaede gives a noncommittal shrug, hauling herself to a sitting position and pushing the blankets to her knee. "I honestly can't decide what's worse," she says, five of her fingers grazing the wound which has a healed considerable amount since the first time her eyes scrutinized it. "The hospital or prison food."

"I'll take the prison," Yuko says, wrinkling her nose in disgust. "The chemicals here, well cherry pie, they murder me."

One eyebrow is raised from Kaede and aforementioned girl deadpans, "And yet you're still here."

Yuko rolls her eyes, her legs swinging to and fro as she drums her finger tips against the metal surface of the bed. "Have you seen my house, chocolate truffles?"

"Yeah, I lived there for years."

"Not funny, chocolate flan," Yuko deadpans. "Although there is some truth in your statement or whatever, you're simply not aware of how my father is there."

Kaede doesn't say anything. She knows that when Yuko goes into one of her episodes like this, you zip your mouth shut and pretend to give a damn. Only that Kaede doesn't have to pretend, because she actually cares.

Honoka at the corner of the bedroom, engrossed in whatever fashion magazine Yuko bought looks up at them and Kaede puts a finger to her lips earning a giggle from the girl. They're the ones who always put with Yuko in her Yuko-esque episodes. Honoka has the patience Kaede doesn't and in the empathetic portion, Kaede has some semblance of a connection towards the silver haired girl. In short, they're the perfect caretakers.

"I mean, instead of actually trying to be a decent father towards me, he goes inside our house and rambles on and on about how it's an unsuitable place to raise a child," Yuko guffaws, jumps off the bed and lies on the floor, her arms spread like ivory wings. "I mean if he actually bothered to stay with us, provide for us during the times my mother was ailing, mama could have gotten a suitable place for raising a child."

"What did your mother say, Yuu?" Honoka asks, closing the fashion magazine and setting it down next to her, shoots Kaede an I got this look and the raven-haired girl mouths thanks in return.

It's not like she's burdened with the task of empathizing with Yuko. The problem is that Kaede has other matters to settle. Matters that only Honoka and Shouto know.

"Well, she said that I was raised properly, so his concern was unneeded," Kaede tries to stand up, uses the headboard as assistance and when she does, she catches Yuko at her peripheral vision, pulling the blankets from her bed. "It was a cool response, I guess. Mama Akihisa gets some parent points for that, but if it were up to me, I'll tell him where he can stick that concern of his."

The rest becomes muddled out as Kaede enters the comfort room and washes her face. Facing the mirror, she blows unto it and when the surface gets all misty, she puts one finger and counts one two three again. In the mirror is a girl who just turned sixteen a couple of weeks ago, her hair fixed into an immaculate french braid and her skin pale again.