ᴍᴇɴʜᴇʀᴀ // ᴍᴀᴛꜱᴜɴᴏ ᴄʜɪꜰᴜʏᴜ

ᴛʜɪʀᴛᴇᴇɴ

It's a bit ridiculous, since after that, she became ill and couldn't cook or clean anymore. That means your father had to turn to you. No, he didn't force you to cook. He would buy you food and other necessities, but he would always beat you to de-stress.

Your mom protected you, but you always felt bad because she was in a bad condition. Even though she was coughing like crazy, and she could barely move... she would hold you in her arms to shield you from your father's beatings.

It was heartbreaking.

You didn't want anyone to protect you.

You want to protect them instead.

Because...

"Hey, is that [Name]?" You looked up when you heard Mikey's voice. "Oh, it is!! Hey, little mouse!" The blond immediately came to glomp you. You didn't tumble since you were sitting on a bench. "Mikey-san, you're crushing Mr. Froppé." You pouted, gently pushing him away. "And I'm no 'little mouse!'"

"Hehe, sorry." He backed off, and you noticed that he was with Draken. You greeted him too. "Whatcha looking?" Mikey sat beside you and glanced over at the camera. "My mom's old photos." You explained, flipping through all the previous photos you saw for him. "She wanted to become a photographer before she left, but couldn't."

"I inherited this and the last thing she told me was to capture lots of beautiful things." You smiled at the thought. "Woooah!! Your mom's really good at it." Mikey was all excited when he saw the photos. Draken was sort of impressed too.

"She was!" You couldn't hide your pride for your mom. "I wanna take really nice photos too, but I don't know ho―"

Ring, ring, ring!

You gasped and stood up, causing Mr. Froppé to drop to the ground. "Ice cream." You spoke calmly, though the look in your eyes says opposite. You hurriedly picked up your bunny friend, apologising and putting down the camera before running off.

"Wh― Hey, don't just run off!" Draken yelled, but didn't run after you as Mikey pulled on his clothes. "Ken-chin, look! It's younger [Name]!" He grinned as he showed the taller male younger you playing with blocks. "This must be a long time ago." Mikey said, and continued to go to the next photo after the previous one.

"Ooh, look at this!" Draken got down to see. "This photo is edited." It was a woman with white wings growing from both sides and a halo on top. The background was made to look like she's above the clouds too. "You think she's [Name]'s mom?" Mikey asked, looking over to his friend.

Draken shrugged. "Maybe. They do kinda look alike."

"I knew it." The short blond had a playful smile on his face as he clicked on the next photo.

"..."

"...Huh?"

"What, Mikey?" Draken got down again to look. To his surprise, it was a woman... hanging by a rope. Her body was dangling from the ceiling, and the background was dark. Though, it'd be false if they said they couldn't see the background at all. "Did... her mom hung herself...?" Mikey asked, the smile he wore no longer there. "Did [Name] took a picture of this?"

Draken couldn't answer and was still in shock. You kept this picture? Mikey compared the edited photo of your mom and the one they just saw. Her body placement was the same, and the face in the edited photo was probably replaced by another photo of your mom.

"...Ken-chin, what do we do?" Mikey stared up. "Would [Name] be angry if she knew we saw this?"

Then they heard footsteps coming. It was you, with an ice cream in your hand. "Um... Sorry. There was ice cream." You scratched your cheek with your free hand as you apologized. You looked over to the camera, which just happened to be the edited photo on the screen. "Oh, my mom." Your eyes flickered with recognition.

"I had someone edited this for me. My mom was always like a guardian angel, so this really suited her." You said with a bit of joy in your voice. "Yeah. Your's mom real pretty." Draken grinned at you, and you had to look up. "My mom's the prettiest!" You nodded.

Mikey had to look between you and Draken for a moment, before his eyes went to the ice cream, which was starting to melt.

You noticed Mikey's gaze on the snack and you reluctantly moved it towards him. "...You want it? You can have it." Mikey agreed, but he didn't seemed too happy as you expected.

Maybe he doesn't like the flavour. You thought. That's a little disappointing. Regardless, it made you more than a little upset, but what can you do about it? It's not like you had any more money on you.

You really should start being more considerate.