just for you || rui x reader pjsk

15: Finale (b)

I reached my arm up to pull hers away from my chest, but on the way I noticed the stuffy feeling in my chest. Certainly, the feeling emerged because of the appearance of my mother, whom I hadn't seen in years?

Even so, I realized...

My own tears were contributing to them. They fell one after the other, stopping every movement in my body in its tracks.

I didn't know why I cried,

but if there was anything to note,

it was that I usually cried when something hurt.

* * *

Beep, beep, beep.
I stepped forward to turn off the alarm. "Man, what's the point of an alarm if I'm just going to wake up before it anyway?" I grumbled while tying my hair up. I held my hand at the tight part where my hair was bunched together, and groaned a little.

I took a look at the glossy, clear mirror. A blue jacket over a blouse with a skirt. "All good!" With my back upright and tight, I grinned with a dash of sun rays on my body.

When I moved to the right a little, the rays engulfed my face in the bright, gleaming light.

It felt so warm, even warmer than the feeling of sun on my face in the hospital.

I went to the kitchen, where my mother was reading a book. She was sharply focused on it, and though she didn't say a word, she acknowledged my presence with the plate on the table.

Woah...

It's eggs and ham.

I sat down, and dug in gratefully. "This tastes..." I didn't know what my expression looked like, between nostalgia and sorrow. "Just like how it was, nine years ago."

Nine. Because my mother stopped making eggs and ham for me, after Dad died.

Because it was his favourite, too.

* * *

I stepped into Kamiyama High.

It felt so weird, how the teacher standing tall at the front gate looked at me like a normal person.

How everyone, on my way to school, looked at me like I was just another school girl.

It felt so, so surreal.

"Morning." A scarily familiar voice greeted me. Informal. Monotone. Gloomy.

Ah, if it isn't Nene Kusanagi.

Gray, messy hair and that damn voice.

"Still sticking your nose too deep in others' business?" I said, with a slight hint of spitefulness. I didn't even know where I was going with the comment.

She avoided my gaze and looked to the side the moment we met eyes. "I... I'm your guide. Sorry."

Sorry for being my guide, or for...?

"...And you're in my class?" Silence spread out between us. She hesitantly nodded, and I couldn't help letting out a sigh.

"Okay then, please lead me to 2B." I said in the most convincingly nice tone I could put up for Nene Kusanagi.

She nodded. And for even a moment, I wondered whether I was the one being childish, for digging up skeletons from more than nine years ago.

Maybe I was, but nothing really happened in my childhood except for vague memories of a faint happiness, my father's death, the incident, and Nene Kusanagi. When there are only three things you know well in life for eight years, you don't forget them easily.