【OKATSUYO】

Jailbreak: A Painful Indirect Goodbye

[Sorry it took so long! I'll add a picture later. ]

Autumn leaves scattered slowly across the pavement of a crudely made dirt path, lined with different sizes of cobblestone at the edges. Ivy crawled up the stone brick walls of a very small house-- with a straw roof and thin silk curtains that waved gently in the Fall breeze.
From inside, the comforting, splashing sound of tea falling into a cup reverberated off of the cozy walls. A girl, with long white hair, a pale dress, and a crown of flowers smiled as she set the teacup down with a small clack, cream colored steam slowly wafting out of the china cup.
She picked it up steadily and inhaled the sweet smell of the tea, and looked around at her room. It was 7:00, her usual activation time. The covers of her quilted bed had been neatly remade, oaken furniture around it equally as neat but very old. She placed the cup on a silver tray and carried it down the small stairs, bare feet quietly stepping and the aged stairs barely creaking.
"Ohayo, Kioto~!" Her high, small voice rang out in a joyful tone.
A young man with worn, scruffy white hair and large, younge brown eyes looked up at the girl with a fatherly smile.
"Good morning." He replied calmly, sitting in a large brown reclined chair with hands folded in his lap.
"I wish you a happy day of your birth!" She smiled, setting the cup of tea down next to him. Kioto cocked his head to a side of his collared lab coat. "Day of my..." His face lit up. "Oh-- thank you, Lu...!"

" I made the kind of tea that is particularly favorable to you, using extra honey because I know that you like that!"
He gave her a warm smile of gratitude as a response. "It looks delicious-- thank you."
He took the china cup in both hands and took a small sip of it.
"This day resembles your age, does it not? Does that not mean you are now-- twenty one?"

"Twenty one."

She suddenly glomped him in a huge hug. "Oh I am so exited for you! Please have a happy day of age celebration."
Kioto couldn't help but laugh happily.
"Thank you."

She nodded and smiled. "Of course--!"
"Excuse me, but the flowers that grow in the back of our house have not been watered yet and I have to go help them." She bowed respectfully before turning to skip towards the wooden door.
Kioto stood up slowly and scratched the back of his neck.
"I-Illumina-- I'm going to go out for the afternoon to buy from the marketplace in central Kuraki. And I probably won't be back until later tonight..." He paused. "Would you mind keeping the house while I'm gone?"
Illumina turned around. "Of course! I will make a bowl of soup for you when you return home." She smiled.
Kioto nodded and smiled back. "Thank you. Remember-- you can go outside, but only at the back. If anyone knocks on the door do not answer. And if anyone breaks in, you run as fast as you can to the north towards where I am. Only activate your False Programming if you cannot run and are under attack. Do you understand?"
Illumina nodded, which turned into a slight bow. "I understand, professor." He walked over to her, and patted her sympathetically in a big-brotherly way. "But there should be no reason for that to happen. I'll be home before you know it." She smiled and folded her hands. "Okay!! I will wait for you!"
Kioto smiled.
He turned and walked towards the door. "I'll see you later~ goodbye."
Illumina waved at him.
"Šãÿøñårā."

The wooden door closed.

The clock ticked slowly.

Seconds...
Minutes....
Hours....

It was now 4:00 noon.
A small brown bowl of soup had been made and placed onto the oak table inside the house, a thin sheet of red cloth crossing the top to conserve heat until Kioto returned. She suspected that she would be inactive by the time he came home, so she left a small note on the side of the table.

She was now sitting outside in the garden, playing with the small red ladybugs that scurried hastily from one end of the wooden fence to the other. "Hello." She would call out to each one of them. She always wondered why they never replied-- perhaps they were shy. Or perhaps they were scared? She changed her "Hello" to a "You needn't be afraid of me." But they still did not answer. Perhaps they were busy-- she decided not to bother them any longer.