Orphan

What Should We Do?

"You expect us to sit back and just let her do this? No. We need to talk to her." Tomoe stated.

Tsugumi gulped. Tomoe was getting aggressive again. She tended to be like that when it was about Ran. It ended up causing fights at times.

"How do you expect to talk to her?" Himari asked, "If you go in and just start yelling, nothing good is gonna come from it."

"Maybe she needs that." Tomoe muttered, "Nothing else seems to be working."

"U-um… I might know a way." Tsugumi said.

"What would that be?" Moca asked.

"Well… Everyone here likes her… right?"

"Eh?" Everyone looked at each other in disbelief.

"So… maybe if we show her more love, maybe she'll realize she can open up to us more?" Tsugumi explained.

"That might work."

"But, how are we gonna do that?" Himari asked.

"Well… how about we stop getting mad when she hides things from us." Moca offered, "From things I've read, doing that makes someone less likely to come to you in the future. We should try to fix that and show her that she doesn't need to be afraid to tell us."

"Alright. Um… should someone go check on her, then?"

"I suppose so."

"I'm going." Tomoe declared as she stood up.

"Promise you won't be harsh on her." Tsugumi asked.

"I promise…" Tomoe mumbled.

…

Tomoe's POV:

I made my way to Ran's house. I'm a little nervous. I could really mess things up if I don't approach this the right way. Then everyone will be mad at me.

It wasn't long before I stood at the door. I took a deep breath and knocked. No one answered right away. Maybe no one is home?

I was about to give up when the door finally opened. Ran peaked out. She warily watched me. I don't think she trusts my presence here.

"Hey, can I come in?" I asked.

"What do you want?" Ran questioned.

"Just wanted to see how you're doing, since you didn't show up to the meeting and all." I replied.

"I'm fine. Go away."

"I just want to hang out." I stated as I held the door open, "That's all."

"You aren't going to give up, are you?" Ran sighed.

She seems tired. Not like she's just physically tired, though. More mentally tired than anything. This really has been taking a toll on her, hasn’t it? And we never really noticed.

"No. I really do just want to hang out." I said as honestly as I could, "I want to apologize for how I've been treating you."

Ran raised an eyebrow. I don't know that she truly believes that. But it's the truth. If we want her to feel okay talking to us, I need to fix the wrong I've already done.

"Fine." Ran stepped back and allowed me to enter the house.

I walked inside before she could change her mind. I don’t think I’ve ever been in her house yet. I looked around.

“Are you the only one home?” I asked.

“Yeah…” Ran mumbled. She didn’t seem very comfortable.