VIOLET SKY, takigawa chris yuu

━ chapter twenty-nine

"Ryo!" Tanba chides, red settling onto his cheeks.

"First of all, given I am gay, that is physically impossible. Second of all, if you're going to assume anyone here is pregnant, it would be Amara," Chiyo smoothly responds.

Her smile quickly fades as the boys look a little too expectantly at her. Chris coughs quietly.

She blanches. "No. What? No."

The idea is both laughable and horrifying.

"Very skittish response," Isashiki says, narrowing his eyes.

"We won't judge if you are," Yuki adds, totally unironic.

Amara rolls her eyes. "Well, that would be great if I was but I'm not."

Chris clears his throat, smartly steering the conversation back to Chiyo. "There was something you wanted to talk about?"

She's entirely amused for Amara's liking, but she nods. "Mm." She holds up her hands, her eyes lifting to stare at something past Amara. "Hiro and I have broken up."

The silence that follows that statement is almost caustic in nature, confusion palpable. Amara stares at Chiyo.

Is this a practical joke? Or is she serious?

Chiyo senses their incredulity and blithely goes on to explain. "We broke up at the beginning of February. We didn't say anything because we didn't want to ruin anyone's break and we wanted to handle ourselves first privately for a little while. It was a very amiable decision, since I'm going to Sapporo and she's going into her third year. Naturally, she's a little hurt and so am I, so it's not easy to interact, which is why she won't be here all the time and neither will I. Any questions?"

It's all very businesslike and clinical, the way Chiyo talks — she's coping, probably, detaching herself from the situation and doing her best not to let emotions get in the way. One half of Amara is sympathetic, knowing this isn't easy on them. The other half is a little hurt that she's finding out like this.

Kuramochi gains his bearings first, shuffling in his seat noisily, the chair creaking under his weight. "Well. Wasn't expecting that," he says rather plainly.

It seems he and Miyuki are the most okay with this — that is, accepting it as it is.

The others are a little more confused.

And Amara — Amara is still feeling far too many things at once to properly decode. She compensates by shoveling down the rest of her food.

Kusunoki takes the first leap. "Just curious, but you don't even want to try long distance?"

She shrugs. "No. There's a lot that can go wrong. I have very good memories of our relationship here. No use in ruining that."

Underlying the fact that she's bothered by the way Chiyo's announced this — shouldn't she have been told separately, first, because they've known each other the longest? — is a tsunami of relief.

The fact that Amara potentially has someone to air her inner conflict out on now soothes the irritation momentarily.

Chiyo gets it.

"That's . . ." Isashiki falters.

"Well . . ." Kusunoki mutters, looking away.

"Good for you guys?" Tanba says hesitantly.

Chiyo barks a laugh. "Just telling you guys. But thanks."

"As long as you two are happy," Amara says and Chiyo sends her a quick but grateful look.