The cafe is empty, mostly, as it is during this lull between lunch and dinnertime. The time where everyone is at work, school's still going on, and nobody's lunch break is late enough to arrive. It's a quiet time between the cafe's normally busy hours, so you take the time to take a break. Surprisingly there are no customers. Tetta's in school again, and although you worry for how he's adjusting, you've heard kids bounce back pretty fast, and you had in your past life, too.
It's still strange, doing all of this.
But there's not much for you to do, other than keep living now. Easier said than done, truly; you had felt trapped, stuck in a bird cage-
And now that you were free, you had no clue as to where to fly.
Currently, you were one of the only workers for Suki. Because of that, you held a steady pay, plus the fact that with child support from your father (who you've still yet to meet), you could save up for Kisaki's (and maybe your?) college. You..wanted to help Tetta, but that was it. You held no other goals, which seemed silly now. Getting to live once was a blessing; living twice was a miracle.
So maybe you'd pursue things you didn't in your past life. You'd always lived rather selflessly if you were to admit it, if you looked past your own self. Pushing yourself to take care of others, even when they might not have deserved it. Striving to be perfect for everyone else. Maybe part of it was selfish. But objectively some of it- it had to be selfless.
Or maybe you were the most selfish of them all: willing to do anything to protect those close to you. Not caring for anybody else. Not caring for the consequences.
You finish wiping down the counters and tables. As the oven beeps, you open it to check on the baking cookies. They look about finished, so you remove them and bring them out and to the warmer. Swiping one for yourself, you wait at the counter for any customers.
Your days have become so calm- not uneventful per se, but peaceful. You'd never realized how oppressing that woman had been for you until you were free of her presence completely. So much stress was off your shoulders. In fact, a lot of your days were stress-free when you didn't have to worry about her or the plot. You could only assume that so far, you were doing things right, considering Takemichi hadn't come back to the past to stop you.
You rinsed your hands, finished with your cookie.
==
Tetta knew he was a smart boy. In fact, his nee-chan often complimented him exactly on that these days. He was smart enough to know something changed with his nee-chan.
Before, his nee-chan very rarely left her bed when she was at home. Her face was always stained with tears, Tetta knew, and his nee-chan was always protecting him. When she came back with money, unlocking their door with the key she hid from their mother, she would hide it in their secret spot and then lay in bed for hours. She would stare, blankly, with tears rolling down her cheeks as Tetta talked of his day. She did not respond to anything he said, ever.
His sister rarely spoke to him, and she never looked at him. But she still protected him. Even when she could not look at him, she used her body as a shield.
Tetta thinks of the photos on the walls, of a little girl and her loving parents, and he understands. It's okay for his nee-chan not to like him. He ruined her family, after all.
He is used to that as his life. His distant nee-chan and his angry mother.
His nee-chan's constant tears and the way he cries with her at night.
He returns from playing with Hinata after school one day and his nee-chan's asleep. Her pale, thin arms are littered with bruises. Tetta cannot remember the last time his nee-chan ate with him, but she always comes back with food for him. He stores the food away: there's a muffin in his drawer, kept carefully in its ziploc bag, and a sandwich for school tomorrow.
Tetta goes out to buy an ice pack at the grocery store after his mother sleeps. Her room door is closed and Tetta holds his breath as he tiptoes to the door. He only breathes again when he is outside- this is a normal routine.
But when he returns, something unexpected happens.
His nee-chan looks at him. His nee-chan looks into his eyes and at him and does not flinch, not once. He studies her expression, carefully, so carefully.
She sees him.
Tetta does not know what made her see him, and he wants to jump from joy if anything. He would if it didn't mean Mother would wake.
"Nee-chan?"
His nee-chan looks startled, for a moment, like she wasn't even expecting to see him. He wants to hide, for a moment- what if she gets angry?
Instead, she hesitates for a moment before responding.
"Yes?"
And Tetta's world turns upright.
--
It seems to only get better. His nee-chan is talking to him more than ever. She does the same as before but it is so different. When walking him to school, she holds his hand and says goodbye at the door. She picks him up after school, bringing him to her workplace (that he's never been at before other than the few times he watched so he would know where she went always) and introduces him to her boss. Or she talks to him and tells him what time she'll be there to pick him up from playing with Hinata. Nee-chan whispers to him, so quiet against Mother's yells, and she says "I will protect you."
Tetta wants to remind her that she always has protected him.
When nee-chan asks Tetta if he ever thinks of leaving, he almost blurts out the whole truth. All the nights she would cry and he would cry right back, and the whole time he would wonder if things would be different if they ran. If she would smile at him. If she would talk to him.
Instead he tells a part of the truth: "Sometimes. I'd take you with me, though, nee-chan."
And his nee-chan smiles at him.
Tetta's world feels so bright.
When the world isn't so bright, when the sun sets and the shadows insult Tetta, his nee-chan whispers the bad words away. She reassures him.
He loves his nee-chan so, so much. The way she talks to him now. The way he finally feels human, more human than ever. Because he has a family, this is family.
If Tetta cries at night, it's not to join in on his sister's symphony, but rather a song singing only of relief and joy.
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me: disappears for months me: tetta pov???? me: proceeds to word vomit.
anyways might disappear for another few months who knows, not me!!! be fed and be well.
