Rooftops At Sunrise

10

They walk back to Damian's apartment. The sound of Aoi's luggage rolling across gravel fills the mute lull that settles between them.

Two minutes pass.

Damian insists that she give him her things. "It looks heavy," he says.

For approximately thirty seconds, Aoi is resistant to the idea. She tells herself she wants to be independent for once. However, Damian is right—even for the average person, her belongings are indeed, quite the challenge to push, especially since they are going uphill now.

Aoi pauses. She sighs, then finally hands the duffel bag over to Damian, who takes it as if it is nothing. "T-thank you..." her words are muttered; Aoi averts her gaze from his.

He gives her a curt pat on the back. "Don't worry about it."

And then, the sound of wheels rotating begin anew.

"I'm guessing shit went down?"

Aoi shoves her hand into her pockets. Part of her is relieved to find her wallet and her phone haven't fallen out. "They want a divorce."

Damian makes a noise similar to what one makes when they are punched in the stomach. "Damn," the wheels of Aoi's luggage stop for a short moment, before they pick up their pace again. "I'm sorry."

In reality, it isn't that Damian feels the need to apologize—after all this has nothing to do with him, he has not impacted the relationship of Aoi's parents in any way—simply, he does not know what else he could say to offer comfort to the young woman, who is obviously shaken by the news with the way she peels the skin off her lower lip, by trapping faded pink flesh between her teeth.

"Yeah..." Aoi's voice is quiet as she follows Damian across the street that leads to his apartment. "I'm sorry, too."

"All right, let's stop for a moment." Damian's steps come to a halt.

He stretches his arms up to the sky, then turns around, and places both his palms against Aoi's shoulders. Aoi thinks, that they are warm. He, is warm.

"You're here to get away from it all and find extraterrestrials with me, are you not?" he asks her.

The young woman knits her brows together and considers the question. "Maybe..."

"What do you mean, maybe!" Damian motions at the world around them. "Look!" he exclaims, as he points to the stars that shimmer—dying lights—above their heads. "Look at how wonderful the world is! This is no time to be feeling down! Aoi." He smirks, as their eyes finally meet again. "You're free," Damian tells her. "Why not enjoy it while you can?"

And how right he is, Aoi finds, as she takes his advice and considers how far she's come.

For once, in this very moment, she is not surrounded by the looming dread of hearing yet another argument, screams. It is only she and Damian—them, and the wind.

Aoi's frown wilts. Out of the expression of gloom the young woman once wore, blooms a smirk. And a chuckle. "Thanks," Aoi tells Damian, with a muted nod. "Again, I suppose." She laughs. "For someone who's supposedly a loner, you're very good at cheering people up."

"Hey! This is a choice! A choice, okay!"

The two continue to banter along the rest of the way. Whilst they do, Aoi notices that being here is much less scarier than she initially assumed it would be. In fact, she finds this strange interaction, in this town she has never been to before, rather peaceful.

As a black cat runs past their bare legs, and has Damian yelping out of fear, Aoi snickers once more.

Yes, she thinks, she could get used to this.