"Would you like a hand carrying this up to your room?"
"I'm okay..."
"It's alright. Just take it easy, okay?"
Now I'm worrying Kanon and her father...
"...Sorry. I'm not feeling very well. Could I be excused to my room? I need to... think."
"For sure. Take as much time as you need."
Kanon, despite clearly worrying about me, pats me on the shoulder before beginning to help her dad with the things and cats from the café. Meanwhile, I proceed to carry my things up to my room.
"..."
It's then that I walk past Anna as my thoughts focus on her instead as she soon goes down the stairs where I just was, meeting up with Kanon and her father. I don't have work tomorrow, so I need to make sure I get along better with Anna, but I'm not too sure how I'm meant to do that, especially with everything that happened just now.
"Sis..."
Entering my room, I close the door before muttering for my sis.
"There's no way you were at that apartment... It can't be."
Wanting to think about it more calmly, I put down the box before bringing the blanket that was on top of it, carrying it with me to the bed as I lay down with it.
"Eh?"
But right as I cuddled up with the blanket in my arms, I feel a couple tears leak out from my eyes before falling straight into the blanket. Why am I crying right now? Despite me questioning it, my tears only continue to fall down my cheeks as I end up holding the blanket closer to my face. It's lingering warmth slowly spreading over me, which is only making my tears fall even more.
"What... is this?"
I can't quite figure out the reason, but I feel like this blanket is different, although I can't quite figure out how exactly.
Before I could figure it out however, a sudden knock comes through my door, cutting my thoughts short.
"H-Hold on!"
Putting the blanket aside, I quickly wipe my tears away from my face before walking over towards the door. Only when I opened the door, I was surprised to see that it was actually Anna and not Kanon.
"Hey, I was wondering if I left the video game console in- wait... Are you crying?"
"I-I'm fine."
"Pfft. Is working at the café really that hard?"
"Eh?"
"Hah, whatever. I'll only be in and out."
She says whilst making her way into the room, heading straight towards the small cabinet that the TV is on top of. I've never bothered to use this TV in my room as I fear about using too much power.
"Alright cool, thanks."
After about a minute, Anna comes back carrying what looks to be a rectangle box. Is that the video game console she just talked about? But right as she was about to leave my room, she stops in place before turning around back towards me in the hallway.
"Did you want to come inside my room?"
"Huh?"
"You're obviously not feeling well if you're looking like that. I have a spare controller for this as well."
"But I don't-"
"It's good to distract your mind when you're feeling down. Now do you wanna come inside or not?"
It's not like I'm sad... at least I don't think I am, but maybe she's right about the whole distraction thing. That said-
"I've never played video games before..."
"Wait. For real?!"
Wait, are video games more common than I thought? I remember my brother having one, but sis and I never touched it before. I also don't think that the one in Anna's hands is the same as the one I remember my brother having.
"It's fun, come on."
"O-okay."
That said, isn't this the perfect opportunity to start getting along with Anna? I was wondering about how I'd go about doing that during work, but to think that Anna herself would invite me to her room like this.
"Hehe."
"What? Something funny?"
"Nothing."
I simply give her a smile as my answer as we walk into her room that is opposite of mine. To think that me crying just now lead to this. I can't help but wonder if I wasn't crying that she'd just leave me be.
"Here we are. Try not to touch too many things."
"Okay."
I'm honestly a little bit shocked at how colorful Anna's room is. I thought my room was on the colorful side of things, but Anna's room is on a whole other level.
Plushies can be seen all over her bed along with a net hanging above the bed holding even more plushies, ranging from many different sizes. The other eye opener was how pink this room is. I had Anna up to be quite a defensive person, so to see a room like this... It's something I never would've expected.
"Hahh~ There we go."
Anna sets down the console before she begins to plug it into her own TV. However, I'm still trying to take everything in.
"Hey, could you close the door? The cold air is getting in."
"Ah- sorry."
Hearing her voice pulls be back in as I quickly shut the door like she said.
"Thank you. You can take a seat wherever, this won't take too long."
"Alright."
Not wanting to disturb the plushies on her bed, I simply take the couch that's behind Anna which is facing directly towards the TV.
After a busy day of searching-
"I think we better call it here. A lot of the places are closing now."
We checked out quite a bit of shops, but we were mainly going around form house to house. With every failed attempt, I felt more and more defeated, but every time I felt like giving up, Midori was there to help me push forward. That said, like she said, many of the shops are closing and many people are probably going to have dinner soon.
"Yeah..."
"Hey. I'll be busy moving back to my dad's place tomorrow, but I could maybe join you again tomorrow? It all depends on my dad though."
She sure is something... But I wonder why she goes this far for me? I've long accepted the fact that we're friends now, but is this really what friendship feels like? I can't help but smile even with all the failures we just went through.
"As long as it's okay with you."
"Of course it is! I had fun walking around with you."
"You did?"
"Mhmm! It's not quite what I expected today to turn out, but I'm glad it did."
And true to Midori's personality, she shoots me a smile that completely destroys my own.
"Then~ We'll keep in touch?"
"Mhmm! I'll message you or call you tomorrow if dad lets me."
"Thank you, Midori."
"I-it's nothing, seriously."
Her face flushes a slight red as we come up to an intersection, with Midori's place going in a different direction to the one I'm taking.
"Then I'll-!"
Suddenly, right as I was about to walk off, Midori flings herself forward, wrapping her arms around me.
"M-Midori?"
"Sorry. I just felt like I needed to do this..."
"...Hehe."
I gently wrap my arms around her as well until finally, after a few more moments, we separate. Midori's face still flushed like before, only her smile is just as bright as ever.
"I'll see you tomorrow then!"
"Nn. See you."
And with that, we go our separate ways.
"Pfft."
It's funny... It's like she knows that she'll be coming with me again tomorrow with that declaration. Well, I'm glad I have someone like Midori helping me out like this. I honestly would've broken down a couple times with all the searching we've done so far.
After a while of walking, I finally make it back to the man's apartment. I can still feel a bit of the lingering warmth from Midori's hug, I just hope that that can stay with me as I go through this once more. Also after seeing how little food there is, I made sure to fill myself up at the café. I could probably skip dinner altogether if I wanted to-
"Huh?"
However, right as I was approaching the door, I glimmer of light shined from the floor just outside the apartment. Looking at it closely, I make out that it's a key. Is it to this apartment? Not wasting any time, I pick up the key and try to insert it to the lock. If it doesn't work then I'll just knock on the doors around me until I find someone with a missing key. But that thought quickly dissipated as the key smoothly inserted into the lock as I gently open the door.
"Huh?! What? Hah! You're back already?"
And the person to greet me is none other than the man himself. Looks like he's made a bit more of a mess last time I was-
"Eh?"
But that's when my eyes notice something strange. The blanket I was using as a bed last night, my sister's blanket... is gone. Did he throw it out?
"..."
That thought quickly took over me as I clenched my fists, digging my nails into the palm of my hands.
"Well if you're planning on staying here, be sure to clean up that-"
"Where's Reina?"
I've had enough of this guy now. I know asking this is stupid as he thinks I'm Reina, but the words leave my mouth before I know it.
"What are you going on about now?"
I waste no time in approaching him at his desk, which seemed to get a rise out of him as he stood up to face me. He's taller than me, but he doesn't seem all that threatening compared to those two guys from before.
"Reina. Where is my sister?"
"What-? Huh?! Wait, sister?! You serious?"
Judging by the look on his face, it seems like he finally pieced things together.
"You just missed her. That brat is probably long gone by now."
"What?"
"She ran off with some people in a car. Pfft, ahahaha! Oh how unfortunate it must feel, huh?"
I don't even know what he's saying is true or not. For all I know he could've just thrown her out with her blanket and now she's living on the streets, which only makes my blood boil even more. I really just want to punch this guy in the face, but my guardian drilled it into me to only act out of self-defense. I don't want to cause him any trouble-
Suddenly, I feel his hand being placed on my shoulder as his fingers slowly work their way towards my neck.
"Say, how would you-!"
Not letting him continue that sentence, before he could even touch my neck, I quickly grab hold of his wrist, twisting it off, bringing it into a position where I could easily snap his wrist. His cries quickly scream out from the pressure, and right as he went for a swing with his other hand, trying to break himself free, I duck under it before countering with a straight kick to his knee.
"AAAHH!"
He falls to his knees with a thump as I continue to hold his wrist in a pressure point.
"Where is Reina?"
"You're going to pay for-"
With my free hand, I grab him by the head before slamming his head right up against the edge of the table he was sitting at before. I ended up letting go of his wrist as he began flailing on the ground, blood dripping down from his face, staining the ground.
"Khh! F-first you break and enter, and now you assaulted me?! I wonder how the cops would- GAH!"
I stop his words short as I stamp down with a bit of force on his crotch. Mei did say for me to do this if he ever tried something, so I technically have permission as funny as that sounds.
"Shut up, or I'll make sure you'll never be able to use this again."
"Why you-Khh!"
He tried to free himself from the ground, but right as he attempted to, I quickly pressed down with most of my weight directly on his crotch, even twisting my foot to make sure I get everything.
"You think the cops will save you? Firstly I didn't break anything. Secondly, I wonder what they'll think when they see the state of this room? Seeing a grown man housing a girl that isn't even his daughter? I wonder what conclusions they'll come up with?"
My words seem to have resonated with the man as he stopped flailing about. I lift my foot from his crotch before continuing as he clutches the area with both his hands, not caring about the blood dripping from his face now.
"So I do wonder what side the cops will take? So go on, I dare you to try that."
"Y-you..."
"So I'll ask again. Where is Reina?"
"Like I said, I don't know! She just left with those people!"
"What people? When?!"
I threaten him by stomping down on his ankle, causing his body to stiffen up in pain.
"Khh!! Th-the man and woman! They drove off with her not long ago."
Is he talking about my brother and Mei? There's no way that they were here just before. I got a text back from Mei saying that she's finishing hanging out with my brother at my place.
"Liar."
"No! I swear! It's the truth!!"
But right as I was about to go for a kick, he shouts out those words, his eyes wide open. I end up stopping right as my foot was about to make contact. His eyes aren't that of someone who's lying I feel like.
"...Then where?"
"I don't know!~ Please... Just... Leave me alone..."
Tears begin streaming down his face, mixing with his blood. For what it's worth, the bleeding isn't bad enough to be life threatening, in fact it looks like the bleeding has already slowed down.
"Then what about her things? Where's her blanket and the box?"
"She took them with her. Like I said, I don't know where she-!"
He flinches as I quickly approach him, so I use the opportunity to grab him by his collar, quickly pulling him up against the side of the bed in a seating position. His eyes open as I stare directly into his. I could tell just how much fear I put inside him like this.
"If I find out your lying..."
"I'm not, I swear!"
"...Fine."
I let go of him before standing back up, now looking down at him as he lifts his hand up to his bleeding head.
"Then tell me everything you 'do' know."
"H-huh?"
"You said she needed a job, right? Where was she looking? Who was she with? Everything."
"..."
Back in Anna's bedroom-
"Ahh! Nice one! I never thought about doing that before!"
"Hehe."
The game we ended up playing is a co-op game called "Gate2." It took a while for me to get used to the controls, but after hearing Anna explain how the game works, I ended up solving the puzzles in the game quite quickly that even Anna was surprised.
The game uses portals to navigate through the levels, but the portals can only be used on certain surfaces, some of them even move. I'm not about to fathom how portals are meant to work in real life, but I like how it's represented in this game. It's honestly pretty fun.
"Are you sure you never played this game before?"
"No. This is my first time playing a game to begin with."
"I seriously can't believe that. Then you must be a genius or something. A prodigy."
"Hehe. I don't think I'm 'that' great."
Playing together with Anna felt strange at first, but I'm finding myself smiling with her as we continue to play.
"Ooh! Maybe this way?"
"Hnng."
"Huh? Are you okay?"
With us sitting side by side like this, Anna ended up accidentally bumping into my right shoulder; the place where my cut is. It wasn't too painful, but Anna seemed to have felt me flinch.
"It's nothing. It's just a cut."
"A cut? Lemme see."
I end up rolling up my sleeve until the bandages could be seen. Anna's eyes widen in surprise as she looks at it without touching.
"This- is my sister's work?"
"Yes."
So she can tell that Kanon treated my wound? I wonder if Kanon did the same to Anna before in the past?
"You... You didn't get this at work, right?"
"No. I just-"
I hesitate for a moment whether to lie to her or not. I'd really prefer to just be open and not hide anything with this family...
"...I got jumped a while ago."
"What?!"
"Yeah... And while I was looking for a job, your sister found out about it. I ended up coming to the café everyday after that."
"Hahh~ Sis can be a really nosy person, haha."
"Hehe, yeah."
"So that explains why she let you work there."
"Yes. She wanted to keep an eye on me, so I ended up learning the work... Sorry."
"Huh? Why are you sorry?"
"For taking that position away from you..."
"Ah~ You heard about that?"
I simply nod at her question. I really want to try and get along with Anna, so I feel like breaching this subject is a must in order to do that.
"Well it's true that I'm pretty mad. I tried to not make it show, but when I saw you first arrive at our place, I just couldn't handle it."
Yeah. I could feel that without her even needing to speak. I can still remember the pressure she emanated as I first walked through the front door.
"But my parents and sis seem to like you, so I figured it'd be best for us to get along."
"Yes! So do I!"
"Pfft-haha. So then how do you enjoy gaming?"
"It's fun! I'm liking this game."
"There's more to games than just this though. Maybe after dinner we can try out others?"
"Mhmm!"
I feel happy that Anna is also trying their best to get along with me for the sake of her family. I also appreciate how she never questioned me as to why I was crying earlier; not that I could even have an answer to her. I could tell her about sis, but I think for know, this is enough.