*:･ﾟYou Bet I Stare ･ﾟ:*

CHAPTER 46 - stubborn love

KOU
—❁—

⚘ EARLIER ⚘

As I rush from my place to Teru and Tiaras, I can only feel my brain running a mile a second.

"Are you running here or something? What's with all the noise?" I hear Teru mutter from his end of the phone call, and I only sigh in response as I look left and right down either sides of the street. "Y-Yeah.. you don't get it, this is urgent.." I pant as I begin running across the street, nearly arriving to my old residential area. "Okay okay, just be careful. You were already admitted into the hospital once this week, don't make it twice." I stop at another crosswalk and switch my phone into my other hand as I press the crosswalk signal button. "My bank account can't handle more hospital charges." "What? You mean.." I exhale, trying to catch my breath. "Y-You paid for my hospital fees?" "Yeah, I got Dad to lend me some money. I figured that there was no way you could handle them on your own, considering you can't even fully furnish your own place without shopping at secondhand shops." My eyebrows narrow. "What? You mean you actually got that bastard to lend you money on my behalf?" "Yeah, but I didn't tell him that it was for you.. I just told him that I needed it for educational reasons." "Hm." I mutter before rushing across the street. "Well I'm almost there, so I'll see you then." "Alright.. be careful." "Right, I will." I respond before getting greeted with the sound of him hanging up.

Soon enough, I finally make it to the house that I haven't been to in months. It still looked the same, but it didn't feel the same. The last time I was in this place was when I was grabbing everything I'm here that I could call my own so that I could take it all away from here.

Even knocking on the front door felt strange.

I only ever remember avoiding this place, no matter what the occasion was. Ever since me and my father had that massive argument over nonsense, everything changed. I honestly don't even remember the last time that I properly saw Tiara. Her 5th? No.. 6th birthday?

Tiara then greeted me at the door with a gasp. "Kou-nii..?" I softly smile, getting rid of the tensed up feeling in my back and shoulders. "Hey Tiara." "Kou-nii!!" She exclaims my name before rushing up to me almost instantly, giving me the biggest hug I've probably ever felt from a kid. "You're back! You're really back!" My arms tightly wrap around her as I kneel down on one of my knees. "I told you I would be back the last time I saw you, didn't I?" "Yeah, but I didn't know it would be today!" She exclaims as she grabs my hand, bringing me inside. "Teru-nii! Kou is here!" My eyes follow her as she rushes upstairs to the top floor so she can fetch Teru.

Looking around this place, it made me realize how much I actually missed it. I missed actually living with people, and I miss not having to pay my own rent every month.

Tiara eventually comes rushing back down the stairs, and I see that Teru isn't far behind her. "Hey Kou." He smiles as he puts a hand on my head before quickly putting it back down to his side. "So what's all this about?" "It's about.." I let out a quick sigh before glancing over at Tiara. "Tiara? How about you go turn a movie on upstairs in your room while me and Teru talk?" "Aww, do I really have to?" She groans as she walks over to me, grabbing onto my hand. "Yeah I know it sucks.. but it will just be a quick second. I promise you can come back right after." "Okay.." She grips my hand tightly before letting go, my eyes following her once again as I watch to see when she's at a spot where she probably can't hear us. "Alright, so what exactly is your big plan? And why are you so sure that it's gonna work?" Teru looks back at me as the both of us walk over to the couch and take a seat. "Okay—so you know how Hanako grants wishes to the living, right?" He nods. "Well after I visited Mitsuba in his room at the hospital earlier this morning, Tsukasa took advantage of him again and basically gave himself a window to try and kill me through Mitsuba. It hurt me insanely bad to see it, let alone be the victim of it.. and it had me thinking how awful Sousuke must feel. I can't stand to let him go through this bullshit anymore, let alone have to deal with it for the rest of his life.. so I figured that maybe I could sneak back into the school building and ask Hanako to grant a wish for me." "What are you, nuts? You do realize that breaking into a school building is illegal don't you? Especially since you aren't even a student there anymore. Do you have any idea how bad that would be if you got caught?" I sigh. "Yeah, obviously I do. But this is an important matter that can't be waited on." "How do you actually know that this will work? What if you get there and realize that it's just a huge waste of your time?" "Even if nothing can be done, I can leave knowing that I at least tried.. I don't want Sousuke to continue suffering like this."