𝕊𝕡𝕚𝕣𝕚𝕥 || 𝕂𝕪𝕠 𝕊𝕠𝕙𝕞𝕒

That's Never Going to Change!

The day was a rainy one. When Hiyori woke up that morning, she was a little surprised. After all, the day before had been so nice.

Crossing the room to pull back the curtain, she pouted slightly upon looking outside. "Aw, it's raining..."

"It's too bad." Tohru stood up from her bed. "We have the day off from school today, so it would have been great if the weather was nice."

"I know! It's so unfair." Sighing, Hiyori turned to her cousin with a smile. "But I guess that doesn't mean we can't have fun today. What should we do?"

Tohru smiled sheepishly. "Actually, Daichi and I were planning to hang out later today, so..."

Even now, there was still that shameful feeling of loneliness that Hiyori felt during moments like these. But she still smiled and moved around Tohru's bed to inch closer to her.

"Ah, I see...You'd rather go on a date than spend time with me, huh?"

But Tohru didn't react with embarrassment or scramble to defend herself. Instead, she lowered her gaze to the ground with a slightly flushed face.

And when Hiyori noticed that her eyes were tearing up, she bristled. "T-Tohru?! What's wrong -- what did I say?!" She waved her arms frantically. "I'm sorry, I was only teasing! Did I go too far?! Did something happen?!"

Tohru shook her head. "No, it's not that. It's just...I'm so conflicted, Hiyori." Her voice trembled as she reached up to wipe her tears. "I don't know what to do..."

Hiyori blinked. Then she smiled faintly. "It's about Aunt Kyoko, isn't it?"

Her cousin's brown eyes stayed glued to the floor. "I...I swore. I swore that I would always put you and her first in my heart. So that we would always be together." She stepped back to sit back down on her bed. "But I...I've betrayed both of you. It feels like I'm leaving everything behind. And I -- "

"Tohru." Hiyori walked over to sit next to her. "You haven't betrayed anyone. Not me, and definitely not Aunt Kyoko." She reached over to take Tohru's hand. "Don't you realize? There's no limit to the number of people you can care about. And just because you've fallen in love, that doesn't mean Aunt Kyoko isn't still part of you."

Tohru glanced at her. "But...If I don't always put her first...what if she goes away?"

She smiled gently. "She told me something once, you know? She said that seeing a butterfly is supposed to remind you that your loved ones are still watching over you. No matter what." Her eyes were tearing up, too. "She can't go away because you love her. And she's part of you...And she always will be."

They sat in silence for a few moments. Tohru leaned over to rest her head on Hiyori's shoulder.

"...I love him." She eventually whispered.

Hiyori smiled. "I figured as much."

"Huh?!" Tohru shot up straight to gape at her cousin. "Y-You knew?! But how?!"

She flashed a thumbs up and a cheeky grin. "Woman's intuition!"

Tohru blinked at her. Then she broke into a fit of giggles. Hiyori joined in. When their laughter eventually faded, she sighed.

"It's been a while since we talked like this, you know." Looking down, she smiled faintly. "I guess we've both changed a lot since we first moved in here."

"Yeah..." Tohru looked down, too. "...Can I ask, what happened when you went to the estate yesterday? You seemed like you had a lot on your mind at dinner."

Hiyori stared at her lap. Now that it was out in the open, she knew there was no more hiding. Now that she had made her decision, she couldn't pretend like it was nothing.