The Equation of Hearts

√𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝟾ﮩ٨ـﮩﮩ٨ـﮩ٨ـﮩ

They walked together as a group, looking around the waking up streets of Japan as what looked to be foreigners. The two girls were complaining about returning; "ugh, we'll be back at home and mum's gonna be bed bound for the next quarter of a day," Bianca rambled,

"I hope you're just as good at stopping kids from crying as you are letting them walk all over you." Athena nodded to Kato. How he was carrying Antonio still charmed both of the girls. Odele wanted to vomit, or be strong enough to confidently hold up a fight against the man. But he didn't think it should be as easy as Kato made it seem to rip off a human limb. The way Kato snapped each limb in half was the equivalent of Elena snapping a twig.

"Why..." he asked, to overpower all of Odele's thoughts.

"Because every time we come home and dad very happily tells us that mum can't move, Antonio there begins to cry and get upset that she's hurt." Athena chortled and walked ahead.

"Hurt..." Kato only just tuned into the conversation, he wasn't actually aware of what was going on.

"Guess a guy won't get it unless he's into that," Athena shrugged, "I take you're rather gentle then! Shame, it would have been good if you- hey!" She yelped as Bianca slapped her shoulder to shut her up, "fine! Basically - I can't believe I'm actually doing this for a hottie like you," she muttered.

"Rough sex hurts after." Bianca just spread out the truth to lay bare on the dining table they called a conversation. "And do you seriously think with the way dad so openly fails to keep his hands off of mum, it's an easy ride?" She muttered. "Mum can't ever get up from these things for a while. Kinda sucks." She mumbled and crossed her arms to comfort herself for the embarrassment of the conversation.

"Then let's get her a gift," Kato proposed. The three who were walking ahead stopped and looked back at him. He stopped and looked down at them with the same expression of pure emotionlessness.

"You serious? I don't think I got that." Athena chuckled.

"Get her a gift." He repeated firmly. Athena looked forward with a doubtful look.

"Dad's a multimillionaire. Everything she wants, he gets easily. And he will for her. So what can we actually get her? And why should we?" Athena queried rhetorically.

"Her favourite... something," Kato suggested. They all looked ahead,

"Are we supposed to know what that is?" Bianca wondered and began walking ahead,

"Yeah, whatever! We'll go be there for her. That's what kids do." Athena shrugged without much care. Kato watched them go ahead and felt hollow. As if, though he was a machine in their eyes, they were just husks of what a child should be. They were all words without meaning, no sentiment, no true empathy. Did they know Elena played the guitar? Did they know she hated sudden loud noises like alarms? Did they know what she had done for her brother when she was younger? Why did he care, anyway? This wasn't his world and it wasn't his mother. And still, with such an uncannily similar face each time, he felt he had to do what he would have for his own.

"I'll get her something then." He pulled Antonio off of his shoulders. He took the bags of Athena's shopping the night prior and looked around, "just don't get hurt for five minutes," he excused himself and walked away. They watched him in humour.

"The Hell is he doing?" Athena snickered and walked up ahead,

"A gift for mum? She has everything she needs. There isn't anything to give." Odele agreed, shrugging and walking ahead with new ease now that he was gone, "let's find a breakfast place." He looked up and around.

"What would we even get? Dad showers her with goods." Bianca agreed while holding Antonio's hand.  They all walked around and spoke before finding a place they all liked.