Love Like You: Rohan Kishibe and Daughter Reader

Mother

A/N: Hey everyone, my apologies for the mini-hiatus! I was very busy the past couple of months with my exam, Christmas shopping, spending time with family and friends, preparing for a new school semester, and so forth. I hope this chapter delivers, and as always, please comment on strengths and improvements! Thank you!

Reimi returned indoors and opened the windows, either to treat the night like it was a member of the Sugimoto family, or to simply display her gratitude for providing her world with wishes she collected nightly in a jar. She approached her room on her tippy-toes to exercise caution with her breath of golden light within its glass home, and so as to not awake her dear parents, who needed their rest for the storm of emotions that comes with any daughter moving out of her childhood home.

She also left her window and door open, a giant step from two years ago at the age of sixteen, when guests who walked by her room would suspect there was a secret beyond the hinges. Reimi rested herself against the stack of big cardboard boxes containing clothes and heavier belongings, observing how the single ball of make-believe pyre inspired the box's shadows to reach and become something greater than themselves.

Amidst the city of cardboard stood out, like a celebrity, a rag resident with a cute smile just below its sewn-in eyes. She had stitches a plenty and unashamedly wore the chocolate milk stain Reimi spilled onto her when she was three; the flower pattern on the overalls looked as though they were sprouting from the blotch. Styling her hair released an abundance of dust, and its old scent was as pleasant as perfume.

Reimi tapped the doll's dotted nose, and no amount of love collecting in the neighborhood, from young poets scribing their hearts into the shape of words to couples sneaking smooches and distracting each other from their hard work, could come close to the love presented on Reimi's face as she admired a relic from her past.

She introduced her doll to the six-legged, antenna-topped wish floating in its jar, whispering to it to think of its heart's desires. Then she clasped her hands tight enough to be able to hold water; her eyelids draped over her irises like blankets tucking a child in, and she whispered to herself, "I wish...I wish—"

"Hmph! It appears my hunch was correct yet again!"

Reimi jumped as flimsily as her rag doll anytime she tossed her in the air and caught her, as parents do to grant their children the feeling of flight. Thank goodness the jar was tight in her grasp; she wouldn't want the little guy within to be hurt. "R-Rohan! Don't scare me like that!"

"My, what a delightful expression of fright and surprise! The curvatures of your face twisting as you believed danger was just three steps away...eh, nevermind it—" for Reimi had greatly exaggerated her expression of horror, toppling to the side, even. Rohan sighed, stashing his sketchbook back in his artist's bag.

Reimi giggled and scooted closer to Rohan. "What brings you over at this hour, Ro? This supposed 'hunch' of yours I take?"

His artist's bag emanated a peculiar yet similar glow to the one in Reimi's hands, blinking like an airplane carrying people towards their dreamed destinations. He too had lightning bugs in a jar, more than what could be counted on both hands. His nose was upward, his lips gleaning smugness and pride.

"Before you ask, no, they are not for you. I simply wanted to remind you before you move out that I am—and always will be—the better firefly-catcher than you."

"Knowing you, that's the kindest goodbye I'm going to get!" Reimi exclaimed, displacing her genuine hurt into reorganizing the boxes. "Not that I need to be impressed by your ability to catch fireflies, anyhow." The love pouring out of her heart had made a round trip to her features. "One is all I need to make my wish..."