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Yura hasn't slept the whole night. Her eyes were dry but her cheeks still stained. She didn't have any tears to cry anymore but the ache in her heart was still as strong as ever.
She took her time getting out of bed, having not much or almost no energy left. Her eyes felt heavy, just like her heart.
The girl felt relieved when she didn't encounter Niki on the way to the bathroom and that she also didn't see him on her way back to her room. Maybe he was trying to avoid her, which she understood. Yura would've probably done the same when he said those things to her.
When she was back in her room, Yura got dressed in her school uniform and then walked down the stairs. She came into the kitchen, seeing her father sitting there and Mrs. Nishimura standing by the stove. But Yura's eyes weren't on them.
She stared at Niki for a second, before averting her eyes and walking into the room and sat down in her usual seat, across from Niki.
The boy tried to ignore her presence, only glancing up at her for a mere second before directing his eyes down to his food. He took a second before slowly taking another bite. He had actually no appetite, his stomach didn't feel empty but full, too full. Like he ate too much despite barely touching his breakfast.
Yura wasn't much different. She picked at her food with her fork, shoving it from side to side with a sullen face. The atmosphere between the two teens was dimming and pressuring. So much that the adults could notice.
The girl glanced at her father when she felt his eyes on her. What she told Niki last time was true. Her father was watching them like a hawk.
"What's going on with you two?" Mrs. Nishimura asked as she sat down opposite of her husband and on the other end of the small table.
"Nothing." Niki answered her. His voice was strained and dry. Like he had used it too much. And he did. He sobbed, cried, let his anger out in screams that were still too silent to be heard by the others but oh so loud in his own ears.
"Yura?" The older woman sighed and looked at the girl when she saw that Niki wouldn't give her a real answer.
"It's nothing." The girl repeated.
Mrs. Nishimura sighed and ate her food, still watching the two kids and trying to figure out what was wrong.
"I can't help you if you don't tell me what's going on." The woman spoke.
Niki's eyes automatically found Yura's, recalling his own words from last night and how he suggested on telling his mother about them.
"You can't help with that, I'm sorry." Yura said, not breaking eye contact with Niki.
"How are you so sure about that?" Mrs. Nishimura leaned forward on her arms, trying to get Yura or Niki to talk.
"Honey." Yura's father spoke, his voice stern "Leave them alone. If they want to talk, then they'll talk." He stared at Yura while saying the last thing and the girl felt pressured under his heavy gaze, keeping her eyes down.
