°˖✧Gaijin✧˖°

°˖✧Thank You for Hating Me✧˖°

Shigeo has never seen Ari quite like this before. There have been times when she's had anxiety, especially when she had a rough night of sleep or one of those nightmares about her dad or her old life. But this?

He looks over at her while they sit on the train together, and her hands are shaking as they sit on her lap. It pains him to see her like that, but who wouldn't feel like this in her situation?

He swallows and reaches over, gently putting his hand on top of her wrist. That quells the shaking a little bit, thankfully. She slowly looks up from her lap at him, and he can see the fear in her eyes, as well as the unshed tears.

"I still can't believe she sprung this on us last minute," Ms. Anaya grumbles under her breath. "After not talking to either of us for so long, she says she's staying over during Christmas break?"

He knows all too well about Ari's tenuous relationship with her older sister, how she always sought to have a good relationship with her, yet she was always kicked down and treated as nothing... And how, the very few times her older sister was nice to her, it was only because she wanted something. To think that anyone could be mean to someone as sweet as her... it's unfathomable to him.

"What are you thinking about, Shigeo?" Ms. Anaya asks, bringing him out of his thoughts.

He hesitates for a moment before he looks at her. He has made a vow to himself to consider how he's feeling from now on, so he should be honest. "Will she be mean to Ari again?" He asks tentatively. "Because she... doesn't deserve that."

Ms. Anaya's eyes soften at his concern and she looks ahead, a harsh breath leaving her nose. "You don't have to worry about that. I'm not going to let her. If she even tries it, she can pack her shit up and stay at a hotel," she promises, her tone fervent. "She's not going to hurt her again. Never again."

He looks at Ari, then. He traces little shapes into her wrist, mimicking what she's done for him plenty of times. He won't let her hurt her, either. Not if he has anything to say about it.

Once at the airport, they stand at the terminal while they wait for the plane Ari's sister is on to land. Ari gnaws at her nails until there's nothing left.

"So, her sister's a royal bitch, huh?" Dimple asks once he, Megumi, and Daia (who graciously accepted an invitation to spend some time with them) are out of earshot.

"She'd be the queen, actually," Megumi says, frowning. "Ever since they were kids, she would either be ignoring her, trying to get her in trouble for stupid things, making fun of her, or using her."

"So... send her packing," Daia says simply.

"You know how expensive plane tickets are?" She asks. "I don't want her here either, but that's a lot of money on the line!"

"Womp womp."

"I agree," Dimple comments.

Shigeo watches as Ari tenses upon the announcement being made that the plane has landed. He gently nudges her, to which she looks at him with an obvious furrow in her brow.

"It'll be okay," he murmurs, to which she looks down, not looking very convinced.

"I... I'm scared," she confesses, though she looks embarrassed to say it. "She and I never have been able to get along no matter how hard I tried... she always makes me feel so... small. Like I mean nothing."

"But that's not true. You... You're everything."

She sniffles and inches closer to him, resting her head on his shoulder. "You give me, like... way too much credit, you know," she mutters.