Runaways [MikaYuu]

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Five

The suitcase Yuu was holding slipped from his fingers, thudding to the floor loudly and cracking open, making the contents spill out into the floor.

"Oh," Yuu looked down, seeing all his possessions in disarray. He must've dropped dropped it after hearing Akane's bombshell. "Sorry, I'll pick this up..." He mumbled.

"Yuu-san, wait," Yuu only barely heard Akane while he knelt down, trying to clean up. They had unfolded and became bundles of fabric, but instead of refolding them he found himself crouching down, attempting to shove everything back inside.

"Yuu-san," Akane said worriedly, kneeling down beside him. For a moment, Yuu had forgotten she was even there. He ignored her completely, setting his extra pair of shoes and notebook on top.

"Hey, it's alright," Akane begged, shaking his shoulder. "C'mon, I'll help you fold the clothes. Nothing will fit like this."

Yuu ignored her again, pushing the things into the suitcase with more force and fighting back tears. He tried to close the lid, feeling frustration rise up in him when it would not close.

"Yuu-san, please," Akane choked out. She was crying now too. She tried to pull the suitcase away from him while Yuu applied forced pressure to be able to lock it up. "We can fix this."

"It won't close," Yuu hissed at the suitcase.

"Come on, let's try again," Akane opened the suitcase, carefully taking out the possessions and beginning to refold everything. There was a forced calmness in her voice, as if she was talking him out from doing something rash. Yuu did not look away from the suitcase, narrowing his eyes at it judgingly. Akane moved delicately, carefully as to not wrinkle anything.

"What happened?" Yuu said darkly. The choking lump in his throat made him cough, and he squeezed his eyes shut as to not allow the tears to fall freely.

Akane stopped folding a pair of slacks. "I don't think I can tell you..." She trailed off, a pained expression scrunching up her features. She quickly avoided his gaze, carefully setting everything back into its proper place.

"What the hell do you mean you can't tell me?" Yuu demanded, his hands slamming down on the suitcase just as Akane locked it up. She gasped in surprise, pulling her hands away.

"I- He won't let me-" She stuttered. "He said never to tell you."

Yuu was assuming the worst now. He felt like he was holding back every emotion he was feeling in that moment - anger, fear, worry, frustration - shoving it into the darkest corner in his mind so that he wouldn't have a panic attack.

He didn't want to know what kind of explosion would go off if he shattered.

Akane's eyes widened in realization. "There is something, though," She whispered suddenly, scrambling to her feet. "Wait here."

She rushed into the hallway that led to Mika and Akane's respective bedrooms, turning left to head into Mika's. After a moment, she returned, tightly grasping a simple, crumpled envelope in her hands. She looked down at it, her lip quivering. Yuu stood up to meet her, taking the envelope out of her hands as she offered it to him.

Yuu flipped it over, seeing the word Yuu-chan written out on it. Suddenly feeling anxious, he slid his thumb under the envelope to rip it open, revealing a folded piece of stationery inside. A letter to me, he instantly realized. It was the low-quality scratch paper that was the cheapest to buy at the market, the kind that smudged easily and allowed pen ink to bleed through.

Yuu took a seat on their old, uncomfortable couch, hunching over as he unfolded the stationery and revealing what was indeed a letter addressed to him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Akane take a seat next to him, respectfully turning her eyes away to give Mika the confidentiality of whatever was in his letter.