Runaways [MikaYuu]

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Seven

The run-down cottage, somehow, felt even more empty as Yuu stood in it alone. It was a weird feeling really, one that sent a distasteful shiver down his spine- he never thought he'd stand in Mika and Akane's home with both of them gone.

Yuu stared at the rotting wooden gallows, thinking of the memories - the ones forgotten and those that weren't - that had been made in this old house. If he thought hard enough, he could imagine Akane and Mika living their daily lives here: cooking meals, talking about good things, arguing about the bad.

He wondered for how many years Akane and Mika dealt with Mika's problem, for how many years they tried to ignore it or get Mika to stop.

He wondered what else had been stolen away from innocent people and resold for quick cash.

He wondered if Mika would ever be able to recover from his addiction, with or without Yuu's help.

Yuu found himself wandering back into Mika's bedroom, picking up his study desk and setting it straight on the ground. An unknown force practically controlled his movements as he put the room back together; straightening the bed, tossing the duvet on top, putting all his possessions away neatly onto the bookshelf, righting the old armchair and setting the cushion on it, and lastly, grabbing a pen and paper. When the room was organized to how he remembered it before, Yuu sat on the armchair, facing the sky just like Akane described how Mika did.

All those times he looked up into the sky, he admired the same sunrise, cloudy blue skies, sunsets, and set of stars Yuu saw each night as he went to bed. Yuu wondered if Mika had a window in his prison cell, and if he was looking at the same sunset Yuu saw as he stared out the window. The thought in itself was comforting to know even when they were as far apart as they could be, the sky connected them.

He stared down at the blank piece of paper in his hands. The goal, Yuu told himself, was to write a response to Mika's letter, but he couldn't even think of where to begin. There were an infinite number of things he wanted to say to Mika: he wanted to yell, to cry, to proclaim his love a thousand times over.

And yet, as he tapped the fountain pen to his chapped lower lip, nothing came to him but two words.

Dear Mika.

"God," Yuu said aloud bitterly with a dry laugh. "We're both so screwed."

How the hell are we going to get ourselves out of this one?

Mika was the good planmaker, not him. Mika was the smart one, the kid genius who probably would've become some successful professor or engineer if it weren't for the series of unfortunate events that occurred in his childhood. Yuu couldn't do anything but look good and sound good, all just facades he put on to please others.

But it was different now. He was different now, and he knew it. Yuu wanted to be more than just a marionette of his parents (and he damn well was going to pave his own life if it was the last thing he did).

It was like magic when the perfect plan popped into Yuu's mind. He practically laughed aloud at the genius of the plan, uncapping the pen and scrawling out the details before he forgot.

It was probably a long shot, and there was no guarantee they'd be able to pull it off, but Yuu knew he was willing to risk it, because the payoff of success would be everything he's ever wanted: freedom, adventure, love.

Yuu chewed on his lower lip as he wrote hastily, not wasting a single second of time. The sun was setting, and the wedding was tomorrow morning. At the eleventh hour, there wasn't a moment to waste.