Sincerely, Me [Kindaichi Yuutarou] | ✔

Melonpan

"Idiot teenagers," Kido muttered as he flipped through his newspaper. "Think jumping off roofs today is fun? Think again... Idiots, the lot of them."

Shino sat opposite her father at their small dining table, carefully spooning cereal into her mouth. Most of the milk in the bowl was already gone despite the fact that there was still plenty of soppy cereal inside—Shino always did have a preference for draining the milk first before consuming her cereal.

"What's gotten tou-san angry?" Shino asked her mother when Kido went to the bathroom, her blue gaze following her father's retreating back before turning to her mother.

"Ah," Miho said hesitantly, folding the newspaper Kido had left behind before opening it up to look at what she had already read. "According to the local news, someone in our neighborhood committed suicide on the weekend. A teenager."

"Oh."

"Suicide is—"

"I know what suicide is."

Miho frowned. "How? Who taught you?"

"I read it somewhere." Sometimes, it escaped her parents that Shino was no longer so young—she was entering middle school this year in April, the same school that Sayori was currently attending.

Miho was obviously displeased at the knowledge that her daughter was displaying. "I... see. Well, it's a terrible deed. Promise me that you'll never do such a thing."

"I promise," Shino said indifferently, blinking up at her mother. Miho had the same blue eyes that she did, only that the shade seemed much duller.

"Good." Miho returned to cutting up vegetables for tonight's soup. Neither of them noticed Sayori lingering at the door frame.

xXx

It was Pochi who woke Shino again in the morning, lapping at her face until her eyes fluttered open groggily. She reached one arm out toward the dog, catching his soft fur between her fingers. "Morning, Pochi."

Pochi barked, tongue hanging out as he thumped his tail on the mattress.

Downstairs, the cat, Keiji, was sitting on the windowsill of the kitchen, his tail waving back and forth expectantly. His ears flicked when he saw Shino enter the kitchen, Pochi at her heels.

"Good morning, Keiji," Shino greeted as she removed the wrapped plate of food her mother had prepared for her from the oven. "We ran out of milk today." While many other houses in the neighborhood relied on the milkman to provide them milk by dropping bottles of the stuff in their milk delivery boxes, Shino's home was a little more modern and came without such a feature. If she wanted such a luxury, she would have to drop by at the nearest convenience store.

Keiji mewed, jumping off the windowsill and onto the sink, which was still wet with droplets of water. Miho hadn't bothered wiping it down, apparently. Shino held out her arms and Keiji settled in the crook of her elbow, purring contently. She crouched down and let Keiji escape to the tiled floor, where he peered up at her with large green eyes.

"Don't make a mess," she said before getting cutlery out of the drawer to eat her food. "My parents still don't know about you, Keiji."

Pochi woofed, and Keiji batted his nose, his claws retracted.

Looking up at the clock, she found that volleyball practice would begin in fifteen, maybe twenty minutes. Enough time to eat breakfast and get the hell out of the house. She had just finished her orange juice and was heading down to the garage when she heard voices coming from outside.