Purple - Yata Misaki Love Story

Part 40

Yata made me stay in his room with him all day. He stopped smashing things despite me telling him he could continue if he needed to.
Instead, he pulled me into his bed with him and cuddled into my stomach for most of the day.
He cried only a little, wetting my shirt - but I didn't mind. I ran my hands through his messy hair and ignored the fact that he needed a shower.
It's been three months now since Munakata killed Mikoto, and it was as if Kusangi had fallen off the map. Rikio had lost so much weight, anyone who didn't know him well wouldn't be able to recognize him.
Anna lost the ability to use her strain powers, and talked less than she ever did before, so Yata's outburst wasn't really that surprising.
"Yata?" I began.
"Yeah?" He sniffed in reply, his voice muffled by my shirt.
I paused my repeated petting on his head, thinking slightly about what I was going to say.
"You won't leave like they did, right?"
"Of course I won't. What kind of question is that?"
I frowned, "It's just that some times, when your down here all by yourself and you're dragging yourself up to sit upstairs with me, I feel like you're fading away." I paused, taking a breath, "I'm scared that one day I'll come down here... and you'll be..."
I trailed off, refusing to say the word, refusing to think it. Just the thought of finding Yata like that down here made my stomach churn.
I'd thought about it for myself before, when I was younger on the streets, but ever since I took in Rei even the slightest thought of it was immediately pushed away.
"Hey, hey," Yata unraveled himself from around my waist and climbed up to look me in the eye, "I know that's it's been hard, and I'm sorry for worrying you so much." He frowned, placing his hand on my cheek, "But I promise I will never do that to you."
"Thank you." I said, closing my eyes as we kissed gently, "Pancakes for dinner?"
"Uh, yeah."