Freeze Frame

Chapter 49

I wrote like half of this on my phone so if typos suddenly start to appear,,, that's why

Third person pov

Using Hitoshi's phone, she shot her dad a text to let him know that she was completely fine and would be home tomorrow. There was no way she could go back tonight without losing it all over again. She just needed some time to process, and then she'd be just fine. It wasn't that big a deal, right? Pft, it was just adoption. Totally fine. It's not like she felt like she'd been living a lie or anything. And sudden feelings of abandonment, Lillian thought, were certainly irrational on her part.

"This just means you get to embark on an epic quest to find your birth parents." Neito noted as he tossed his overnight bag onto the bed next to where Lillian and Hitoshi were wedged together. He plopped down on the other side of the freckled girl, throwing an arm over her shoulder. "You could be royalty and you don't even know it."

"Oh please, she's already royalty." Hitoshi nudged Lillian lightly, passing her the phone so Neito could see as well. The girl snorted at him, wiping at her eyes again. She wasn't really crying anymore, but a few tears would occasionally slip out without her meaning them to. Once she started and got going, it was pretty hard to stop. Hitoshi and Neito didn't seem to mind, and she was glad for that.

"Maybe you're the daughter of a powerful mafia boss, and they gave you up to protect you." Neito suggested, leaning against the wall and letting him sink against his friend. Lillian shifted, finding she quite liked the security that came with being sandwiched between her two friends. She took a deep breath.

"Or maybe her parents were great heroes who died bravely in battle." Hitoshi ventured boldly, grinning when Lillian snickered at him and his exaggerated, valiant tone.

"Or they were just normal people." Lillian supposed.

"Normal people who were secret agents on the side." Hitoshi butted in. Neito scoffed.

"You're thinking too small." He insisted. "Maybe the Emperor of Japan had an affair—"

"Him?!" Lillian choked. "God, I hope not."

"Wow, you have literally no chill. If I ever meet him, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to tell him you said that." Hitoshi said with clear conviction present in his voice. Lillian elbowed him in the ribs as best she could, rolling her eyes on a playful manner.

"I don't care that you broke your elbow." Lillian shot back with zero hesitation.

"Whoa, okay. Calm down you two. No need to take things that far." Neito chastised. "I don't need this group falling apart because of a few low blows. As the glue that holds our small nation of three together, there's only so much I can do—"

"Wait, you're the glue? Then what am I?" Hitoshi sounded affronted. Lillian tried not to laugh. She was lucky to have such good friends. She didn't think there was anything in the world she'd trade these two for.

"You're the crippled economy or something." Neito waved a hand. Hitoshi stared at him. "Hey, don't give me that look. You're the most depressing one here. Your eye bags scream 2008 angst. At least I stay depressed in style."

"You sound like Aoyama. I heard him say he hides his crippling depression with copious amounts of sparkle yesterday." Lillian recalled. Neito's mouth snapped shut. What was wrong with Class 1-A? As far as he could tell, Lillian was the only one in that damned class worth his two cents. He'd never tell her that, because he'd stab himself in the face before ever knowingly doing something that could upset her. That is, if Hitoshi didn't stab him first.