Controlee

41. Everything We Were Ever Warned About

Rule 67: It's ok if your steps are only little, any improvement is worth celebrating.

Otsuka's phone decided to scream like the end of the world was nigh.

Perhaps 'scream' was a little too much. It sounded more angry than anything else, beeping insistently at her. She must've accidentally knocked the button keeping it on silent while it was still off.

She almost dropped it, but managed to keep it in her hands and find out who'd bombarded her with messages. Seeing the contact name, her mind stilled with needle focus. Her eyes never left it as she shuffled back to her seat on the sofa.

'Are you alright?'

'Please answer us'

The lock screen only showed the most recent messages, but when she opened up the app and looked back over all of them, she could feel the Ogawas' joy at her reaching out to them. Then uncertainty when she didn't reply. Anxiety followed when the silence continued without an end in sight.

'Sorry I haven't replied. A lot has happened recently and I haven't been near my phone. I do still want to try this. Sorry again.'

She didn't want them to think it was their fault, that they'd done something wrong and that was why she hadn't answered them when she was the one who'd texted them first. Her fingers hovered over the screen, debating one last message.

'How are you?' she ventured. It felt weird, the idea that she was writing these words here and, in the heart of Tokyo, the people who cared for and loved her for the first seven years of her life would read them. She wondered how they'd react.

Considering the previous messages, she'd guess they'd be relieved, maybe excited that she was talking to them again. As much as she'd been against this at first (and planning on never seeing them again in her life), she'd be lying if she said there wasn't a little bit of her that maybe looked forward to hearing their answer. Eight years of her life being so stationary, so constant, regular, and now it barely stayed the same for more than a week.

"What you up to, Ginger Ninja?" Yamada perched on the back of the couch and leaned back until he hit the cushions, bouncing lightly on the soft surface. His legs hung up and over the back. A mug was already on the coffee table in front of the sofa, filled with something to soothe his throat she assumed.

She turned her phone off immediately. "Nothing, just texting my sister," she lied. She didn't know if her current guardians thought Nezu was still looking for her parents, but either way she didn't think they should know she was in contact with them. Not that it would make all that much of a difference to her living situation since she was as good as an orphan on paper.

"Anything interesting at school today?"

She shrugged, nothing particularly crazy had happened today. Lunch with Shinsou and Aki outside was peaceful but still fun. Aki had managed to keep a conversation going despite Shinsou not being the most outspoken person in the world and Otsuka still quieter than usual. Other than that, lessons were lessons, her classmates were noticeably gentle with her and she'd succeeded in making some of her teachers incredibly uncomfortable when they were only trying to offer their sympathies and help. She should probably try to be nicer about that but her patience was worn thin at the moment.

He nodded despite the little she'd answered with, smiling away and shuffling around in the strangest possible manner until he was sitting with his mug in his hand instead of lying with his head hanging off the sofa edge. He opened his mouth to say something only to duck his head into his mug. His throat was probably still too sore for a conversation, especially when she wasn't much one for conversation right now which meant he'd have to do even more speaking than normal. Lucky for both of them, there was another language they shared that made things easier on them both.