Needless to say, the little confessional before dinner led to a low-spirited and somber dinner, with Ryosei eating some meat that Fuyumi cared not to think about, and she a healthy dinner consisting of some creamy and comforting potato soup.
The rain gently pattering the outside of the large and lonely house gave a certain feeling that was as enamoring as it was soothing. Sneakily, Fuyumi glanced at Ryosei's expression, and a little crease in her brow appeared as she read him.
Even with Eika's training, against her who had seen everything that could be seen with her older brother, and knew that he was shaken by the small words that Eika had uttered.
Though she was grateful to her for saving her and her brother, there was still a wariness and resentment due to what she did to her brother, and the fact that those situations only occured because of that woman; so disliked the charm she gave off, as well as the ease that came with liking her.
Despite her being much softer around the edges than Ryosei, Fuyumi was equally cold and observant, as she understood that her brother had mixed feelings of both hatred and attraction towards the demoness; she understood the reason why, as Eika was a beautiful and lovely woman that was disorderly in the most wonderful way, but she disliked how he was essentially tied to this woman.
It frustrated her to see him liking her... but... after what she said...
'No, no!' she thought furiously, slapping her cheeks to clear her mind, 'It could be a trap by her, or some manipulation! This is bad for him! But... how can I get him out...?'
"Fuyumi, drop it."
Fuyumi startled, and as she gazed into her brothers calm but sad icy eyes, she realized that he knew exactly what she was thinking.
{"But... why do you—"}
"Drop. It. Please..."
The defeated tone made Fuyumi concerned and annoyed, but she understood that he felt this was his own battle to fight; she had no right dictating his will—she'd be no better than the people she condemned if she did.
She sighed—she wished that sometimes... her brother would be less... gentle-hearted; it always ended up ruining him.
"...Okay. Please... just be careful. You're too kind brother; much too kind."
The dinner ended with a quiet {"It was delicious."} before Fuyumi stood up, her chair rumbling against the floor before she grabbed her bowl, hugging her brother a little and grabbing his empty dish, as she exited to the kitchen, to wash the dishes.
It was a habit that they had developed over the years in response to their father's negligence, so Ryosei received the affection with a hushed gratitude, his pale gaze turned to the window.
As the shadows decorated his muted expression, the image of a profile lit by this same gloomy, dance of light and shadow across a perfect canvas came to the forefront of his reluctant and exhausted mind, the beautifully tragic expression of someone whom he couldn't read haunting him as his hearts gave a twist.
He'd rather her be smiling; when did he first begin to think that?
He wasn't certain that he wanted to know the answer that question; he just knew that she was in his mind, and had no intention of leaving it.
◇◆ⅠⅠⅠⅠⅠ◆◇
As soon as Eika entered her room, she forced its structure to change into her rain themed bedroom; the larger room became even bigger, a bay window that extended to the ends of her right wall growing into existence, and in no time, rain started peppering and splattering onto the window.
A flicker of her fingers signalled for a ledge to be sat on to form, and a twitch of her pinky made pillows from her bed to fling itself onto the ledge at her slow approach.
A hum bubbled up as she gently laid on the ledge, pulling back her frosty hair before she shifted her violet eye into its original black color, the reflection in the window of a broken woman—the one she'd already accepted to be herself.
She reached out, and a mug of warm hot chocolate with marshmallows with a candy cane and whipped cream entered it—all of it prepared by an enchanted set of appliances and an automatic coffee maker that never lost hot water—as well as her tiger plushy, which she squeezed tightly; for a chaotic woman, she was shockingly orderly when it came to what she wanted.
A thump resounded as she placed her head on the cool glass, her eyes exhausted at the beautiful rainfall. She admired the raindrops that rushed to the end of the window, their haste admirable in her eyes.
Why couldn't she be like that?
A dash on the window of life, a race to the end, and a fall into oblivion; why was she one of those annoying ones, the impossible raindrops that grew heavier and heavier with the weight of existence, yet refused to fall to their end?
She sipped on her cocoa, and wondered why existence was so hard.
A red umbrella of a person caught her gaze, and the person beneath it twirled, a large smile on their face, as if they were enthralled by the dewy droplets that speckled and soaked their waiting body.
'They'll catch a cold,' Eika thought with a fond smile crossing her face at the humans recklessness.
'They're such fools, these humans...'
Blissful children was what they were; the person who would cause the apocalypse was sipping a warm drink right here, and they didn't even notice; if she didn't hate humans so much, she'd consider joining her, becoming acquainted.
She could score for all she knew.
It was then a gentle melody started downstairs, in the music room which was next to the parlor; the music was a familiar one, but one she hadn't heard in a long, long time:
"Everything Happens to Me"—Frank Sinatra.
The soft and sad chords called to her mood, and with the soft yet heartfelt lyrics came from none other than Ryosei's mouth, she decided to see his hidden talent for herself. Setting the chocolate down on a side table that had appeared next to the window, she left her room, and creeped to where his voice was.
"Everything happens to me~"
Eika scanned for a place to listen covertly, as both Fuyumi and Ryosei were in the room, with her on a stool, and him at the grand piano, gently brushing away at the chords, touching her hearts as he did so.
"...I never miss a thing, I've had the measles and the mumps, and every time I play an ace, my partner always trumps..."
A waiting chair outside the room allowed for her to sit down, closing her snowy lashes as she soaked in the impromptu performance, her hair scattering on the back of the chair beautifully as she rested her head on the wood.
"...At first I thought that you could break this jinx for me, and that love would turn the trick to end despair... But now I just can't fool, this head that thinks for me, so I've mortgaged, all my castles, in the air~"
A soft, not at all professional yet heartfelt, "Woah," came from him before he continued the song, mourning the abandonment of someone special.
"I fell in love just once, and then it had to be with you... everything happens to me..."
The end of the short song made her sad, but that was what love was; it was short, even when you wanted it to last forever more.
Her father and mother's love story was the prefect example of that.
A shuffle of the bench against the floor, approaching footfalls on wooden slats, a sigh of unspoken emotion.
When Ryosei turned the corner, Eika was gone.