"Kurono... Rena talked to you about what I want to tell you, didn't she?" After Shizune recovered a bit from her previous state, instead of continuing to tell that, she asked Kurono that question.
"Yes... But you shouldn't blame her, I'm sure it was because of me that she couldn't just ignore everything... When I came back I found her kneeling in front of the small altar and she noticed my presence." Kurono was about to explain so that Shizune wouldn't think badly of Rena, plus Kurono didn't need to hurt him, but he really didn't have to.
"No, do not worry. Actually, it was Rena who told me the exact same thing, and clearly I don't blame her, she has the same right as I do to talk about… About Hiroshi." Shizune again had that complicated expression on her face, but this time she didn't let herself be defeated by it. "Yes, that was my husband's name. Yotsuba Hiroshi."
Kurono was still listening carefully... But that name caused him to experience a little confusion that Shizune didn't take long to notice.
"Yes, there is actually something important that I have to mention there. You should know that I'm using my family name just like Rena, and that's because Hiroshi was part of our family…" Despite everything, Shizune's words still sounded a bit strange. "I don't mean we were related by blood or anything!"
Shizune also realized what she had said, so she became flustered as she denied any strange ideas or misunderstandings that might arise.
"The thing is that... It could be said that his situation was somewhat similar to yours..." Shizune was thinking about her words before saying them since she wanted to explain herself in the best possible way because maybe Kurono could relate a little.
Shizune's words had made Kurono frown a little since she could only come up with something after analyzing everything a bit.
"Just like you, Hiroshi lost his parents when he was a child…" Even though Shizune didn't want to sound disrespectful to Kurono, she didn't have a better way to say it. "His parents and mine were pretty close friends, I still remember all the times we would visit his house, and obviously we spent those days having fun being good friends."
Shizune couldn't stop a slight smile from forming on her face, but she quickly returned to her calm demeanor.
"What I mean is that my family welcomed Hiroshi to the point that he was practically adopted by us, my mother was the first to come up with this idea and my father did everything he could to make it happen, it was a long process, but still everything turned out well and it could be said that, within the complicated feelings that Hiroshi was going through, he was happy and grateful to us for what we did... Although I was just a little girl at the time, I think I didn't big deal, haha." Shizune's nervous little laugh had been necessary for her to rest a bit and calm down as she felt her hands beginning to shake a little.
She thought, she only needed to see the small concern on Kurono's face for her to close her eyes and sigh a bit before brushing it off.
"In the end, Hiroshi became part of our family as the years passed by... At first I thought of him as a brother, but... We inevitably started to develop some feelings for each other..." Shizune glanced at Kurono since she was thinking that maybe it would be a bit uncomfortable for him to hear all that, but Kurono was quite calm.
"Don't worry. I respect your feelings very much, there's no reason to bother about that." Kurono was quite understanding since he didn't want Shizune to feel uncomfortable either. She actually appreciated that and went on with whatever she wanted to say.
"It was during high school that we started a formal relationship, we obviously talked about this with my parents, and they actually supported us… But…" Shizune fell silent for a bit before speaking again. "I ended up pregnant when I was seventeen…"
That made Kurono inevitably raise her eyebrows before reverting to her earlier expression. He had also noticed that he had never bothered to ask Rena's age.
"Yes... There are no excuses that I can say, but what I must say is that I don't regret anything." Shizune's somewhat nostalgic look had turned into a completely serious one with great security behind it. "It's because of that that I now have Rena with me, so there's no reason to think that was a mistake."
Perhaps Shizune was letting herself be carried away by her feelings this time, but there was nothing to do, a mother's love was the only thing that was inside her at this moment.
Kurono also saw this and he chuckled a little, which brought Shizune back to reality at the same time that she punched him lightly with her fists making a small pout.
"You're mean…" Shizune crossed her arms as she continued to look at Kurono.
"Sorry, don't think I'm making fun of you." The laughter that kept coming out of Kurono didn't help his words at all. "It's just that I'm very aware of how much you love Rena-san and your expression already says it all."
Kurono took Shizune's hand again to reassure her, and she accepted her hand as she understood that she couldn't forget what she was doing.
"Yes, you could say that she was the greatest gift and proof that Hiroshi left in my life… I would have loved it if he could have at least seen her right now... I'm sure... I'm sure he would be as happy as me..." The voice of Shizune was too shaken, possibly Kurono would ask him the reason for that, but he was very busy a second later as he went as fast as he could towards Shizune to put his arms around her.
Kurono could feel how Shizune's body was trembling at the same time that he felt how his chest was getting wet little by little, but at that moment he was feeling a little pain, it hurt him to hear those sad sobs that came out of Shizune more and more.