Morning came without me knowing.
I woke up in my bed, still wrapped in the blanket.
The light through my window was soft — too soft.
Something felt… different.
I gasped and sat up quickly.
My eyes blinked wide.
Why was I here?
Why was I not at the table… still waiting?
I ran — bare feet on the wooden floor — down the hall, straight to the dining room.
Where Mama and Papa always were in the morning.
Mama was at the stove, her back to me, cooking breakfast.
Papa was sitting at the table, sipping from his mug like always.
"Mamaa!" I cried, my voice fast and tight.
"Yui! Where's Yui?!"
I stood there, shaking, my chest rising and falling.
Mama turned slowly.
She didn't answer right away.
Then… she smiled.
But it wasn't a happy smile.
It was a soft one — tired at the edges.
"Yui didn't come yesterday, sweetheart," she said gently.
I gasped.
"No…" I shook my head.
"That's not true!"
My voice rose higher, sharper.
"You're lying!" I shouted.
"Yui would never do that! Yui promised Hideki!"
Mama's eyes widened.
She stepped back a little, startled.
Her hand moved to her chest.
Then —
clink!
Papa set his mug down hard on the table.
He stood up slowly, and his voice filled the room like thunder breaking a quiet sky.
"Hi—de—ki!!"
I froze.
Everything inside me stopped moving.
I had never — never — heard Papa raise his voice at me.
I looked at him, scared.
He let out a long, shaky breath.
Then his tone softened — still deep, but trembling like the edge of a leaf in the wind.
"Hideki," he said.
"Come here."
I walked slowly to him.
My head lowered.
My eyes fixed on the floor.
His hand reached down and gently rested on my head.
He ruffled my hair softly, just like always.
But something was different now.
His hand felt… heavier.
"Hideki," he said again.
"Listen, buddy."
I couldn't lift my eyes.
I didn't want to.
Not yet.
"Mama didn't lie to you," he said.
"Yui really didn't come yesterday."
My chest tightened.
"No…" I whispered.
That couldn't be true.
That couldn't be true.
I lifted my face slowly, eyes wide with tears.
"But… didn't we make a promise?" I asked.
My voice was breaking.
"Didn't we say we'd sing together?"
"Didn't we say… I'd play piano and Yui would sing… and Tama-chan and Shiba-inu and Bunny would dance…?"
My lip trembled.
I tried to speak again…
But my words broke into sobs.
My eyes filled with tears — thick and hot — falling fast like raindrops that couldn't be stopped.
I couldn't believe it.
I didn't want to.
"Nooo!!" I cried out.
"Yuiii!!"
I screamed so loud it hurt my own ears.
My voice echoed through the walls, bouncing back at me.
"Yui is Hideki's best friend!" I shouted.
"She wouldn't… she wouldn't break her promise!"
I felt something inside me twist.
Something I had never felt before.
Like my chest was shrinking.
Like something warm had cracked into a thousand sharp little pieces.
I stepped back from Papa.
My hands clenched.
My breath turned shaky.
Then —
I reached up and grabbed my chest with one hand, pressing down like I could stop the hurt.
Like I could keep it from leaking out.
"Papa…" I whispered.
"What is this…?"
"Why does it hurt…?"
I looked up at him.
My eyes swollen.
My heart confused.
My voice shaking.
Papa's eyes filled with pain — not his own, but mine.
He pulled me close and wrapped his arms around me.
Tight.
He didn't say anything.
He just held me.
Then Mama came closer, her hands trembling.
Tears were falling from her cheeks — silent, but steady.
She wrapped her arms around both of us from behind, burying her face into my back.
Her hands pressed against me like she was trying to protect my heart from the world.
And there —
in the middle of the dining room,
with no cake, no music, no laughter…
Just the three of us stood, holding each other.
Together.
Crying for the first time not from joy…
But from sadness.
A sadness none of us had the right words for.
A sadness that only comes when something pure… breaks.
But in that quiet, heavy moment…
Wrapped in my Mama's arms, held by Papa's hands…
I still felt one thing.
Love.
Real love.
Even when it hurt.