Chapter 18: I Unpacked My Things and Left My Heart Behind
The new place was white.
Too white.
White walls. White floors. White fake smiles.
The kind of clean that made Akiro feel like dirt just for standing in it.
The woman who opened the door had warm eyes and careful hands. Her name was Kaede, and she had that practiced kindness that came with hosting too many broken things.
"You must be Akiro," she said, softly.
He didn't answer.
"Your room's upstairs. We put new sheets on the bed. Let me know if you need anything."
He nodded once.
Then walked past her without a word.
The room was small, square, perfect.
Like something from a catalog pretending to be comfort.
He dropped his bag.
Didn't unpack.
Just sat on the bed.
And stared at the wall.
That night, he lay awake and counted the sounds.
One: the humming fridge.
Two: a child coughing down the hall.
Three: the soft sob of someone else crying in their room — probably one of the other fosters.
This house was full of orphans with parents still alive.
And him?
He wasn't sure what he was anymore.
A stray?
A case file?
A broken puzzle no one really wanted to finish?
He picked up his phone.
Scrolled to Yumi's name.
Typed:
"Made it. It's quiet."
Deleted it.
Typed:
"I miss you."
Deleted that too.
Then:
"I wish it was still raining. At least the noise made me feel less alone."
He stared at the blinking cursor.
Finally, he just wrote:
"Still wearing your hair tie on my wrist. Looks stupid. Feels safe."
And hit send.
A minute later:
Yumi: "You don't look stupid. You look mine."
He read that over.
Again.
And again.
Until the white walls didn't feel quite as cold.
But across town, Yumi was lighting a fuse.
She wasn't going to play nice anymore.
If they wouldn't listen to her, she'd make them hear him.
And step one?
Steal the report file.Rewrite the story.Make the world care.
Because if love couldn't keep him here…
Then war would.