[AF] Scene 26

[vivalamorte]

Mamoru pocketed his phone and sighed. He felt a stress headache forming in his forehead. Before anything else, he sought out Aya to relay Youji's appeal for a few hours of babysitting, possibly the night depending on circumstance. After the usual question of what was wrong and the assurance that he was fine, he slipped out of the room, put on his warmest and most relaxed tone, and called the Itou home to invite Himiko over and arrange for her pick-up with the family driver.

Ideally, there would be time to go take a nice, long jog before talking to Ran. The exercise was calming stress relief and time alone that he could think and plan. The reality was that with three children and two jobs, time for himself was even more of a luxury than it had been as a teenager. He compromised with two minutes to close his eyes, take some deep breaths, and conduct a brief analysis on how to approach the looming discussion. What to say, how to say it, and what disciplinary measures to apply.

And in those two minutes, his mind lingered on one aspect throughout: Ran's uncharacteristically meek behavior, the urgency she had in first wanting him to come get her and then simply wanting to leave as soon as possible. Something had shaken her, and that, in turn, had worried him, to the point he was aware of the sensation of relief once he had her with him again. With all that she had potentially seen or heard-- god, what if she had somehow witnessed Shingo attacking Youji without either of them realizing it?-- with that thought in mind, a great deal of fog cleared in how he wanted to open this talk.

So it was with his usual calm steadiness that he knocked on her door to signal his arrival and let himself in.