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“Ro-chan...?”
Sugimoto hadn’t lit up in years, but if there was ever a time… she took a drag, let the silence weigh heavy. That kid— Hirose— stood square in the middle of it, shoulders boxed and head tilted up to meet her eyes. Waiting for a response.
She exhaled, and watched the smoke spiral lazily up. “Yeah. Ro-chan. Rohan.”
“You knew him.”
“I know him,” she corrected. The boy in the alley hadn’t left yet. “Get out of the street, Hirose-kun.”
“Um! Right. Sorry.”
It was dark, and getting darker— she doubted anybody would come along and hit the kid, not in this part of the neighborhood— but it was a ridiculous sort of position to be in. Her, a grown ass woman skulking on a street corner. The kid, staring her down past the curb. Hirose settled next to her, hands jammed in pockets and stand lurking just out of sight.
“Pocky?”
“Um. Thank you, Sugimoto-san.”
She shrugged, and dug through the pocket of her coat with her free hand. She kept the pocky on her so she wouldn’t smoke, but— well. Too late for that. Somebody might as well enjoy it, and she owed Hirose as it was.
“So.” Hirose nibbles at the chocolate. “...Rohan.”
Sugimoto took another drag, and watched the smoke spiral up. “How much did you catch in the alley?”
Hirose was fidgeting— she could see it from the corner of her eye. Still, she didn’t look down. “...some? Josuke told me, uh. Some more.” Mumbling— “wanted you to tell me,” like Hirose wasn’t sure if it was the right thing to say.
It wasn’t. Really...
Still.
“I used to babysit him, when I was your age. And his grandparents were friends with my parents, so sometimes he’d just... stay the night.” She chuckled, tunelessly. “He was such a brat. Cute though! He knew it, too.”
Hirose didn’t interrupt, and Sugimoto took another drag.
“It was supposed to be me, you know. Who died. He came into the house that night to kill me.”
Hanging Arnold out to dry like a coat, hiding under her bed, licking her hand
“...Sugimoto-san...”
“So he took too long to kill me— and I ran down to the spare bedroom, where Rohan was sleeping, you know? There wasn’t any time. I just—“
He’d asked her what was wrong, little Ro-chan, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
“—looked at him, and I almost—“
oneechan what’s happening whose that
“—threw him out the window. But I didn’t! I jumped instead. And the guy, the monster— you met Ro-chan. You know what he’s hiding under the scarf.”
“I—“ Silence. “I’m so sorry.”
“Yeah, well.” Drag. Exhale. “He’s dead.”