"Are you sorry?"
"Huh?! Where has this come from?" replied a confused Silver as the two made their way back to the now-dark front garden of the Kurosawa household.
"That's my question. Now answer it."
"...Yes, of course I'm sorry. I wouldn't be here otherwise. But I can't shake the feeling that coming here will cause more harm than good."
"SHADDAP!" interjected the fed-up Shin. "It doesn't matter what you feel, because you're the one apologising. You need to understand that if you are truly sorry, then everything will be fine. I am many things but a liar is not one of them. Plus, there's not much you could say to worsen the situation, if I do say so myself."
Silver stayed silent.
"Home, sweet home! It's been a long day, but I have a feeling it's about to get a whole lot longer. Come on in."
The rambunctious boy repeatedly jammed his finger into the frail doorbell until the door burst open and smashed him in the face.
"How many times do I have to tell you, Shin? I give you fifteen presses of that doorbell—nothing more, nothing less. You've really outdone yourself today, though—you went a whopping seventeen times! So yeah, don't blame me for that bruise on your forehead. I don't make the rules; I just enforce them," said the recently showered Taiga, looking down at his injury-riddled brother.
Then his eyes shifted upward.
"I just wanted to talk," said the uncharacteristically timid Silver.
"Fuck off. I've got a million more pressing issues bothering me right now—the last thing I need is an egotistical maniac like you taking up my time," declared Taiga.
"Give her a break, you big bully. At least hear what she has to say," said Shin as he got up from the floor.
"What could she possibly say to justify what she did?! What sad excuse am I going to have to hear seep through your mouth so you can clear your name and make yourself feel better?"
"I am not here to justify anything! I—listen, I don't want anything from you. I just want to apologise. I want to do nothing more than say I'm sorry. This isn't about making me feel better—I don't care what becomes of me. I'll just say my piece and leave. You'll never see me again."
Taiga scoffed.
"So you're not doing this for yourself, yet you want to say your piece and hop on out of here? Which is it?! Are you trying to make yourself feel better, or is this some sort of embarrassing plea for me to take you back? You're embarrassing."
"Wha—no! I just came to try and make things right. Please, just listen to what I have to say—"
"Don't tell me what to do. I'll do as I please, and I choose not to hear you out. Now get lost."
"I'm so sorry..." Silver began wailing. "I'm sorry for cheating on you. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! There's no excuse for what I did—none! I threw everything away. We'd been together since we were little kids, and I threw it all away for nothing. I haven't even spoken to that guy since. I'm sorry—goddammit...
"Remember when we went skiing in the Alps of West Hambria? I don't think I've ever been as happy as I was then."
Taiga's arm twitched again, more visibly this time.
"Seeing you clumsily try to jump while in full ski gear still makes me laugh to this day. And that view from the top of the ski lift is still engraved in the back of my mind. Please... I would do anything to experience that with you again...
She wiped her eyes with the back of her sleeve, her breathing uneven.
"It wasn't even about him."
Taiga didn't move.
"I didn't like him more than you. I didn't care about him more than you. It was just... easy."
Silence lingered in the cold night air.
"You were always so sure of everything—of us. You always knew what to say, what to do... and I didn't. I felt like I was just... there. Like I was following you, trying to keep up."
Her voice trembled.
"And then someone came along who didn't know me like that. Someone who didn't expect anything from me. I didn't have to be anything—I could just exist. And I chose that. I chose something easy over something real-"
"Enough!" Taiga's arm twitched.
Silver continued
"I knew it was wrong the moment it happened. I knew I was throwing everything away, and I still did it-"
"Stop talking!"
"Not because you weren't enough—because I wasn't."
Stillness overcame the surroundings.
"I knew it. This wasn't for me or about me—it never was. You... you just want to make yourself feel better. You just want this dark mass of guilt you're feeling to disappear. You just want things to go back to... You just see me as someone who makes you happy. Yet you still come to my front door, acting all high and mighty, spouting selfish bullshit in my name. This was for me?" His voice began to crack. "No. If you actually cared about me at all, you wouldn't have come here."
"It was me who told her to come here," explained Shin. "Look at that shell of a person over there. Not just any person, but Silver—our childhood friend. We've known her since birth, and you've loved her for as long as you can remember. In fact... you still love her now, don't you?"
"No—" Taiga fumbled on his words.
"I understand your anger, and it's justified, so there's not much I can do—but ask you this: what can she do to show you how sorry she is? How many tears? How many days of self-loathing will it take for you to understand that she wishes she could take back what she did?"
"This is none of your business, Shin."
Taiga stepped back inside the house, slamming the front door vehemently behind him.
He covered his eyes with his arms and fell to his knees.