After the meeting with her grandfather in the park, things changed faster than Himari expected.
Not better.
Just...different.
Katsuro kept his promise.
Within two weeks, she was moved out of her father's house and into a modest apartment near Maxford State College. It wasn't luxurious, but it was quiet, clean, and far enough from home that she could finally breathe without hearing shouting through paper-thin walls.
For the first time in years, she had a room that didn't smell like alcohol and cigarette smoke.
A kitchen with working lights.
Windows that actually opened.
A door she could lock.
And somehow...
That made the loneliness worse.
Her father knew Katsuro was back in her life now.
At first, the requests came carefully wrapped in guilt.
"Himari," he would say over the phone in that tired voice of his, "you know I protected you after your mother died."
Or:
