Footsteps scuff against the pavement behind him. Soft, hesitant, but steadily closing the distance.
Mako follows him. She does not run to catch up, nor does she walk beside him. She stays about two meters behind his back, her suitcase rolling quietly in his wake.
They arrive at the bus stop.
A metal bench sits under a scratched plastic awning. The street is completely empty. No cars drive past and no other commuters wait by the curb. Early morning shadows stretch across the gray concrete, offering a small pocket of shade.
Renjiro drops his bags near the metal pole holding the bus schedule. He shoves his hands deep into the pockets of his uniform trousers and stares blankly at the empty road.
Mako stops her suitcase right at the edge of the curb. She stands about two meters behind him.
"Renjiro."
She calls him by his full first name. This is a huge deviation from her standard behavior. The playful nickname is gone, replaced by a serious, grounded tone.
Renjiro turns around to face her.
The wind kicks up, rustling the leaves of a nearby tree. Mako stares straight at him. Her blue eyes do not hold their usual cheerful spark. Instead, they look intensely focused, burning with a strange, stubborn determination.
"I can't do that," Mako says, her voice completely steady.
Renjiro blinks. "Why not?"
She inhales a massive, chest-expanding breath of air, holding it in her lungs for a brief second before letting it out in a verbal explosion.
"Because you are stupid! You're completely hopeless!" Mako shouts, pointing an accusing finger directly at his chest. "You don't wash dishes! You leave your cereal bowl in the sink until the milk turns into a toxic biological hazard! You don't clean your room. Dust bunnies the size of actual wild rabbits live under your bed. I literally saw a spider build a web on your lamp, and instead of killing it, you named it George and let it live there because fetching a tissue required too much effort!"
Renjiro stares at her. The accusations are factually accurate, but hearing them listed out loud feels vaguely annoying.
Mako takes another breath, her face turning red as her rant picks up speed.
"You are completely irresponsible! In middle school, you wore your uniform shirt inside out for three entire days. When I told you about it, you said taking it off and flipping it over burned too many calories! You lie on the floor staring at the ceiling fan for four hours instead of watching television because the remote control is sitting on the table and you refuse to stand up! You eat dry blocks of instant ramen like crackers because boiling water takes three minutes of waiting!"
She steps closer, waving her arms in the air to emphasize her sheer frustration.
"If I leave you alone, you will definitely dehydrate! You hate twisting the plastic caps off water bottles because it hurts your fingers! You use a ruler to turn off your light switch from your bed." Mako sighed. "In 5th grade, you slept through your alarm clock by putting a pillow over your head until the battery dies. In 6th grade, you refused to open an umbrella in the rain because holding your arm up drains your stamina, so you just walk through the storm like a sad, wet mop! You are a literal sack of potatoes with a heartbeat, Renjiro! I can't leave you alone. You need help to survive!"
Mako stops talking.
Her shoulders heave up and down. Heavy, ragged breaths escape her lips. She pants softly, her chest rising and falling from the sheer physical exertion of yelling so many words without taking a proper pause.