And the World Shall Forget You

[Nayt]

Eld would be roused from his slumber in the middle of the afternoon. Fortunately, it would be a very gentle rousing. His unwitting roommate was not quite as violent as, say, Sarah Vaerbond. She did not kick Eld in order to wake him up. It might have been amusing at first, but she was afraid his parents might disapprove, and that might leave her homeless. This was not a desired result.

Anyways, they had a weird series of moments last night, and Etsu felt less driven to physically destroy Eldridge Tsukimono for the sin of merely being alive. So that afternoon when she woke him up, she simply bent down and gently shook his shoulders.

She hadn't changed from last night, but she had put on sweatpants, at least. Milling around the house dressed like she was last night probably wasn't a good idea, especially with the clinic connected to the house and all. There could be have been tons of perverts there for all she knew.

"Tsukimono-san," Etsu would inevitably say, "Some-one is here to see you."

[Zach Kaiser]

"Tell them to come back in an hour," came the mumbled response.

While Eld only had difficulty falling asleep occasionally, his reluctance to get up in the morning was an eternal constant. Mornings were not his thing, and he preferred to sleep through them if at all possible.

But shortly after he spoke, he realized there were several people he wanted to talk to and he didn't want to risk that whoever was asking for him was one of them. So he struggled to his feet and groggily stumbled out of his room. Fortunately he'd gone to bed fully dressed, so the only thing that would be terribly odd about him answering the door would be a mild case of bed-head.

[Nayt]

"O-kay," Etsu replied.

She stood up and started out of Eld's room. He caught up with her by the time she was half-way down the hallway, and she gave him a confused look as he passed her. Well, no matter. She'd delivered the message and Eld was on it, so she returned to his room and (reluctantly) gave into the urge to look through that history textbook of his again.

The side door to the house was still half open, and Eld would only need to be within several feet of it to see who was outside. It was . . . well, this was probably the last person Eld expected to visit him . . .

Oboreru of Terra was just a boy, ten years old and looking down at his last year of formal education. He was short and had a habit of dressing to look much older (and larger) than he actually was. He had long black hair (below chin length, meaning Oboreru had the longest hair of all the children of Terra. Ironically enough, Akizetsumei had the shortest hair of them all) and fairly lengthy bangs that almost explicitly existed to cover the entirety of his brow. He wore a bulky coat made for someone twice his width, which actually did make the boy look pretty large, but the truth of the matter was that he was scrawny as a twig, as all the children of Terra seemed to be.

He was waiting outside impatiently, hands stuffed into his coat pockets and feet taking him into a calculated pace before the Tsukimono's doorstep.

[Zach Kaiser]

Eld was more than a little surprised to see who was at his door. He wasn't sure he'd ever said more than a handful of words to Oboreru of Terra, and what little he knew about him came mostly from Akizetsumei. (Toushikyo, of course, never said much about him.)

"U-Umm...hello, what can I do for you?" He was far from dismissive of him, though; the only reason he could possibly think for him to ask for him was something to do with his siblings, and that was something he wanted to hear.

...Though, he couldn't help but think that as a kid he should've been sleeping in when he didn't have school. That's certainly what he'd done.

[Nayt]

Oboreru stopped pacing once he heard Eld's voice. He looked up at the door with recognition in his eyes. It was true, he really hadn't dealt with Eld much in his life, but he knew of him. He knew he was at one point seeing his sister, and for that he felt a weird and different sort of feeling in his gut when he recognized Eld. And now, standing at the door, he felt decidedly awkward and uncomfortable. He especially felt the urge to mouth off at Eld right here and now, but that probably wouldn't end well.

"My brother wanted me to tell you something," he said. Straight to the point. "He wants me to tell you that 'Akizetsumei is doing just fine' and that you shouldn't worry or come looking for her or whatever . . ."

He could be mouthy sometimes. Akizets had told Eld that much. But of all the bratty and erratic traits that Oboreru displayed, he made up for it by being the single most honest member of the Terra children. He was honest with himself. He was honest with others. Of all things, his ability to be honest with and acknowledge the weight of his own feelings on a matter, any matter, elevated him on a maturity scale well above both of his older siblings. And he didn't waste any time in letting this affect the situation at hand.

"But it's total bull."

This was something that could probably be better discussed inside, though Oboreru wasn't asking if he could come inside and talk. The thought hadn't even crossed his mind.

[Zach Kaiser]

Eld had started to smile appreciatively when Oboreru added his last statement. The young boy's outburst caught him by surprise. Part of him wanted to rush right over there now, but it was better if he had some idea what was going on first.

"U-Umm...would you like to come in?" he asked a bit awkwardly. He wasn't used to children as blunt as this one clearly was, so he wasn't quite sure how to treat him just yet--so he defaulted to polite, even if it was odd being particularly polite to a boy of ten.

He let Oboreru choose where he wanted to sit, and once they were situated he asked, "So...you're saying your sister isn't alright?" The concern in his voice was so evident that even...well, a child could pick up that he was worried about her.

[Nayt]

"I . . . guess. Maybe," Oboreru averted his eyes from Eld, "I just gotta know, first . . ."

He chewed on his lower lip as he mulled over these thoughts of his. They were all pretty bad, but as horrible at they might have been, they were all completely justified. He was worried about his sister. He was going to find what had her like this, and he was going to tear it down.

Oboreru hesitated before he could even begin decide if he wanted to come in or not. There was something he needed to know first. Something no one else was telling him. Maybe Eld could shed some light on this for him . . .

"Was it you?" Oboreru asked.

He didn't sound terribly upset or accusing in the way he spoke. Not at first, that is. That was a tone best saved for when he elaborated . . .

"Did you break up with her? Break her heart or something?" Oboreru was a bit more accusing with this, and rightly so. "No one's telling me anything, and I swear if this is all 'cause you broke her heart . . ."

Well, a ten year old boy really wasn't that threatening to someone like Eld, but even a child would be able to tell exactly how serious Oboreru was about this. Honesty was his best quality, after all, so if he was going to threaten to do someone bodily harm, then he was sincerely willing to try his best at making good on it if necessary.

[Zach Kaiser]

"I...huh? N-No, nothing like that!" He wondered where Oboreru had gotten that notion; it was way off, he'd never break someone's heart like that. He really, really doubted he could even if he wanted to.

"She fainted while we were hiking," he explained. Of course, he suspected that wasn't the whole story, but he wasn't sure exactly what was going on and wasn't about to share what might have just been paranoia with a ten year old boy.

"Please...tell me how she's doing." He suspected even more now that something was going on with Akizetsumei, something Toushikyo didn't want him to know. But he needed to; the thought that there was some complication, that she wasn't well, caused his gut to twist itself into knots.

[Nayt]

Oboreru sighed. Well, that was one assumption out of the way. Now he was free to enter Eld's house at his behest and think little of it. Before, if he had still suspected that Eld broke his older sister's heart, he'd be decidedly awkward and feel like he was running at a constant disadvantage. So he finally walked on in at Eld's behest. This was the first time he'd been in the Tsukimono household, and he couldn't help but look around curiously at first. Of course, his visit here had nothing to do with Eld's house.

He stopped within the doorway.

"Bad," Oboreru replied.

He recounted all he knew about his sister and once again compared it to how she was here in the now. It actually made him visibly upset.

"She used to be all . . . energetic and active and cheery," Oboreru frowned, "But now she's down all the time. All she does is mope around. She barely talks and when she does it's like she's not even paying attention. Like she's not even there. Like she's just sleep-talking or something."

Oboreru looked up to Eld again. He investigated the older boy's face, looking for flaws or features or even the slightest twinge of reaction.

"You're her boyfriend, right? You gotta know what's wrong."

[Zach Kaiser]

Eld slowly adopted a forlorn expression over the course of the description of Akizetsumei's state. What her complaints about her brother, he seemed to be fairly sharp for his age--he knew something was wrong, and seemed to think it wasn't just some passing depression. He was obviously worried about her too, and it usually took quite a bit to burst the bubble of most children.

The expression was lost entirely upon the last thing Oboreru said. Eld coughed loudly in surprise, before shaking his head vehemently. "N-No, I-I'm just a friend, not her boyfriend." The words didn't feel quite right. He knew they were getting closer, but they hadn't really crossed the threshold into couple status in his mind.

"And...I don't know. Not yet. I'm trying to figure it out, though. I think..." He hesitated to say this; he didn't want to cause unnecessary conflict in the Terra household, but thus far Oboreru had been completely upfront with him and he felt he should return the favor. After all, he had no particular reason to trust him other than that Akizetsumei liked him.

Or used to, anyway. "I think your brother knows something about what's wrong with her."

[Nayt]

Oh. So, they weren't dating? That was weird. Oboreru was under the impression that Eld and his sister were a couple. No one had ever explicitly told him that they were an item, but Eld was a boy and Akizets was a girl, they obviously liked each other a lot, they spent a lot of time with just the two of them, and they went out all the time. If they really weren't a couple, then they were doing a great job at kidding themselves.

That wasn't important right now, though. What really mattered was that Eld was suggesting that Oboreru's brother knew something.

". . . but he won't tell me anything, either."

Oboreru sulked his shoulders. While he might have acted a lot older earlier, he suddenly began to act his age. He was visibly frustrated and upset.

"I just want her to feel better. The whole house is gloomy when she's depressed like this."

[Zach Kaiser]

Eld's heart went out for Oboreru, and he felt the need to try and give him a little comfort. "I'm sure he just doesn't want you to worry. I'm also sure he's doing everything he can for her; he may not show it, but he cares about her just as much as you do."

That may have been hard to believe for him, as Akizetsumei had suggested that Oboreru was particularly attached to her, but he'd seen the look on Toushikyo's face when he saw his unconscious sister. He may be stoic and quiet most of the time, but he was far from heartless.

"He shouldn't need to be alone in this though. Could you do me a favor? Tell him I'd like to talk to him." He'd go himself, but if Akizetsumei was still reeling from whatever happened, it was best if she didn't see him. The last thing he wanted was for her to freak out upon seeing him; it wouldn't be good for her, and he didn't think his own heart could handle it, either.

[Nayt]

Oboreru frowned. "Y-yeah, I guess . . ."

He didn't know about that, though. Oboreru did not have that great of a relationship with his brother. In fact, his relationship with Toushikyo was even worse than Akizetsumei's relationship with Toushikyo. This probably had everything to do with the fact that Akizets knew when to give in if Toushikyo was being exceptionally uncouth that day. She'd just throw her hands up, scoff, and leave Toushikyo to his grumpiness. Oboreru was a lot more headstrong than that, though. He had trouble backing down from a dispute. Needless to say, he constantly felt as if Toushikyo sincerely didn't like him. Most of the time Toushikyo just pretended that Oboreru didn't exist-- and vice versa.

But even still, he had seen before how protective Toushikyo was of Akizetsumei, and it made Oboreru feel a bit jealous. And exceptionally honest with himself as he was, Oboreru completely acknowledged that fact.

"He's not gonna talk to you, though," Oboreru said disdainfully.

There was little anyone could do at this point to make Oboreru feel any better about his brother. Truth be told, only Toushikyo could fix Oboreru's negative opinion at this point, and there was a fat chance of that happening.

[Zach Kaiser]

"Maybe. But if he doesn't talk to me soon, I'll come talk to him. And I think he'll like that even less." It wasn't something Eld particularly wanted to do, but sooner or later he was going to have to see what Toushikyo knew, even if it meant convincing him that being stubborn wasn't going to help his sister at all.

"A-Anyway, thanks for coming to tell me about Akizetsumei. And I'm sorry I couldn't be more help." Even if the decision was predicated on the mistaken belief that he was Akizetsumei's boyfriend, it still took more guts and smarts than most ten year-olds possessed to go talk to (and be willing to confront) an older boy whom they hardly knew.

[Nayt]

Those kind of sounded like fighting words, actually. Was Eld really willing to fight Toushikyo in order to learn more about what's gotten Akizetsumei so down in the dumps? That was a fight Oboreru would have liked to see. It also further proved to him that Eld was a horrible liar, both to himself and to others.

But still, it wasn't like it mattered much if Akizets was still depressed and moping like she was. Under any other circumstances, Oboreru would have pointed out how bad of a liar Eld was and all the reasons why. Maybe another day. Hopefully another day.

"It's okay . . ." Oboreru sighed. He was disappointed, but Eld didn't need to apologize. "I just hope he'll talk to you."

With that, Oboreru turned and opened the door.

"See you," he said before he closed the door behind him and started back home.