[The only acknowledgment here is a slight nod. Mamoru's unseeing gaze isn't fixed on the kid or the couple. He is looking at some spot in between, his hearing cast to the steps the child makes the first time the lady calls out his name.
The child doesn't turn, too busy jumping over a puddle, making sure his feet are loud enough to scare a bunch of pigeons that had been pecking at the seeds and petals of the sakura. There's a flurry of wings.
'Mamoru!' a second time. Something about not running too far away.
The child turns just as he hears the tires of a car screeching, the rubber bumping onto sidewalk. The drifting and swerving and a fancy BMW running fatally over Mamoru's parents.
Mamoru draws a breath only after; it's not one of expectation. He has memorized the scene so well it's one of the few memories in his mind that remain entirely vivid. But he doesn't remember how long it took him for the whole thing to sink in his innocent mind, when his parents were invincible and without flaws.
The door opens, the driver crawling out unscathed, but still completely wasted.
The adult Mamoru tilts his head as the kid's eyes widen. The brow over his shades knits.]
Huh. Hadn't thought that she had told me to stay close when that's probably what kept me out of this.
time is a social construct anyway it's fine
The child doesn't turn, too busy jumping over a puddle, making sure his feet are loud enough to scare a bunch of pigeons that had been pecking at the seeds and petals of the sakura. There's a flurry of wings.
'Mamoru!' a second time. Something about not running too far away.
The child turns just as he hears the tires of a car screeching, the rubber bumping onto sidewalk. The drifting and swerving and a fancy BMW running fatally over Mamoru's parents.
Mamoru draws a breath only after; it's not one of expectation. He has memorized the scene so well it's one of the few memories in his mind that remain entirely vivid. But he doesn't remember how long it took him for the whole thing to sink in his innocent mind, when his parents were invincible and without flaws.
The door opens, the driver crawling out unscathed, but still completely wasted.
The adult Mamoru tilts his head as the kid's eyes widen. The brow over his shades knits.]
Huh. Hadn't thought that she had told me to stay close when that's probably what kept me out of this.