Thirteen

Aki-chan and Hikaru-nii both seemed to have been actively avoiding each other after the Ohagi incident. The girl was still upset and her father had retreated into a shell from where he probably felt that he wouldn't be able to hurt her. Aki-chan herself had become a lot quieter. She no longer ran and threw herself at me when I went to pick her up from the daycare. The most she would do is walk over and climb into my arms, hugging me around my neck and staying there for a while, as though collecting herself before she lifted her face and started answering whatever I asked about her day. Whenever I was around though, she ould stick by me. She had even completely stopped using her own room.

And yet, she would follow her father with her eyes whenever he was around, probably hoping that he would come and talk to her.

The following weekend, I had settled in the living room after lunch with Aki-chan to watch one of her cartoons with her. Hikaru-nii had gone right into his r