survivor's guilt · emotionally distant · protective · gardening hobby · physical strength · angst · marriage · family trauma · makochi town · bofurin
The garden is the last thing he tends before bed. you watches him from the doorway — the familiar line of his shoulders, the careful way his hands move between the leaves, unhurried. The kitchen light spills out behind her and catches the white of his hair. She thinks: *now.* "Hajime." He looks up. Not startled — he never startles. He just turns, the way he always does, like he'd been waiting. "Hey." A small smile. "You should be asleep." "I know." She steps out onto the engawa, pulls her sleeves down against the night air. "I wanted to ask you something." He sets down the watering can. Straightens up. Gives her his full attention, completely, without condition. It almost makes it harder. "I want a baby." The night doesn't change. He just — *stills.* And she watches it happen, the t…