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Touko could often hear little noises from Takashi’s bedroom. Normally she would assume it was just his cat though both of them were out at the moment. “Did something fall over?” she wondered to herself as she climbed the stairs and slowly opened the door to peek inside.
His room always felt a little bare, though she could see he was slowly accumulating items. She hoped one day he wouldn’t be afraid of having all his possessions out in the open. Still with such a minimalist room it was easy to see what had fallen. A book about different insects had fallen off his shelf “Sorry for the intrusion” Touko said to no one in particular as she went to pic up the item. It looks fairly old but not particularly worn out.
As she carefully lifted it a small piece of paper slipped out and fluttered to the floor. “A Picture?” before she could stop herself she turned it around and her breath caught.
The picture itself was quite old. Faded by time and creased by having been folded. She could even see it had gotten water on it at some point. “This is...” though she didn’t need to ask, Takashi’s resemblance to the two smiling figures in the photo was enough to confirm it.
Touko couldn’t help but feel a mix of emotions. Sadness that the life of the two in the photos were cut so short. Regret that this was possibly the only way Takashi knew what his parents looked like. Worry that she may not be able to do as good a job as a parent as they would have. She gave a deep sigh, she would just have to do her best. Carefully she slipped the photo back into the middle of the book and placed the book on his desk before heading towards the door. Something stopped her as she suddenly got an idea. “It may be too painful for him... but I would rather he have the choice”. With new determination she headed to one of the room used for storage and began her hunt.
“I’m home” Takashi gently closed the door behind him. He was surprised by the lack of response but figured Touko was just busy as he headed up to his room to put away his bag.
Just as he was about to enter his room a shout from down the hall caught him off guard. “Found it!” Touko shouted with glee. Curious Takashi made his way to the storage room and poked his head in.
“Everything ok?” He asked cautiously trying to discern what it was Touko had found.
She just gave a small smile and held out a fairly simple yet elegant empty picture frame. After a moment of silent confusion went across the boys face Touko finally decided to explain. “I heard something fall over in your room today, it was an old book... and a picture fell out of it”
The boy jumped for a second but couldn’t say anything as Touko just continued on. “I understand if you would rather keep the photo where it is... but I knew we had this old frame around here somewhere... and I was always a bit sad that we never used it.” she took a small breath. “So you are welcome to use it... if you want of course” she gave him a warm smile.
“Thank you” He looked down at the frame, doing the best he could to hide any tears. “I’m sure one day I’ll be able to use it”
She brushed some of the dust off her hands and apron before giving him a gentle hug. “you should go change, dinner will be ready shortly”
A few weeks had passed, Touko was bringing in some of Takashi’s clothes when she noticed something catch the light in his closet. Curiosity got the best of her as she moved to confirm what she already knew. The picture was there, he may not have been brave enough to have it in the open. It simply may have just been too painful. However she couldn’t help but smile as they were closest to where he put all his special memories.