Chapter Text
“The phone number you are trying to reach is currently unavailable-”
Wordlessly, Kurisu brought the phone away from her ear, flipping it closed without so much of a second glance towards it. Looking out towards the city below, she squinted against the setting rays of the sun, her gaze unfocused as her thoughts became clouded with a mix of emotion.
It had been one year, but even with the extensive time between then and now, the disconnect between herself and her father felt even more sudden and realistic when visiting Japan. Being in the US allowed herself to be distanced both physically and emotionally from familiar childhood cities; but the nostalgic feel of Japan became too surreal, and all the more confirmed her unsettled and incomplete closure of feelings about her father.
She clutched her phone tightly against her chest; what was he doing now? Did he hate her so much that he purposely and permanently disconnected his phone number away from her? Did he ever think of her at all anymore…?
Inhaling a sharp intake of breath, she stepped away from the rooftop’s railing and sat on the bench, close to the laundry line which were strung with various clothing. In her peripheral vision, the tail end of an all too-familiar white lab coat swayed in the wind as it continued to dry in the impending summer night’s heat. A hint of warmth and reminiscence trickled its way into her heart, a feeling she began to become familiar with in the last past year.
And for a moment’s reprieve, the anxiety fell away when the thought of his smile flashed in her mind; he was silly and extremely obnoxious, but also becoming and surprisingly mature, for all of her first impressions of him. There were so many aspects about him that led him to be as revealing as an open book, but so many other unsaid words that reflect on his expressions from time to time, and, as her curiousity usually is, she wanted to know more about him.
What was a simple curiosity led to a relationship they were both prepared and unprepared for; they were awkward, shy, and extremely inexperienced, but it was something she always looked towards with anticipation. Their relationship, she realized, was something of a journey to be learned from, and each day with him (both together and apart) gave her a reason to keep moving forward.
His silence gradually and slowly became voiced, the more she began to know him, and it was, in her opinion, one of his highlighted traits she enjoyed of him. His silence spoke volumes, causing her to want to understand him more, as each silence she encountered with him often gave way to words and a smile that revealed the real Okabe Rintarou.
A vibration in her hand broke her from her thoughts as she realized her phone rang a notification, jarring her from her thoughts. It was enough to send her reeling back into the reality of the situation, a heart-wrenching feeling twisting in her chest as she realized why she had come to the rooftop
She wanted closure, and now she knew that her strained relationship with her father will forever be an unfinished sentence in her life, a realization dawning on her with a heaviness she couldn’t grasp.
As her breathing turned into a hiccupped gasp of an onset of tears, the sound of the rooftop door opening and closing vaguely caught her attention. She continued to grasp her phone on her lap, even as her visitor came by, stopping just before her.
“Assistant, I expect an instant message-”
The sound of his words fell on deaf ears as the hiccups formed into soft sobs, an uncharacteristic action of hers as the tears began to fall from her eyes. The sound of his voice made the tears flow more uncontrollably; the familiarity of his voice was enough to have her lose control as she brought her hands to her face without so much looking at him.
Silently, she felt the weight of the bench give way to her right as he sat next to her wordlessly.
“I...I…”
The words failed to escape her mouth as she tried to speak, but all she saw were vague and mixed moments of her happier times of her father up until the last moment of him pointing a weapon towards her, an anticipated action meaning harm. And she knew, she most definitely knew that if it weren’t for Okabe-
She just shook her head as she felt her tears continue, letting them fall without holding back. The weighted silence that began to form between them layered itself around them in a solitary way; it was only their world, her situation, that was only for the two of them, as heavy as it was.
The sudden feeling of light touch against her arm broke her from her thoughts for a moment, as she realized he had scooted himself closer to her, his arm barely grazing against hers. He merely sat in silence next to her as her tears began to become more intermittent versus continuous, a small gesture she knew was an effort from him that meant so much more than it portrayed.
He was silent next to her as her tears began to slow down, and as she leaned next to him onto his shoulder, she sighed, realizing that this was all the comfort she needed.