Work Text:
Jyushimatsu felt a sharp pain in his chest. It had felt like someone had punched him hard in the ribs and had squeezed out all the air from his chest, leaving him almost breathless. He choked back a sob, his eyes watering. She was there. It was impossible, it couldn't be, but she was there. After all this time, she was back.
For years, he had tried bringing her back. She came when he was a drunken state between reality and fantasy, an enigma of his mind that he couldn't understand and didn't bother to understand. She appeared before him through wishful lies and nostalgic déjà vu. Like, he would be heading to the baseball park, his bat in hand, when he would suddenly notice a beautiful girl with chocolate brown braids and equally brown eyes; the same but not. Their eyes would meet and a friendly radiant smile similar to hers would appear and in that moment he would pretend it was her, but the moment their eyes broke contact, it wasn't her; it never was his beloved Homura.
He would remember it all. Homura's smile as he joked around with his antics. Homura laughing so hard she would faint. Homura holding him close. Homura whispering that she loved him. Homura promising she would never leave him. Then Homura...gone. He had stopped bringing her back...but now she was back.
She still wore her simple blouse and long red skirt. She was still wearing the headband with the number 14 that he had given her before she left for her family. Her hair was shorter and no longer in braids but she still had the same freckled face, the same warm chocolate brown eyes, the same brilliant and bright smile. There were tears in her eyes and a smile on her face when he last saw her, and it was the same now. Tears streamed down her face as she laughed, running towards him and tackling him into a tight embrace.
Jyushimatsu couldn't hold it in anymore. Hot tears rolled down his face as he sobbed and laughed and held Homura as tightly as he could, lifting her up and spinning her around in the air.
"I thought—" Jyushimatsu choked, "I thought I would never see you again!"
"Don't worry," Homura sniffled, "I'm here to stay. I won't leave you ever again."
"You promise?"
"I promise."