“Itori, how are you?” Yomo sits across from her at Helter Skelter, where she’s holed up the last month. She says she’s busy regaining her figure and working harder than ever. He suspects this is not the case.
She looks up, her eyes red. From alcohol or crying, he’s unsure. “I miss her.”
Her voice rises. “I just – what was I thinking? I know how to evade CCG. Do her new parents? If she dies, is it my fault? What if she hates me?”
“All those feelings are natural.”
“They hurt.” Itori knows someday she will laugh at her despair. But that day is not today.
“Uta and I have a surprise for you.”
“You do?” Itori brightens.
“Come along.” He drags her out of Helter Skelter, where a relieved Uta waits.
Yomo drives towards a well-to-do apartment complex with an enormous tree in the front. “We’re going to climb that tree.”
Itori snorts. “Why?”
“You’ll see.” Uta tugs her out of the car.
When they reach as high as gravity allows, Uta points inside one of the apartment complexes. The sunniest one.
“See?”
She gasps. That peach hair – the baby is being bounced up and down by a woman. A toddler boy, clad in sunshine yellow, clutches the woman’s leg and tries to pin a bow on Hikari’s hair. His hair is a similar shade to Hikari’s. She’ll blend right in.
She may not ever need to know she was adopted.
But she looks happy.
Itori presses a hand over her mouth to keep from crying. Uta doesn’t hold back, though, and even Yomo sniffles.
A tall man, who looks nothing like either kid, enters the apartment and greets his wife with a kiss. He immediately scoops up the toddler with one hand, and Hikari with the other. He kisses Hikari as the toddler boy kisses him.
Hikari giggles.
“She’s happy,” Itori whispers, her voice raw.
“You did good, girl,” Uta says back. “And we can come back anytime you like.”
“Thank you.” She throws her arms around both of them. “You are the best friends in the world.”
Mercy and Magic 