He noticed things, though. The way the floorboard in front of her door was scuffed from someone pacing inside. The faint sound of an old video game soundtrack looping at 3 a.m. The occasional, almost inaudible sob that cut off like a radio being switched off.
“Fire doesn’t care about glass.”
Her room was at the end of the hall. Faded sticker decals of constellations still clung to the doorframe — relics from a younger, different girl. Hikikomori Shoujo To Tsurego No Shounen -RJ0127...
Ren lit a candle and sat in the living room, listening to the wind tear at the window screens. Then he heard it — a soft click. He noticed things, though
When the timer beeped, Sachi flinched — but she didn’t stand up. The occasional, almost inaudible sob that cut off
“Well,” Ren said, “I’m not no one. I’m the stepchild.”