KIRO’S STORY / CHAPTER 15 OF 36
Tomorrow
by hasira · about 9 min read
Kiro left Susie's house later than he meant to.
The sky was already dark.
Not late.
Just autumn.
Streetlights reflected across wet pavement. Leaves stuck to the sidewalk in orange and brown patches, crushed into by shoes and tires.
Kiro walked with his paws inside his sleeves.
His phone was in one pocket.
Two photographs were in the other.
Well.
One photograph he wanted.
One he didn't.
He could feel both of them every few steps.
The Polaroid Susie had taken of him near the railway tracks.
And the older photo.
Susie beside someone who used to matter.
Her ex.
Kiro had promised.
“Throw it somewhere outside.”
Simple.
He passed the first trash bin.
Kept walking.
Three steps later, he stopped.
Looked back.
“No.”
He continued.
Another bin appeared near a bus stop.
Kiro slowed.
His paw went into his pocket.
Touched the edge of the photo.
Then came back out.
“Fuck.”
He looked at you.
“Don't.”
Nothing.
“She asked me to do it.”
You kept watching.
Kiro frowned.
“I'm going to.”
He walked past the bin.
“...Eventually.”
The stupid thing was that it wasn't even his memory.
He didn't know the person in the picture.
Didn't know what happened.
Susie had only said enough.
“He hurt me a lot.”
That was all Kiro needed to know.
Still...
Throwing the photo away felt strangely serious.
Like he wasn't throwing away paper.
Like Susie had handed him a small piece of something she couldn't make herself get rid of.
Kiro reached another street.
Music came quietly from somewhere ahead.
He looked up.
A restaurant.
One of those places trying very hard to look expensive without actually being impossible to enter.
For Halloween, somebody had decorated the entrance with pumpkins, fake black branches and little hanging ghosts.
There were tall outdoor fire torches on both sides of the entrance.
Real flames.
Warm orange light moved across the wet pavement.
Kiro slowed.
Then stopped.
He stared at one of the flames.
“...Huh.”
A couple walked past him toward the restaurant.
Kiro moved slightly out of the way.
His paw slipped into his pocket.
He pulled out the photograph.
Susie and the stranger smiled back at him.
He had told her he wouldn't look again.
Technically...
He already had.
“Sorry.”
Kiro held the picture by one corner.
For a moment, he imagined turning around.
Putting it back in his pocket.
Maybe throwing it away normally later.
Maybe forgetting.
Maybe keeping it accidentally for a week.
A month.
Something about that felt worse.
Susie had covered it with other memories because she couldn't take it down.
Then eventually she gave it to him because she still didn't trust herself to throw it away.
Kiro looked at the flame.
Then at you.
“Don't make this dramatic.”
Silence.
“I'm throwing away a fucking photograph.”
He stopped closer to the torch.
Held the edge of the photo near the flame.
Paused.
His ears lowered.
“She asked me to.”
The corner caught.
Kiro almost pulled it back instinctively.
Instead, he let go.
The photograph curled quickly.
Orange light moved across Susie's old smile.
Across the stranger beside her.
Black ate through both of them.
Kiro watched until there was almost nothing recognizable left.
Then the remains folded into themselves and disappeared into the flame.
He stood there a few seconds longer.
“...Okay.”
Something felt strange.
Not better.
Not worse.
Finished, maybe.
Kiro shoved his paws back into his sleeves.
Then his phone vibrated.
He pulled it out.
Rin.
alive?
Kiro rolled his eyes.
yes
The reply came almost immediately.
look at you learning
Kiro started walking again.
Then remembered.
Tomorrow.
He stopped so suddenly somebody behind him nearly walked into him.
“Sorry.”
Kiro moved aside.
He stared at Rin's chat.
Then typed.
do you know what tomorrow is?
Three dots.
october 31
Kiro waited.
Nothing else.
His eye twitched.
anything else
a longer pause.
friday?
Kiro stared at the screen.
“...Fucking idiot.”
IT'S SUSIE'S BIRTHDAY
Three dots appeared.
Stopped.
Appeared again.
oh fuck
Kiro smiled despite himself.
Then another message Rin appeared.
wait you only just found out too didn't you
Kiro's smile disappeared.
He typed back:
not important
Rin replied almost immediately.
HAHA
Kiro stared at the screen.
“Asshole.”
Instead of typing again, he pressed the call button.
Rin answered after two rings.
“You fucking hypocrite.”
Kiro kept walking.
“Shut up.”
Rin laughed through the phone.
“You found out like fifteen minutes ago.”
“Maybe.”
“And you're judging me forgetting?”
“Yes.”
“Fuck you.”
Kiro stepped around a puddle.
“I need something.”
Rin went quiet for a second.
“Therapy?”
“Rin.”
“Sorry. What do you need?”
“A gift.”
There was silence.
Then:
“Oh no.”
Kiro frowned.
“What?”
“You're doing the thing.”
“What thing?”
“The thing where something normal becomes a fucking military operation.”
“It's her birthday.”
“Yeah.”
“Tomorrow.”
“Also yeah.”
“I have nothing.”
“You've known her for like five minutes.”
“Longer than that.”
“Not much longer.”
“You're helping.”
“Am I?”
“Yes.”
Rin sighed dramatically.
“Where are you?”
Twenty minutes later, Rin found Kiro outside a small shopping street.
Kiro was standing in front of a jewelry shop.
Not inside.
Just looking through the window.
Rin stopped beside him.
“No.”
Kiro glanced over.
“What?”
“Whatever you're thinking.”
“I'm not thinking anything.”
“You called me because you needed help buying Susie a birthday present, and now you're staring at necklaces.”
“I'm looking.”
“Keep walking.”
Kiro frowned.
“I wasn't going to buy one.”
“Good.”
They stared down the street.
Halloween decorations were everywhere now.
Plastic cobwebs stretched over signs.
Pumpkins outside cafés.
Orange lights wrapped around railings.
Kiro shoved his paws deeper into sleeves.
“I just don't know what she'd actually want.”
Rin shrugged.
“Then don't buy something huge.”
“I'm not trying to.”
“You look like you're trying to propose.”
Kiro stopped.
“What the fuck?”
Rin smiled.
“There he is.”
“I'm serious.”
“So am I.”
“I'm buying her a birthday present.”
“I know.”
Kiro started walking again.
Rin followed.
A camera shop appeared ahead.
Kiro looked toward the window.
Rin noticed.
“Too obvious.”
Kiro shrugged.
“I know.”
“Good.”
“Stop agreeing with me like you're helping.”
“I'm helping.”
“You're following me around insulting everything.”
“Exactly.”
They passed the camera shop.
Then a bookstore.
Then a little place selling handmade jewelry and decorations.
Kiro picked up a small pendant.
Looked at it.
Put it back immediately.
Rin watched him.
“You really care about getting this right.”
Kiro looked at him.
“Obviously.”
Rin's mouth moved slightly.
“Why obviously?”
Kiro frowned.
“Because it's her birthday.”
“That's not what I meant.”
Kiro knew.
He kept walking.
Rin stayed beside him.
After a few seconds, he said it.
“You like her.”
Kiro's ears moved.
He didn't immediately tell Rin to fuck off.
That alone made Rin look at him differently.
Kiro stared ahead.
Wet pavement.
Orange lights.
People carrying shopping bags between them.
Finally he spoke.
“She's my friend.”
Quiet.
Not defensive.
Just true.
Rin didn't joke.
Kiro almost wished he would.
He rubbed his thumb against the fabric covering his paw.
“I don't call people that anymore unless I mean it.”
Rin looked at him.
“I know.”
Kiro swallowed.
“And I know I barely know her.”
“Yeah.”
“But...”
He stopped.
Susie staying when he broke down.
Susie sleeping beside him.
Her stupid snoring.
The forest.
The camera.
Her waiting while he tried to explain something he barely understood himself.
Kiro looked down.
“She earned it.”
Rin was quiet for a moment.
Then nodded.
“Yeah.”
Kiro glanced at him.
No smirk.
No joke.
That somehow made it worse.
“Don't make this weird.”
“I'm not.”
“You have the face.”
“What face?”
“The face where you're about to say something.”
Rin took a breath.
Kiro immediately pointed at him.
“Don't.”
Rin laughed.
“Fine.”
They walked a few more steps.
Then Rin added:
“For what it's worth, I wasn't asking whether she's your friend.”
Kiro looked at him.
“...Fuck you.”
But Rin left it alone after that.
No more questions.
Kiro was grateful.
Mostly.
They entered another shop.
Second-hand this time.
Old mugs.
Books.
Clothes.
Small lamps.
Boxes filled with postcards and photographs from people neither of them knew.
Rin wandered toward some old electronics.
Kiro moved through the next aisle.
Then stopped.
A photo album set between a stack of old books and two empty picture frames.
Dark cover.
Slightly worn at the corners.
Nothing fancy.
Kiro picked it up.
Opened it.
Thick black pages.
Empty.
He turned around.
Then another.
Susie's room came back to him.
Pictures taped over pictures.
Boxes full of Polaroids.
Photos she liked enough to keep.
And one she had spent years slowly hiding beneath everything else.
Kiro ran a paw along one of the empty pages.
Rin appeared beside him.
“That.”
Kiro looked over.
“What?”
“That one.”
“You didn't even see it.”
“I see an album.”
“So?”
“She takes photos.”
Kiro stared at him.
Rin pointed at the album.
“You have spent an hour trying to find something that feels like her.”
A pause.
“That feels like her.”
Kiro looked back down at it.
The pages were empty.
She could put whatever she wanted inside.
Leave out whatever she didn't.
Keep things visible.
Hide them.
Replace them.
Her choice.
Kiro closed the album.
“...Yeah.”
Rin smiled slightly.
“Finally.”
“Don't celebrate yet.”
“Oh, for fuck's sake.”
Kiro held the album against his chest.
His paw moved toward his pocket without thinking.
The Polaroid was still there.
The one Susie had taken of him near the railway tracks.
He could feel the edge of it through the fabric.
For a second, he thought about the empty pages.
Then stopped himself.
Not now.
It was her album.
Her photos.
Her choice.
Kiro moved his paw away.
Rin noticed the movement.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You did something.”
“I touched my pocket.”
“Suspiciously.”
Kiro stared at him.
“How the fuck do you touch a pocket suspiciously?”
Rin shrugged.
“You managed.”
Kiro looked down at the album again.
Dark cover.
Empty pages.
Simple.
It felt right.
That was enough.
“Does this look stupid?”
Rin sighed.
“No.”
“Too much?”
“No.”
“Too little?”
“Kiro.”
“What?”
“Buy the fucking album.”
Kiro looked at him for another second.
Then nodded.
“Fine.”
He started toward the register.
Halfway there, he glanced toward you.
Of course you were still there.
His eyes narrowed.
“Don't.”
Rin followed his gaze toward absolutely nothing.
Then slowly looked back at him.
“You're doing the invisible person thing again.”
Kiro tucked the album under his arm.
“No. I'm not.”
“You just threatened empty air.”
“Can we buy this?”
Rin sighed.
“Yeah.”
Kiro continued toward the register.
Behind him, Rin muttered:
“Great worker. Functional adult. Threatens walls.”
Kiro raised his middle finger without turning around.
Rin laughed.