It happened on an ordinary Sunday.
The whole group had gone to a riverside park near the house — Hana had been campaigning for a picnic for two weeks, and Saki had finally produced a weather forecast clean enough that nobody could object on practical grounds.
They had spread out across two blankets. Nana and Yoru managing the food. Tsukasa reading with her feet in the grass. Haruka teaching Hana some kind of hand-clap game with more patience than anyone expected. Yuki, predictably, had brought a thermos of coffee that put the picnic's other beverages to shame. Satsuki sat slightly apart with a book she wasn't really reading, watching everyone with the contentment of someone who had stopped needing to document every detail because she was simply living inside one for once.
Elena had worn a hat. A real hat, not the disguise kind — just sun protection, because it was a genuinely bright day.
It wasn't enough.
