It started, the way most of Yoru's doubts started, with a quiet comparison nobody else would have noticed her making.
Nana's engagement had been announced to the household two days earlier — Hana running through every room screaming the news, Saki immediately producing updated paperwork, the whole house dissolving into celebration that lasted well into the night. Yoru had celebrated genuinely, had hugged Nana with real joy, had meant every congratulation.
But afterward, alone in her room, something quieter had settled in.
Eight months before anyone else, Nana had said once, describing her own history with Kaito. Tsukasa had eleven years and a childhood promise. Haruka had been saved from a literal alley situation that read like something from one of Elena's beloved manga. Yuki had three years of walls slowly dismantled. Satsuki had thirteen patient weeks of documentation and devotion.
