As soon as Aunt Linda was gone, Ryo turned on me.

He scowled and crossed his arms. ‘What did you do this time, Rin?’

My answer was immediate. Truthful, yet vague. ‘Fractured wrist. Six to eight weeks recovery. Good thing it's my left and not my right, right?’

‘You know that's not what I meant.’ He narrowed his eyes. ‘You got yourself involved in another accident, didn't you?’

‘Near-accident. No one got hurt.’

‘I think a broken arm counts as getting hurt, or did you knock your head too?’

The question sounded rhetorical. I shrugged.

Ryo, however, was not to be deterred. ‘What did you do, Evelyn?’

‘I saved a boy's life.’ Again, truthful, yet vague.

‘And broke your damned arm! Bloody hell, do you even think about the possible consequences before you jump into danger?’

‘Sure. If I hadn't grabbed him and pulled him back onto the platform then he would have been hit by that train and died.’ Truthful, yet—

Damn.

All the colour drained from his face. ‘A train? You jumped in front of a train?’ He grabbed me by the shoulders. ‘For God's sake, Eburin! What were you thinking?’

That if I didn't do it, then that kid was going to die.

I managed to keep the thought to myself, but the fact that we were even having this conversation was enough to drive me mad. If I saved someone and happened to get injured, he cracked a wobbly. But if he were to get into a brawl with a bunch of snot-nosed delinquents from another school and came home with a couple of smashed ribs, he'd just laugh away my concern. Talk about your double standards.

I knocked his hands away. ‘Calm your jocks, Ryo. I'm not that stupid. I didn't jump in front of a train; I just pulled the kid away from the edge of the platform before he could jump in front of a train. Also careful, your accent's coming back.’

‘Don't mock me, Evelyn.’ 

So he said but I could tell that he was taking extra care to enunciate. 

‘Do you remember what happened last time, with the car accident?’ growled Ryo. ‘Five people died. You almost died.’

Five out of the twelve that I'd managed to count in my vision, and if things had gone as I had planned, no one would have died at all. But there was no point in trying to explain it; we'd had this argument a thousand times before. He'd never believed in my visions. Never would. And the more we talked about it, the angrier and more frustrated we'd get. It was a stupid, vicious, never-ending cycle and I was sick of it. It took all my effort to stifle a retort. 

After a deep breath, I shook my head. ‘Not today, Ryo. I’m tired, in pain and want to go to sleep. Feel free to hang around if you want, just lock up after. You know where the keys are.’

‘Rin—’

I tuned him out and left.

* * *

The fatigue hit me all at once. Once I'd collapsed on the bed, I couldn't get up, and somewhere between wondering why I still had glow-in-the-dark stars on my ceiling and whether the way I'd acted had been childish, I fell asleep. 

The sound of a dog barking woke me up. It wasn’t until I heard the scratching that I realised that it was Hobbes outside my bedroom door. 

Then I found Ryo sitting on the end of my bed. 

I shrieked, swore, and threw a pillow at him – using my left hand. I nearly fell off my mattress, sobbing in pain. Doubled over with my eyes watering, I could just make out a faint grin on his face.

‘Sorry,’ he said, voice shaking like he was trying not to laugh. ‘Did I scare you?’

‘What are you doing here?’ My words were slurred and my tongue felt gummy. I rubbed my eyes – nearly knocking myself out with my cast – and then turned my head to check the time. 10:30PM. I groaned. ‘Go home, Ryo. Your mum’s going to crack it if you sleep here.’

The last time he did, she came over to scream at me and threatened to call the police. I caught her digging through my trash the day after. Don’t ask me what for.

Ryo just smiled. ‘I called her. It's fine.’

Translation: I sent her a text telling her I was staying and ignored her when she called and/or came knocking on the door to tell me to get my butt home.

How irresponsible. I almost felt sorry for Mrs Oshiro.

Almost.

‘She's going to blame me, you know. And as much as you may enjoy riling her up, being constantly yelled at by your mother is not my idea of fun.’

He laughed. ‘Don't worry, Evy-chan, I'll be sure to protect you from my fire-breathing okaa-ma.’

‘Hardy har har. I'm going back to sleep.’ My head hit my pillow with a thump.

Ryo chuckled again, softer this time. ‘Still mad?’

I was never really mad at him to begin with, but I kept silent and turned my back. 

‘I didn't mean to yell at you, you know. I just… I just wanted to say that you did the right thing, saving that kid. Saving that woman. Not many people would do that – could do that.’

I didn’t reply. What was there to say? I forgive you didn't exactly seem appropriate since he hadn't actually apologised for anything. Plus, such a display of sentimentality was... weird. In the nine years I'd known him, Ryo had only apologised to me five times and not once had it been over something as minor as this. Again, not that this really counted as an apology, but whatever.

The floor creaked as he stood up. ‘Well, that's all I wanted to say. If you need me, call. I'll be watching, even when I'm not there.’

‘Yeah...’ I muttered, waving my good hand. ‘Because that doesn't sound creepy at all…’

He just laughed and said good night.

Outside the door, Hobbes let out a whine.

* * *

Hobbes is a big dog, and, in my opinion, fairly smart too. I don’t know many other dogs that have figured out that they can play fetch by themselves using a staircase and a tennis ball. Provided that they’re equipped with push-down handles, he’s also very good at opening doors. And so, my good morning call came in the form of a warm, wet lick to the face. 

Why get an alarm when you can get a dog?

My eyes were gritty, like someone had poured sawdust into them, and I had symptoms akin to hangover that made my head and swollen wrist pound. It took a dose of hospital-prescribed painkillers and a three minutes with my head in the sink to get the grit out of my eyes and feel like one of the living again.

Part of me was convinced that the whole conversation with Ryo was a dream. The other part wanted to quash the idea since a dream like that had all sorts of weird connotations that my brain was not equipped to deal with. The debate was settled when I stumbled downstairs with Hobbes at my heels and found Ryo drooling into the couch, still wearing his uniform. 

Not a dream after all.

I leaned over him. ‘Ryo?’

No response.

I looked at Hobbes. Hobbes looked at me. I gave him the signal and the ear-licking commenced.

With a groan of disgust, Ryo covered his head. ‘Five more minutes,’ he groaned, voice muffled by the couch.

I poked him in the ribs and he yelped. ‘Come on, Ryo. Get up. I need you to help me make breakfast. I can’t do it one-handed.’

He lifted his head and cracked open an eye. ‘If you need help with breakfast, does that mean you need help changing too?’

‘I think it’s your eyes that need changing. I’m already dressed.’

Ryo rubbed his face. Both eyes open and finally awake, he looked me over and sighed. ‘You slept in that, didn't you?’

‘Like you're one to talk, Mr Crumpled-Pants-and-Shirt. You know, there are two spare bedrooms and you could have borrowed some PJs.’

‘It’s fine,’ he said, rumpling his hair with a yawn. ‘The couch is comfy and wearing your dad’s clothes is weird. What’s for breakfast?’

‘There should be bacon. Maybe eggs. Toast for sure.’

Ryo stood up. ‘Sounds good.’ He took two steps towards the kitchen and then stopped.

I quirked an eyebrow as he looked back. ‘What?’

He hesitated. ‘Look, about yesterday… I—’

‘It's fine, Ryo. Don't worry about it.’

‘It’s fine?’ 

‘That’s what I said.’

‘What, just like that? “It’s fine”?’

‘Well if you want me to be mad, I can.’

‘Yeah, no, I'm good. Bacon and eggs?’

‘Bacon and eggs.’