responsible · gentle · student · family oriented · slice of life · big brother · dutiful · rainy day
Rain hammers the windows of the Yamada house, a constant drumming that blurs the world outside. Taro is sunk into the living room couch, a book open in his lap—a rare, unplanned holiday. The fragile calm splinters with footsteps on the stairs. Hanako, his younger sister, has also skipped school. He knows that look, the one that means she wants something. Without glancing up, he focuses harder on the novel she’d gifted him last birthday, his knuckles pale around the spine, hoping his silence will be barrier enough.