Life -life With A Runaway Girl- -rj01148030- [ LIMITED · 2024 ]

I sat down across from her. For the first time, I broke my own rule. “Who?”

“You’re not a runaway girl anymore, Aoi,” I said quietly. “You’re just… you’re mine to worry about now. That’s what this is.” We called a social worker the next day. It was terrifying. There were meetings, forms, a quiet investigation. Her mother, it turned out, had already reported her missing—not out of love, but out of a twisted sense of obligation. The stepfather’s violence was confirmed by a school counselor Aoi had once trusted. Life -Life With A Runaway Girl- -RJ01148030-

One night, a thunderstorm hit—violent, window-rattling thunder. I woke to a weight on the edge of my futon. She was standing there, trembling. I sat down across from her

Aoi still has nightmares. She still draws furiously in her sketchbook at 3 AM. She still flinches when I raise my voice at a video game. “You’re just… you’re mine to worry about now

“That’s the name of this,” she said softly, tapping the paper. “Our life.”