□ TW: mentions of death □

~Kazuha's POV~

"Are you sure that you'll be alright there? Do you want me to come with you?" Nahida looks at me, worried.

"No, it's fine. I'll be alright. And there will be my friends, too."

Tomorrow is Saturday, and the funeral of Tomo. The last days were hard, to say the least. Tomos last living relative, his grandmother, is ill with cancer and chronically lies on the hospital bed, so she wasn't able to organise anything.

That's why my parents were constantly on their phones, organising everything with Mr. Zhongli and his boss, Hu Tao.

Speaking of parents, they insisted that Beidou would live with me so that she can have an eye on me.

"Okay, if you say so." Nahida sights. "But I want you to know, if anything is wrong, you can always call me."

"Thank you." I smile.

A bit after that, I say goodbye and make my way back to my apartment.

Stepping inside, the smell of curry and rice hit my nose.

"Hi Mama, I'm back!"

She peeks out of the kitchen before turning back to the oven.

"Hey dear, how was the session?"

"It was alright, I think I can make it through tomorrow." I set my stuff down near my bed, flopping on it and scrolling through my phone.

"That's good then. 10 minutes and the food is ready."

I humm and open the friendgroup-chat.

■■■■■■■■
The bestest friends

sunshine☆:
Guys look
{Photo of Aether and Lyney eating ice cream bc I can't find anything on pinterest... can someone draw that?}

🌈💅🏳️‍🌈:
slay

hat guy:
I can't stand this

TheGreatestMagician:
:(

hat guy:
/j

wind (real):
yeah were happy for u guys!!

w e e d:
guys

w e e d:
guys

w e e d:
guys

hat guy:
what???

w e e d:
Tmrw 10am my place if some1 wants a ride

w e e d:
We can take 2

🌈💅🏳️‍🌈:
will be there

hat guy:
same

emo:
Dad says he can drive too so I can take 2 too

sunshine☆:
Me plz

TheGreatestMagician:
Me 2
"❤️" reacted by sunshine☆

wind (real):
...
I feel so single

wind (real):
I'm taking bicycle as always

■■■■■■■■

I shut off my phone and clean my room for a bit.

Soon, Mama calls me, and we eat lunch, delicious as ever.

"Mama, the guys will come over at 10. Can we give them a ride?"

"Sure, because I'm sure that you already promised to, right?"

"Yeah... sorryyy."

"It's okay." She smiles, and I smile back.

It's nice to have a bit of company, I'm not used to empty apartments after school.

~~~~~~~~♡
next morning

Standing in front of the mirror, I eye myself sceptical.

"Mama, do I have to wear a suit?" I turn my head to her, in a suit as well, and she sights.

"Yes, darling, everything else would be disrespectful, sadly."

I sight as well, but then the doorbell rings, and my mood lightens up a bit.

I open the door and immediately get pulled into a tight hug by Heizou.

"Hi guys." I chuckle.

Scara gives me a small wave, and Heizou says, "Hi!" With a beam.

I let them in, and my mom starts a small talk with them while I finish my hair.

"Okay, we can go now!"

Everyone stumbles out of my rather small appartement and gets to the car.

Mom sits behind the wheel while I'm in the passenger seat, and the other two are claiming the back. They are in suits as well.

"You two look amazing, by the way." I tell them.

"Thanks! You look great, too." Heizou smiles a bit, and Scara nods approvingly.

We chat about small things until we arrive.

~~~~~~~~♡

On the ride back home, everyone looks out of the window, sunk in their own thoughts.

The worst moment was when the ash was placed into the earth, under a tree, because then it got painful real that Tomo is really gone now.

~~~~~~~~♡
some time before

Everyone leaves the grave one by one while I stay there, still looking at Tomo's loved sword, with which he trained so much.

The things at the gravestone all remind me of something I did with Tomo or about what he used to tell me.

As tears start to get back into my eyes, I look up to the almost disrespectful clear blue sky.

Then, a faint scent of Tomo gets into my nose, and I get oddly warm from the back. As if it was a real hug from Tomo himself, but when I turn around, no one's there, and only the wind lets a few leaves fly.

I close my eyes, feeling Tomo's scent slowly fading away.

That's when I faintly smile, still looking up. In my heart, I hope that Tomo will see it and take it as a sign that I'm at peace with it now.

~~~~~~~~♡

We drop off Scara, then Heizou, and get on our way home.

"Kaz, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I think so."

Mama nods and turns into the parking lot.

In my apartment, I get my drawing stuff out, the first time since Tomo passed away, and draw.

I draw the whole afternoon, deep into the night. When I'm ready, it's already two thirty, and Mama's already asleep.

So I brush my teeth and go to sleep too.

~~~~~~~~♡

a/n: umm... a shorter chapter, but I thought that it's a good point to stop.