@nullsekai says → " it wasn't your fault. " to toya from saki (''': ( short and sweet starters. / accepting. )
the kindest presence in toya’s life is, and always has been, tenma saki. followed closely by her brother, of course, but there’s a gentle bravery and instinctual empathy she possesses. toya may not be as close with her as he is with tsukasa, nor does he idolize her the way he does him, but there’s a level of innate understanding between the two of them. saki mourns a childhood she never got to have, replaced instead with long days, months, years in the hospital. toya thinks of long days, months, and years spent in front of pages and pages of sheet music, and knows that they're the same in many regards.
she’s also always been able to read toya’s emotions much better than he himself can. of course she’d catch onto his self-blame as soon as he alludes to how and why it’s been unbearable being at home lately. one of his older brothers came back from the states to visit a few days ago, and, as the rebellious one in a set of siblings otherwise taking after their perfect father, he’d of course ended up in a fight with him. the argument had been loud, insulting, and had shaken toya to a degree he hasn’t felt in a while. while he’d made some sort of peace with his father regarding his music of choice ( shaky peace, ready to fall to pieces at the drop of a pin, but something resembling peace nonetheless ), that truce never reached his brothers. and now the aoyagi residence is more tense, more suffocating than ever. the most his brother spares him now are condescending side-glances and patronizing comments.
but toya had been the one to defend himself in the argument — how was that not his fault ? he’d known it would spark a fight, and he did it anyway. he doesn’t need his family’s validation. he could have just left it alone.
“ yes, it was, ” he says quietly, “ i didn’t have to say anything. ”
