The sound the necklace made when it hit the ground echoed through Kurumi's core, but she just couldn't move from where she stood nor avert her eyes from Jonathan's. When he began to speak all Kurumi did was chewed on her lip fiercely to stop herself from interrupting him. He was speaking to her now and she didn't want to break that - even if each word it said felt like a stab to her heart. "I never thought you were dead," she murmured more to herself than to him. That wasn't the problem, that wasn't what had broken her and he had to know that. "I wanted you, Jonathan." She didn't want any flowers or gifts, she had wanted him. "I...I needed you..."

And he hadn't been there and she had lost faith in herself, in him, and in them all because of her insecurities. She knew there was no one to blame for what had happened besides herself, and her eyes were relaying that message to him now as tears continued to stream down her cheeks. Sure, they could point the finger at his father for taking him in from school in the first place, but that was pushing the real issue under the rug and ignoring it.

What do you think I would feel about this?

Kurumi bit down on her lip even harder at these words because...she really didn't know. Not until now at least how he really felt about it all. That day in the pathways he had worn his mask, the face where he tried to remain void of emotions and wouldn't let her see how he felt about it. It told her that he didn't really feel anything. That he had given up.

Kurumi's thoughts were swimming now, unsure of what to say next. Her throat felt dry and scratchy, like she hadn't had anything to drink for months. Her body was trembling a bit as well, but it was hard to tell from her perspective since the owlery was seemingly spinning.

And the spinning both escalated and stopped with what happened next.

Kurumi simply froze the moment she saw Jonathan take a step towards her, gasping softly as he did. Her eyes were still on his and what she saw there both shocked her and broke her. There was an unfamiliar sadness reflected in them...and it surprised her. But not nearly as much as when he reached out towards her and before she could react, recoil as her instincts were telling her to do, his arms were around her and holding her in place. Kurumi's entire body went rigid for a moment simply because she was in shock. Shock that he had taken a step towards her. Shocked that he had reached for her for the first time in eight months. Shocked that he was hugging her so fiercely, so desperately.

"Jonathan..." she murmured softly, her tone questioning and her body still a bit rigid under his touch while her heart pounding in her chest as though it were about to break right out of her chest. Her shoulders relaxed somewhat, but no other part of her moved. She just couldn't and not just because she felt as though someone had hit her with a Full Body Binding Curse, but because he was holding on to her THAT tightly.

And then...her heart both skipped a beat and broke.

The whimper that came from Jonathan was both one of the most beautiful things in the world...and one of the most horrifying. It was beautiful because Kurumi knew that he never showed these emotions to people, tried to keep them hidden, tortured himself internally with these feelings, but he was now expressing them...to her. He still trusted her. However...it was because of her that he was like this. Because of what she had done to him...and that was really hard to swallow.

Bending her arms at the elbows slightly, Kurumi lifted what part of her arms that she could and slowly, very slowly, rested them on his shoulders.

What...was going on?