“You’ve already done me a great good by taking such care of my boy. A little repair work is the least I can do.”

While everyone passed him by to enter the house, Doppio lingered as he took it all in. The garden, the oak trees, the face of the two-story building itself—it was achingly familiar, but something was…off. Like a shoe that didn’t quite fit.

His anxious state was broken when he felt a lick on his palm. It was Vento. His black eyes were gazing up at Doppio’s curiously, as if he were trying to get a read on him. Then, he felt a gentle hand at his back. Father Serra smiled at him, and Doppio tried to smile back. Even if he felt off kilter, the man’s presence immediately made him feel a bit better.

And that had to mean something, right?

“I’ve given everyone the tour. While they get settled, would you like to relax in your room for a bit?”

Doppio blinked. When he looked around, he was suddenly inside. ‘When did I walk inside…?’ When had his father given everyone a tour? Had he been part of it?

“S-sure.”

He looked up the stairs but shook his head. His room was downstairs, he remembered that. It used to be upstairs when he was a kid, but he moved downstairs at some point. It was a room overlooking the courtyard. When the moon rose to the east he would watch it.

As he approached his bedroom, the unease grew, as well as a sudden aching loneliness. ‘I must have gotten used to sleeping with all the others.’