"Dear?" Hanako spoke softly as she set down her tea cup beside her husband.
"Hmm?" Kitayama answered, not looking up from the newspaper in his lap.
"Do you notice?"
He glanced over. "Notice what?"
"Kyouko…" Hanako murmured. "She looked… lonely. Sad. Especially when she first arrived."
Kitayama's eyes lowered. He folded the newspaper slowly.
"I know," he said after a moment. "I noticed too."
Hanako's voice was quiet. "I didn't want to say anything in front of her, but… it feels like she's hiding something. Not big. Just… something painful."
He nodded, staring out the window for a moment.
"But what can we do?" he said finally. "We can't ask her directly what's going on between her and Satoshi. That's their business."
Hanako folded her hands on her lap. "Still…"
Kitayama exhaled slowly. "But looking at how Satoshi is always working, working, working… never visiting, never calling unless it's about Satomi…"
He shook his head.
"I'm sure she's been alone for a long time."
