Joy

As the crisp and mellow sunlight enveloped Ryo with a divine warmth, he witnessed Sumire kneeling in front of a sunflower garden with rows of flowers surrounding a miniature garden filled with sand. Blue jays and parakeets nestled in comfortably and chirped in a custom-made birdhouse nailed to a giant shading oak tree. The spring water pool behind Sumire was crystal clean and filtered beyond imagination. Not a single speck of flora remained in the seven feet pool, illustriously crafted with teal-colored rich marble. Ryo slipped aside the pool and approached Sumire after admiring how clean and well-managed the backyard was. After his first Sunlight meeting, Ryo's mentality about their earnestness for their jobs as a task force was further solidified.

"Sumire," Ryo called, offering his hand over to her crouching position. She was picking up several weeds jolting from underneath the soil to prevent them from taking up a beautiful sunflower's space. Ryo's cheeks reddened as he offered his hand, as exhibiting a brotherly affection was no easy task. "The backyard sure is beautiful," He continued, admiring the scenery to please Sumire's violent tendencies toward Natia. "Seems like you all cleaned it up quite a bit. No doubt Jinni did something about that, right?"

"Ryo…" Sumire called, crumpling the weeds into her fist. She turned around and failed to make eye contact with her brother because of an unknown shame. "When are you going to let the past go?" She asked, letting her closed mouth hang sideways in uncertainty. "I understand you have scary episodes and outbursts, but I do want to help you overcome it."

Ryo wanted to ensure that Sumire wasn't worried about him. Because it was a private conversation between them, Ryo sought the opportunity to bring up what had happened before the meeting with Sumire and Natia. "Nothing Natia says to me will ever upset me," He stated, understanding Natia's true hatred for their family. "I know she doesn't like you and me. The fact that you brought me here only made her hatred for you worse. I apologize for that."

Sumire shook her head and swayed her hand from side to side. "No, hey, stop that…" Her voice quivered as she chuckled it off. "Natia has always been like that. Nothing is going to stop her from feeling that way. Her old man doesn't even bother to tell her to fuck off from time to time." She explained the reasoning for her unwavering antipathy.

"Because… She blames Japan for bombing her country, right? Iran?" Ryo swiftly added to the reasoning, confirming the fact that he had eavesdropped. He gazed to the side in disgrace, believing that privacy was a heavy concern for a task force's environment. His eyebrows lowered themselves in shame. "Yeah… I overheard."

Sumire tilted her head to the side with a dull expression. Her eyes and mouth moved in the same direction in more uncertainty. "It's okay," She confirmed. "But you already know her reasoning for hating us isn't because of our personalities. It's because she just hates Japanese people. But… you know, think of it as only temporary. I think I could compare her hatred with us to your previous hatred with aliens. I know they saturated the job market all over Earth, but eventually, they moved to Aries, and that hatred from people eventually lowered," Sumire explained. She placed her left hand on her hip and raised her right palm out to gesture. "I mean, you don't hate aliens now, do you?"

Ryo shrugged. "Not unless I know who's responsible for the things that happened in Genesis," He said, reminiscing back to his unsuccessful heist. "The way I think about it is this; if humans were focused on preserving other human bodies, then that would just be ridiculous. They must be experimenting on them. But if aliens had that hatred for humans, then it would make more sense."

"Don't jump to conclusions, Ryo," Sumire reminded. "Unless we can find more evidence on that, we can't make assumptions. Since it'll be hard either way, it's best if we drop it for now."

"Okay," Ryo said, respecting Sumire's decision. After several seconds, they stood by idly thinking about the meeting once more, along with Akai's disappearance. Ryo eventually felt a tinge of remorse and guilt for the way that Natia treated her before the meeting. He morally disavowed the idea of a generous spirit with over nine years of experience being shot down so critically and immorally as an individual because of their ethnicity. He looked into Sumire's eyes directly, wanting to hammer home his next message as something truthful. "I'll eventually get over what happened in the past," He said. "But… it'll take some time."

Sumire held Ryo's arm with both of her hands and lightly squeezed them affectionately. "Yeah. I know," She admired while smiling. "Just take your time."

"Thanks…" Ryo appreciated his sister's affectionate patience and response. He looked into Sumire's eyes and was overjoyed that he managed to make her smile during such a difficult moment. It proved that he was learning empathy and how to feel remorseful for his actions. "So, what's the plan now?"

"Hmm," Sumire said, releasing her grip on Ryo's arm. She stretched and played with her black ponytail before thinking even further. "I'd say there's not much to do right now for you, besides hang around. Why don't you visit April?" She suggested.

"Ooh, who's April?" Jinni's sudden voice startled the spirit out of Ryo's back, forcing him to leap back and yelp in response. "Oops! Mi despiace! Didn't mean to scare you like that, Ryo!" Her voice was playfully loud as she winked at Ryo while skipping in place.

"Sure, you didn't…" Naoto appeared behind Jinni's frolicking moment, palming his face in second-hand embarrassment.

"You did scare me," Ryo admitted, settling down his instant shock factor. "April's a friend of mine. I was thinking about visiting her too. Probably just want to check on how she's doing."

"Ooh, sounds quite lovely, mi amor!" Jinni teased as the others watched in more second-hand embarrassment. She gestured her arms to appear like a heart once more, believing there was more to being friends. "Girlfriend? Playful date? Which is it?" She teased, bending forward while rotating her french braid.

"Jinni?! What the hell?" Naoto shouted.

"It's all right, Naoto," Ryo stopped Naoto from pursuing Jinni's quips any further. The moment Jinni brought up April as a lovely individual, he never really romantically thought about her. Although, Ryo did believe she was angelic and attractive in her way. However, he disavowed his feelings. After what he had done to Ash and Sophie, he believed that he didn't deserve romantic affection. "Just friends." He clarified, holding into his mentality.

"Oh, I see," Jinni's voice trailed off as she pouted. "Well, your suit should be ready by tomorrow morning. You can stay around for as long as you'd like. Eat some more food if you want. Sumire, you forgot to finish lunch too!"

"Oh, that's right," Sumire bowed in respect to Jinni's reminder. "I'll be back there in a bit."

"Ciao, Ryo!" Jinni waved with both of her vibrant hands with overenthusiasm. Before she and Naoto returned into the living room, Jinni turned back and slightly bent over to bow to Ryo in respect, much like Sumire did earlier. "Also… I would like to thank you for sharing about your past, Ryo. I know it was not easy. I can only imagine how much pain you felt. Grazie."

"Yeah…" Naoto agreed, showing concern for Ryo's health and safety. "Dude, if you need to talk to anyone about that stuff, we're all ears. We don't condone any of Natia's shit attitude, by the way. Just forget about her."

"That's not nice, Naoto!" Jinni slapped Naoto in the back of his head and whined in a heavy accent as she rapidly bonked his head in a comedic manner. "You should treat your coworkers with some due respect!"

"Stop touching me!" Naoto repeated, shoving himself away from Jinni. "I mean, it's true! She can go overboard sometimes, seriously. And even Akai was acting all weird. Him leaving to go back to main HQ so quickly was just… I don't know. Weird."

"That's Akai for you," Sumire rolled her eyes, placing her hands on her hips. "Always the ladies' man and quick to act."

"Hey," Ryo interrupted their side conversation with a sudden smile. For the first time, Ryo had real reason to establish a whole-hearted smile from the affection and respect he had from his Sunlight peers. The idea of having total strangers making a complete effort to account for Ryo's personal and inner demons, sins, and struggles from his past was a drastic environmental change from his time as a Yakuza. He hadn't encountered this type of mutual respect before from anyone other than Sumire, and having it strike him for the first time elicited a natural and powerful response of pure joy. "Thank you all for caring. It really means a lot to me." He admitted.

Sumire, Jinni, and Naoto froze in place as they held each other in response to Ryo's smile. Even Naoto's germaphobic attitude had ceased the moment Ryo smiled. Jinni held up her silver large smartphone in less than a second to take a photo of Ryo's face, causing Ryo to jerk back and wipe his face with his hand after hearing the snapshot sound effect.

"Hey, what the hell?!" Ryo shouted, attempting to snatch the smartphone from Jinni's hand. "Did you just take a picture of me?"

"Scusa! I needed to!" Jinni pranced around, hiding her smartphone. "First time seeing Ryo smile, possibly last time!"

Naoto shoved Jinni back inside to the living room, leaving Sumire alone with Ryo. "You really are hopeless," He commented on Jinni's behavior. "Delete it right now!"

"Nope! You're going to have to tickle it out of me!" Jinni cheered.

"Stop making such ridiculous requests!" Naoto cried as he reverted to his germaphobic ways, sliding the door glass door shut.

Sumire placed her hands behind her waist and held them time in affectionate gratification. She glanced over at Ryo's face with a flustered and puffy smile, blushing simultaneously in response to Ryo's reaction. "You…" She whispered without letting her gaze off of Ryo's face. "You smiled. After nine years, you smiled."

Ryo lightly smiled once more, glancing back into the sunflower scenery. The sunlight bathed them enough with nutrition for long-term sustainability. He looked into the sunflowers as if his heart had blossomed like a flower would, believing that he was opening up little by little. He believed Jinni and Naoto had pushed him by accepting his past. Jinni's short conversation with him about not letting the past affect him was a substantial effort in making him alter his mindset. Naoto's response, Sumire's affection, and April's kind prayers and hopes for him to bond with Sunlight were well on track and in order.

"I guess I did…" Ryo nervously admitted.

Sumire tossed him her keys to her Yoshimura motorcycle, to where Ryo caught it with quick thinking. She slid the door open to return to the living room. However, she turned around to glance at Ryo once more with a confident expression, to which Ryo believed that she was reveling in her duties as a sister who protected him for nine years. "I'm glad you're here, Ryo." She concluded before moving back into the dining room.

Ryo twirled Sumire's keys, reflecting on his interactions with Sunlight. For some odd reason, he couldn't wait to see April's face and reaction to what he had learned and improved on. He wanted to ensure her that her deepest wishes for him to fit in came true. He couldn't wait to see the look on her face, believing she would feel uplifted from her prayers. As the sun's heaviness began to bear down on Ryo's pale skin, he exited the headquarters from the backyard gate and opened the garage with the use of Sumire's keys. He piloted her motorcycle, using the GPS to return to April's estate safely.

As Ryo drove off on Sumire's motorcycle, Natia gazed through her window on the second floor, crossing her arms and observing Ryo leaving the premises. She closed her eyes to ponder in thought about him before kicking herself back to return to her bed.