"People are usually about as happy as they make
their minds up to be."
Feeling: Nervous | Happy | Hopeful
Location:House; Countryside
ââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââ
There is a certain comfort in the fact that she is not the only one taken off guard by this. However, she wonders how the others can be so shocked. Didn't Satoru move to Australia? Aiko to England? Hiroko to Russia? How could they be brought here, and think nothing of it? Natsu faults herself for not realizing as well, but she has the excuse of living near to here. A summer trip in her childhood home with friends would not have seemed so strange, given the relatively short distance between here and her current home.
But these are all processing in the back of her mind, for on the level just above the surface her mind has gone very nearly blank. Satoru is the first to manage out words of proper recognition, ignoring Natsu's brightly stated comment from earlier, and this is hardly a surprise. He and Kobi had always seemed to lead the group, in some form or another. That is why Hiroko and Valeraine had both been smitten with him --something that Natsu had been rather late in realizing, despite being close friends with Valeraine. She'd always been slow with such things, and in many ways continues to be, although to a lesser extent.
Natsu is in a cross between the sort of nervousness that eats at one's stomach and the happiness that threatens to bubble out in uncontrollable laughter. Some secret part of Natsu had always wanted to see her friends once more, though it was likely pushed down in favor of focusing on the present and the future. She wonders if Valeraine will be here as well, but her thoughts, easily distracted, are disrupted by the entrance of yet another person: Kobi. Instantly her gaze flickers towards Satoru, for she remembers quite well the rivalry that had burned between the two boys back in youth.
Ignoring Satoru's grumble, Natsu merely blinks for a second, before finally spreading her smile a bit more and responding, happy to keep conversation going because it eases the tension that pulls tightly across the atmosphere. "My mom told me I'd be staying with friends," she responds cheerily, or as cheerily as she can manage, which is an impressive degree under these circumstances. "I hadn't thought it would be you, though. I take it I'm not the only one expecting someone else," this is the sort of plan she wouldn't put past her parents.
Internally, she can't help but thank her mom and dad a bit. She just wishes they would have given her some clue, first. While she is friends with all here, Natsu's gaze stops at Aiko. Her smile becomes sillier, more sincere. "Aiko! How was England? Rainy?"