Haha To Kodomobeya Oji-san No 1--- Nenkan No Nari... -

Kenji stopped grating. “Dad? Cried?”

“Saving it.”

One year. Three hundred sixty-five X’s on the dentist calendar. Haha to Kodomobeya Oji-san no 1--- Nenkan no Nari...

So the rocket ship stayed. Kenji hung a small calendar next to it—a cheap one from the dentist. He drew a tiny X every night. X meant one more day survived . Kenji stopped grating

He placed the rolled wallpaper on the upper bunk. Beside it, he left a note for Mio: For your first child. Or for you, if you ever need a dark tunnel. Haha to Kodomobeya Oji-san no 1--- Nenkan no Nari...

“No. I’m moving into the spare room. The one without rocket ships.”

He climbed up. Sat there. Turned off the light. The glow-in-the-dark stars—his stars—shone faintly.