[ alois has been so taken with luca's arrival, his presence, his living, breathing, heart-beating existence that there's a flicker of confusion in his face when he looks up at the approaching miwako. a little boy—a dead and buried little boy in the furthest part of his memory, the cemetery of his heart—makes alois' fingers instinctively curl around luca's tiny hands. for his little brother, it's probably a familiar sensation, even if his fingers are longer and a little slimmer now. he's grabbed his hands a lot like this before, before dashing down dirty roads with him, around ramshackle houses, and down hills.
he watches miwako speak to luca, and frowns the littlest bit, glancing at the backs of his hands still folded over luca's. he forgets to say 'hello,' but then as if to make up for that one movement, he looks suddenly up at luca and tells him: ] Miwako is good, Luca. She's really, very good and lovely and it's a lot of fun talking to her. [ at last, he draws rabbit hands away, and tucks blond hair back to show off one little lobe for his brother. there's a small golden ball settled into it. ] She pierced my ear for me. Isn't it pretty?