Home

“-eru. Kakeru… Kakeru!” My eyes shot open. I would have sat bolt upright too had my body not been that impossibly paralysed by sleep. I heard a laugh and let my eyes wander till I found a familiar face. I could barely see the man’s grey eyes through the two slits they made when he laughed. He seemed to find my after-sleep distress rather amusing. “Geez, Hiro-san.” I frowned, a little embarrassed but not showing it. I sat up on the couch and massaged the bridge of my nose. “You really aren’t a heavy sleeper, are you?” He calmed himself down and settled for watching me as I desperately tried to chase the sleep away. “If you know that, be a little less loud next time.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “I’ll try to.” He chuckled and turned towards the dining area. “Come on. Dinner is being served.” “Ah.” I planted both palms on the couch and stared after him. The guy’s so regularly eating with us that he was practically a member of the f

There was a soft voice in my ear. Then, I was shaken lightly by my shoulder. “Kakeru.” Ah… Too tired… “Un.” “Kakeru? Kake-chan~” The voice continued. I was a little unregistering for a while but then, when I slowly opened my eyes, I was compelled to look around. I was alone at the table- the junior had already left. “What?” The voice asked in a small laugh. “Aren’t you happy to see me?” “I am.” I looked towards the person whose grey eyes were trained on me in amusement. “But… why are you here?” “I came to pick you up. Hikaru said that you were drunk and needed assistance.” Hiro-san shrugged and gave me a casual smile. “He… didn’t have to send you.” I sat up and yawned. “Was I alone when you came?” “No. A friend of yours was here but I sent him off in a taxi.” “Is that so? Then…” I stood up and adjusted my clothes. “Shall we go?” Everything was still a little hazy for me. Even after standing up, I just stood ther

Kaori-nee did not look too good but she had been eagerly awaiting our return by the time we had gotten home. Aki-chan and I had stopped by the medical store on our way home and I had bought her her medicine as well. Kaori-nee was more than ready to make me tea as usual too but I drove her out of the kitchen and tasked Aki-chan with keeping her company while I made tea for her and myself and an omelette for Aki-chan knowing that she would be hungry. It made me stop and think, really. Life was really peaceful as it was. I really did not want to move out… However, the fact that I was thinking so much about it was proof enough for me that I actually needed to move. I would be close-by anyway. I could still visit them, at least as regularly as our other “extended family member” did. Said “extended family member” showed up as usual for dinner that night too, just as we were finishing with our tea. “Where’s Hikaru?” Hiro-san enquired as he changed into the indoor sl

“Kake-jii!” A shrill cry went up the moment that I opened the door to the house with my key. Even before I could announce that I was home, I had a pair of arms thrown around my legs and sobbing filled the entryway. While this shocked both Hiro-san and I into freezing up, my brother just stood there and shook his head in exasperation. Even Kaori-nee peeked around the kitchen doorway, greeted us and disappeared back inside. The little one, however, was practically pouring her heart out to me. “What happened? How come you’re crying?” I pat her head as soothingly as I could in my confusion. Hiro-san too crouched beside me and looked at her closely. “Hey, Aki-chan. What happened? Did your father get angry at you?” “Why is this my fault?” Hikaru-nii asked, coming over and trying to pull Aki-chan off my legs but to no avail. “Aki, you’re getting Kake-jii’s pants dirty. Give him some space. He just got home.” “I don’t want to! I don’t want to let Kake-jii go!

Aki-chan and I were playing with her building blocks when Hiro-san arrived a little over an hour later. Once he came, he was the one playing most of her games with her. I settled for just sitting back and watching, occasionally joining in. It was all so peaceful that I found myself promising to keep my Sundays as free as possible even after moving out. Since breakfast was late, Aki-chan wasn’t exactly hungry at lunch time. I did not want to delay it though because Hiro-san had not had even breakfast. So, eventually, all three of us ended up in the kitchen. Hiro-san was carrying Aki-chan and the both of them were following me around the kitchen, lending a hand whenever they could and keeping up a conversation about the most trivial things. … I owed my brother thanks for letting her stay here with me, although it would have been better had he and Kaori-nee been here as well. “She slept?” Hiro-san asked when I returned to the living room after leaving Aki-chan i