Nine

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 in bed.

“Yes. No matter how late she sleeps in the morning, as soon as she has lunch, she just has to sleep.” I sighed and sat down on the couch beside him, picking my laptop up from the coffee table where I had left it last night after working. “I have to send a few emails. You don’t mind, do you?”

“Nah. Do what you have to.” He said and turned his attention to his phone. “Hikaru texted me. I had mentioned that I would be coming over after you had called. Apparently, he’s bored.” He showed me his phone. Hikaru-nii had sent him a selfie from the wedding hall and he looked ready to go sink into the corner and sleep. I laughed.

“Too bad.”

“This is what family life is like.” Hiro-san shrugged. “Hey, Kakeru.”

“Hm?” I had turned back to my laptop. Strangely enough, the only thing that stood out in my peripheral vision just then was Hiro-san’s peculiarly coloured hair.

“Tell me the truth. Do you have a woman in your life?”

“Hah? I already told you I don't. Why are you all asking me this again today?”

He shrugged. “You suddenly want to move out and live independently so…”

“Hikaru-nii told you to find out, didn't he? What? Is having a woman the only reason that I could possibly have for moving out?” I shook my head. “I mean, look at you. You live alone too.”

“I do have women over.” He said casually. “It’s not the reason for my living alone but I do have my share of fun. I’m not big on relationships and such but that doesn’t mean that I am not popular.”

… Okay then. “I am not interested in all that. Anyway, I don’t have a woman in my life. And I don’t have one-night-stands. Not interested either.”

“Yeah. You’re the type that gets attached.” He leaned back against the couch, slumping in and getting comfortable. “Just like your brother. Really, at this point, I don’t know what he would do without them and I can not even picture him without them now either.” He tilted his head towards me. “And you know who else is there in that picture?”

“Did my brother task you with convincing me to stay too?” I asked dryly.

“No. I’m just saying. I mean, I understand your sentiments. I’m fully in support of your decision too.”

“That makes one person in favour.” I rolled my eyes.

“What? It’s not like you’ll be going anywhere far.” He shrugged.

… “Can I task you with convincing my brother?”

He laughed. “He’ll never give in. He’ll let you go but he won’t be happy about it. It’s okay. It’ll just take some getting used to. Besides, I’m pretty sure he respects you for taking such a decision. Our Kake-chan has really grown up.”

“I think I’m the one who will need to get used to it the most.” I sighed. “Aki-chan has spoilt me rotten with her presence.”

He gave me a side-long glance. “Are you already feeling lonely, Kake-chan?”

I… “Wouldn’t you?”

He hummed after thinking about it. “Probably.”

After that, we fell silent for a while. Hiro-san was on his phone while I was taking care of my immediate work. There wasn’t much and I was done in an hour’s time. In between the nearly two hours that we had before Aki-chan finally woke up and trudged over to find us, Hikaru-nii had called to inform that they had started back, Hiro-san and I had talked a bit more about work and the house that I was going to move into and then, we watched a bit of television.

Aki-chan climbed onto my lap immediately after she had woken up and grumbled about wanting chocolates because she had apparently dreamt of them. She was always a little clingy immediately after waking up.

We had all settled too comfortably into this careless Sunday. It felt good.

Once she had brightened up, Aki-chan was right back to dictating games and getting us to play with her. She even taught us a few games that she had learnt from her friend Emi-chan at the daycare. It was so easy to lose track of time when there was a child around. I could already feel my days getting longer starting the first day at my own place.

I was in the middle of getting my hair tied up in the front by Aki-chan, who just wouldn’t get off my case unless I let her do it, when my phone rang. She didn’t even let me turn to look at who was calling. Hiro-san laughed at my helplessness and embarrassment before picking up my phone and standing up. “It’s Hikaru. I’ll take this.”

“Ah. Thank you.” I nodded for which I got reprimanded by my ‘hairdresser’ again. I turned my full attention to Aki-chan and stayed still while she struggled to get my hair to stay in the scrunchie that she had found on Kaori-nee’s dresser. She was still chatting away to glory and so, Hiro-san stepped away to answer the call.

My hair wasn’t even that long…

“Mm. It’s done!" Aki-chan finally nodded and stepped back to get a good look at what she had accomplished. She grinned after that. “You look pretty, Kake-jii!”

Ugh. I don’t know if ‘pretty’ is a compliment considering that I’m a guy though, Aki-chan. “Can I take it off now? You did what you wanted to.” I reached up to unite my hair but she pounced on my arms before I could do anything about it.

“No! Don’t touch! I want to show Hiro-jii too!”

But it’s embarrassing! “Aki-chan, please just-”

“No.” She shook her head. “Hiro-jii has to approve.”

“Why do I need his approval?” Wait till you grow up, you little pipsqueak.

“Hiro-jii, look!” Aki-chan caught my face and made me look at him forcefully when I refused to comply. Why had I even agreed to this in the first place?! “Pretty, right?”

“No. Not-”

“Kakeru.”

I fell silent, swallowing my protest. He did not look ready to tease me like I had expected him to be. Instead, he looked at me rather gravely. Aki-chan looked between us in confusion at the sudden stale air.

This... wasn’t right.

Hiro-san looked at Aki-chan once, his features revealing a rather complex state of mind. Then, he crouched before me. I was sitting on the floor so that act brought him to eye-level. There was a heavy pause before he spoke again. “It’s about the call just now…”