“Kuronomiya, hey!” Someone called out to me when I picked up my bag after packing up and stood up from my desk. I turned to find two of my colleagues standing near one of their desks and looking my way.
“Yes?”
“You’re finally done with your project, aren’t you?” Shirokawa Touma-san asked. He had joined the company around the same time as I had. We had gotten along pretty well from the start.
“Yes, I am.” I nodded.
“Ah.” Yamato Keiichi-san spoke up. “Then, my client-”
“Sorry.” I interjected before he could even place it on the table. “I’ve my regular work to attend to anyway. I’m not going to take up anything new for a while. Please, try to understand.” I smiled, lest it come off as mean.
“Fair enough. You deserve the rest too. You seem to be the busiest out of all of us here. To be honest, I’m glad you’re starting to say no.” Yamato-san chuckled. “Well then, since you’re finally free, how about a drink or two tonight? We can invite a couple of other guys too.”
Drinks, huh? It had been a while since I last went out for a drink with them. There was a time at the start when I used to accompany them a lot but after Aki-chan was born, I had found myself choosing to go home early instead.
I turned to them completely and nodded. “I’m in.”
“Cool. I have a little more work to do so I’ll finish that up and join you guys directly at the bar. What about you, Shirokawa?” Yamato-san turned to the other man.
“I’m done for the day.” Shirokawa-san fetched his bag and came over to me. “We’ll go ahead then. Kuronomiya-kun, let’s go see who else is available tonight.” He slung an arm over my shoulders and dragged me along towards another colleague’s desk, calling back to Yamato-san. “Don’t keep us waiting, Yamato-san!”
“Yes. Yes.” Yamato-san responded, then settled in and focussed on his desktop’s screen. He seemed determined enough to make it to the bar anyway.
We managed to gather four other men from our department and went to the bar we used to frequent earlier as well. Most of the other guys were still regulars there but it had been quite a while since this entire group had gotten together. As a result, once Yamato-san had also joined us an hour later, we were fully engrossed in idle talk, reminiscence and the drinks. I had sent a message to Hikaru-nii and Kaori-nee informing them that I would be late and that I wouldn’t be needing dinner.
Sometime into the night, the group of women at the table next to ours began talking to us. By the time it was 11:00 pm though, two of us and two of them had wandered off somewhere and the remaining people had fallen rather silent. There was sparse conversation here and there but the fervour from before had died down. It was still pleasant though- slow and easy-going. It felt like a much-needed slowing down of the pace for me, in particular. Finally, the girls announced that they were leaving and soon, it was just Yamato-san, one other guy and myself left at the table.
“Kuronomiya.” Yamato-san called and sat up on the couch to stretch out his limbs. “How are you going home?”
“Mm. I’m not sure.” I… had probably had a little bit more alcohol than I had intended to. “I’ll call my brother and see what the situation at home is like. Our place is nearby. If he can’t come, I’ll walk.”
“Walk? In that state?” Yamato-san laughed. “You’ll walk in front of a car.”
“Don’t say something so ominous.” I made a face at him and then proceeded to call my brother. He answered without much delay.
“Hello?”
“Ah, Hikaru-nii, I-”
“You’re drunk, aren’t you?” He sighed immediately.
He could tell that easily? How? “No. Not… drunk but… probably not entirely not drunk either.” I chuckled sheepishly.
“And? Where are you?”
“The usual place.” I replied. “Are you at home?”
“Yes. Can you hang in there for ten minutes?”
“Yes. You’re the best.” I smiled, genuinely meaning what I had said.
He laughed. “Yes. Yes. I know. I’ll come soon so don’t go off anywhere else, you hear?”
“Mhm. I hear you.” I nodded. “I’ll just sleep here till you come.”
“You… worry me sometimes. Anyway, I’ll be there.” He said gently. After I had hung up, I conveyed the news to my colleagues.
“So nice…” The junior recruit scoffed. “You have a brother who is willing to come and pick you up and I have a mother who is going to question every moment of today.”
I lay my head on the table before me. I was starting to really feel sleepy. The alcohol was getting to me. “It’s nice to have your mother around though. I haven’t seen mine in more than a year.” She and our father were back in our hometown after all. As to when I might see them again… That wasn’t an easy question to answer. I couldn’t quite say that we were on bad terms but we were not as close as any of us would have liked us to be either. Hikaru-nii never really brought the matter regarding our parents up and, frankly, I was on his side too. It wasn’t just our parents either. While matters had improved over the years, we weren’t too close to Kaori-nee’s parents too. Our larger family scene had been a terrible mess till a few years ago. Compared to that, I guess we were at a relatively better place now.
“Oi. Oi.” Yamato-san pat my shoulder. “Don’t pass out yet. You have to go home.”
I waved his hand away and groaned. I was feeling exhausted and sluggish. “My brother’s coming.”
“I feel bad for him.” He chuckled and stood up. “I’m going to leave then. Will you hang back till this guy’s in safe hands?”
“Yeah.” The junior answered. “I’ll be here. I live close-by anyway.”
“Okay. Good. I’ll leave him to you then.” Yamato-san said. “Kuronomiya-kun, I’m leaving first. See you tomorrow.”
“Mm.” I hummed. “See you.”
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
“Kuronomiya.” A female colleague of mine named Futaba Megumi approached me at my desk. “Yes?” “Hamada-san is looking for you.” “Ah. Thank you for telling me. I’ll go now.” I said, saved the document that I was working on and got up from my chair. Hamada Tetsuo-san was my immediate supervisor. We had a very cordial superior-subordinate relationship and so, it wasn’t odd that he would ask for me often. Being a bit of a workaholic helps me get my work done, at least, and so I had earned my place. I knocked on Hamada-san’s glass door. He waved me in immediately. “Ah, Kuronomiya-kun. I have to say, you’ve done quick and good work on your previous project.” “Thank you, Hamada-san.” I bowed. “It was thanks to your timely guidance.” “Mm. Well, I called you here for another reason though. I know that you have just finished a few major projects, both with your team and individually, but I would like to assign you something.” He would alw
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
He had definitely been surprised to hear of it- my brother. It was two days after the chat with Hiro-san in the kitchen that I finally told Hikaru-nii and Kaori-nee about my decision to move. I had even told them about starting to look for my own place. Initially, the both of them had just heard me out and asked me to think about it more seriously. A day later, Hikaru-nii brought the both of us drinks and came into my room after Aki-chan had gone to sleep in her own room. We had a long brother-to-brother talk about a lot of things, starting from the issues we had had to face when we were still staying with our folks to after we had moved out and all that had happened after Kaori-nee too entered our lives. I figured that the point that he had wanted to make clear to me was that we had been by each other's side through a lot of the important things in our lives. He was sentimental. "We're family." It had taken me some time to work my way through the words t
“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!
“Kakeru.” Hikaru-nii called softly and lightly shook me awake. “Oi. Wake up. It’s morning.” “Mm.” I turned over on my side. “It’s Sunday. Please let me sleep…” “It’s already late. Wake up.” He said, voice still low. That was weird in itself but I couldn’t really be bothered by it in my state of sleep. “Kakeru.” “I heard you.” I groaned and stretched my arm out a bit in trying to shoo him off. That was when I touched skin. I touched someone… small. I raised myself by my elbows, on my stomach and remembered the three-year-old sleeping next to me in her favourite yellow night dress only when I saw her peaceful features. She was still fast asleep. So that’s why Hikaru-nii was speaking so softly. “How many nights has this been now?” Hikaru-nii shook his head in defeat. “I don’t know… Four?” I slowly sat up and rubbed the sand out of my eyes. Aki-chan had woken me up at around 01:30 am saying that she wanted to sleep with me. This nigh
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
It was from the hospital. My perfect and careless Sunday had shattered with that one phone call. It was horrifying how one moment was all it took to make my previous worries seem insignificant. It was unbelievable. Hiro-san had tried his best to remain calm while relaying the news to us. Well, mostly to me. There had been an accident. A pretty bad one too. A T-junction. Hikaru-nii’s car and a truck. Those were all the points of information that my brain could take in. People on-site had reacted quickly. The two people in the car had been sent to the hospital immediately. The call was from a nurse there. Hikaru-nii had been conscious enough to convey to her that she needed to call me. By the time we had gotten to the hospital, the anxiety and fear had eaten me up alive for we had received no further information about it. Carrying a very confused Aki-chan, when we got there, the attending doctor informed us that Hikaru-nii had been taken in for