Chapter Text
The ride into the city was quiet and bumpy, the only noise accompanying Shinya and his father was the subtle hum of radio static as the car radio had given out on the ride from his hometown to Kyoto, where he would be living with his father. Shinya adjusted himself on the back seat so he was laying down more comfortably without the fear of falling off due to the potholes littered on the road before them.
"I think you're going to love the house," his father said abruptly, peering at him through the rearview mirror. Shinya tossed his head to the side, feeling rather ambivalent to the whole idea. His last school had been hell and he was grateful to escape it, yet who was to say the same wouldn't happen at this new one?
"It's big, considering we got it at a such a low price. Maybe some foundation problems and the pipes burst, but the pipe situation is already fixed, thank God." It seemed that he was speaking just for conversation's sake, as Shinya neither replied nor made any indication that he had heard anything at all. Nevertheless, he carried on.
"The school is close too, so you we won't have to waste money on the bus." His father seemed rather pleased by this, as after speaking he began to hum a giddy tune that Shinya could not place. He sighed in boredom, wondering when they would finally arrive.
After what felt like hours and hours (which in reality, was only two due to traffic) on the road being bumped around like a rag doll, the rundown car finally came to a stop in front of a traditional looking home beside other identical ones. The only difference was that it was slightly bigger than it's counterparts and not only had peeling paint and splintering wood on the gate, but there was a side yard littered with dead plants and a medium sized tree that seemed to be struggling to keep itself alive.
"We're home!" His father said cheerfully, as if they had just pulled up to their old tiny apartment in Hirakata. Shinya slowly sat up and stretched his aching joints before exiting the car with his backpack. He wrinkled his nose slightly at the old house, just imagining all the spiders that have probably taken up residence in the place made him shudder is barely concealed disgust. Nevertheless, he followed his father to the trunk of the car and helped him get the boxes of stuff they had packed. There was very little, seeing as the apartment was tiny and didn't have room for much of anything besides the essentials.
"Grab what you can and put it in the hallway," his father instructed with a happy chirp and began taking hastily labeled boxes past the rotting gate and into the house. Shinya clicked his tongue in annoyance and began taking the boxes into his arms, making sure that he was careful just in case.
It took the father and son duo only one more trip to get all of the boxes from the trunk and even smaller ones from the passenger seat and the backseat where they were situated on the floor. The rest of the stuff was to be arriving a couple of days later in a moving truck, leaving them to use the dusty blankets and futons left by the previous tenants.
"Alright, I'm going to check in with the office at work and when I come back we can get dinner." The older man said whilst dusting his hands off on his jeans, Shinya nodded almost sullenly. The idea of being left to his own devices in an old house with nothing in it nor any electricity didn't really go over well with him, but he figured it wouldn't hurt to start unpacking. Also, he was sick of the car his father had insisted on keeping despite of many offers to upgrade.
"Okay," His father smiled and left Shinya to the empty house, the gate creaking in protest and hitting the post beside it signaling that his father had left the property. The puttering of the vehicle punctuating the temporary finality.
It was unnerving, Shinya gulped, to be alone in this ancient silence. He shook his head with a scowl, the house wasn't that old. It had been rebuilt and renovated into a slightly more modern home after the war and inhabited by families until a little under a decade ago when it had been foreclosed. Still, he shivered as he pushed the box labeled 'kitchen' into the proper room and began unboxing the cutlery and dishes. Being alone in such a new place terrified him more than the fifteen year old cared to admit, so he resolved to stay close to the grimy windows letting in grey sunshine and the door that would most likely need a new lock in the coming months.
Finally, after unboxing random items for the kitchen and living area, Shinya moved on to the upper level of the house with his own personal box. He picked the second biggest room, as the bigger one was reserved for his father and the smaller was to be turned into a type of office. He opened the dusty window and took note that the dead garden was right below, the lone tree had twisted it's branches closely to the sill. So much so that Shinya quietly resolved to talk to his father about clipping that particular branch so that it didn't tap or scrape at the already fragile glass when it was moderately windy. Also, the last thing he wanted was to be frightened awake by incessant tapping at the window.
Returning back to the box, he unpacked his little figurines that had been gifted to him despite not really knowing where they were from. He placed them on the floor against the wall for the time being and began putting the rest of the contents of the box into the closet, as there was nothing to unpack until the moving truck came. Instead he pulled out the futon and slapped the dirt off of it until he deemed it worthy of being laid on.
He sprawled himself on top of it, bored and unfeeling. Mindlessly staring at the ceiling, counting the cobwebs draped from the rafters above, Shinya then closed his eyes tiredly. Sleep enveloped him rather quickly as the day had tired him out from last minute packing in Hirakata to the drive and then unpacking the kitchen.
It wasn't until a little past sundown that he had awoken to the gate opening and closing loudly, smacking itself against the latch with a thump. Shinya rubbed the sleep from his eyes and wondered if there was any point to going downstairs in the dark.
"Shinya!" He groaned and sat up, knowing from the heavy steps on the stairs that his father was coming up, hopefully with a flashlight.
The door opened, revealing the teen's father. He possessed a worn yet slightly youthful face that indicated to others that he was in his mid to late thirties, the white candle he was holding made him look years older, illuminating every crease and wrinkle with flickering light.
"I brought dinner," he said tiredly, gesturing for his son to follow him. Shinya got up and followed his father's imposing figure down the stairs and to the kitchen where a fast food bag was sitting on the counter.
The father and son duo ate in exhausted silence until Shinya's father piped up with a strained voice.
"I'm going back to the office tomorrow for most of the day, so if the utilities don't come on past noon call my office and ask for me. I'll be able to call them from my office and get all that stuff fixed." He said and dug into his pocket and brought out his cell.
"I'll leave it for you on the counter in the morning, luckily I was able to charge it at work so don't be on it all day." Shinya nodded dutifully, feeling somewhat giddy at the fact that tomorrow he would be free to explore around the house and the immediate area.
"I'll also leave some money just in case you want to get lunch for yourself somewhere, just be careful and don't go too far." He warned, he just received another nod from his son and left it at that.
After finishing their meal, Shinya's father handed over another long white candle and a lighter to his son and told him not to burn the house down with it then bade goodnight. Moving rather sluggishly to the biggest bedroom situated on the ground floor, which according to his father, had been a formal living room with the purpose of entertaining guest.
Yawning, Shinya lit the candle and made his way up the stairs and to his room, making sure to blow it out and envelope the room in utter darkness, save for the curtain-less window.