Work Text:
“Hey, stop crying!”
A pair of hand held the crying boy’s cheeks. “B-but… I keep falling… and getting hurt… I’m sick of this!”
A smile fills his tear-glazed vision, bright enough to rival the sun behind him. The smiling boy spoke, voice painted with pride and purpose. “I know just the thing to fix it!”
And with that, he ran off towards the field.
It was a Monday when everything starts.
Loud crashing blasted through the building. Matsuyo was the one who came to his aid. Ceramic pieces scattered on the floor. Choromatsu trembles, anxiety creeping close as he mumbles a long line of apologize and tries to gather the remnants of Ichimatsu’s plate. It ended up worse when a sharp piece grazed his fingertip. Blood dripped and stained the floor. Choromatsu mumbles an even longer apology until Matsuyo cuts him off and tell him to rest.
As Choromatsu walks out from the kitchen, though, he tripped and fell.
That was the beginning of Choromatsu’s bad luck streak.
Tuesday.
Choromatsu woke up early, unable to lull himself back to sleep. He yawned and walks to the bathroom. Might as well start the day early...
He grabs his toothbrush. Then squeeze the toothpaste onto it. And then brush his teeth--
--only to get attacked by the scent of a thousand flower inside his mouth, suffocating him. Choromatsu coughed, gagged into the sink. He eyes the toothpaste once again, and sure enough, it’s not toothpaste. It’s Todomatsu’s facial foam.
Bad luck streak, day two.
Wednesday.
Choromatsu went to pachinko with his brothers except for Jyushimatsu who is nowhere to be found. Ichimatsu, in a very awkward manner, told him this morning that since he got hit with bad lucks in the last two days it might resulted with him earning enough good luck to win at pachinko.
But fate has another plan.
A man bumped into Choromatsu, then ran away. Choromatsu reached to his pocket, and sure enough, his wallet--the Nyaa-chan wallet from Karamatsu--is no longer there. By the time they start chasing, the pickpocket already escaped.
Bad luck streak, day three.
Thursday.
Today, Choromatsu is supposed to go to Nyaa-chan’s concert.
He should be.
Except there is a snowstorm outside. At the end of April. The concert is canceled, and they are trapped in their house. At least until they realized Jyushimatsu is not in the house. And a second after they realized, the man himself appears in the doorway, freezing and in a horrible mood. To make things worse, kerosene for the heater has ran out. They all know. They all tried to ignore it, but there is no way they could do it now that Jyushimatsu is back.
“C-Choromatsu-niisan…” Jyushimatsu said through clattering teeth.
And that is how Choromatsu ended up going out to buy kerosene in a snowstorm in the end of April.
Bad luck streak, day four.
Friday.
Choromatsu refused to get out from the house in fear of another bad luck falling on him. And his resolve is strong, at least until lunchtime.
Everyone had lunch outside, and thus he is the only one at home. Hunger hits him hard and he found himself reaching for a jar of Gohan Desuyo~n, bread ready on the plate.
And why exactly did he think this is such a great idea? The jar has once forsaken Ichimatsu--why won’t it repeat the same tragedy on him? But the realization came too late. By the time Choromatsu thought of the possibility, the jar already embedded itself into his face after an escape through Choromatsu’s hand and feet. Things took turn for the worse when a crow flew in, snatched the bread, and flew away. Choromatsu gave up and opened the fridge, trying to find his leftover imagawayaki only to find a pink sticky note on an empty plate.
‘We ate it before it goes bad!’
And takeaway is not an option, considering how his wallet got stolen two days ago.
Bad luck streak, day five.
Saturday.
Choromatsu is so done. He refuses to leave the futon. Maybe if he stay here he will be safe from his bad luck. Or maybe Suzu--Iyami will crash in with a rope and starts ranting in scary voice that in a way reminded him of a very tall basketball player, or a sadistic soldier in modern Edo. Not like he know both men he just made references of.
The silence didn’t last long. The door slides open, revealing a man in yellow hoodie and undying smile. Jyushimatsu sat next to Choromatsu on the futon. “Choromatsu-niisan,” he called. And no matter how much Choromatsu wants to ignore him, there is no way. The voice is one he could recognize everywhere. Maybe if they die and reborn as two men hosting a radio show for girls together, he would still remember that voice. So he gathered all his strength to say “Yes, Jyushimatsu?”
“You remember that one time when we were little?”
Choromatsu sat up. “There are too many memories. Which one?”
Jyushimatsu stares at Choromatsu, the smile remains on his face. “I once had bad days like Choromatsu-niisan. And then Choromatsu-niisan gave me something that keeps the bad luck away… so, now, I’ll give it to you too!!!”
After saying that, Jyushimatsu jumps and raises his arms. Bursts of green color flew from the inside of his sleeves, but what made Choromatsu’s eyes widen was not that.
Hundreds of four leaf clovers rained in their bedroom. Fluttering down on him, on the blanket, on the pillow behind him, on the futon. Painting the room with green and luck.
Memories burst inside his head in the color of fresh leaves.
“Found it!!”
Choromatsu hurried back to Jyushimatsu’s side, then took the crying boy’s hand and put a small four leaf clover on his hand. “What is this…?” Jyushimatsu asked.
“It’s a four leaf clover! If you keep it with you, bad luck will stay away!” said Choromatsu. He smiles as he wipes Jyushimatsu’s tears with his sleeves.
“Now, no bad luck will get close to you again!”
Sunday.
Both Jyushimatsu and Choromatsu watches as the slots on the vending machine rolls. Choromatsu with distressed looks as usual, while Jyushimatsu is practically ready to tear into the vending machine if the result is not as expected.
Ding!
“WOOHOOOOOO!!!”
People stare at them, but both of them couldn’t care less. Two men in their twenties, screaming and crying and hugging in front of the vending machine. The slot number is all seven.
Bad luck streak ended.
Good luck streak, day one.
Omake:
“Wait, if you try to cheer me up, why did you send me to buy kerosene in that storm?”
Choromatsu’s question met Jyushimatsu’s smiling face. “Ah, but I didn’t meant it that way.”
“No?”
“I just called to check if Choromatsu-niisan is still alive and didn’t accidentally trip down the stairs while I was gone,” said Jyushimatsu. And in that moment, Choromatsu felt as if he had sinned by doubting Jyushimatsu.
“By the way, Choromatsu-niisan, can you do the laundry for me?”
Choromatsu takes it back, it’s totally fine to doubt Jyushimatsu.
Another Omake:
“What do you do with the four leaf clovers?” Osomatsu asked. “There were too many, so we threw them away after that,” Choromatsu answered. Osomatsu nodded upon hearing that answer.
The eldest will pretend he doesn’t know about Choromatsu’s new bookmark, which is made of five pressed four leaf clovers.
Yet Another Omake:
“Jyushimatsu, this made me wonder.... do you still have the four leaf clovers I gave you back then?” Choromatsu asked one day. Jyushimatsu patted his pockets, then pulls out a resin charm with a four leaf clover preserved inside. With a proud smile he said “I asked mom to make this! And then I keep it with me all the time, and it keeps bad lucks away from me!”
Choromatsu smiled. Maybe he himself is not as shitty as he thought...