Chapter Text
The first noise Reigen heard that morning was a sharp, knock knock knock . He'd heard it first in his dream where he had been doing some gardening inside of a tall, brightly lit tower; when he dropped a few of the seeds he had been about to plant they made a rather rhythmic series of noises that sounded like a knock at a door. Then, just like that, he was sucked up from his little sunny tower garden into a dark, four-walled room in which he sat in the center at a table with one vacant chair across from him, and a weathered door that lingered just beyond it.
Another loud knock brought him further out of his sleep, and he cracked open his eyes against his better judgment, the rather unsettling vision of the door vanishing in favor of his dark bedroom and the quiet sound of Serizawa’s breathing behind him. He flopped around from his side to his back and groaned indignantly, refusing to open his eyes fully. What time is it? It has to be before 5 am. Who on earth - Reigen’s inner dialogue was cut off by another series of knocks on the front door, and he finally willed himself to sit up. He set his tired eyes on the door to his bedroom and sighed. Did he forget to pay some utility that month? No. Even if he had he knew nobody would have physically come to his home and knocked on his door expecting payment, especially not at this time. So who in the hell was knocking at his door?
He glanced momentarily at Serizawa who, to his relief was still in a rather peaceful state. They’d had a pretty late night, he figured nothing would be waking the man for at least another hour or two. He was grateful for this because he certainly didn’t want them to be at each other’s throats the next day because of a lack of sleep; even if it was a Sunday it still would have been annoying. He also did not want the other member of his household awake this early on a weekend, considering how hard he had been working this week as president of the school festival planning committee.
Teruki had been living with Reigen for the better part of three years now, and he was soon to enter his last year of high school. When Reigen and Serizawa had finally decided to move in together, Teru had been so excited to finally be apart of a little family unit again. It had taken a little getting used to on Serizawa’s part living with a teenager, but he acclimated quickly and they shared the space well together. Reigen enjoyed feeling like the man of the house, which felt strange to say, even if he never said it out loud. It was even stranger that they did, presently, live in a house. It was small, and still needed a bit of work, as he and Serizawa had decided a fixer-upper with some potential was the best option in their price range, but it was home, and it was his. It was nice.
Another round of knocks snapped him out of his reminisce and he reluctantly stood, pulled on a pair of sweatpants that sat in a pile near the end of the bed, and made his way toward the entrance of his house. He peered out the peephole briefly, however, the outside light was still off so he only saw the vague outline of a figure etched against what little light lingered on the horizon. Well, if it turns out to be a serial killer I’m gonna haunt the bastard till their last days on earth , he thought, turning the deadbolt and flicking on the entryway light switch. He paused, momentarily considering if there was any real danger in opening his door to a stranger at whatever the hell time in the morning it was, but he quickly disregarded the thought in favor of his natural curiosity.
When he opened the door, the sight he saw made him wish that it would have been a serial killer. Or at least anything other than...her.
“Hey, Taka. What’s up?” a woman, just slightly taller than him in height and extremely similar to him in build, was what waited for him on the other side of the door. She was dressed in winter clothes and held a large duffel bag in one of her hands, the handle of a rolling suitcase loosely gripped in the other. She had a rather fake looking apologetic smile plastered on her face and, had she not been wearing glasses, would have been nearly impossible to tell apart from Reigen himself.
“K.....Ko?” Reigen felt so lightheaded, he was sure that if he moved from the spot he would definitely pass out. Hideko, his sister whom he had not seen in years, who he was sure he may not ever have seen again, was standing right in front of him talking to him as though nothing was out of the ordinary. So many questions swam through his mind, of them, the first being how in the hell did she find where he lived, and the second being if this was actually real.
“Jeez, Arataka, are you okay? You look like you’re about to faint.” there was a suave tone to her low voice, he remembered so clearly how he had learned to mimic it whenever he put on his businessperson persona. It was welcoming, inviting even, but there was something that lingered behind it that he had never in all their years as siblings been able to place. He made an attempt to swallow but his mouth felt insanely dry, he was still not sure how he would ever be able to process this, then, suddenly, as though a switch was flipped in his brain, he gave her the nastiest scowl he could muster.
“You’re not welcome here. Leave,” he quickly went to slam the door in her face but she dropped the green duffel bag she was holding and waved her hands about in a frenzy, bracing herself against the door right as it was about to close.
“WAIT! Wait, wait, wait, Taka, jeez, let me explain myself!” she said hurriedly, she was straining against the door with a wild expression painted on her face as reigen struggled against the other side trying to close it. He stopped applying as much pressure and in turn, Hideko stopped fighting back as hard.
“Explain what? How you suddenly want to pop up into my life again? After eight . Years? ” Reigen was having trouble containing the anger he felt to a quiet volume, “how you want to act like you’ve been away on a little vacation and how you’re finally back and we can act like perfect siblings? Like nothing happened?” he waited for a response, his face untwisting the slightest bit after a few moments had passed. He noticed that there were tears biting at the corners of his eyes and he blinked them away, he refused to cry over this. He wouldn’t let himself.
“Look,” she said finally after a few painful minutes of silence, “I know this must be...difficult for you -”
“Difficult?” Reigen cut her off, “try impossible.”
“Well whatever it is for you, I’m sorry, okay.” the genuineness of her tone struck reigen as odd, he had never known his sister to be genuine like this right off the bat. He stopped pushing on the door, deciding to let it open again. The look he saw on her face after the door swung away to reveal it was puzzling to him. She looked sorry, like really, truly sorry, but he sensed something else about it. He figured if he wanted to know what was behind this apology he would at least have to let himself entertain the possibility of forgiveness. Or at least, passively go along with whatever game she was playing.
“You’re sorry,” he began, crossing his arms, “and would you care to elaborate on that,” a large part of him didn’t want to listen to whatever sorry apology Hideko was likely to come up with, but there was also a small part of him that missed her.
“I’m sorry for leaving. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I’m sorry I never wrote. I’m sorry for all that stuff okay,” her tone had shifted from the genuine shape it had been taking back into her regular lilt and Reigen felt his brow furrow a little more. She was avoiding it, the thing she really needed to apologize for. But it was still dark out and Reigen was too tired to call her out on the specifics. He was still processing the fact that she was really, really there. That and about a billion questions still swirled around in his mind. The bitter cold of the early winter air was beginning to gnaw at his arms and he shivered a little. He watched Hideko’s eyes glint a bit when she noticed his slight movement.
“You know I don’t believe you, right?” he said, training his eyes on her suitcase.
“That’s fine. I know it’ll take more than just some fancy words to mean anything, but I promise you that my apology is real, Taka.” there were a few more moments of uncomfortable silence.
“Don’t call me that,” said reigen, his gaze darkening a little more.
“Fine. Arataka.”
Oh god, here it comes , Reigen thought, fully expecting one of her long-winded rants in response to his demand, but what he got made him feel more tired than any amount of lecture thrown his way might have.
“Changing the subject a little, I wondered if you might be able to do me a tiny favor.”
Reigen narrowed his eyes and finally let himself look her in the eye, he figured he knew where this was going. She closed her eyes and put on the most sincere smile she could manage, raising her hand so that it rested on the back of her head. She moved through emotions as quickly as Reigen remembered.
“Well, I was wondering if I might be able to crash on your couch for a couple of days? You see, I wasn’t really planning that far ahead when I decided to -”
“Fine,” he said flatly, and he saw her eyes snap open and her brows rise up her forehead in shock, she had obviously been expecting more of a fight. Reigen himself was surprised by how quickly he had decided to let a near-stranger (at least to the two others who lived with him) crash at his house, but he was beyond tired at this point from trying to deal with this all at once. He needed sleep. Badly.
“R...really?” she said rather meekly, a suspicious look clouding her eyes.
“Yes. Just, please . Be quiet and let me sleep for like at least three more hours. Do you even know how early in the morning it is?” he turned into the house and he felt her watch him warily, “that was rhetorical, by the way. Don’t answer that.”
He heard her roll her suitcase into the door and the thump of her duffel bag as it hit the hardwood. He turned his head so he could see her shuffle in just out of the corner of his eye. He watched, still reeling over the fact that she was really here, as she removed her coat and shoes, and several other layers until she was just in normal day clothes. She then draped them over the tall handle of her rolling suitcase and reached down to her duffel. He walked over to the small storage closet at the edge of the hall while she was rifling through it and removed an extra set of bedding from it, tossing the wad carelessly onto the couch from afar and reaching up to the top shelf to extract another pillow.
“Well, I never expected you to be the big man with a house type of guy,” she said as he threw the pillow rather forcefully in her direction when he was done. He gave her a withering look.
“I asked for quiet. Talking is the opposite of quiet. This is not some big, fun sleepover,” he said, walking over to the door to deadbolt it. He pointed out the light switch to her, “when you’re done with the lights the switch is here.”
“Thanks, Arataka. really,” she said and smiled at him warmly. He returned the look with a solid frown.
“Listen, there are a few rules,” he looked off to the side, wondering how to go about setting boundaries, “firstly, there are two other people who live here, my fiance and a high schooler, don’t freak out when you see them. I don’t live alone,” he watched her eyebrows twitch upward in surprise again and continued before she had the chance to comment, “secondly, don’t eat my food unless I give you permission, and thirdly, do not go into any other room than the third door down the hall. That’s the bathroom. Got it?” he saw her nod slowly and open her mouth, but before any more words could escape it he ended on a curt, “good night,” and walked away, entering his room, shutting the door quietly, and falling back into bed.
So many thoughts whirled around his mind, but he shut them out quickly, falling back into a deep sleep and right back into that room with the weathered door, and the now filled seat across from him.