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A sleepover.
Little Toya’s eyes shone when Saki beamed at him, her hand outstretched, as the idea bounced around in his head. It was the first time anyone had ever invited him to something like that.
“Can I really come…?” was the first thing he said, mumbled, as if the chance would be stolen from him if he dared to question it.
Saki giggled at him. She always did, whenever she found something he said funny. He never knew what was so funny, though. “Of course you can, Toya-kun!” she laughed. She took his hand in both of her own, like she was about to run off somewhere with him in tow. “I have them with Icchan and the others all the time! It’ll be suuuper fun, I promise!”
She didn’t need to try and convince him; there was nothing he wanted more than to go. But he hesitated, chewing his lip (the way Father tells him off for doing), unsure if he would actually be allowed.
“Um…” he began, his voice quiet. “I’ll have to ask my father and mother for permission…”
Saki blinked up at him. “Permishon?”
Oh, right . Toya realised. His more advanced reading level tended to have an effect on his words. “I need to ask if they’ll let me come.”
“Ohhh!” Saki gave him a big frown. “Well, tell them that they better let you come, or I’m gonna be really sad!”
For a moment, Toya paused. The idea that someone would be sad without him… The happiness he felt came out in a giggle. “Okay, I’ll ask really nicely.”
And ask really nicely he did. But it was more due to luck being on his side that he was given the permission he sought. It turned out that his parents were travelling to another prefecture for his father’s work, and that they were planning on finding a babysitter for him anyway. With a shy insistence that he’ll practise every day they’re gone, and his mother noting that “Well, Tenma-san is a wonderful piano tutor”, his father gave him his begrudging approval for him to spend a few nights at his friends’ house.
So, with a bag of clothes and his toothbrush, and plenty of music scores, he stood outside the front door of the Tenma’s family home, with his mother at his side. His father waited in the car, having some sort of important phone call with someone Toya didn’t know.
When the door swung open, finally, it was Saki and Tsukasa’s mother that answered. Her hair was long and blonde, swept back into a ponytail, with eyes warm like honey. Toya had always thought she was very pretty, especially when she smiled. And upon seeing him there, she did just that.
“Oh, Toya-kun, you’re here!” she greeted him, and he found himself smiling back up at her, her gentle nature instantly soothing him.
She and his mother exchanged some words, before his mother patted him on the back, signalling it was time for her to leave. “Make sure to thank them for their hospitality, Toya-san.” she said.
“Yes, Mother.” he replied.
And as he heard his parents’ car drive away down the street behind him, the kind woman welcomed him inside.
Going to the Tenmas’ house was always like stepping into a different world. Where his home was filled with greys and blues, and rooms that were just a little too cold to be comfortable in, every inch of the Tenmas’ home was warm. Everything was always a warm orange or pink, and even the blues that Tsukasa favoured were much kinder to Toya’s eyes than the ones he knew. There were crayon drawings taped to the fridge, along with several photographs. Even more of them were displayed on the walls, alongside piano certificates and collections of theatre pamphlets from over the years.
As ever, Toya’s eyes were wide with awe as his friends’ mother led him into the living room. She told him he could sit on the couch, so he did as he was told, his legs not quite long enough to reach the floor.
“Are you thirsty at all, Toya-kun?” she asked him, taking him by surprise. “I can make you some hot coco if you want.”
“O-Oh, um…” he mumbled. “I-If it’s okay…” Then, suddenly remembering his manners and promise to his mother, he shot up from the couch (nearly falling over in the process), and took a deep bow before her. “Thank you very much for having me today! I promise to behave and clean up after myself!” he declared loudly.
Unexpectedly, she began to laugh. He glanced up at her. “...Um…?”
Kneeling down in front of him, she patted his head and smiled. “Oh, sweetheart, you don’t need to be so polite with me. Think of me like family!”
Although Toya could only see contradiction in those two statements, he nodded, mumbling a “Yes, ma’am.” in response.
“Good.” she said. “Now, do you want cream and marshmallows with that?”
“Oh… yes, please.” he replied.
As she left for the kitchen, she called out to the house, “Tsukasa, Saki, Toya-kun’s here!” Like her son, her voice carried far without much effort. Her children replied with two shouts of “COMIIIING!” , followed by the sound of hurried footsteps.
Saki made it there first, rushing towards him and throwing herself on him with a massive hug around his torso, giggling all the while. “Yaaay, Toya-kun’s here!”
Tsukasa followed right behind her, his eyebrows furrowed with concern. “Saki, be careful, okay? You could get hurt doing that.” Then, with a smile bright enough to rival the sun, he joined in on the hug, ruffling Toya’s hair. “It’s gonna be so fun with you here, Toya!”
Toya couldn’t help but giggle too. “Yeah… It’s gonna be fun.”
“It’s gonna be so sad when you leave tomorrow though…” Saki pouted. “Mooom, can he stay forever?”
Her mother laughed from the kitchen, over the sound of a kettle boiling. “No, dear, he can’t stay forever. But he is staying until Friday!”
“Friday!?” Tsukasa exclaimed. Tsukasa could be as loud as the car horns outside Toya’s house sometimes. “That’s like…” He took the time to count it on his fingers. “Three whole days!”
Saki rejoiced, clinging onto Toya’s arm. “Toya-kun’s staying forever!” she cheered. Toya didn’t feel like he should tell her that three days wasn’t going to be forever, but he wanted to believe it, too.
Later, up in Tsukasa’s room, sitting on the carpet together with their hot coco, the three of them talked excitedly about what they were going to do. Or rather, Saki and Tsukasa did. Toya sat there beside them, quietly sipping his coco, happy to listen to them bounce ideas off each other.
“Oh!” Tsukasa gasped all of a sudden. He turns to Toya, startled by it, not expecting the sudden attention. “We didn’t even ask if you have anything!”
Toya tilted his head, confused. “Have… anything?”
“You know, like… Did you bring any games we can play together?”
The question wasn’t strange for Tsukasa, but it’s something Toya hadn’t even considered. “N-No…” he mumbled, feeling oddly ashamed.
“What about any of your favourite toys?” Saki joined in.
“...No…” he said again, quieter than the last.
Tsukasa hmm-ed in thought. “Well, what did you bring with you?”
Toya thought of his bag, sat at the end of Tsukasa’s bed. Filled with enough sets of clothes to last him, his toothbrush, study books and sheet music.
“Umm…” he began. “I have… nothing.” he admitted, his shame forcing his gaze to the colorful carpet underneath them. “Is… that okay?”
For a few moments, there was silence. A part of him feared that he was going to be yelled at, somehow, for some reason he couldn’t explain.
But there it was. The thing that he never heard at home, but seemed to be so abundant here, in this lively household.
Laughter, once more.
“Of course it is, Toya!” Tsukasa beamed. His honey eyes shone with the same warmth as his mother’s. “We’ve got a whole bunch of toys, we can all share!”
“Toya-kun, you can borrow my dolls if you want!” Saki insisted, just as enthusiastically. “You can even take one home if you want!”
Toya knew he probably wouldn’t be allowed to take it home, let alone play with it in his room. Just like he knew that three days wasn’t forever. But the wide-eyed, bright smiles of the Tenmas never failed to bring him hope. Hope for a future that wasn’t governed by notes on a stave.
His heart swelling in his chest, he grinned back. “Okay!”
Dinner that night was the best Toya’s ever had, and it wasn’t because of the food. The table was loud and lively, the five of them all sat around it now that Saki and Tsukasa’s father was home. Like the rest of his family, he brought a sense of open-hearted joy with him, his broad shoulders and his height doing nothing to dent how harmless he was. Although his rosy eyes matched his daughter’s, his laugh boomed like his son’s, which Toya was treated to a lot of and they all chatted back and forth. Saki giggled when her mother had to insist that a reluctant Tsukasa eat his green peppers, and Toya eagerly accepted second helpings when offered.
They went to bed only a few hours later, when Saki’s head fell against Toya’s shoulder where they sat on the couch, halfway through watching a musical on the Tenmas’ big TV. Her father was careful in scooping her up in his arms to put her to bed, and as they turned off the TV, Toya let out a yawn.Tiredness was beginning to take him too, his full belly and the blanket across his lap making him feel incredibly sleepy, so he had no objections when Tsukasa and his mother led him up to Tsukasa’s room.
After an impromptu teeth-brushing race (started by Tsukasa, of course), he curled up gratefully on the spare futon that they’d prepared for him, pulling the soft blankets close around him. They smelled different than the ones he had at home, but it wasn’t a bad different. Like a lot of things here, it was a nice different.
But just as sleep was about to take him, he began to have a creeping feeling like something was wrong. Like there was something he was forgetting. And it took a while for him to realise, until his eyes landed on his bag, now in the corner of Tsukasa’s room. And when it hit him, his blood ran cold. “O-Oh no…” he whispered.
There was the sound of blankets ruffling, then Tsukasa’s voice in the darkness. “What’s wrong, Toya?” he whispered back, still a good deal louder than Toya, although his words were muffled with sleep.
“I… I promised my parents I’d practise piano today.” he mumbled. “I never did it… I’m gonna get in trouble.”
“Toya… It’s okay.” he murmured back. “You had fun today, right…?”
Slowly, Toya nodded. “Mhm. A lot.”
“Then--” He cut himself off with a yawn. “Then... it’s okay.”
He was quiet for a beat. “...Really?”
“De...definitely…” Tsukasa reassured him. “B’cause… the most important… thing… is…”
Toya never heard the end of that sentence, as it trailed off into silence. He waited for what he was going to finish on, but all he got in return was the sound of snoring. Still nervous, Toya rolled back over, trying to relax enough to fade into sleep. But Tsukasa’s question rang in his mind.
“You had fun today, right…?”
He let the thought, along with the memories of the day, soothe him into a gentle rest.
It was the most fun day he’d ever had.