Chapter Text
He would wake up bright and early in the morning and barge into his son’s room. Sometimes, if he was still asleep, he’d wake him up wrestling him which would startle him. When he was awake, he would pretend to be asleep so when he enters, and would wrestle with him, make the first move.
His lovely wife would cook breakfast, sometimes cooking food she doesn’t like, which would leave him and his son to eat most of it.
The morning would be filled with their morning banter.
He would try to change the topic about school, but his son’s mood would just sour and he would return to his room.
He was okay with his son not going to school for a few years. As long as he was working with what he was going through, even if it was just him being locked in his room for multiple days, he would be okay with it.
Before going to work, he would sometimes peek into his son’s room through the slightly opened door and he would just see him staring at the clock.
When he didn’t have work he would drag his son out of his room to spend some good quality father-son time with him in the wonderful outdoors and get a bit of exercise.
When he would get home from work, he would most of the time arrive early and help his lovely wife with the cooking.
And when it was time to eat dinner, his son would easily figure out who cooked what.
That’s how every day was for the past three months. And even when his son was going through some troubles, they were definitely happy.
He missed those days.
He missed them so very much.
He remembers that day. He remembers it well.
He remembers driving home. On the drive home, he found Naoko on the side of the road, bawling her eyes. He stopped and exited his car. She spotted him. The first thing she did was run towards him saying Subaru’s name many many times.
She was trying to say something, he couldn’t understand due to her whimpering.
He asked her to calm down.
She did.
“Subaru- He- he-, He hasn’t come back home!”
He couldn’t help but get a horrible gut feeling about this. He asked “What happened?”, “Did you call him?” .
She said she tried but he never answered
He just went outside and hasn’t come back. It’s been 4 hours.
They knew they couldn’t call the police yet. You have to wait 24-72 hours before you can file an official report.
All they could do was wait.
They spent their time looking around the area and calling him multiple times.
Deep down, he knew that no one would pick up…
But maybe…
Just maybe…
It’s been 2 months.
2 months.
The police couldn’t find anything. The last time Subaru was seen was him exiting the convenience store and waiting on the side of the road. A truck passed and then he was gone.
Gone without a single trace.
They asked around the neighborhood, they put up posters, they asked the students in his school.
Nothing.
Nothing could be found.
How could that be?
Questions.
All he had were questions.
Was he hit?
Was he kidnapped?
Did he run away?
Naoko couldn’t handle this.
He could see how this was all affecting her.
She grew more distant.
She would only get out of the room to eat.
She wipes the same pictures of their son every single day. Just staring at them.
They rarely talked anymore.
It was like a light switch was flicked and turned off.
She wouldn’t even get out of bed anymore.
She couldn’t.
He wasn’t doing any better.
All of this was taking a toll on him.
He would spend all of his time asking anyone if they saw him.
He’d always get the same response.
It was always a no.
He was starting to think, “Maybe he ran away”.
Was he that bad?
Was he that bad that his own son wanted to get away from him?
Was he such a bad father that he couldn’t notice this about his son?
His mind was just filled with all these thoughts.
The colorful life they once had has turned into black and white.
A year has passed.
They were beginning to give up…
The guilt was consuming both of them…
He hated himself.
He couldn’t do anything.
He was horrible.
“I’m so sorry Subaru”
Natsuki Kenichi was a terrible father.