Chapter Text
He was so tired. Of everything. He just wanted to go home, curl up in a ball and sleep. Or even better, come home and find that Grandpa had been released early, so they could eat dinner together and watch TV for as long as he could keep his eyes open. Unrealistic, but a boy can dream.
Yuuji gave the guy a few more decisive kicks until the only response he got was a groan, no more attempts at getting up. That was the last of them. He stumbled back, and slumped against the brick wall of the alleyway, clutching his unresponsive left arm. It was so hard to breathe. Taking a deep sniff only brought the sensation of blood running down his throat, not air. He opted for just breathing through his mouth for now.
The young boy took in the scene before him. Six teenagers were lying on the ground of the dark passage, all either unconscious or close to passing out. Yuuji wished he could do the same. Blood and dirt had ruined his hoodie, and covered his bruised knuckles. If Grandpa ever found out about this, he would be mad. Grounded for at least a month. It wasn’t his fault though. They were the ones who had jumped him. He wasn’t even entirely sure why they had attacked. Being the so-called “Tiger of West Junior High” was apparently enough reason for them. Hoping to get another notch in their belt and brag about beating that weird delinquent kid.
It was late. He should hurry home - like he had initially planned. Grandpa will probably call to check in and if he wasn't there, the old man might get needlessly worried, which in the end would only spell unnecessary trouble. Time to get out of here before some passerby discovered the mess and called the police.
Just when he was about to turn around and return to the main street, he picked up something odd in the air. He couldn’t smell anything, but a somewhat grassy taste settled on his tongue.
An impressed whistle echoed through the alley. Yuuji spun around, flinching as his shoulder burned from the sudden motion. A shadowy figure casually strolled closer. He squinted. It was a woman. Short cropped hair, white t-shirt, black cargo pants, and a cigarette between her fingers.
As far as he could remember, there had never been a time when his grandpa hadn’t smoked - even now he wouldn’t stop - so he had an idea of what cigarettes were supposed to look like.
The woman didn’t really pay him any mind, and instead inspected the beaten teenagers on the floor, nudging them with her boot to get a better look. Yuuji didn’t know what to do. Run away? That would make him look even more guilty. Maybe he should just wait this one out. She didn’t look like someone who was particularly concerned with authority or the law.
“They look older than you. High schoolers?” Her voice was throaty, but still had a soft melodic tone to it. The chain one of the guys had wrapped around his fist clinked as she kicked it. “Weapons too. Not bad for your age.” She took another drag from the cigarette she was leisurely holding between thumb and index finger.
Yuuji licked his chapped lips. “Are you going to call the police?” The question came out more subdued than he had intended.
For the first time, she met his eyes. A dark brown, seeming pitch black in the evening light. “Do you want me to call the police?”
“Uhm, I would appreciate it if you would not. Please?” He tried to look as unassuming and innocent as possible. Somewhat difficult when most of the blood on him wasn’t his own. The red flood still streaming out of his nose had to make up for it.
The woman smiled, and made her way over to him, stepping over twitching limbs and baseball bats along the way. “Well, then I won’t.”
Once she reached him, he was subjected to a scrutinising once-over. Her gaze made Yuuji’s skin crawl. It bored into him like icy shards. For some reason he felt small and powerless in front of her. The very core of his being exposed. A familiar anxiety welled up inside of him. There was that lump in his throat again, threatening to suffocate him. Insect legs crawling over and under his skin. Painfully burned hands. Poisonous vomit spilling on bathroom tiles.
No, no, he needed to get a grip. He was already thirteen, too old for these stupid antics. Why was she freaking him out anyway. Must be the shock from the fight that was making him unstable. Or the smoke from that strange cigarette. He clasped his injured arm tighter, begging that the pain would distract him.
She took a deep drag from the roll-up, before dropping it to the ground and grinding it out with the tip of her shoe. White smoke curled up from her mouth, waving around her face before disappearing into thin air. As his eyes travelled upwards, he noticed a ragged scar across her forehead. Right above cold amber eyes, so similar to the ones he saw in the mirror every morning. They were staring down at him, calculating and devoid of empathy, deliberating his future, his potential, his usefulness. Eyes that he only ever caught a glimpse of in his nightmares. His stomach turned. For a moment, he thought he might actually throw up.
Seemingly oblivious to his turmoil, she squatted down, and reached for his arm. Instinctively, he flinched away.
“Let me see that,” she said with a tone that was mild, but didn’t leave any room for protest. Begrudgingly, he forced himself to allow her to touch the injured limb. He tried to suppress any outward sign of pain as she moved it, but he couldn’t stop his breathing from speeding up. She hummed. “Popped your shoulder I see.” As she lifted his forearm, he tensed again. “Calm down. It will hurt less if you relax. Take deep steady breaths, in and out.”
Her low voice did help him compose himself, his muscles gradually loosening. He was overreacting. She was just trying to help, and he was making it harder, projecting all his childish issues onto her. Slowly, she moved his forearm outward, while keeping a grip on his elbow. At a certain angle, a resistance built up. His arm was carefully rotated a bit further. Then there was a pop, and he got the distinct feeling of two puzzle pieces connecting.
She prodded his shoulder a little more before nodding satisfied. “Your bones are fine, the muscles are just strained. Might hurt for a while.” Her brown eyes smirked up at him - of course they were brown how could he have thought otherwise. “But you can take a little pain, right?”
Yuuji swallowed and bent his head in affirmation. He’d had worse. Some random bullies couldn’t really do anything to him. Her smile brightened at his response.
“It seems your nose has taken quite a beating though. Best to straighten it now or it will grow back together as crooked as it is. You don’t want a mushed nose for the rest of your life, do you?” she joked. He forced the corners of his mouth up. Truth be told, he didn't really care what his nose might look like. Appearances had never concerned him, be it in regards to himself or others. “It would also improve your ability to breathe,” the woman continued.
That on the other hand was a good point. “Okay,” he replied, voice barely above a whisper. Why was he acting so meek tonight? This wasn’t how his grandpa had raised him.
She reached for his face. It took a great amount of willpower not to duck away. He scrunched his eyes shut, and pressed himself further against the wall, the bricks poking in his back a protective force, keeping him upright. Cool fingers touched the bridge of his nose, tracing out the shape. Hot pain brought tears to the corner of his eyes. Her grip became more steady.
“Exhale slowly, and count to ten,” she instructed.
Yuuji did as told, concentrating on keeping up a steady flow of air. As he reached eight, there was a sudden agonising sting shortly followed by a crack, and then a renewed flood of warm blood was running into his mouth, down his chin, dripping on his hoodie and to the ground. The boy hissed.
His eyes flew open again. The woman was looking at him with something like muted amusement. She fished a package of tissues out of one of her pants pockets. After cleaning her own fingers off his blood, she gave two to him.
“Thanks,” he mumbled into the tissue.
She just nodded, and stood up. “How about we get out of here. We can go to a conbini and find you something to properly clean your face with.”
In the back of his mind, he could hear his grandpa berating him not to follow strangers to a second location, not even so much as talk to them. Then again, they were going to a more well-lit and populated area, so if she wanted to harm him, she could’ve done that already.
Yuuji lifted the tissue from his nose and took a deep breath. There was still the metallic taste of blood clinging to the back of his tongue, but at last blissful air was able to stream through his nostrils. The blood flow was already dying down. Good thing she had corrected his nose when she did, otherwise it might’ve needed to be broken again for repositioning. Sometimes his quick recovery was a curse as much as a blessing.
“Sounds good,” he answered, voice still a little nasal.
The woman stepped back and started walking down the alleyway towards the colourful lights of the main street. Yuuji threw a last glance at the guys on the ground, before following her. Rotating his shoulder and testing his arm, he found that the pain was already starting to subside and he was getting his full range of movement back. If he was lucky, all physical signs of hurt would be gone by the time Grandpa came back home tomorrow. At least everything that couldn’t be covered up.
“What were you doing here anyway,” the woman interrupted his thoughts. “A child like you shouldn’t walk around those shady places. If you just stayed around witnesses, you wouldn’t have to worry as much about those guys attacking you.”
Yuuji hummed, occasionally dabbing his nose with one of the tissues. “I lured them in on purpose. If I don’t deal with them now, they might jump me when I’m less prepared. They also might involve others. This way I can go all out without having to worry about accidentally hurting innocent people.”
She chuckled. “That’s a good strategy.” They reached the end of the narrow street. The stranger looked up and down the sidewalk before pointing to the right. “I think there’s a Family Mart over there.” Without waiting for his response, she picked up the pace again. He hurried after her.
The sun had gone down completely at this point, making billboards, shops and small apartment windows the main source of light. It was getting chilly. Yuuji was glad that he had taken the hoodie with him. Being just in a tee, like the woman next to him, could get quite uncomfortable, when the summer humidity was settling on your skin. You got wet and cold, and the goosebumps never really went away.
There were still a lot of people around, hurrying from point A to point B, not paying much attention to their surroundings, but nonetheless giving Yuuji a sense of security and easing his mind.
“I’m not a child, y’know?” He felt the need to defend himself.
Being a child implied that you had parents. A child couldn’t run a household basically on his own. A child didn’t take up a summer job to cover the increasing sick days his grandfather had to take. With the hospital visits of his grandpa getting more frequent, he was left to clean up after himself, as well as do the cooking, and make sure that there was enough food in the fridge.
She threw him an amused sideglance. “Could’ve fooled me. You look like a thirteen year old with a penchant for getting into trouble to me.”
Damn, she was good. “Could a child beat up six high schoolers and escape with only a broken nose?” he retorted.
“Some children can.” She was smiling to herself. “Just because you are strong doesn’t mean you are not a child. You become more experienced with time, but it doesn’t mean you cease being a kid. In a way you never stop being young, and if you do, that’s a sign that you aren’t growing and improving anymore. If you don’t become a new version of yourself, if you stop changing, you have truly grown old.” She was slightly walking ahead of him, hands in her pockets, looking off into the far distance. “There are people who call me a child, and I’m much older than you. I take it as a compliment, and so should you.”
Well, that was certainly a tangent he hadn’t seen coming. He couldn’t say that he really agreed with it, but the idea of constant improvement was quite nice, even if he didn’t think that was what made someone a child. Maybe ‘young at heart’, but that was something else as far as he was concerned. He told her as much.
“There is also a legal definition for what constitutes a child, and you fall under it,” she gave him an oddly serene smile. “Even if you dislike the term, you are very much not an adult and no matter how many people you maim or kill, that won’t change.”
Yuuji nearly tripped over his own feet. He stared at her disbelievingly. How could she say that so casually? Did she… did she think he was trying to prove something with these fights? That wasn’t what he was doing. That wasn’t why he was getting into them. They were roughing each other up, but nobody was thinking about killing. At least he wasn’t.
Balling the blood-soaked tissues in his fist, he frowned at the ground. He was just trying to defend people. Just trying to do some good in the world. Leave evidence of his existence. Make that burning feeling inside him go away. Shut up those suffocating thoughts and memories that were drowning his mind. Just get away from it all, and do one decent thing. Purely concentrate on evading, and punching, and blocking, and the pain it brought. He buried his hands in his pockets.
Her cheerful voice harshly clashed with his spiralling thoughts. "Introspection isn't easy. You might be confused now, but I'm sure you'll understand in a few years."
He didn’t know what to say to that. He didn’t want to talk about this, he didn’t want to think about this. Luckily, he didn’t have to.
“There we are.”
They stopped in front of the brightly lit conbini. The white fluorescent lights burned into his eyes. Cold air waved by him any time the doors slid apart.
His companion pointed to a high flowerbed. “Just wait here, I’ll get something for you. With the way you look, you would only unnecessarily scare people. Someone might start to ask me questions.” Her smile grew crooked.
After he warily sat down on the stones, she disappeared into the store. Yuuji brought out his crumpled tissues again, and wiped away the last trickles of blood that escaped his nose. Why was he staying here? He could just use this opportunity to shake off the stranger and get home. There might be a few odd looks on the subway, but usually people were too polite or frightened to approach him. What could she really do for him now anyway. His shoulder and arm connected again, and his nose was straightened. Nothing was really holding him here. The sooner he got back, the more likely he was to catch his grandpa’s phone call in time.
Maybe it was the simple companionship. No fussing, no judgement for what he had done, just dusting off his knees and offering some conversation. It was a rare thing. His grandpa would disguise his worry with a lecture on good manners, and aside from him there wasn’t really anyone else who cared. If he went home now, there would just be the empty house waiting for him. An opportune time for thoughts around the hospital and lung cancer to intrude uninvited. Stranger danger or not, he might as well stay. She looked somewhat muscular, but so far he hadn’t met an adult he couldn’t beat in a fight. And there were people around. Walking by, smoking by the sliding doors, a group deep in conversation a few metres away. Witnesses in the worst case.
Less than five minutes later, the woman returned, a white plastic bag swinging on her wrist. She sat down next to him, keeping about an arm’s length of distance. He was offered a whole heap of wet tissue packages, which he accepted with much gratefulness. Using his phone camera as a mirror, he went about cleaning up his face.
Seeing himself so clearly, he could understand why she didn’t want him going into the store. From the bridge of his nose to the tip of his adam's apple he was covered in different shades of red and brown smears, worsened by his previous attempts at getting rid of the blood. His nose was swollen, already developing purple bruises around it. Curious that she hadn’t even shown a slither of shock, when encountering him. If he had met a kid on the street that looked like him, he would be at the very least concerned. Well, she had offered her help. Maybe she just showed her concern differently.
Some careful scrubbing later, he managed to get rid of the dried blood, so that now only the bruises around his nose were visible, and a cut on his lip that had long since stopped bleeding. He looked over to the woman for approval. She nodded satisfied, and rummaged around in the plastic bag. Before he could protest, he was handed two paper packages, both still warm to the touch. Curious, he opened them and gasped. A pizza bun and taiyaki .
“I figured you might be hungry after that fight,” she stated rather matter-of-factly.
A juice box was placed next to him as well. “Wow, um, thanks,” Yuuji stuttered. “You didn’t have to do that. Wait, I think I have enough cash to pay you back.” He started patting for his wallet.
She waved him off. “No need. I won’t go broke from those ¥400.”
Yuuji begrudgingly accepted the gesture. “Okay…thank you. That’s really nice of you. Peach juice is actually my favourite.”
Her lips twitched up for a second. She pulled out a can of matcha latte and opened it with a silent click, taking measured sips. He decided to try the pizza bun first, saving the sweets for later.
“Aw shit, hot hot hot,” he exclaimed almost immediately, voice muffled by the food. Waving his hands around, he tried to shoo away the heat. He got a chuckle from the side. Lightly blowing on the steaming bun in his hands, he turned around to the other. “By the way, what’s your name?” The woman had tended to his wounds and bought him food. The least he could do was make conversation.
She slowly swung the can in her hand from side to side. “You can call me Junko.”
So she was going for anonymity, first names only. Not surprising. “Nice to meet you, Junko. I’m Yuuji.” She only replied with a hum.
They sat in silence for a while, enjoying their respective food and drink. He watched her out of the corner of his eyes. The wind had picked up a little, and there was still the air-conditioned breeze from the convenience store waving around them, but despite her light clothing, there was no sign that she was bothered by it. Legs leisurely spread, not afraid of taking up space. Forearms leaning on her thighs, the drink only held with the tip of her fingers.
A feeling of displacement welled up inside him, like he had experienced this before. There was that familiarity again, but not like the dread he had felt in the alley, not as suffocating. More light, safe. It reminded him of meadows, bubbles floating in the air, of the freedom of sitting high on someone’s shoulders and overlooking the bustling world around him. It also reminded him of the trips to the sea he had taken with Grandpa. Them sitting by the water and eating their self-made bento, enjoying the sun and the fresh wind coming from the ocean.
It was weird. He was in an unusually nostalgic mood today. Yuuji decided to speak up again. “Say, how did you get that scar on your head?”
The warm food was making him more comfortable in her presence and far bolder. The previous anxiety was only a distant memory. It really must have been the cigarette smoke combined with the recent fight and the dingy alleyway that had freaked him out. Looking back on it, it was pretty ridiculous.
Junko leaned back on her hands, and inclined her head in his direction a little. “I had brain surgery a while back.”
Yuuji’s eyebrows shot up. “Damn, that’s rough. Are you alright?”
“Yes, no problems. It was a routine procedure for them. No big deal.”
He squinted at her forehead. “The doctor didn’t do a very good job though. It looks very ragged…no offence,” he added hastily, “I had to get stitches for a broken leg once. It looked a lot better than that.”
She just smiled. “They were in a rush and didn’t care that much. It got the job done, so it doesn’t really matter to me.”
A twinge shot through his heart. “Hospitals can be harsh,” he murmured, quickly eating the last bites of his bun to chase away the feeling. An intent gaze was boring into him.
“Do you often get into fights like the one from before?” Junko asked, seemingly sensing that he wanted to change the subject.
He pulled out the taiyaki fish and bit into it with fervour, smiling as the taste of red bean paste filled his mouth. “Kind of.” That was an understatement. “I have a bad reputation among some of the kids here,” he tried to say as neutral as possible.
“I can imagine.” She chuckled. “But it’s good to stand up to others, even those you perceive as your superior. It builds character. Don’t let them walk all over you.”
“I do my best,” he replied nonchalantly.
After a moment Junko continued, “Don’t you have any friends who can help you in times like this? Support you?”
Yuuji shifted uncomfortably in place. “Not really,” he admitted. “There are some classmates I get along with, but not anyone who I’d want to involve in this.” Kicking out his legs, he tried to dissolve the tension in his body. “But it’s no big deal. I’m fine on my own.”
She hummed, not sounding very convinced. “It’s good to make connections though. They can help you in a pinch. You will always have someone to fall back on.” Her dark gaze burned into him. “Otherwise you will end up on your own at some point.”
He recoiled a little. The image of his grandpa in a hospital bed appeared in his mind unbidden. Just him lying there, alone if Yuuji didn’t visit him. With his stays getting longer and the time he was home shorter, this would be a sight he needed to get used to.
But he could manage on his own. He didn’t need others to hold his hand while doing chores. There was no safety net anyone else could provide. Connections could be easily broken. Not even blood could hold people together. He had seen it too often. When grandpa got sick one too many times, suddenly all his so-called friends and colleagues were too busy to help him out or even send a get-well-soon card.
“It’s too late anyway,” Yuuji deflected. “You either make connections in the first few years of school or none at all. That window has closed.” He gestured vaguely with his taiyaki . “They’re all divided into neat little groups already. I wouldn’t want to break that up.”
Junko nodded thoughtfully, deliberating the intricacies of middle school social dynamics. “But you’ll graduate soon, right? You will get a new chance in high school.”
Yuuji nibbled on the fish-shaped pastry. “I don’t think I’ll go to high school.”
Junko’s brows lifted marginally. “Why not?”
He shrugged, avoiding her eyes. “Don’t see much use in it.”
She raised one leg unto the stones and leaned on her knee. “Yuuji.” There was a new weight to her voice, forcing his attention to be directed towards her words. “What do you want to do in the future?”
He shrugged again, shifting uncomfortably. “Don’t really know. Maybe become a firefighter. Or do my summer job full time.”
The woman continued to stare at him, possibly waiting for him to elaborate, but what else was there really to say. When he didn’t continue, she asked, “So you don’t know what you will do. Have you talked with your parents about it?”
Yuuji flinched. “I don’t have parents,” he stated more emphatically than intended. His nails were digging into his palm. He forced himself to relax.
Her eyes narrowed slightly, giving her a fox-like expression. “I see. What about your guardian then.”
“Grandpa says it’s my choice. He doesn’t want me to do anything I don’t like.”
Which Yuuji really appreciated. His grandpa could be a bit nagging at times, but he always gave him the last word in his choices. When those choices led to the boy landing on his face, metaphorically or otherwise, he would say ‘I told you so’, but emphasised that what was important was that Yuuji had come to this conclusion on his own. He didn’t ridicule him or undermined his thought process.
Despite that, in such important situations, he really wished his grandpa would just shove him in the right direction and tell him what to do. He didn’t like making plans for the future or even imagining what he would be doing in two years. He couldn’t. How should he know what was best for him. In two years his grandpa might not even…
Junko released a silent cough. Or chuckle. “If you don’t know what to do yet, why not simply stay in school? It will give you extra time to think about your dreams, and who knows, you might end up being a completely different person by the time you graduate. Besides, a higher education never hurt anyone. It will give you more options.”
He looked over to her, drinking in her encouraging smile. “I guess.”
More time, no need for change. Just keep doing what he did now. Go to school, do his homework, study, and see where it got him. Maybe join a club, make some friends to hang out with, so he didn’t have to go home alone. Let future-Yuuji handle the big decisions. He was older then. He would know what to do.
“Sounds like a valid option,” he relented.
Her smile brightened. “Right. And you got your middle school degree by then anyway, so if you find something better along the way, you can always drop out.”
“Hm, yeah,” he swallowed the last pieces of taiyaki . “Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.”
He flushed down the pastry with a few gulps of juice. Swinging his leg’s in uneven circles, he chewed on his straw while watching a thin stream of people entering and exiting the conbini, none of them paying the woman and child sitting on the flowerbed much mind.
It would all fall into place eventually, he was sure of it. All he had to do was live to the best of his abilities and in the end it would turn out alright. It had to. One step at a time. First middle school, then high school, and then see where life took him. The right path would reveal itself to him as he walked it. Everything would turn out alright.
Junko threw her head back, downing the last drops of matcha latte, and stood up. “Well, I have to get going. Shouldn’t you return home? Your grandfather might be worried.”
Yuuji blinked up at her, feeling a flash of disappointment wash over him. But of course, she couldn’t just sit around here babysitting him, she had a life.
“Oh, right. My grandpa will call to check in on me. I should go too.” He stood up, juice box in one hand, and tried to gather the trash with the other. Junko beat him to it, and threw the plastic bag with it’s contents into the Family Mart trash cans.
“He isn’t home?” she remarked, not sounding very surprised or concerned.
“No, he’s in the hospital, but he will be released tomorrow.”
A hum. “Try to get home without another brawl.” She took a few steps down the road. “Okay, see ya.”
A thousand thoughts buzzed through his head, stunning him in place for a few seconds before he followed after her, trying not to rush too much and appear as casual as possible.
“Uhm, actually, my station’s that way. So we’re going in the same direction,” he pointed out, scratching the back of his neck nervously.
“Ah. Alright.” She threw him a side-glance, but didn’t adjust her pace. Was she walking faster than before or was he just getting tired?
They continued on for a while, more or less side by side, before Yuuji felt the need to speak up again. “When you get home, will there be someone waiting for you?”
One eyebrow was raised at him. “I don’t actually live in Sendai, I’m just visiting.” She paused for a moment. “But I do have a…roommate. They aren't very welcoming though.” Before Yuuji could respond to that, she continued with a private smirk, “There is also someone waiting for me right now. In Kokubuncho.”
Yuuji was old enough to know what that meant. His grandpa sometimes went there. He would bring Yuuji to gambling halls, but he would never take him to one of those trips. Never even told him what he was doing there, though he could make a few wild guesses.
Feeling embarrassed at having said anything at all, he concentrated on the pavement before him instead. Junko’s chuckle wasn’t helping. When they eventually reached the entrance to the subway station, Yuuji mumbled another thanks for the medical help and the food. She just nodded, waved him goodbye and then parted ways. Fiddling with the almost empty juice box he was still holding, he watched her cross the street and disappear in the evening crowd.
He shut the entrance door behind him with a decisive click. The hallway before him seemed endless, the doors to the side uninviting and claustrophobic. With the lights still off, and only the street lamps illuminating the furniture around him, the place seemed eerie and cold.
“I’m home.”
The drone from the refrigerator in the other room, and the angry red light blinking at the far end of the corridor were his only response. Sighing, he slipped off his sneakers, and made his way over to the phone. He put his empty juice box next to the device on the low cupboard, and pressed a few buttons on the answering machine. Of course, the hospital had called. Twenty minutes ago.
Finger hovering over the callback function, he fought against the pit that was opening up in his belly, threatening to drag him under. What if it hadn’t been Grandpa. What if they had called to tell him that there had been further complications. That his grandpa would have to stay even longer. Or that he hadn’t made it. Sudden worsening of his health and he had died. Alone. Without Yuuji being there to say goodbye.
He slapped himself a few times. Stop spiraling. Before his second thoughts could catch up, he pressed the button. A short conversation with a nurse later, a familiar gruff voice stung his ear.
“Where were you! Don’t tell me you came home just now. It’s past eight.”
“Sorry,” Yuuji drawled into the receiver, mouth switching into a smile. “I was stuck on the toilet. Must have been the udon they had in the cafeteria today.”
“Stuck on the toilet for half an hour? That sounds almost life-threatening,” Grandpa grumbled.
“Sure was.” He grinned. “I was reading manga during it and forgot the time. Sorry for not calling earlier.”
“Well whatever.” There was still doubt in his voice. “Everything alright? Did you eat something? Have you done your homework?”
“Yes, yes, all done. I’m fine,” he sighed. “When are you gonna come home?”
“They’ll release me tomorrow afternoon around three. I better not return to the place looking like a dump.”
Yuuji wouldn’t let himself go like that, he was quite tidy. They both knew that, but the teasing was a common ritual of theirs. “Guess I’ll have to spend tomorrow cleaning up then. Get rid up the pizza stains and dirty magazines.”
“Don’t you dare skip school for that.”
He smiled. “Don’t worry, I won’t skip school.”
“You better not.” His grandpa laughed in that harsh way of his. “By the way, I recently got some…additional financial support. Want to go to Maji Vegas on the weekend?”
His mouth split into a grin. “Sure! Bet that I can win more prizes than you? Loser has to buy ice cream.”
Another laugh. “You’re on. It’s nice that you want to treat your old man. See you tomorrow, buddy.”
“You’re gonna lose. Like always. See you tomorrow.”
“Good night.”
“Night.”
The line went dead, and Yuuji leaned against the wall behind him. Exhausted, he placed the receiver back on the cradle. Less than 24 hours. He had been alone for longer, he should just stop whining and get his shit together.
Pushing himself off the wall, he used his spurt of energy to turn on the lights in the house. Hallway, livingroom, kitchen, bedroom, and at last bathroom. There, he took off his hoodie and tried his best to get the blood stains out with cold water. After scrubbing the worst off, he let it soak in the bathtub, to give it another try tomorrow morning before burying it in the washing machine. Since Yuuji usually did the laundry, he might be able to hide it if the stains don’t come out entirely in the first wash. Looking in the mirror, he was glad to see that the swelling of his nose was dying down. A good night sleep and it might appear as good as new.
On his way to the living room, the juice box next to the telephone caught his eye. Not even being sure himself why he was doing it, he took it and put it on the table in the living room. Crawling under the kotatsu and cradling one of the cushions against his belly, he turned on the TV, upping the volume louder than it needed to be. After zapping through the channels he found a rescreening of the most recent Alien movie. Coiling up and letting himself get lost in deep space and terrifying monsters, not even trying to engage with any of the deeper themes this movie surely had, he gradually drifted off to sleep.