Chapter Text
Kamiya hadn’t expected to be assigned to so many cases so fast when he became a social worker, but the agency was short staffed and had several employees set to retire soon. Including his senpai that he had been shadowing, Watanabe. Since his first day, Kamiya had accompanied her on her rounds and was preparing to take on over half of her workload. He soon found out that she was mostly in charge of the “problem cases”.
Watanabe was an older woman with a kind smile and infinite patience, which made her easy to open up to. Kamiya, on the other hand, had only recently finished college and had no connections built with any of these people. Most of the families they visited wouldn’t even look at him and they had even been chased out of a couple of houses. He didn’t know how Watanabe had put up with it for so many years.
Today would be better, she had told him. They only had one family to check on and the rest of their time would be spent catching up on paperwork at the office.
“The Izumi’s are the easiest case in my charge,” Watanabe said as they pulled up to the family’s neighborhood. “Did you read through their file?”
“Yes,” Kamiya said.
Truthfully he had been in a rush that morning and only skimmed it, but he had gotten the gist of it. The elder brother, Haruhiko, had been obtained custody of his kid brother, Akihiko, after their parents passed away. According to Watanabe’s notes, all of the visits she had made to them were uneventful and the brothers’ living situation was satisfactory. The only thing that stuck out to Kamiya was the younger boy’s alarming thick medical records. He’d had to go to the doctors office or even the hospital for multiple illnesses and injuries over the last year alone. Watanabe hadn’t commented anything about it so he hadn’t either, but he was curious to get to the bottom of it while they were there.
“I’ll warn you now, the boys can be a little shy. Don’t take any offense if they don’t say much.”
Kamiya nodded and turned left where Watanabe instructed, driving up to an old apartment building that had definitely seen better days. There were only ten units units and they certainly weren’t very big. He couldn’t imagine trying to raise a growing boy in a place like this. Out in front yard, an elderly woman was tending to the blooming flowers by the gate.
“Good morning, Kuroda-san,” Watanabe called as she got out of the car.
“Ah, good morning,” Kuroda greeted back. “Come to check on the boys?”
“We have, are they home?”
“Yes, Aki-chan just got back from school.”
Kuroda paused when she saw Kamiya getting out of the car and he noticed how the old woman’s friendly demeanor falter for a moment.
“And who is this young man?” she asked warily.
“This is Kamiya,” Watanabe explained. “He’s going to be taking over Akihiko’s case.”
Kuroda’s smile became forced as her grip on her water can tightened.
What is she so nervous about, Kamiya wondered.
She moved closer to Watanabe and leaned in to whisper in her ear.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Kamiya heard her ask.
The brutal honesty of the elderly should’ve stung, but it was setting off multiple red flags for Kamiya. Watanabe said this was an easy case, but he was feeling the beginnings of cold dread picking at his nerves.
“Don’t worry,” Watanabe said. “He’ll do fine. It’ll just take a little time.”
Kuroda gave Kamiya another once over and nodded.
“Well, I’ll leave you to it.”
The old woman bowed and retuned to her gardening, stealing glances as they bowed back and made their way to the stairs.
“The boys are on the second floor,” Watanabe told Kamiya, bringing his attention back to her. “Follow me.”
Kamiya followed her up the rickety wooden stairs and to a door at the far end of the floor. She knocked on the door and stepped back, bumping into the rest metal guard bars. Kamiya was amazed that it hadn’t given way yet. Nothing about this building had reassured him of it being a secure residence.
From inside the apartment, he could hear a light clattering and even lighter footsteps approaching the door. Two locks clanked and the door creaked open as far as the short metal chain inside would allow it. A young man, barely old enough to be out of high school, stood on the other side. A chill shot down Kamiya’s spine as the man leveled him with an ice cold glare, never in his life had he felt so much malice weigh down on him without so much as a word spoken. His glare shifted from Kamiya but faded as he looked over to Watanabe.
“Watanabe-san,” he said, bowing his head. “Good to see you again.” He turned to Kamiya again. “Who’re you?”
Rude little brat, Kamiya thought.
“Kamiya is here to assist me today,” Watanabe said, just barely cutting Kamiya off from scolding him. “Kamiya-san, this is Haruhiko, the guardian. May we come in, Haruhiko?”
Haruhiko hesitated, still glaring, but unlatched the door and stepped aside to let them in.
The inside of the apartment was as small as Kamiya imagined it would be. Only one room, a half kitchen with a hot plate instead of a real stove and small half-sized fridge. The tatami floor was as old as the rest of the building and the wall paper was beginning to peel. Kamiya knew he was being a snob, but he preferred to think of it as having a high standard of living. He’d admittedly come from a privileged background; a solidly middle class family, both parents were present in his life and they lived in a nice house. As a social worker, he wished to place all of the children he dealt with in similar homes, including the boy sitting before of him.
The younger brother, Akihiko, sat at the low table in the middle of the room as he did his homework. A plate of apple slices and a cup of cold barely tea was set next to his worksheets. The boy seemed normal enough, maybe a tad short for his age, but he definitely had more scrapes and bumps. His hand, knees and jaw were bandaged and purplish green bruises were spread out from underneath them.
Akihiko smiled as he greeted Watanabe, but shrunk back when he caught sight of Kamiya. Most of the people who Kamiya had met thus far were somewhat wary of him, which he understood. He was a stranger to them, coming into their home and scrutinizing, he’d be on edge if he was in their position as well. But Akihiko was downright afraid of him, that much was clear from his trembling eyes alone. Then again, with the dark aura his brother was giving off, maybe it wasn’t Kamiya that he was really afraid of.
“Hello again, Akihiko,” Watanabe smiled gently. “How have you been?”
“I’ve been good,” Akihiko said quietly, looking over to where Haruhiko had gone to finish putting away dishes.
“That’s good. What happened to your face there? Don’t tell me you got in a fight.”
“No!” Akihiko giggled, then blushed. “I tripped going up the stairs at school.”
“Uh-oh. You have to be really careful. I bet you gave your poor brother quite a scare.”
“He sure did,” Haruhiko mumbled under his breath as he put away the last plate and joined them at the table.
“Can you keep my friend company while I look around?”
Akihiko nodded and gestured for Kamiya to sit.
“So…” Kamiya cleared his throat. “What kind of homework are you doing?”
“Kanji practice,” Akihiko pouted.
“Haha, I had a hard time with that when I was your age too. Does your big brother help you when you get stuck?”
“Yeah! Nii-chan is super smart, he always helps me!”
Haruhiko smiled and patted Akihiko’s head. It was the first genuine smile Kamiya had seen the man have and it looked uncomfortably out of place on such a scary face.
“And you, Haruhiko-san? How have you been?”
“Fine,” Haruhiko said sharply, not even sparing Kamiya glance now that he was watching his brother.
Watanabe sat down with them and took over, sensing that Haruhiko wouldn’t let them get very far like this. Kamiya sat back as she took the reigns of the conversation. Akihiko opened up so much more with her, telling her about his classes and friends, though he spoke mostly about his brother and what all they did together. Which turned out to be everything. While it was refreshing to see two brothers be so close, especially with such a large age gap between them, Kamiya could shake off the unsettling feeling that hung over them like a dark cloud. He stared at Haru, probably longer than he should have, as he tried to get a better read on him, but soon Haruhiko felt his eyes on him and abruptly snapped his head up to face him.
The malice had returned and made Kamiya sick to his stomach. Watanabe saw the color drain from his face and decided to call the visit to a close.
“I’m glad to see you doing so well, Akihiko,” she said as she stood. “We’ll see you again next month.”
“It was nice to meet you,” Kamiya said and stood up as well.
He reached out to pat the boys head, but his wrist was snatched mid reach and jerked away. It wasn’t painful, but it was firm and sent a message. Kamiya looked to Haruhiko to order him to let go, but the words were ripped from his throat when he looked into the mans eyes. Any trace of the fierce rage that had been there before was gone. Haruhiko’s eyes were a void, as of he were completely empty. Kamiya may as well have been looking into two small, dark mirrors. The longer they stood there, the tighter Haruhiko’s grasp became until Kamiya finally flinched.
“Haruhiko, that’s enough!” Watanabe snapped, bringing the young man back to the present. Haruhiko begrudgingly released Kamiya and pulled his little brother closer to him. Neither said anything right away, Akihiko clung tightly to his brother he didn’t look afraid though, he was worried. Worried about his big brother and worried for Kamiya. Watanabe placed a soft hand on Kamiya’s shoulder and lead him to the door.
“We’ll see you again next month,” she reiterated. “If you could please send Akihiko’s updated vaccination records to out office, that would be a big help.”
“Of course,” Haruhiko muttered and nodded.
Watanabe didn’t want to linger and pulled Kamiya out of there with a quick bow.
“Sorry about that,” she laughed nervously. “I should’ve warned you to keep your hands to yourself.”
“This is your ‘easy’ case?” Kamiya asked.
“I know they’re a bit…eccentric, but they’re good boys and Haruhiko is a good guardian.”
“A good guardian? That guy’s a total creep!”
Watanabe shushed him, tilting her head toward the Izumi’s door that they were still in earshot of. Before they spoke further, they went downstairs and toward the car.
“I’m starting to think that you didn’t read the case file.”
“…”
“That’s what I thought. This case needs to be handled with care. Did you read about why Haruhiko got custody of the boy?”
Ashamed of his slacking off, Kamiya shook his head. Watanabe sighed.
“I know it’s because they lost their parents,” Kamiya said.
“But did you read about what happened?
“I… I didn’t get that far.”
“It was a murder-suicide. Haruhiko found his parents bodies when he got home that night. I’ve never been able to get Akihiko to open up about it, but we think he may have actually witnessed it go down.”
Kamiya shuddered at the thought of such a young child having to live through such a thing. He doubted that the kid was getting any kind of proper psychiatric care and his brother didn’t seem like much of a talker either.
“Please try to understand,” Watanabe continued. “The boys have never divulged many details to me, but according to the police report, their father was abusing them, in the worst ways possible. Neither of them trust adult men, not right away at least. Haruhiko is fiercely protective of his little brother, there’s nothing wrong with that.”
“There is if it gets in the way of Akihiko’s health!”
“How is this getting in the way of his health? Akihiko is getting adequate care at his home.”
“With his brother hovering like that? With those kinds of outbursts and paranoia? I can see the tight leash he keeps Akihiko on.”
Watanabe groaned. There was a reason she had asked for another woman to take over this specific case. She knew Haru wouldn’t react well to a strange man barging into his home and Kamiya’s attitude wasn’t making it any better.
“You know what I saw?” she asked. “The apartment and the boy were clean. There was food in the fridge and all of the utilities were on. Akihiko is well nourished and he’s finally starting to make friends too! He’s healthy and happy and that’s all we can hope for.”
“But-”
“And before you say it, we’ll call the school and verify that Akihiko got those injuries the way he said he did. Even if there was something to make us suspect that there was a risk to his safety, we can’t act on a hunch and remove him from his home this very second.”
Kamiya had nothing else to say that would sway Watanabe to see things his way. Something in his gut told him that there was more to it, but she was right. They couldn’t do anything based on a bad feeling. He looked back at the apartment one last time and froze as he saw the apartment door was cracked open. Through the gap, Haruhiko was watching them. Ice filled Kamiya’s veins as he got into the car with Watanabe and floored in out of there, ignoring Watanabe’s demands to slow down. He looked back in the rearview mirror, half expecting to see Haruhiko following them until he realized how ridiculous he was being.
Why was he acting so scared over some teenager? Sure he was creepy, but what’s the worst he could do to a grown man? It hurt to think badly of Watanabe, but if the Izumi’s were easy for her, he wouldn’t be surprised if she was willing to look the other way on certain things. For now all he could do was some digging.