Chapter Text
“Come on, it was obvious that you’d have to study at university! Did you forget about that, senpai?” Kou said into his phone, trying to balance it between his shoulder and ear while finishing making dinner. “What do you mean nobody told you how bad it was gonna be? Did you think college life is just parties and all that stuff?”
The kitchen fell silent for a moment, save for the sounds of a knife hitting against the cutting board, as he listened to her answer.
“My brother is an outlier and shouldn’t be counted. It’s not like he even needs a university degree, since he’s gonna become the head of the clan eventually,” he replied. “He said he misses his rivalry with Aoi-senpai though. Seems like nobody’s up for a challenge in his major, y’know... Just don't tell Aoi-senpai I said this.”
Another pause.
“Us? We’re doing well!” He smiled, even though she couldn’t see it. “I’ve been working part-time lately, so we’re not total freeloaders. No, doing house chores doesn’t count… Well, yeah, we are family now, but… Anyway, I don’t like doing nothing! Mhm, school’s fine. University? Give me a break, we still have time… Sousuke? Still going through his art nerd phase. I know you’ve been busy, but check the group chat from time to time, he’s sending photos of his lame masterpieces and then crying that nobody’s reacting to them.”
He couldn’t help but at the girl’s panicked apologies.
“It’s not that serious, calm down. Akane-senpai always praises his pitiful attempts too. No, it’s not like they’re completely terrible… They have their charm? Well…Telling that to his face would be like kicking a five years old kid! He’s having fun, I’m not gonna ruin that. Mhm. He’s still looking for something for himself. Doesn’t look like he’s found it yet, but he has time.”
More silence as he listened to what the other side had to say.
“You want to meet up? Really?! Of course we’d want to! Though… it’d be difficult for us to go back to Kamome,” he sighed. “Mhm. Are you sure? It’s kinda far… No, no, of course it’s not a problem! If you don’t mind coming here, we’d love to have you… I’ll ask Hikari to make sure. She should be coming back from work soon. I still need to finish making dinner… No, don’t worry, you’re never trouble! Unlike a certain someone, who locked himself in our room, painting some abstract crap again-”
“You know, maybe you should lock the door too, I can walk in at any moment and hear you, asshole!” Someone from the direction of the corridor yelled, throwing something that looked like a piece of dirty cloth at him but missing and having it flop onto the floor pitifully.
“Oh, here comes the freeloader,” Kou commented. “You wanna say hello to Nene-senpai?”
Picking up his dirty rag on the way, Sousuke walked up behind him and took the phone without even asking.
“Yo, Radish-senpai. I thought you already completely forgot about your cute little kouhai," he immediately complained into the speaker. "My sincere condolences regarding your freedom. Well, nobody told you to go to university. That was your own choice!"
Kou just sighed again, going back to dinner preparations. After three years of that, he no longer had the energy to get mad at Sousuke for the way he talked to her. It's not like there was any ill will behind it.
"Wait, really!? When?! Don't worry, I'll make sure Hikari lets you stay over. The house is big enough after all. Mhm, I have her all figured out!"
"More like you have her wrapped around your finger," Kou mumbled. "Why does she even like you so much?"
"Because I'm adorable, smart and everything nice," he replied, sticking his tongue out at him. "Anyway, Radish-senpai, leave this to me! I'm way more reliable than Kou."
"Since when…?"
"Yeah, I'll text you to let you know," Sousuke said, ignoring Kou completely. "Just check the group chat from time to time! You can't be that busy! What do you mean you gotta go now? It's summer vacation! Did you just call to tell us you wanna come over?!"
"I talked to her longer. You should've come out of the room earlier."
"I was busy, okay!"
"I can see. You have paint on your face."
"Aah, Radish-senpai, don't hang up yet, wait! Huh? An emergency? What do you mean?! Okay, okay, I'll text you later! B..ye…?" Sousuke finally lowered the hand with Kou's phone in it, confusion clear on his face. "What's wrong with her this time?"
"She told you already, she's busy."
"It can't be that bad!"
"Do you want me to remind you how fantastic you were doing at school at first?" Kou asked, glancing at him as he flopped down onto the chair by the kitchen table.
"That's completely different!" He protested, but then just looked down in resignation. He probably preferred not to be reminded of the details. They were lucky Hikari was a teacher and had enough patience to save him from his misery. "Anyway, I’m hungry. When is dinner gonna be ready?"
"It would be ready sooner if you helped me like you were supposed to."
"I was supposed to go shopping, and I did!"
"You did, but then you thought it’d be a great idea to just skip things from the list I gave you, and I had to go myself,” he grumbled. Thankfully the grocery store wasn’t located that far away, but it still annoyed him. “Letting you go by yourself is like sending a kid to run their first errand.”
“You know I hate carrots,” Sousuke replied, but at least he did look embarrassed now.
“Weren’t you fine with them in curry?!”
“I didn’t know you were making curry today!” He said, throwing his hands in the air. “You didn’t tell me that!”
“You could’ve just asked, instead of doing whatever the hell you wanted.”
For a moment they both fell silent, the only sounds in the kitchen coming from Kou, who simply continued to do his thing. He knew this wasn’t going to last long, it’s not like Sousuke could actually be silent for longer than a few minutes, and he probably wasn’t even going to aim for that.
“Kou… are you mad at me?” He began quietly after a moment. “I’m sorry… I won’t do that again. I promise. I’ll be more careful...”
Kou finally turned to him with a sigh. He could never stay mad at him for too long, and he could tell the apologetic look on his face was genuine. Probably.
“You know, I’m not that mad,” he said, feeling a little embarrassed too. “It’s not actually that serious… I mean, it’s whatever, I got the goddamn carrots in the end. You’ll have to set the table yourself though. And go clean yourself, I don’t want you eating paint and poisoning yourself or something.”
For a few seconds Sousuke just stared at him, then broke into a grin.
“This was way too easy,” he snickered, getting up and cheerfully skipping out of the kitchen and towards the bathroom.
“You little… Wait for a moment, wasn’t that my shirt?!”
He was already gone though. Kou could only hope he’d remember about the table when he came back. And he could tell that the apology was honest despite everything… Sousuke actually mellowed out quite a bit over those three years. Even if most people probably wouldn’t notice much difference, Kou could see it. He was less guarded, less afraid to show how he really felt.
(He also smiled more.)
A moment later another person entered the kitchen.
“Are you boys arguing again?”
“Not really, grandma,” he mumbled. “Just the usual. He knows how to get on my nerves.”
The elderly woman in the doorway was actually his great grandmother, from his mother’s side of the family, but even Sousuke came to just call her grandma by now. Kou wasn’t even sure how old she was, but she was still in good shape. She was probably already used to the way they were constantly bickering though, since the two of them were stuck together for good now. Well, it was Kou’s choice, and he didn’t regret it, but still.
“You should go easy on him sometimes,” she said with a smile, seemingly completely unbothered.
“If I do, he really won’t lift a finger to help… Wait, what do you mean, I always go easy on him! It's him who takes advantage of my good will!” He snapped, only to be welcomed by laughter. “It’s not funny!”
“You mean well, but he’s trying his best too,” the woman replied. “You know he takes care of the garden.”
“Mostly because he had a gardening phase a while ago and accepted it’s his responsibility now.”
“He has a job too though, doesn’t he?”
He did. Obviously it was a part-time job, just like in Kou’s case, but it still counted. Apparently said gardening phase left him with enough knowledge about flowers for the local flower shop owner to be impressed by it and hire him as a helper, and Sousuke, as one could expect of his lying ass, could manage being charming enough in front of customers. It was a good thing Kou didn’t really have to witness that on a regular basis.
“He mostly just pockets the money and spends it as he wishes though,” Kou said.
“That boy still is still a lot like a child, just discovering the world. You should indulge him a bit,” his grandma said. “Aren’t you also happier when he’s happy?”
…
He was, but admitting that would be revealing too much.
Kou also knew Sousuke was still so much of a wide-eyed child, curious and excitable. It’s gotten less obvious lately, but at first…
“Minamoto-kun, Minamoto-kun, wake up! Come on, get up faster!”
“...what the hell? Is something on fire?” Kou mumbled, reluctantly opening his eyes and dragging himself off the bed. He was pretty sure it still wasn’t that late and usually his roommate wouldn’t wake up before him. Spotting Mitsuba by the window, he walked up there with the intentions of dragging him back to his bed.
“Of course not, dumbass! What’s this white stuff on the ground!?” He asked with a mix of panic and excitement in his voice, pointing outside and forcing Kou to get even closer to check for himself.
“What, you mean snow? Have you…”
The realization dawned on him before he could even finish the question. Mitsuba has never seen snow before. He wasn’t even alive long enough to have ever seen it, it was that simple. Him looking outside with wide eyes shining from curiosity like a little child was just natural. Getting mad at him would be kind of cruel.
“Just snow. It falls from the sky when it gets cold,” he said in the end. “It’s fun to play with it.”
Without even saying anything else, Mitsuba turned around and broke into a run towards the door of their room.
“Wait, where do you think you’re going?!” Kou asked, grabbing his arm at the last possible moment.
“Outside, duh! I wanna see it from up close!”
“Are you an idiot?! In pajamas?!”
“Why not?!”
“Because snow is frozen water, you blockhead, and you can actually get sick now, and if you think I’m going to nurse you back to health after you catch a cold, then you-”
“Oh,” Mitsuba just muttered, as if he totally forgot about that part. “But… you said it’s fun to play with…”
“...just get dressed first. Coat, scarf, gloves, everything, then we can go,” Kou sighed, watching him nod enthusiastically, before trodding off toward his dresser and pulling out the first clothes that landed in his hands. Sometimes Kou really wondered how he’d survive without him, and the only answer he landed on was ‘he wouldn’t’.
A few minutes later, after walking downstairs on their toes so nobody heard anything, they were outside. It had to snow for most of the night, judging from the amount of snow on the ground, but right now, the sky was clear, as the sun probably still wouldn’t rise for a while.
Kou wasn’t really a fan of winter, or even snow itself. It brought him some strange sense of unease... He wasn’t blind though, it was a pretty sight.
Well, at least before Mitsuba ran ahead and jumped right into the piled up on the ground snow.
“It really is cold!” He exclaimed from the ground, as if that still surprised him, despite what Kou already said. He was already covered in snow from head to toe. “It’s cold as hell!”
“How old are you…?” Kou mumbled in response, giving him a look of pity.
“Dunno, like half a year, I haven’t kept up with the calendar,” Mitsuba snarked. “You know the answer, lame-ass earring. And don’t act like you’re all grown up already!”
“It’s way too early in the morning for this…”
“Don’t complain. How do you play with this?”
Giving up, Kou leaned down and quickly gathered some snow into a ball, moving before Mitsuba could dodge and throwing it at him.
“Like this.”
“Hey, what are you- Hmph!” He only uttered before the snowball hit his head. “You… you’re not getting away with this!”
“That’s the point, you gotta throw it back.” Kou grinned at him, watching as Mitsuba frantically tried to make his own snowball. He avoided it easily when the boy actually threw it though. “Come on, is that all you’re capable of?”
“Obviously not! I’ll get you, you’ll see!” He replied, scrambling to his feet as he made another snowball, this time choosing to simply chase after Kou.
“H-Hey, that’s not how this works!”
“As long as it works, I don’t care!”
It seemed like all he could do was run, but running on the freshly fallen snow probably wasn’t a particularly good idea.
“Just throw it like a normal person!”
“I’m not stupid, I know I’d never get you like that!”
“You’re cheating, this doesn’t co-” He only managed to say before what he feared actually happened. He simply slipped and fell face first onto the ground, and of course Mitsuba couldn’t stop himself from running right into him and doing the same, but landing on him instead. “Ngh… Get off me, asshole…”
“...caught you,” Mitsuba just said, right before pushing Kou’s face into the snow with a laugh.
“Hmph- Bleh! You think you’re so funny?!”
Rolling himself to the side, he threw the boy off his back, then turned around to repay him for what he just did.
“W-Wha- No, stop, please, Minamoto-kun, I’m sorry, I’m sorry! Let go of me! This is bullying!” He screamed before getting cut off and eating snow too.
“You should’ve thought of the consequences a little earlier,” Kou said, this time laughing too, before letting him go and flopping to the side. They were already both completely covered in snow anyway.
“You’re the worst. Awful. Horrible! What was that about not wanting me to get sick!?”
“You were asking for this!”
“Seems like someone here is having fun,” a new voice joined them from the direction of the entrance door.
“Oh, Hikari. Good morning,” Kou replied, raising his head from the ground slightly. “Were we too loud? Sorry.”
“Hikari, help! I’m being mistreated!”
“Shut it! It was you who wanted to go outside in the first place!”
All the woman did was laugh at that. At least she wasn’t mad at them for acting stupid like this… It’s not like he expected her to get mad though, she was actually quite lenient with them.
“It’s good to see you in high spirits, but maybe you should at least come back inside for breakfast,” she said.
“Eh? Do we already have to go back?” Mitsuba asked, directing it more at Kou than at Hikari, making it obvious that despite the complaining he was actually enjoying himself. It was kind of endearing. “But I don’t wanna…”
“...the snow won’t melt right away. We’ll come back later,” he promised, getting up first to extend his hand to Mitsuba with a smile. “What do you think about trying to make a snowman?”
This was just one situation like that among many. There were a lot of things completely new to Sousuke that weren’t all that pleasant, or were confusing to him, but there were also times filled with joy, and Kou was with him through the bad and the good, so he knew all about how hard he was actually working. He could see all of it, and nobody could genuinely say Kou wasn’t indulging him. If anything, they were teasing him about it because they knew he had a massive soft spot for that bastard.
“This is exactly why he’s already spoiled rotten. Because everyone here is indulging him,” Kou muttered in resignation, then sighed. “Whatever. I already told him I’m not mad, so I’m over that. Can you tell him to hurry up in the bathroom? We can eat soon.”
“Of course, dear.”
“I hope Hikari comes back soon too…”
As soon as he said that he could hear the entrance door opening, then a muffled by the distance ‘I’m home’. Sometimes she had a really great timing.
“Something smells really nice here,” Hikari said cheerfully after walking into the kitchen and peeking over Kou’s shoulder, pushing her long, blonde hair behind her ear. “Curry today?”
“Yeah, I’m almost done. We can eat when that dumbass gets his job of setting the table done,” he replied.
“You mean Sousuke? I can help him, it’s-”
“His job. You don’t have to, it’s you who just came back from work and we’ve been home for most of the day. Just relax.”
“You don’t even know how much help you two are to me,” Hikari said with a fond sigh.
“We can do at least this much to repay for what you’ve done for us…”
“Shh, I don’t wanna hear that. We’re family, kid,” she interrupted him, ruffling his hair. “Man, I’m so hungry! I think I’ll help out Sousuke after all.”
"Here goes me trying to teach him anything…"
Meal time at their place was always lively. Neither Kou nor Sousuke were the quiet type, and so wasn't Hikari, who always had a lot to say about her day at work, and since it was summer vacation now, that work was supplementary classes for the weaker students. Luckily he and Sousuke managed to avoid that this time.
"I shouldn't be telling you this, but you were genuinely never this bad, even at the beginning," Hikari told Sousuke with a sigh. "I'm trying my best, but…
"Come on, how could you compare them to me in the first place?!" Sousuke whined. "I'm too smart to be lumped together with some idiots!"
"I just said you were never that bad! I could tell you were trying to catch up, but these kids… Just…. Ugh," she let out a resigned noise. "But in their case I also can’t use the ‘no dessert after dinner’ threat. Anyway, Kou, is there something left for seconds?"
"I know you well enough to make more."
“You’re the best. You’re probably a better cook than me already,” Hikari praised him.
“At home… I mean, back when I was still living in Kamome,” he began, but quickly corrected himself. Now this was his home. “Cooking was also my duty, since Teru was awful at it.”
“Sometimes I wonder how your siblings are surviving now,” Sousuke said with a giggle, as if it wasn’t because of him that Kou didn’t live with them anymore. “Do you think your house is still standing? Or maybe your brother set it on fire?”
“Was young Teru really that bad…?” Grandma asked with a laugh.
“It’s been a while, maybe something has changed,” Kou muttered, but even he didn’t believe in it much. “He definitely wouldn’t try to poison Tiara…”
“They’re definitely alive, so they’re managing somehow!” Hikari concluded. “They’re definitely missing out though, this curry is to die for.”
“I’m just making it how mom taught me.”
“Your mom…?” Her eyes widened a bit at that. They didn’t mention Kou’s mother often. “Right. I wondered why it tasted familiar…”
“You knew Kou’s mom?” Sousuke asked.
“Huh? Did I know her? She was my older sister, of course I knew her!” Hikari laughed a little, seeing the boy’s surprised face. “Wait, did you really not realize I’m Kou’s aunt, after all this time?”
“Nobody really ever talked about that! I thought you were… dunno, some distant cousin! It's not like he calls you 'aunt'!" He exclaimed, then looked down, seemingly embarrassed. "I didn't know that Kou had a family member this close who'd take us in…"
"When you boys first came here, you looked so scared we didn't want to stress you out more with long introductions," grandma said.
"I-I wasn't scared!"
"You were shaking like a leaf during a storm," Hikari replied.
"You're lying!"
She wasn't. But back then they were both terrified, having left Kamome in a hurry after they understood they couldn't stay there anymore.
(It was Sousuke who couldn't, having the same exact face and name as someone who people knew was supposed to be dead, but Kou wasn't going to leave him alone with that. He couldn't. He didn't want to. They could finally be together after all. Even if he had to abandon everything for that… he knew it was the right thing to do. And at the same time, it was the only thing he could do.)
Hikari, the aunt he hasn’t seen in a long time but remembered being really nice to him, was the only person he could think of who would be willing to help them, even if just for a bit.
“I’m coming! Who’s there at this hour of the day…” A voice could be heard from behind the door, then a key turning in the lock, and finally the door opening. “Good eve-”
The person who opened was a blonde woman with bright blue eyes, now wide in shock, looking almost the same as Kou remembered her, just a little older. He hadn’t seen her since his mother’s funeral though, so his memory was a little lazy. She was really similar to her sister… but at the same time not.
“Kou? Is that you?” Hikari said hesitantly, then glanced at Mitsuba, who just shifted to hide behind Kou’s back, holding tightly onto his arm. He could feel him tremble.
“Mhm. I’m sorry for just coming here like this… but I didn’t know where else we could go, and we didn’t have much time to think about that,” he said, trying to act composed. “Hikari… Do you think you could let us stay here? Me and my friend. Even just for a few days. Please.”
She seemed to be at loss for words, but honestly, who wouldn’t be after a request like this, coming out of nowhere.
“...does your father know you’re here?” She asked.
“No. And please, don’t tell him. Teru knows, and that’s enough,” Kou replied. “It’s… complicated, but I… we couldn’t stay there.”
The woman stared at them for another moment, as if unsure what to do with them, then sighed, opening the door wider.
“Come in, both of you. We can talk inside.”
This already seemed like an achievement. Both of them took their shoes off, and Kou placed the only bag they had near the clothes rack, then followed Hikari with Mitsuba still glued to him. He hasn’t said even a single word since they came there, which was kind of worrying, but at the same time… maybe that was better. Kou didn’t exactly trust him with doing the talking in a situation this important.
Hikari told them to wait in the dining room, and that she’d come back soon.
“...do you really trust her not to call your dad now?” Mitsuba asked quietly the moment they were alone, glancing at the door where Hikari disappeared. “Because I don’t.”
“Shut it. We can’t afford to already suspect her, she’s our only hope,” Kou replied, sitting down by the low table and leaning against it. He was tired. So tired. But before he could even think of resting, he had to make sure they were safe.
“You… Minamoto-kun,” he muttered, flopping down onto the floor next to him, but looking somewhere at the wall. “You know. I never asked you to do this.”
“What, run away from home with you because I didn’t want to release you into the wild alone? Just thank me for that and stop talking, you dipshit.”
“You can still go back. I’m sure your stupid brother could come up with some excuse for you so your dad doesn’t disown you,” Mitsuba replied gloomily.
“Are you kidding me? Right now you’re the stupid one,” Kou said, shifting in his place enough so he could kick him.
“Hey, that hurts! What was that for?!”
“For being an idiot! I don’t want to go back anywhere if you can’t go with me, and we both know that’s not possible. So just stop whining, and help me make a good impression on Hikari!”
He tried not to raise his voice, but maybe he went a bit overboard. He realized that when Mitsuba nervously glanced at the door again.
“Sorry,” Kou mumbled. “It’s just… Stop, okay? I’m staying with you.”
“What if you regret this after a while? A week? A month? A year? And then it’ll be too late to go back?!” Mitsuba asked angrily.
“Huh?”
“There wasn’t really time to think this through, but this was a crappy idea in the first place! Why would you just drop everything like this?! It’s stupid!”
“Mitsuba-”
“This was no sacrifice on my part, but you had to leave school, your family, friends, and-”
“Shut up, will you?”
“But-”
“Mitsuba!” Kou interrupted him again, grabbing his shoulders. “This was my choice, and I’m not going to regret this, get it? If anything, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I didn’t go with you.”
“You’re insane,” he just replied, but looked as if he was about to cry. “I just… if you regret the insane things you did because of me… I don’t know what I'd do then. I just don’t know.”
Without thinking much, Kou pulled him closer, hugging him tightly. He almost forgot how dense Mitsuba could be sometimes. And here he thought the idiot already understood how much Kou cared about him, but it seemed like he'd have to constantly remind him about it. Well, so be it.
“I’m not going to regret this,” he repeated, feeling a little relieved when the other boy hugged him back. “I’m not.”
“You can’t know that.”
“I can.”
When they heard the door open again, they jumped away from each other as if the touch burned.
“I’m back! I don’t know if you’re hungry, but if you are, that will have to wait. For now I just made some tea,” Hikari announced, walking up to the table and placing a tray on it, then taking a seat. “Also, I brought the other person living here. If we’re going to discuss serious things, we need everyone here. Grandma, come in.”
“Grandma…?” Kou wasn’t sure who to expect, but when the elderly woman walked in, he relaxed. She didn’t seem like the strict type.
“Oh, if this isn’t Kou-kun, dear,” she said with a smile. “I haven’t seen you since you were a baby. It’s nice to see you grew up so well.”
“Uhm. Hello…” He muttered, not sure if he should reveal he didn't really remember her.
“And who could this young man who came with you be?” She asked, taking a spot at the opposite side of the table.
“...my name is Mitsuba. I’m Minamoto-kun’s friend.” Unexpectedly, the boy decided to introduce himself on his own, but shifted closer to Kou again. “I… sorry for causing trouble.”
“So far no trouble was caused, Mitsuba-kun,” Hikari said gently. “But you two have some explaining to do. What is it about wanting to stay here? Did you both run away from home? Why?”
“I don’t have a home,” Mitsuba mumbled, staring somewhere at the table instead of her.
“Huh?”
“Hikari… Even if you told us to go back, we can’t,” Kou said. “I can’t explain everything, but… we… I can’t leave him alone, and he doesn’t have anywhere he can go.”
“Kou-”
“Uhm. Hikari-san,” Mitsuba spoke again, and Kou sent him a glance that he hoped he’d take as a warning not to say anything stupid. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Go ahead, Mitsuba-kun.”
“Are you… also an exorcist?” He asked, finally looking directly at her. Still looking terrified, but strangely determined. “I need to know.”
“...we’re just a minor clan when compared to the Minamotos, the clan Kou’s father comes from,” she replied, clearly choosing her words carefully. “But yes, I’m an exorcist, and so is grandma here. She’s retired though, and my profession of choice is a high school teacher. We're nowhere near being strong enough to do this for a living… and there isn’t even enough work here for it to be a good job.”
“...”
“Now it’s my turn to ask a question. Why would a normal boy like you be so scared of exorcists? Aren’t you Kou’s friend? He's an exorcist too.” The face Mitsuba made was probably enough of an answer to her. “Kou said you have nowhere to go. Mitsuba-kun… who are you?”
“Hikari, please, don’t-”
“Kou, you need to understand me. I’m trying my best to comprehend this situation, and I do want to help you and your friend, but you have to at least tell me what’s going on,” she said, looking utterly lost. “I know you, but I’ve never met Mitsuba-kun, but even assuming you didn’t just kidnap him doesn’t just magically solve this. Who, or what-”
“Come now, Hikari. The boy is clearly human, you should be able to tell as much, with your abilities.”
Grandma saying this seemed to take everyone off guard, but the woman remained calm, not even losing her smile as she simply sipped her tea.
“But-”
“I can’t say if it was always that way though, but… I don’t think we should pry. Look at how worried he is, poor soul,” she added. “You boys both seem tired. I think we should call it a day, and leave making any decisions for tomorrow. Hikari, can I ask you to prepare two beds for our guests?”
“You know what, that seems reasonable,” Hikari just sighed. “Sorry, I didn’t think about that. It just seems like I’m interrogating you after you had to come such a long way here from Kamome. Any discussions are postponed until further notice!”
“So… we can stay for the night?” Kou asked, just to make sure he understood it right.
“You think I’d have the heart to kick two kids out like this? Of course you can stay,” she replied, reaching out and ruffling his hair. “I’ll think of what to do with you, but… Don’t worry about it now. I’ll do what I can to help you.”
Hearing that, he felt as if most of the stress in his body just left like air leaving a balloon.
“Thank you. Thank you so much. That’s already a lot,” he said, finding Mitsuba’s hand under the table and squeezing it, hopefully making it a reassuring gesture and not just revealing how worried he was just a moment ago. Mitsuba squeezed it back though, so maybe it worked.
Kou wasn’t exactly sure how many things happened behind their backs afterwards, but the next day Hikari told them she considered all for and against, and decided they could stay, for good. She never again asked who Mitsuba was, but it probably wasn’t all that hard for her to come to some conclusion on her own, especially if she did a bit of research regarding his background. He didn’t know what strings she had to pull to create any sort of legal identity for him, but that’s what she did, and then painstakingly tutored him herself until he was ready to actually go to school and get a semblance of a normal life.
What Kou was almost sure of was that she did contact either Teru or his father, and also took care of all the formalities of having him transferred to a new school, as well as becoming his temporary guardian. When he thought about that later, it was impossible that he was simply let go without any trouble if his father didn’t know where he was and didn’t agree to it. He wasn’t listed as missing after all, and nobody came looking for him. He was in touch with his siblings, of course, but not his only living parent, so… it was probably safe to assume he got disowned by now. It wouldn’t be a surprise, he ran away with a former apparition after all.
Sometimes he missed the life he used to have, just a little. The one he had now wasn’t so bad either though. He was pretty content with it, if he was being honest.
He was happy when Sousuke was happy, huh? Sometimes grandma was a little too perceptive for his liking.
“I’m not lying! You were such a poor little thing, I felt like I was bullying a child even though I just tried to ask a few questions,” Hikari laughed. “It was such a surprise to later see what you’re really like.”
“Ugh, I think I’d prefer to forget my first day here,” Sousuke replied with a scowl, then picked up his empty plate and turned to his friend. “Kou, seconds!”
“You can put the food on the plate on your own, you know,” he said, but still took it.
“I can, but what do I have you for?”
“I’m not your servant, you asshole.”
“Now that’s new!” He said with that shit-eating grin of his. “Ah, right, we were supposed to ask something! You know, Kou, about Radish-senpai!”
"Radish…?" Hikari repeated with a confused face.
"You could at least stop calling her this for a moment!" Kou said, elbowing him and ignoring the noise of protest he got in response. "He means a friend from Kamome, Yashiro Nene. She called me earlier and asked if we'd like to meet up."
"Yeah! We haven't seen each other in like forever!" Sousuke added, still glaring at Kou though. "Hikari, would it be a problem if she stayed over for a bit during the summer break? We can’t really visit Kamome… and it’d be pointless to travel this far only for a day…”
“Oh. You don’t really mention any of your old friends, so I was surprised,” she replied. "Was she your senpai at school?"
"Well, not mine, but she's still Radish-senpai to me," Sousuke said. "I can’t wait to see if her legs are still that fat.”
“You still haven’t let go of that…?” Kou muttered.
“Sousuke… has no one ever told you that you should be nicer to girls?” Grandma asked him, but as expected, he made nothing of that.
“It doesn’t make a difference to me who I’m being mean to,” he replied.
“I think we’ve noticed at this point.” Hikari nodded, but didn’t seem like she was too disappointed with him. Everyone was going too easy on him. “So, you want her to stay at our place?”
“Please, Hikari, I promised her I’d convince you!” Sousuke whined, making his best puppy eyes at her. “Radish-senpai was always nice to me… even when others weren’t… She’s a good friend.”
Oh. Here goes the rare moment of honesty. Kou didn’t expect him to actually say something like this out loud, but maybe he really did soften a bit and Kou wasn’t just imagining it.
“Sure, why not?” Hikari didn’t even hesitate with her answer. “This house is so big that one or even two additional people won’t make much difference.”
“Yaay! I win!”
“One question though, to what extent is that girl a supernatural? Knowing you two it’s always a chance.”
“She’s human, but…” Kou said with a frown, realizing that a trip to the beach probably wouldn’t be a good idea, even though they lived near the ocean. “She turns into a fish if you pour water on her.”
“I see… wait, what? A fish? Where did the radish go?”
“She doesn’t need to turn into a radish, she’s one without that,” Sousuke mumbled under his breath, earning a kick from Kou under the table. “Ouch! What was that for!?”
“Guess it yourself!” He said right before getting kicked in return.
“You’re the worst! You have no right to complain about me!”
“Alright, alright, no fighting during dinner, or else I’ll take back my permission,” Hikari announced, and since her word was absolute, they just continued to stare at each other begrudgingly over the table until they forgot what the issue was.
***
Mitsubest: IMG_20230227_221404.jpg
Mitsubest: i tried to paint a cat today but turns out animals are difficult as hell to draw :(
Aoi-chan: You did great, Mitsuba-kun!! I love the colors <3
Glasses: 👍
Minamoto the First: Maybe you can compete with our princess in a few years 🙂
Mitsubest: i can only ever count on one person in this chat
lightening mcqueen: there are paint stains on the floor. come here and clean it
Mitsubest: sorry :( i didn’t notice them
Mitsubest: anyway
Mitsubest: @Radish your vacation plans got the approval stamp, start packing your shit
Aoi-chan: @Radish
Minamoto The First: @Radish
Glasses: @Radish
lightening mcqueen: @Radish
Radish: WHAT’S UP WITH ALL THESE NOTIFICATIONS. WHAT DID I MISS!!
Mitsubest: scroll up
Radish: oh
Radish: YES!!!! i need to go and pack then!!
Aoi-chan: You’re going already? 🥺
Radish: I’ll call you while I pack <3
Glasses: what is this all about?
Mitsubest: it’s a secret
Glasses: whatever then
lightening mcqueen: senpai wants to visit us and Hikari said it’s alright for her to stay at our place, that’s all
Mitsubest: aw, now you’ve gone and ruined it :(
Minamoto the First: I want to visit too, Kou 😭
lightening mcqueen: you did, like two weeks ago
lightening mcqueen: wait, since when is lightening mcqueen my name here????
Glasses: I was wondering when you’re going to notice
lightening mcqueen changed their name to: Kou.
Mitsubest changed Kou ’s name to: lightening mcqueen.
lightening mcqueen: …
Mitsubest: 😄
lightening mcqueen: buying you a phone was a mistake