Chapter Text
Deep blue eyes stared in interest as Yamada Saburo walked into the Odd Jobs shop, as their apartment they resided in was above the shop. A sick grin crossed the man’s face as he watched the fourteen year old open the shop door, the door swinging shut behind him. He could faintly hear Saburo call out to his older brother from where he was. After a moment, Ichiro’s voice responded to him. He couldn’t hear what they were saying, but it wasn’t hard to hear their loud voices from outside. He took his phone out and checked the time.
Right on time, as usual.
He’d gotten rather familiar with Saburo’s schedule. He often left home first before eight in the morning, unless Ichiro had a job to do early on. Usually, Saburo was the first one home too. He would be alone anywhere from ten minutes to an hour, before one of his two older brothers joined him. It seemed that Saburo didn’t have any clubs or anything to do after school, so he was always arriving home at roughly the same time.
Not to mention, he’s actually followed him to his middle school, and it seemed to be in a totally different direction from Jiro’s high school.
He, unfortunately, knew this much, as he’d tried to follow Jiro around before he followed Saburo. He got familiar with Jiro, but that brat was a bit of a wild card. Sometimes he stayed after school to play soccer, sometimes he didn’t and instead would go out with his friends, and other times, he did both. Not to mention, he was hardly ever alone.
Though, there was one time, Jiro had almost been robbed, and he’d only yawned before whipping his microphone out and easily beating the guys in a rap battle, before walking away as if nothing happened.
He himself wasn’t all that good at rapping- he felt as though he wouldn’t stand a chance against Jiro. He would probably take him down before he could actually do anything to him.
God, he missed the good old days where fighting people with your fists was mainstream. But even then, he wasn’t sure if he could beat Jiro now.
He’d hoped that Jiro would be easier to follow around, as he realized, begrudgingly, that he would definitely be no match for the oldest Yamada, Ichiro. He was even stronger than Jiro, and catching him alone was almost impossible anyway. He seemed to always be surrounded by people. When he was alone at home during the day when his younger brothers were at school, he would be doing menial tasks like cooking or cleaning up for his brothers. It would be an ideal time to bust in…if Ichiro wasn’t an even better rapper than Jiro and Saburo.
He remembered being so frustrated that he wanted nothing more than to throttle Ichiro and Jiro, cursing their athleticism and strength and their determination not to back down from a fight. He found himself wanting to knock their egos down a peg.
It was a miracle that their youngest brother was such a social recluse. One who gamed or studied. He was a classic nerd- the type who would get shoved around in the halls. Oh sure, he knew full well that Saburo had some badass raps that he could rep out, but if he could just catch the little brat off guard and get rid of his microphone, then he would be helpless.
Just like he was before.
Licking his lips and smirking, he disappeared into the shadows of the area, sneaking around back to the slightly opened window, peering in with a pair of binoculars. He saw Saburo sitting at a desk, writing with a book open. Presumably, it was his homework. Ichiro was sitting not far from him, a fond smile on his face.
Look at him…sitting there as if he was a normal human being…that shit pisses me off.
He held back a snarl, his grip on his binoculars tightening slightly as Saburo spoke with him, looking at his work book with a proud grin on his face. Probably nerding out or something. Whatever he was saying caused Ichiro to reach out and ruffle his hair with a laugh.
After watching them for a good fifteen minutes, the door opened, and that idiot Jiro walked inside while wearing his school uniform.
“I’m home!” Jiro called, his voice loud and clear thanks to the window left ajar.
“You don’t have to yell it, Jiro! You’re loud enough on your own!” Saburo shot at him, though his voice wasn’t any quieter.
He rolled his eyes. Another thing he noticed while watching the Yamada brothers was that Jiro and Saburo weren’t anything like they were before. The younger two idolized their oldest brother in ways they hadn’t before, and the two also fought much more often. While before, they hardly ever fought. Jiro was much kinder and gentler towards Saburo, while Saburo always clung to Jiro. But now? They hardly ever exchanged something like they had before. No longer did Jiro rush to reassure his younger brother about small things- rather, now, he laughed and goaded when Saburo couldn’t do something. Likewise, Saburo seemed to look down on Jiro often for being not as smart as him.
It was a little jarring, but he supposed it made his job all the easier.
Though, he did catch a few times when, even though they weren’t like how they used to be, there were still moments between them when Saburo was down and obviously needed the comfort of his brothers. Sometimes Ichiro wouldn’t be around, and Jiro would simply sigh and bring him close.
Or when Jiro was stumped on his school work and seemed genuinely stressed about it, Saburo, while usually laughing at how dumb he was, would sit with him and help him, explaining things in a way that was easy to understand.
But even still, those moments were few and far between. He knew Jiro believed Saburo was grown enough to be on his own, so Saburo was often left alone. And he knew damn well that if he took Saburo, it would utterly destroy both of the older brothers.
Jiro’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts.
“You’re louder than me, brat!”
“Am not!”
“You are!
“Do you guys have to fight right away?” Ichiro asked, clearly annoyed. “Brothers shouldn’t fight!”
“Sorry Ichi-nii,” Saburo said in an earnest tone, “I’ll do my best not to engage in conflict with dumbasses anymore.”
“What was that, you friendless little shit?!” Jiro roared, scowling.
“Saburo! Stop calling names! And Jiro, it takes two to fight!” Ichiro snapped, smacking both of them upside the head. Both winced, now looking properly chastised, though they didn’t apologize to each other.
This really would be easier than he thought.
Just you wait…Ichiro…and Jiro too…I’ll make you two wish you never crossed paths with me way back then. And Saburo…you better be prepared for a fate worse than death.
With a sadistic grin on his face, Samejima turned and snuck away from the shop.