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"Pardon me, but I do not believe I fully understand your decision here. Why choose me for this task, exactly?"
Shortly before taking himself to bed last night, Gashu had received a call from his superior notifying him to expect her in the morning. Occasionally she would do this as a surprise inspection of his son's-- his sons'-- progress. But she arrived with a large suitcase and several stacks of books she has taken to piling on to his dining table.
"We're you already asleep when I called?" she says, teasingly. Dropping her final stack of books on the table with a hard thud, she explains, "I have been asked to oversee another project while my coworker is taking some time off. This is causing a disruption to my schedule, so I require someone I can rely on to monitor my son for two weeks."
Gashu breathes in, clasping his hands together. It would not be wise to reject her demands, but, "Surely someone else--?"
She responds sharply, interrupting him, "You are evaluated highly for your results, Mr. Satou. And have a suitable temperament for housing children. It is why you were offered little Sei when he had no where else to go after all."
It was ugly business, what happened to Sei's father. Gashu remembers going out for drinks with the man and several other parents who were also raising future assassins for the organization. They would swap stories, take notes. They must do as the organization asks of them, but that doesn't make it easy as a parent to involve the children in such brutal business. But it is necessary for the future of the organization.
The lady's child only needs temporary housing, but it is rough not to be given the time to adjust his household's schedules to make this stay-over as seamless as possible. Sei acts tough but his emotions are still so raw from the loss of his family, and Kai is still adjusting to not being the only child in the house. It's nothing short of inconvenient to be given a babysitter role while the situation may still be volatile.
"I appreciate your appraisal, however this being such short notice I have not had the time to prepare for a guest. Our children do not share the same educational priorities so the scheduling I have set may be an issue."
"Is that all?" she pulls a folded up piece of paper out of her pocket and hands it over. A list of teachers, their contact information, and a week's worth of homework assignments fill the page. "Sou will self study while he stays with you, but do call a tutor if he is not keeping up with this outline. I'll keep in touch so we can make any needed adjustments before I send you the rest at the end of the week."
On top of that, the two adults both know that if "scheduling conflicts" were truly an issue, then Gashu could arrange for Sou to go to class at the public school the law requires him to be enrolled in. Outside of exam season, children from Asunaro with specialized schedules are permitted to stay at home a majority of the school year. But sending the boy to school is an option available to Gashu if need be. His boss could have also chosen to do this to occupy a majority of the boy's time, but Gashu will not question the intensity of taking on extra work at the executive level of the organization.
He really has no grounds to refuse his superior.
"Very well. I will trust that you have thoroughly investigated your options and I shall take care of Sou these two weeks with the pride of knowing I have met your high standards."
"Excellent. I will be taking my son out to lunch before dropping him off, so prepare a room for him by then. And one last thing: Sou plays rough, do make sure the children do not kill each other. It's not their time."
With afternoon classes postponed, Kai stands next to Sei at the entrance-way of their home awaiting the arrival of their guest for the next two weeks. Their father, while explaining the situation, had emphasized that their training would continue as normal after welcoming the boy, Sou, into the home. And that Sou's own regimen would not overlap with theirs. So while they should do their upmost to make the executive's son feel at home, most of the day they may not even see each other. In practical terms it means they must dedicate some of their free time to playing with Sou to keep him entertained.
While he can't speak for Sei, Kai feels relief that this new boy in the house is not going to be a direct competitor.
Sou's things were brought over earlier in the morning, displacing Sei from his own bedroom to instead share one with Kai for the time being, so when the front door opens Kai sees his father ushering in the executive lady and her son empty handed with the exception of an ice cream cone in Sou's hand. Chocolate mint, one scoop. No, that's wrong. It was two scoops, but one is already mostly consumed by the boy licking his treat. Sou is some years younger and it shows in how small he seems. Not only do Kai and Sei have a vantage over his head, but the boy's limbs have an apparent weakness in how thin they are. At that age, Kai wonders if he too looked so fragile or if his muscles were already in development.
Father never was a man who took kindly to weakness.
Of course Kai knew from the piles of books that Father had ordered he and Sei move to their guest's bedroom that this boy was expected to exercise his brain more than his body. Still, some part of him wanted to recoil in disgust seeing what would normally be a completely average build for a young boy. Something must have shown on his face, because Sou stops licking his ice cream to stare directly at him. Taking a moment of consideration. And then; smiling mischievously.
Kai turns away from the boy.
Next to him, Sei is looking tense. The usual disrespect he has brought into the house is covered up with a straight posture and Sei gripping the wrist of his dominant hand behind his back. Rather than the boy, Sei's attention is firmly on the Asunaro executive. Above their heads, paying the children no mind, the adults are talking to each other. Kai isn't sure if Sei is holding back from saying something or if he's hoping to not be noticed at all with his well-behaved act.
Suddenly there is a plop sound.
"Aww, my ice cream," Sou whines with a clear pout.
A childlike lack of motor skills or a deliberate action? Kai observes everyone's faces and it seems no one suspects anything. No one had their eyes on Sou when the mess was made on the freshly cleaned floor.
"Moooom, I wasn't finished with it. Can we go get another?" while complaining, Sou attempts to cling onto his mother by grabbing on to her leg. From where he stands Kai can see that in the same motion the boy's mother kneels down to speak on his level she also pinches his hand with her long fingernails. By the time she's settled into position, Sou retreats his hand closely to his side.
"Oh, dear. Remember, you are under "Uncle Gashu's" care for now, so why don't you ask him nicely?" her voice is sunshine and sparkles. She pets the back of her boy's head and both of them turn to stare expectantly at the man in question.
Sou mimics the sweetness of his mother's tone when he says, "Uncle Gashu, may I please have another ice cream?"
It's absurd to Kai that this request could even be made. It's unthinkable how a man like his father would react if Kai had made a mistake like this. And it's painful to watch his father hesitate on how he wants to respond, but he is clearly under pressure with the way the those two are staring at him.
A guest is not a son.
"Right, then," Gashu takes in a breath. "Kai, go grab supplies so you may clean the floor. And Sei, you make Sou his ice cream while I show him to his room."
"Of course, Father," Kai affirms at the same time that Sei speaks up.
"Tch, this how you run your house, pops? Don't tell me you're going to keep rolling over for this brat the entire time he's here."
Sei's proper posture slips back to his casual looking slouch, however that means he is no longer hiding his clenched fists behind his back. Despite speaking to Father in such a way, his attention hasn't strayed from the executive. It's defiant, but Kai can tell the way Sei leans on his dominant foot means he's prepared to flee if he must. Futile as it may be.
Gashu's eyebrows raise high, the only sign he'll show of flinching at the rudeness Sei is showing towards a superior ranking family. But before he can speak up, his boss stands tall back on her feet and says, "My, my~ It would be such a shame to discover that a lack of faith is in your blood, little Sei. I, for one, believe in your Gashu-papa to manage his household splendidly!"
She doesn't have to move a muscle and suddenly her presence feels as though it looms over them.
"Won't you show piety to your father?"
She hasn't broken character, but Kai can't help but see that woman and Sei acknowledging each other as a standoff between predator and prey. But even cornered prey can be dangerous, so Kai cannot find it in him to move from his spot with even the slightest possibility of Sei being foolish enough to lash out. Would it save him to stop him? Maybe such thoughts are useless.
Miraculously, Sei's resistance took the form of a loud sigh and turning away from everyone in the room to whine at no one in particular, "Didn't even know we still HAD ice cream in the freezer. Don't blame me if the flavor sucks."
Suddenly an easy target, Sei locks eyes onto Kai and roughly shoves Kai away from the house entrance. Sei continues redirecting his aggravation, "Move it, Kai! Do you need Big Brother to help make sure you do as Father asks? Come on."
"H-hey!" Kai struggles against Sei as he pushes the two of them out of the room. They are a bit rowdy leaving, but the adults seem to allow it without calling for them to behave more properly which Kai is thankful for.
The last thing Kai sees before being shoved out of the room entirely by Sei is his father taking Sou's hand to show him to his room. And the boy dropping the empty cone wafer from his free hand -- crushing it to pieces beneath his feet as he too is lead further into the house.