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“Mhm. I see. Well… I’ll have to check my schedule. Give me a couple of days?”
Toya’s mother hangs up the phone, and Toya looks up from his book.
“Who was that, mother?”
“Ah, nothing. It’s just Clara with another show.”
“Oh, another? Do you have room in your schedule for it?” Toya’s father adds.
“I do, but…” She starts.
“But?” Toya adds, and his mother sighs.
“It’s a tour of Italy. Clara and I would be opening in Venice and then heading around the map.”
“Well, where else?”
“Verona, Cremona…”
“Cremona is nice. I don’t think we’ve been in a while.” Toya’s father adds.
“And then it’s Parma. ” She scoffs, before continuing on. “And then Mantua and Padua, and then it’s done.”
“Sounds pretty good aside from Parma.” Toya adds. “Why are you hesitating?”
“Well, I don’t want to leave you for that long.” She says, and Toya sighs.
“Mother, I’m sixteen. And I can stay at the Tenmas while you and Father—”
“That’s the other part. Clara has a different accompanist in mind.”
Toya and his father share a confused glance.
“…So?” His father adds.
“Well, you two…”
“We’re not helpless, Mother. We do know how to order takeout.” Toya adds.
“That’s not what I’m worried about. You two are… well… sometimes you can get…”
“Mother, I’m sure we can survive a month and a half without killing each other.” Toya cuts her off.
Toya’s mother bites her lip.
“Can you?”
“Narin, please. You worry too much.” Toya’s father adds. “It will be fine. Just go.”
Toya’s mother sighs before picking up her cellphone.
“Alright, alright.” She purrs. “I’ll tell Clara I’ll come. But promise me that if anything happens—”
“You will be the first to know, now please start packing.” Toya says.
~
Narin doesn’t know how Toya and Harumichi talked her into this.
“I should go back.” She mutters, and Yakumo laughs.
“Nari-chan, don’t worry so much! Look, if Haru-chan and Toya get too sick of each other they can come over to my place.”
Narin sighs.
“Yakumo, please make sure that they don’t kill each other.”
“I will. You can trust me.”
Narin reaches over to put a hand on her shoulder.
“I know I can, I just get worried. I shouldn’t be leaving this to you.”
Yakumo laughs again.
“Nari-chan, I’m not a baby anymore either.”
Narin sighs again.
“I know, I know. But you’re my little sister-in-law. How can I not worry about you?”
Yakumo gets on her tiptoes and pats Narin on the head.
“Nari-chan. It’ll be fine. Just get to the gate, okay?”
“Okay, okay. I’m going. See you!”
“See you!”
And Narin rushes over to her gate.
~
Toya blinks his sleepy eyes as his father walks down the steps.
“Good morning, Toya, Narin.” His father says on instinct, and Toya points to the empty seat. “…Ah. Right.”
Toya’s father joins him at the counter, and they both sit there, half-asleep until the door opens.
“You two really are hopeless.” A familiar voice laughs, and then two cups of coffee appear in front of them.
“Thanks, Auntie…” Toya trails off, before drinking a few sips of coffee and feeling much more human.
“Toya, what are you going to do when you get married?” Auntie laughs, and Toya raises his cup of coffee and turns to her.
“Akito already fuels my coffee habit.”
Toya’s father groans, and Toya glares at him.
“Do you have something to say, Father?”
Toya’s father clearly looks upset, but he keeps his mouth shut.
Instead, he sighs and turns to Auntie.
“How long until Narin comes back again?”
Auntie laughs.
“She hasn’t been gone a week and you’re already being pathetic.”
“I wouldn’t have been married to her for 28 years if I didn’t enjoy her company.”
“‘Enjoy her company?’ That’s a funny way to say ‘if Narin told me to jump off a cliff I’d do it with no hesitation.’”
“That’s not called being pathetic, that’s called knowing that I’m married to the greatest woman in the world.”
“Yeah, yeah. By the way, Toya, shouldn’t you be heading to school soon?”
“It’s Sunday.” Toya groans, and Auntie looks at him confusedly.
“…Toya. Honey. It’s Monday. ”
Toya’s eyes fly open and he picks up his phone.
Sure enough, all his friends are asking where he is and Tsukasa-senpai’s called him twice.
He texts the Kamikou student group chat that he’s on his way and rushes upstairs to throw on his uniform before running out the door.
~
Toya lays his head on the counter and takes a couple of deep breaths as the phone rings.
And then he picks it up.
“Hello, Mother.” He smiles, using every single acting trick that Tsukasa-senpai has ever taught him.
“Hello, Toya! How is it back home?”
“We’re perfectly fine, Mother. I promise.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, yes, I’m sure. Mother, you worry too much.”
“…Hah, your father said the same thing. I can’t help it, I get worried. I’ll call you later, alright? And—”
“Yes, yes.” Toya responds. “I’ll call you if anything goes wrong.”
The call ends soon after, and Toya walks over to the couch and throws himself down onto it.
Less than two weeks without Mother and things are already insane.
Father’s constantly playing sad songs on the piano and Toya just can’t take it. The piano is incessant!
His phone buzzes, and Toya checks his texts.
Souma-san. Looks like he’s seen that Mother’s on her tour of Italy.
The first performance is already over and done with, and it seems it was professionally recorded. Souma-san’s asking that Toya pass on his compliments to his mother.
And then he asks if Toya’s alright alone, and Toya has to explain that his father is still here and that he’s sick and tired of everything.
[well, if you need a break, you can always come and visit me!]
Toya smiles and texts Souma-san thanks, and then the music suddenly stops.
“Are you texting Shinonome?” Toya’s father asks, and Toya shakes his head.
“No. Souma-san.”
“That’s… Narin’s old student, yes? The one that got into an accident and ended up very close with Saki?”
“Yes, him. He saw the professional recording of Mother’s performance and texted me to pass on his compliments.”
“Ah, I see. I didn’t realize Clara had it recorded.”
And then the conversation lulls, and the silence is… incredibly awkward.
They’re both trying to find the words to say what they’re thinking, but it’s… difficult for both of them to express their emotions and thoughts.
And then Souma-san sends a link to Toya’s mother’s performance.
[btw this is where I found it :)]
Thank god, Souma-san has given Toya a topic of conversation.
“Oh, Souma-san just sent me a link to Mother’s performance. Do you want to watch it together?”
Toya’s father lets out a relieved sigh.
“Yes, that sounds perfect.”
~
Toya sighs.
God, how is he supposed to last another month in this house?
The piano keeps going, over and over. It refuses to stop.
The same phrase, a missing note, and then again. Writer's block.
Toya knows, he knows that this is what helps his father through being away from his mother. He knows that they’re a classic love story and absolutely adore each other. And he knows that he was once away from Akito for nothing more than a couple of weeks and it was the worst time of his life.
So he understands that his father is simply trying to console himself, but Toya simply can’t take this anymore!
“Father?” Toya asks, barely above a whisper, but the music stops instantly anyway.
“Yes?”
“Should we… do something? To get you out of the house?” Toya asks. “I feel like sitting alone playing sad love songs on the piano isn’t very good for your mental health. Plus, it might help you get out of the writer's block you’ve been experiencing.”
His father looks at him like he’s crazy, and Toya just sighs.
“Do you have… any other hobbies outside of classical music?”
“Other… hobbies?”
Toya sighs.
“You know, Mother likes shopping and fashion, Kamui-oniichan likes partying, Hatsuaki-oniichan likes rhythm games…”
“Hatsuaki likes what?”
“Well, he mostly likes one rhythm game.” Toya says, opening it up on his phone and finding a card that will show exactly why.
Eventually he finds the specific card he’s thinking of and shows it to his father, and there’s a moment of clarity in his father’s face.
“…Ah. That explains it.”
“Exactly.” Toya responds. “She looks just like Hika-nee.”
They both fall silent at that, and eventually Toya just…
“So, do you have anything like that?” Toya asks, and his father shrugs.
“I’ve never needed it. Classical music has brought so much meaning to my life that nothing else can compare with. And I’ll eventually push through the block.”
“So you really have no other hobbies?” Toya asks.
“Well, I believe if you’re truly dedicated, you don’t need anything else in your life. If you feel your life is incomplete without those… hobbies, then you’re—”
Toya feels his eye start to twitch as he tunes out his father.
“That’s it.” He snaps, grabbing his jacket and throwing it on as he walks out the door.
His father is snapping at him, but…
But the moment he steps out of the house and closes the door behind him, the door opens up again.
“…Wait.” His father says.
Toya’s eyes narrow, and he spins on his heel.
“I’m not interested in fighting right now.” He snaps. “I’m going to the mall, you can come with me or you can stay here.”
And his father simply sighs.
“Let me get my wallet.”
The door closes again, and Toya stands behind it, stunned.
“There’s no way he’s actually…” He mutters, but then the door opens again and his father walks out. “You’re actually coming?”
“As long as you don’t take me to that… street music place again. Everything there is… dizzying.”
“Al…right?”
Toya starts walking in the direction of the mall, and his father follows just behind.
They eventually end up at the mall, and Toya starts looking around.
“You know, Narin always hoped that one of you boys would inherit her sense of fashion.” Toya’s father chimes in, and Toya lets out a soft chuckle.
“If that had happened, Akito wouldn’t constantly be talking about my fashion sense.”
Toya’s father sucks in a breath.
“Alright, then. Why are we here?”
“Well, first, a game I’ve been kind of tempted to get just went on sale. So we’re going to pick that up, and then we’re leaving and going to the arcade on Main Street.”
“The arcade? Since when do you like going to the arcade?”
“Since a couple of years ago. Plus, Saki’s been wanting a plushie from there, so I’m going to win that for her.”
“…Alright then.”
They walk into the game store, and Toya waves at the employee on duty before looking through the game cases and bringing one to the desk.
“Since when do you have a… Nintendo Switch?” His father asks, and Toya sighs. Oh, boy.
“I don’t. Akito does, though. He lets me borrow it and I have a profile on his.”
Toya knows this is about to cause a fight. He knows it.
“…Do you… want one?” His father asks, and Toya practically jumps.
“Okay, what’s going on?” He finally says. “Father, you’ve been acting weird all day and it’s freaking me out.”
Toya’s father sighs.
“I can’t abide your street music… but maybe…”
Toya’s eyes widen, and he turns to the game store employee.
“Do you… have any Switches?” He asks, almost hoping the answer is no, but the employee immediately brings out a Pokémon Switch OLED.
“We’ll take it.” His father says, and Toya’s eyes widen even more somehow.
“Father, we don’t have to—!” Toya tries, but the switch is in his hands before he can properly protest and Toya just… “I… thank you…? We should probably go home and put this away before going to the arcade…”
He makes a mental note to go to Akito’s house as soon as possible to transfer his profile over as they walk out of the mall holding the game and the Pokémon themed Nintendo Switch that Toya still can’t believe he owns, and he starts to register all the fun things he can do now.
He doesn’t need to bother Kusanagi for trade evolutions now, and he and Akito can actually play local co-op.
And now even when Toya’s stuck with his family, he can play with Akito over the internet… this is amazing.
He must be beaming. It’s a great day.
They walk back into the house and Toya puts the game and his Switch on the table before turning back around.
“Aren’t you going to play?” His father asks, but Toya shakes his head.
“I can’t right now, I have to call Akito so I can transfer over all my save data and grab all my games from his house.”
His father obviously bristles at the mention of Akito again, but he still bites his tongue.
“…Let’s go to the arcade.” Toya says, opening the door, and his father follows him out towards Main Street.
Toya’s about to step into an alley, but then he realizes that if his father knew about how familiar he was with the backstreets he might never be able to leave the house again, so he just keeps going through Main Street until they reach the arcade.
He slips in and reloads his game card, and then he turns to the crane machines and starts searching for that Pompompurin plushie that Saki’s had her eye on.
He finds it quickly, and then he swipes his card and starts his mental calculations.
He adjusts the angle, looks at it from all sides, and…
And it’s his in one try.
He pulls the giant Pompompurin out of the prize slot, and it’s even softer than it looked. Saki’s going to adore it.
“How did you do that?” His father asks, and Toya turns to him.
“It’s quite simple, actually. Once you calculate the density from a visual analysis, then all it is—”
“Is finding the correct angle. I see now.”
“Exactly. Do you want to try?”
“Oh, no. Don’t worry.”
“I think you’d enjoy it. It’s quite fun.” Toya says, and his father…
His father sighs in defeat.
“Alright. Let me try one.” He starts, moving to another of the UFO catchers with a very smug-looking plushie.
Toya swipes his card, and his father’s eyes narrow very slightly as he focuses.
His mind is clearly running a million miles a minute, and he adjusts the angle perfectly before the plushie drops into the chute.
“I’m starting to see what you mean. It is… entertaining.” His father says, getting the plushie out of the prize chute. “Where do all of these go, though?”
Toya shrugs.
“Saki. Or Akito’s sister.”
“Oh, that’s where she keeps getting the— Wait, Shinonome’s sister?”
“Even Saki doesn’t like every plushie I win. Those are the ones that Akito’s sister tends to love.”
Toya pulls out a tote from his bag, and he opens it up so he can throw the Pompompurin into it.
“Here.” Toya says, motioning to the bag, and his father puts the smug little cat inside.
The cat vaguely reminds him of someone.
…Oh. Oh, yeah, now it’s obvious.
“That cat looks like Tono-san.” Toya laughs, and his father looks at him confusedly. “Uh, Souma-san’s boyfriend. I think he’d like this. Let me send a picture to him, I’ll bring it to the hospital later.”
While he’s taking a picture and sending it to Souma-san, his father asks him a strange question.
“Have you ever kept one?”
“Well, a few, but I don’t have much of a place to keep them in my room so I leave them at Akito’s house.”
That same bristling. Ugh…
So they both let the topic drop and start wandering around the rest of the UFO catchers winning plushies, and this… might be the most fun he’s had with his father in a long time.
It’s a little unwieldy to drag the bag around while he tries to win things, though. Usually…
His thought process is cut out by a familiar hand on his own, taking the bag out of his hand.
“Need some help, partner?” Akito teases, and Toya immediately presses the button on the joystick before turning around and throwing his arms around his partner.
“What are you doing here?” He asks, and Akito raises his phone up and laughs.
“Souma-san sent the picture of the plushie you’re giving him to the group chat. I was bored and thought you might need someone to carry all your prizes.”
Toya’s so caught up in the joy of having Akito here that he forgets one specific thing until he hears familiar footsteps.
“Akito, I appreciate it, but you have to get out of here as fast as you can.” He says.
Akito’s eyes turn confused, and he’s about to open his mouth, but it’s too late.
“What’s Shinonome doing here?” His father says, and Toya groans.
“I didn’t call him.”
“So he just happened to be here?”
“Not exactly, but—”
“Uh, we have a group chat with a lot of friends. Souma-san sent a picture of a plushie that Toya won him to the chat, so I thought I’d come along since when Toya’s on a winning spree, I usually carry them for him.” Akito says, and his father lets out an annoyed huff. Uh oh, here they go…
“So, your boyfriend is just following you around? And you say staying inside all day is unhealthy for me.”
“What?” Akito says, and Toya sighs.
“He’s not following me around. I was just thinking how hard it was to lug this bag around. He came to help, why can’t you just accept that maybe he’s not as bad as you think?!”
“I should probably go…” Akito tries.
“Yes, you should.” Toya’s father adds.
“No!” Toya snaps, grabbing Akito’s hand. “If he goes, I’m going with him.”
“Didn’t you just tell me to get out of here?” Akito whispers, and Toya really wishes he hadn’t done that, because…
“Oh, you didn’t want me to see him? Is that what happened?” Toya’s father chimes in, and Akito sighs and drags the bag of plushies to a bench.
They’re arguing in the middle of the arcade while Akito messes with one of the plushies in the bag and stares at them with glazed over eyes, definitely regretting coming.
And finally, Toya can’t take this anymore.
“God, I can’t believe I tried to spend time with you! Don’t expect me home tonight! Come on, Akito!”
Akito throws the plushie back in the bag and scoops them up, following Toya out.
“So…” Akito starts.
“I’ll tell you when I don’t feel like throwing plates against the wall.” Toya responds.
“Got it.”
~
Toya’s curled up in a warm bed, his head in Akito’s lap, trying to get his anger back under control.
“Sorry, partner.” Akito says, running his fingers through Toya’s hair. “I didn’t realize you were out with your dad. Shouldn’t have just come to find you.
“No, it’s okay. You were trying to be nice, my father is just a stubborn old bastard.”
“…Why were you out at the arcade with him anyway?” Akito asks, and Toya groans.
“I’ve told you that my mother is in Italy for the next month, right?”
“Yeah?”
“Well, my father is… acting strangely. It’s been two weeks since she left, and he’s seemed very upset. I tried to get him out of the house because his fire for composition doesn’t seem to be burning as brightly. We almost got into a fight over it, but then he actually agreed and came to the arcade with me. Turns out he’s also good at the cranes.”
“Eh? Did he win some of those?”
“Yeah. Actually, he won the smug one I was going to give to Souma-san.”
“Oh, that’s cool. So you were trying to be nice and it backfired badly.”
“Yeah. It was going so well for a bit, too. I thought maybe we could come to an understanding, but he just… he can’t understand you.”
“Eh, he’s really overprotective. Haven’t we known that forever? Why are you letting it get to you now?”
Toya sighs, letting his eyes flutter closed.
“I don’t know.” He sighs. “I just… we were having such a good time. He was actually asking me questions about arcade and video games! He randomly bought a Switch because I told him that I was using yours so often.”
And Akito is…
He’s laughing?
“What’s so funny?” Toya says, and Akito laughs even harder.
“He got it for you because he thought that if you had your own Switch you’d come over here less often.” He wheezes. “That’s hilarious. You could use that, you know.”
Toya sighs, but Akito’s smile helps fix everything.
And the next thing he knows, he’s laughing too.
“Have I ever told you how glad I am that you’re my partner?” Toya asks, and Akito starts to blush.
“Agh, come on… no need to say that.”
Toya reaches up to brush Akito’s face, and Akito smiles down at him.
And Akito leans down to brush their lips together, but suddenly Toya’s phone goes off and they both sigh as Toya reaches for it.
When Toya sees who sent the text, he’s about to throw it aside, but Akito stops him.
“At least see what your old man has to say.”
Toya sighs, but he opens up the message and taps on the voice file.
And… there’s suddenly music.
It’s the same joyful phrase that his father had been trying to work on before switching to sad love songs, but it’s… extended now.
Joyful doesn’t seem like the right word anymore. It’s more… whimsical.
Like the smiles that flow through the audience at Tsukasa-senpai’s shows.
“…He’s a damn good composer, you’ve gotta admit that.” Akito sighs, barely audible.
But Toya knows what this actually means.
He didn’t just send the piece to Toya to show it off.
It’s the closest thing the stubborn old bastard has ever done to an admission.
“You were right about the writer's block.”
Toya sighs gently, and he was about to type out a response, but then another message pops up.
[Tell me you’re with the Tenmas and not with Shinonome]
And then Toya locks his phone and turns it off.
“Can I stay here tonight?”
“The hell are you asking for? You think I’m going to say no?”
And Toya just falls silent and allows Akito’s hands in his hair to lead him to sleep.
~
Once Toya’s woken up by Akito’s stupid morning person habits, he grabs the bag of plushies and heads to the hospital with Akito by his side.
“Toya-kun!” Souma-san laughs. “And Akito-kun too! Nice to see you guys!”
“Hey, Souma-san.” Akito adds. “Has Tono come today?”
“Not yet. Arata’s gonna be here later. So, what are you guys doing here?”
“Well, I have to give you this.” Toya says, pulling out the smug little cat.
“Aww, it’s cute. Thanks.” Souma says, taking it and putting it with some of the other plushies that Toya’s brought him. “It feels very smug. Reminds me of Arata.”
“That’s exactly why I thought you’d like it.” Toya laughs, but then he remembers the events of the day before and he kind of deflates.
Souma-san clearly notices it, and Akito pats his shoulder.
“It’s okay, Toya. Don’t worry.”
“Did something happen?” Souma-san asks, and Toya sighs.
“Just another incident with my father. Don’t worry about it.”
Souma-san lets out a soft laugh.
“Ms. Narin wasn’t lying, was she? The only peace in your house happens when she actively tries to manipulate you and your dad.”
Toya freezes.
“She… says that?”
Souma-san seems to have realized that he’s said something he shouldn’t have, but it’s too late now.
“Uh, well… she did say that whenever you guys get into an argument that isn’t about street music, she’ll try to sort of play you against each other until you eventually come to an understanding.”
Toya takes a breath.
He knows that if his father ever learned this, it would ruin the few good things in his home life.
“So that’s why she didn’t want to leave us alone?” He sighs. “God, I can’t believe this. No wonder things are so bad right now.”
And suddenly, his phone is vibrating, and it’s…
“Shit.” He sighs.
“Your old man?” Akito asks.
“I wish. No, it’s Mother. She can’t know that anything is wrong.” Toya sighs. “Alright, follow my lead.”
Toya clicks the accept call button, and there’s a familiar voice through the speaker.
“Hey, honey! How’s everything over there?”
“It’s fine. I’m just out with my friends right now. Isn’t it two in the morning where you are?”
“Oh, yes, but you know me. I’ve always been a night owl.”
Toya laughs, and he puts the phone in front of Souma-san.
“I have someone here that would love to say hi to you, you know.”
“Oh? Really?”
“Hey, Ms. Narin!” Souma-san laughs. “I saw the recording of your first show! Brilliant as always!”
“Ah, Souma-kun, is that you? So Toya must be with you! How’s everything?”
“Everything’s great. He just came over to keep me company. He’s sweet like that.”
“Ahaha! I’m so glad.”
Suddenly, there’s the sound of a door opening and someone else’s voice appears.
“Ah, Toya.” Clara-san’s voice rings out. “Sweet little thing, how are you?”
“I’m fine, Clara-san.” Toya says, and Clara-san laughs gently.
“Alright then. See, Narin? He is fine. Now you need to go to sleep.”
Toya’s mother sighs, but she does end up listening to Clara-san.
“Alright, alright. Toya, I’ll talk to you later, okay?” She sighs, and Toya chuckles softly.
“See you later, Mother.”
She hangs up, and Toya’s face instantly falls.
“I can’t survive another month in that house with just my father.” He sighs, and Akito taps his forehead.
“Toya, come on. You’re amazing. You could do anything you put your mind to.”
“He’s right, you know.” Souma-san adds. “You’re trying to surpass RAD WEEKEND! I’m sure you can survive one month with your dad.”
Toya takes a breath.
And then he grips onto the bag of plushies.
“You’re right. If I’m trying to surpass RAD WEEKEND, I can’t let my father get in my way.”
“Okay, that’s not exactly what we sa—” Souma-san starts, but Toya’s not listening.
“I’m going home. I’m going to talk to him.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Akito adds, and Toya nods.
“Yes, I'm sure. Thank you both, I’ll see you later.”
And when Toya walks out, he just barely misses Souma-san and Akito sharing a nervous glance.
~
“I’m back.” Toya starts, and his father turns to him with sharp eyes.
“You could have called.”
“Don’t do this right now. Do you want to be the one to tell Mother that she was right?” Toya says, and his father sighs.
“…Alright. We’re having dinner with the Tenmas tonight, let’s not bother Yakumo with this.”
“I couldn’t agree more.” Toya responds. “And… Father, I need to talk to you about everything. We can’t just keep getting into massive fights every time Akito comes up.”
Toya’s father groans and gets to his feet, walking over to the table to grab his unused sheet music.
“It’s simple, don’t bring him up.”
“Oh, really? That’s it? What if we get married later on, are you just—”
“You’ll marry him over my dead body.” Toya’s father cuts him off, and Toya’s eye starts to twitch.
“You’re a massive control freak, you know that? It’s not your choice if I marry Akito, it’s mine.”
Toya’s father lets out a dismissive sigh.
“Trust me, I know. It’s your choice, but someday you’ll wish you had listened to me.”
“Do you ever wish you’d listened to your parents?!”
“That’s a completely different situation!”
“Really?! Is it so different?!” Toya snaps. “If you had listened to them—”
“You don’t understand what you’re talking about!” Toya’s father snaps, and then he takes a breath and regains his composure. “…Never mind. Just get ready for dinner at the Tenmas’ tonight.”
He stalks into his office, and Toya’s fist closes.
“Gah… I can’t do this anymore…” He groans. “But if I’m ever going to surpass RAD WEEKEND… I have to at least survive a month with him.”
~
“God, what am I going to do?” Toya groans, laying down on Akito’s bed again.
“Hey, I know you can do it. And I’m sorry that…” Akito trails off.
It’s only been another week since Toya and his father had that argument, but it feels like it’s been a month.
And now Toya hears this.
“You really have to go?” He asks, and Akito shakes his head.
“I wish I didn’t, but my mom’s insisting since we ‘never go anywhere as a family anymore.’ I’ll be back in a few weeks, but…”
“Why don’t you run away with me?” Toya asks. “We can leave all this behind and become big singers in America, then come back in a few years. It worked pretty well for Tono-san.”
Akito sighs and runs his fingers through Toya’s hair.
“You wanna end up like Tono? Running away from your problems?”
Toya sighs.
“Why do you have to be right?”
It’s just… it’s so terrible.
How is he supposed to survive three more weeks without Akito?
He could try and escape to the Tenmas, but the one thing Toya and his father have ever agreed on is that the Tenmas are amazing. It’s the first place he’d look. And he doesn’t want to inflict his father as he is now on Auntie.
But then there’s a kiss on his forehead and Akito sighs gently.
“Hey, don’t overthink it. You’ll figure it out, partner. I’m here for now, so why don’t you just let yourself enjoy it for a bit?”
Akito’s hands are on his shoulders, and Toya gently takes one and kisses it softly.
“What am I going to do without you?” He asks, and Akito shakes his head.
“Don’t worry. It’ll be like I’m not even gone. I’ll text you all the time.”
That’s not true, but it’s a nice thought anyway.
And that nice thought is all that’s carrying him till the next day, when Akito’s packing up and…
And he can’t bring himself to complete the thought.
~
Another week passes by, and Toya and his father have been avoiding each other except for the weekly dinners at the Tenmas’ and to pretend that everything is alright to Toya’s mother.
And now, just after Toya’s mother hangs up, his father slams the phone down and tries to run off into his office again.
“Father, are we really going to do this over and over again until Mother comes home?” He sighs.
“It’s only two more weeks, and I think we’ve learned that she was right. We can’t live together without her.”
He starts walking back to his office, and Toya’s grip on the table gets tighter.
There’s… so much anger in his chest.
He needs to run off somewhere. He needs to escape.
But Akito’s house isn’t an option anymore, and they’ve been having dinner with the Tenmas’ weekly. WEEKEND GARAGE is having bar hours, so Ken-san is busy. An and Kohane are out together. Visiting hours at the hospital are over.
He can’t do this. He can’t deal with this oppressive atmosphere.
He doesn’t care where he goes. He’ll keep running until he finds somewhere.
And the next thing he knows, he’s just running.
He’s running through alleys and streets and eventually ends up collapsing in front of a store.
And…
And he has no idea where he is.
And in his haste to run out of there, he left his phone behind.
Oh, god. What has he done?
His mind is so fuzzy, and he just wants to collapse. He’s never been to this store before. He doesn’t even know what street he’s on.
But suddenly, the door to it opens and there’s a familiar purple-haired senpai of Toya’s.
“Kamishiro-senpai?” He whispers, and Kamishiro-senpai looks up from his phone and his eyes widen.
“Aoyagi-kun? What are you doing here?”
“I-I had to get out of my house, and I just started running, and now I don’t know where I am and don’t have my phone and—”
“Aoyagi-kun!” Kamishiro-senpai snaps, putting his hands on Toya’s shoulders. “It’s alright. Come with me. You can stay at my house, and then I’ll call Tsukasa-kun so he can tell your father where you are. Does that sound alright?”
Toya nods, and Kamishiro-senpai gently takes his hand and pulls him towards a house and they enter a shed.
“This is my workshop.” Kamishiro-senpai says. “Sit here, I’ll call Tsukasa-kun.”
Toya sits at Kamishiro-senpai’s desk as he calls Tsukasa-senpai, and he has a whispered conversation until he hands the phone to Toya.
“He wants to talk to you.”
Toya takes the phone gently, and Tsukasa-senpai’s voice flows into his ears.
“My love! Are you alright?!”
“I’m fine. Don’t worry.” Toya croaks out, and Tsukasa-senpai sighs.
“Okay. Don’t worry. I’ll handle Uncle. Just stay with Rui for now.”
“I-I will, Senpai.”
“Alright. And tell Rui to call me if you want to talk to me, okay?”
“I will. Thank you.”
“No problem. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
Tsukasa-senpai hangs up after saying his goodbyes, and Toya hands Kamishiro-senpai his phone back.
“…Do you want to talk?” Kamishiro-senpai says, sitting on the floor. “You don’t have to, but…”
Toya lets out a sigh, spinning on Kamishiro-senpai’s chair so he’s face to face with him.
“My father is… I don’t know how to deal with him anymore. I don’t know what to do.”
“Well… I’d say I’m a neutral party in your conflict. So if you want, I could try to give you advice?”
Toya sighs.
And then he starts getting into everything that’s been happening.
“I just… I don’t know. I don’t understand how my father can’t see it. He married my mother against his family’s wishes, and now he’s so happy that he doesn’t know what to do with himself when Mother is gone. He just… doesn’t understand.”
Toya sighs, and Kamishiro-senpai sighs.
“Hmm… well, from what I’ve heard from you and Tsukasa-kun, your father can be extremely overprotective.”
“That’s an understatement if I’ve ever heard one. He’s so terrified of me making a bad decision.”
“Why is that?”
Toya tilts his head slightly.
“What?”
“Do you know why he’s so overprotective of you?” Kamishiro-senpai says. “That feels like it’s a good place to start.”
“…I don’t quite know. Maybe he’s just a stubborn old bastard.”
Kamishiro-senpai has a soft smile on his face.
“You know, you’re quite stubborn yourself, Aoyagi-kun.”
Toya sighs, and Kamishiro-senpai shakes his head.
“I’m sorry, don’t worry about that. But, and this is just my own theory, have you thought that your father might be overprotective because of his own parents?”
“What?” Toya asks, and Kamishiro-senpai shrugs.
“I’m just throwing out ideas. But… your father doesn’t seem to have had the best childhood either, at least from what I saw at your Christmas dinner.”
“What, so you think that he’s always so angry with me because he’s taking out his own issues on me?” Toya asks, and Kamishiro-senpai shakes his head.
“No, I’m saying that perhaps he smothers you because he never felt loved as a child, and now he doesn’t ever want his child to feel that way.”
“But his family wanted him to be a doctor or a lawyer.” Toya sighs. “Why would he push me to something I don’t wish to be? Push me away from someone I love when he ran away to be with someone he loved?”
Kamishiro-senpai bounces his leg as he thinks about something, and then he shrugs.
“That, Aoyagi-kun, I don’t know.” Kamishiro-senpai sighs. “I think that answer can only come out of your father.”
~
Harumichi doesn’t know why he’s doing this. He doesn’t even know how he got in this situation.
But he’s suddenly knocking on the door to Yakumo’s house, and she pops open the door almost immediately.
“Harumichi? What are you doing here?” She asks. “And why didn’t you just use your key?”
“I… forgot them. I just needed to get out of there. Toya’s gone off somewhere and…”
“He’s at Tsukasa’s boyfriend’s place. We were about to call you. No need to worry.” She says, and Harumichi lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.
“…It’s too quiet in there.”
“Well, it’s never quiet in here. Come on.” Yakumo says, letting him in.
They end up in the living room after the door is closed, and Harumichi looks up to see Tsukasa on his phone but also definitely paying attention to everything that happens below him.
“I need to talk to you.” Harumichi says, and Yakumo motions for him to go. “Where certain people in lofts can’t hear.”
“…How did you know?” Tsukasa chimes in, and Yakumo laughs.
“You’re always listening to what happens down here. That’s why you wanted to move in there in the first place. Come on, let’s go to my room.”
They walk up to the master bedroom together, and Yakumo sits on her bed and motions for Harumichi to sit down next to her and speak.
And he sighs.
And finally lets out what he’s been thinking for the past two weeks.
“I can’t do this anymore. I just don’t know what to do about Toya.”
Yakumo sighs.
“How did I know? What happened?”
“…Why can’t he see that classical music is what gives life meaning? How, at least for our family, it’s the only path that’s going to lead to anything but heartbreak? He just… doesn’t understand. He’s such a stubborn child.”
Yakumo’s lips gain a gentle smile.
“And where the hell do you think he got that from, Haru-chan?”
“Not now, Yakumo.”
“Okay, okay…”
Yakumo leans onto her hand and just… looks at him. Her sunset eyes boring into his soul.
“…Maybe it's you that doesn’t understand. Have you considered that?”
“Yakumo…”
“I’m serious here.” She says, shifting so that she’s more comfortable. “But that’s not really the point right now. You know, you and Toya have had really different life experiences. For Toya, classical music is all he’s known. For you, it was the greatest escape of your life. He doesn’t have that same connection to it. He didn’t live through your pain.”
Harumichi sighs.
“I don’t want him to go through that pain. I don’t want him to grow into a miserable world where he has no one beside him.”
“I know you don’t. But that’s not how Toya sees it. For him, classical music isn’t an escape from a life that he hated. He doesn’t have that… connection to it that you do.”
Harumichi closes his eyes.
“So, what you’re saying is that in my effort to make sure my son would never feel like I did, I messed him up in the exact same way my parents messed me up.”
“No, that’s not what I’m saying. But I am saying that if you ever want Toya to understand your point of view and where you’re coming from, I think you need to tell him everything.”
“He already knows about my parents.”
“Yeah, he knows about your parents. But what about everything else? What about how they made you feel?”
“Yakumo, he’s my child. I’m not going to tell him about everything they did to me.”
Yakumo shakes her head.
“It’s the only way he’ll understand your point. Because no one, not even Narin, has seen you at your lowest. No one except me. No one else saw you before you discovered classical music. When you once told me that you didn’t see any difference between living or dying, because all you had to look forward to was a life of doing exactly what your parents wanted for you. If he heard the real story, what actually happened the day you met Narin, and how the moment you heard her sing you suddenly found what you were meant to do with your life? He’d understand you.”
Harumichi sighs.
“I don’t think he needs to know that. Really. It’d serve no purpose.”
“Just humor me. It can’t hurt, can it?” Yakumo responds, and… her eyes are staring into his soul again.
“If you insist that it will help… at this point, you know Toya better than I do. Did you know he loves the arcade and video games? And that all those stuffed animals that Saki has come from his arcade trips?”
“Yep. Actually, he dropped a bunch off a few days ago. Said that this bunch was from both of you. What was that about?”
Harumichi sighs.
“Alright, but don’t you dare laugh.”
~
Okay. It’s the next morning, Kamishiro-senpai walked him home, and Toya’s messing with his hands.
He walks through the door, and Kamishiro-senpai makes a phone motion to his ear.
“I’ll call you if I need anything.” Toya mouths back.
Kamishiro-senpai nods and walks off, and Toya closes the door behind him.
“You’re back.” His father sighs.
Toya walks in and gently sits next to him, and…
And the words fail him again.
If there’s one thing Toya inherited from his father, it’s his lack of expressiveness.
But his fist closes around the fabric of the jeans he borrowed from Kamishiro-senpai.
He can’t allow that to stop him any longer. He needs to know. Why…
“Why are you always so overprotective of me?” Toya finally forces out, and his father freezes.
“…Yakumo told you to say that, didn’t she?”
“No. But Kamishiro-senpai told me that it might help me understand you better.”
And his father pinches his nose.
“Looks like I’m wildly outnumbered here. It’s… hard to explain. But… I think a place to start is this.”
His father picks up some… very old sheet music, and he walks over to the piano.
And he starts playing something.
The playing is… clumsier than Toya’s known from his father. The piece is clearly someone’s first attempt at composing.
But… Toya could recognize that style anywhere.
His father composed this piece.
However, this piece is… dark. It’s filled with fear and despair, and it…
It makes Toya feel like a caged bird.
It… hurts. Like his heart is being squeezed until all the emotions are wrung out of it.
A vivid, painful wish. To escape.
Once the piece is over, the feeling in his chest slowly subsides. But the memory certainly doesn’t.
“When I was your age, that’s how I felt every single day. Until I met your mother. That’s the first piece I ever composed, and it was when I couldn’t figure out how to show that I had found my calling. …Because as much as you and I may fight, I wasn’t able to do what you did. I was terrified out of my mind of my parents and what they would do, I would never dream of actually arguing with them. Instead, I snuck behind their backs. I never once let them know that I was performing until Narin showed up at my house because she was being followed home. And she was her normal, charming self, but they hated her for everything she was. She loves wearing skirts and dressing up, the exact opposite of my mother. And if that wasn’t enough to make them despise her, they practically threw her out after she explained that we performed together. It took me two weeks to be able to sneak out and see her again. She represented everything I thought I could never be, and I wrote this piece a few weeks after that incident. She was free, I was trapped. Like… in a cage. But classical music was my escape, and I… I genuinely believe that it saved my life. It’s why I am… so connected to it. And it’s why I want you to be connected to it as well. Because classical music is what taught me what true, unconditional love was. My parents never once made me feel loved. And no matter how much we disagree… wait, there’s one more piece I’d like to show you. It will express the point better than words.”
And then his father pushes aside the old sheet music.
And he starts to play.
It’s… affectionate. Gentle.
It’s truly, truly lovely. A kind of gentle, protective love.
Like… Toya can’t really describe it, but it’s the kind of love that he feels when he sees Ken-san and An, or Tono-san and Yoka-san, or Kohane and her father.
Ah, he’s… tearing up. Why is he tearing up?
Toya rubs at his eyes as the piece continues, and…
And eventually it stops.
“I’ve never heard that piece before.” Toya whispers, and his father shakes his head.
“No one has, except for Yakumo, Koki, and Narin. I composed it on May 26th.”
“This May 26th?” Toya asks, and his father shakes his head.
“No. May 26th, sixteen years ago.”
And it clicks in Toya’s head.
“Wait, but that’s…”
“The day after you were born. I composed pieces like this for your brothers too, and even ones for Tsukasa and Saki. They’re… the exact emotions that I felt when I saw each of you for the first time. Each one was different.”
Oh. Oh, now Toya’s crying.
It’s not just tearing up, he’s just outright crying. Tears dripping down his cheeks.
“And… this is how you felt about me when I was born?”
“Why are you speaking in the past tense? You’re my child, how could I not love you more than life itself?” His father says simply, and Toya’s crying even harder.
“I… I don't know what to say. I don’t even know why I’m crying.” Toya chokes out. “But, for what it’s worth… even when we’ve argued and been at our lowest… I’ve never felt like you didn’t love me.”
And suddenly that seems to break his father’s confidence.
“Oh, no. No, you can’t say that.” His father chokes out, and that’s when Toya realizes that his father has started to tear up. “You don’t know how scared I was that you didn’t know that when we were fighting non-stop. I just… I can’t stand the idea that you might get hurt. ”
“I know that. And I know that we might never truly be able to understand each other, but… that doesn’t mean we have to hate each other, right?”
“If you think I could hate you, I have messed up terribly somewhere.”
“I don’t. And I think now… now I understand everything even more.” Toya laughs through his tears, before getting up from the couch and walking over to the piano bench, and wrapping his father in the tightest hug he can.
And his father gently runs his fingers through his hair, and…
It’s strange. Gentle.
He hasn’t felt this kind of connection with his father in a long time.
“I don’t suppose this whole thing has convinced you to play again?” His father asks, and Toya laughs.
“Not a chance, Father.”
“Well, it was worth a shot.”
And Toya just… sighs.
They might fight a lot, and be so diametrically opposed and insanely stubborn in their ways, but…
But at least they both know that they love each other.
And that’s something that’ll never be broken, no matter how much they fight.
~
“I’m home!” Toya’s mother says, opening the door, and Toya and his father both drop what they’re doing to rush over to her.
“Mother! You’re home! How was Italy?” Toya says.
“Weren’t you supposed to be back tomorrow?” Toya’s father adds.
“Oh, I was able to switch to an earlier flight thanks to a cancellation. Italy was lovely, of course, but I needed to get home. What about you two?”
“What about us? We’re fine.” Toya starts, pulling out every acting trick he’s picked up over the years in an attempt to fool one of the greatest actresses in the world.
“Toya, honey?” His mother asks.
“Yes?”
“Who taught Tsukasa how to act like that?”
“…Okay, so a lot of things happened, but we didn’t kill each other. Let’s focus on that part.”
“A miracle, it seems like. At least from what Yakumo told me.” Toya’s mother says, before pointing to his father. “Next time, I’m taking you with me.”
And both Toya and his father let out a relieved sigh.
“Oh, thank god.” Toya’s father adds, and Toya nods.
“Absolutely, let’s never do this again.”