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“Haru-chan, could you get the bucket?”
Haruka, and the other members of ZOOL currently occupying the living room with him, glanced back towards the direction of the voice, coming from behind the sliding doors to their right. Without a word, Minami paused the movie they had been watching together as Haruka stood up.
“Sure, Grandma. Is it the roof again?” he asked on the way to the closet outside in their backyard, crossing the kitchen where his grandma was at.
“Mhm,” she muttered, pointing with the knife she’d been using to chop up some vegetables up above her. “The leak should be in the same place as always.”
Haruka sighed. “You still haven’t gotten it fixed?”
He flinched when his grandmother shot him a look. “Why should I have to get some stranger to fix my roof when the bucket works just fine?”
The door to the backyard slid open, amplifying the sound of the heavy rain outside.
Again, Haruka sighed, grateful that the storage closet was still within the bounds of the covered balcony. He fished the lonely pink plastic bucket sitting there and returned quickly before the cold could settle into his bones.
Upon closing the balcony doors, Haruka found Touma, Minami, and Torao staring at the hole in their roof. His grandma, on the other hand, was paying them no mind and simply turning on the stove.
“What are you idiots doing?” Haruka said, pushing past Torao and placing the bucket on the wet surface. “And hand me the dirty rag on the floor next to you, Touma.”
Touma passed the rag with his foot and followed the action with a question. “Eh, Haru. How long has that roof been leaking?”
“Hm? Like…years. I don’t know,” Haruka replied, not really paying that much attention as he wiped the puddles that had gathered up in the floor. “It started leaking one day when I came here and we haven’t bothered to fix it, even though we have plenty of money—ow!”
A hand chop to the top of his head silenced him, and he looked up to see his very small grandma looming. “Don’t you start on about that again, Haru-chan.”
“Hey! It’s true! You know I’m too busy with idol work and school, Grandma, and I can’t even fix roofs in the first place!” he sputtered, rubbing his head and standing back up. “And do you have to hit me when all my groupmates are here?” he added in what he knew was more a whimper than a whispered complaint.
That seemed to catch Grandma’s attention, as she honed in on the other three standing and smiled. “Pay no attention to my grandson. He’s been too fixated on that cracked roof ever since he was a kid. Don’t trouble yourselves to come here…wouldn’t you like something warm? Dinner will take a while and I wouldn’t want you to go hungry. The storm doesn’t seem to be letting up any time soon, either.”
“Ah…well, I’d feel—”
“If you say you’re gonna feel bad, you shouldn’t have come here in the first—ow!” Haruka started to retort at Touma before his grandmother silenced him again.
“We’d love some tea, if that’s all right with you, ma’am,” Minami cut in. “And if you’d like, we’d be happy to help you with dinner as well.”
Grandma beamed at Minami but shook her head. “How smooth, but that’s all right. This old lady can manage by herself for her guests. And you’re always welcome to stay here if the storm persists.”
Well, Haruka hoped they wouldn’t stay.
He loved his childhood home and all, but he didn’t know if the creaking building could survive the presence of ZOOL’s rowdy adult members.
Wisely, though, he kept that to himself.
“Well, I’d still feel bad if we didn’t do something,” Touma muttered to himself as the four of them exited the kitchen back to the small living room.
He stopped suddenly and turned with an eager smile on his face. “Hey, Torao, Minami! Why don’t we fix up the leaky roof for Haruka’s grandma??”
The three of them stared at their deranged leader.
“What? In this weather—wait. I don’t know how to fix a roof!” Torao stammered.
Touma blinked at him. “Huh? But you look so strong—”
“Everything that was broken was always fixed for me!”
“Ah, yes, you were born with a golden spoon in your mouth, weren’t you,” Minami reminded them, taking a seat on the couch.
“Like you two know how to fix a roof!”
Again, Touma blinked at Torao. “But I do? My parents taught me how when I was in middle school, and usually Mom made me help out Dad when things got broken and she was too busy to do it herself. If the roof above is shingles, then I know how to repair it.”
“And I had an acting role that required me to know some basic construction knowledge, so I’m sure I’ll be able to manage,” Minami said.
“…uh, guys?” Haruka tried to interrupt.
“…honestly, that sounds like fun,” Torao muttered, sitting down and keeping his head low.
“What was that, Midou-san?”
Torao scowled at Minami. “I said, it sounds like fun. Is there a problem with that?”
“Not at all. I just couldn’t hear you,” Minami replied without any change to his inflections. “But…we can teach you.”
“Guys…” Haruka tried again.
“Oh, yeah! That sounds awesome! I can show you guys and make it a ZOOL bonding activity! Let’s go ask Haru’s grandma if she’s okay with us doing that when the rain dries out!” Touma exclaimed, clapping his hands together and skipping back to the kitchen.
Haruka didn’t even know what to say, more because he hadn’t even been able to get a word in edgewise. But now that Touma was gone, he turned to the members of his group seated on the sofa.
“What was that?!” he demanded after a long pause, crossing his arms and pointedly not sitting down.
Minami tilted his head slight as Torao frowned at him. “What was what?” the latter said.
“That!” Haruka sputtered, pointing at the kitchen doors behind them that were sliding open again. Touma was stepping out with a smile on his face.
Behind him was his grandmother, beaming at the boys. “Haruka, good news. That roof you’ve wanted fixed for so long—”
“I wanted fixed?!” Haruka sputtered in a silent protest.
“—well, your friends have agreed to fix it for me! Isn’t that so sweet of them?”
They’re…they’re not my friends, Haruka wanted to say but instead found himself gaping at Touma, whose smile froze in place and eyes widened a fraction.
“What’s wrong, Haruka?” he asked, voice tentative.
“I—um…” Haruka glanced at his grandma going back into the kitchen, then at Touma, then at Torao on the couch and Minami who was excusing himself to go use the restroom. He deflated a little and stomped to sit down himself. “Nothing, I guess.”
“…uh, okay?” he heard Touma say. “Is he okay?” he heard Touma follow that up to Torao.
Next to him, Torao shrugged. “Beats me.”
“Idiots,” Haruka whispered under his breath, but they weren’t Minami, so they didn’t hear.
Instead, they all stared at the TV screen on pause—it wasn’t anything special, just an old movie with a much younger Chiba Shizuo playing its main protagonist. They’d all chosen it out of confusion when they’d seen a Nikaidou Yamato lookalike gracing the cover of one of Grandma’s CDs—sure, they technically knew about the relationship between Nikaido and Chiba Shizuo, but the resemblance was still uncanny.
“Huh…how did they manage to keep that guy’s father a secret,” Torao muttered, his eyes fixed on the scene that was paused on Chiba’s face.
It was harder to tell without those awful glasses Nikaidou chose to wear, but he wasn’t wrong.
“Well, no one’s recognised Riku and Tenn’s relationship,” Touma pointed out, nodding at the screen as he took a seat next to Haruka, squishing their youngest in between their tallest members in that small couch. “I know they’re fraternal twins but even so, that’s pretty blind.”
“You should get on some of the forums Haruka scrolls through for comments about ZOOL,” Torao snorted, nudging Haruka with his elbow. “They can get on some pretty wild theories about those guys, though of course nothing’s been confirmed.”
“Hey! I don’t get on forums for comments!” Haruka protested, scowling. “I just…sometimes get on them to see what people are saying about ZOOL!”
“…that’s the same thing, though?” Touma said, genuine confusion on his face while Torao just snorted even harder.
“Shut up! It’s not because I care what people have to say about us! I just want to see if publicity is working!” Haruka continued, straightening up and glaring at Torao. “Besides, you do the same thing as well—wait. What are you doing there, anyway, Torao?! You’re not harassing online women are you? Even if you’re you—”
“What? I told you guys I don’t do that anymore!” Torao complained, raising his hands up defensively and casting an imploring look at Touma. “You believe me, don’t you? I’m on them the same reason as Haruka is! Just want to see the comments!”
Touma looked conflicted. “Well…”
“Hey! What do you mean ‘well’?”
“Where’s Mina, anyway?” Touma deflected, looking away from Torao’s eyes and instead towards the hallway that led to restroom.
“Ignored…” Torao huffed, sinking back into the cushions to sulk.
Haruka squinted at him but chose to ignore him as well. “Yeah, where is Minami? He’s taking too long. Is he sick or—”
“Do you think he died in there?” Torao suddenly interrupted, eyes widening and sulking all gone. “Maybe that toilet ghost he was telling Haruka about the other day got to him…”
The suggestion sent a chill ran through Haruka’s spine, freezing his blood in consequence. “Wh-wh-what???”
“D-don’t joke like that, Torao!” Touma stammered, face frozen in horror. “…wait, maybe I should ask Riku if he ever saw a girl ghost—”
“I’m right here.”
The three of them yelped at Minami’s voice suddenly materializing from behind them.
“Mina! You’re okay!”
Minami raised an eyebrow at Touma. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“What took so long?” Torao pressed, then grinned in that stupid way that told Haruka he was going to spit out something inappropriate. “Were you—”
“I was fixing the hinges of the door,” Minami cut off, his eyes glinting in that dangerous way that told the other ZOOL members Torao would have died had his words not been interrupted. He smiled at Haruka subtly. “I’ll give my apologies for meddling with someone else’s home but I found a screwdriver in the hallway and thought it best to re-fit your bathroom doors lest anyone get stuck in there. It should work all right now, though you might want to oil the sliding part as it seemed to be creaking quite a bit.”
At the words, Haruka found himself frozen again, his neck craned oddly as he kept staring at Minami. When he kept quiet, Minami circled around the couch and sat in front of the kotatsu, Haruka’s eyes following him.
He didn’t notice how awkward the silence was until Touma spoke up. “Eh, Haru…are you okay there?”
The words, like magic, snapped Haruka out of his stupor. “Huh?” he stammered, glancing wildly around before looking down at Minami. “Oh, yeah. Yes…um. Thank you, Minami. That was bothering me for a bit and…thanks.”
“No problem, shall we resume our movie, then?” Minami accepted easily, then moved on as easily.
“Yeah…asides from the uncanny resemblance to that IDOLiSH7 leader, the movie’s pretty good,” Torao commented.
“It really is,” Touma agreed, hugging a pillow and leaning towards the screen as Minami pressed play. “The fight scenes are so realistic…”
“Hmph,” was Haruka’s only response.
It turned out that the other ZOOL members did end up staying after dinner, the rain showing no signs of stopping even if it wasn’t as heavy as before.
“Feel free to evict them if they get too loud, Grandma,” Haruka told her while they were helping her clean up after the meal.
She had sent them all to wash up first and change into some clothes Haruka knew had once belonged to his father—most of them had been donated or thrown away, but she had kept a good number of them from both his parents that had had more sentimental value. They’d taken turns using the restroom in the hallway and returned to help with the dishes, finding Haruka’s grandma cleaning up all by herself.
“We’ll behave!” Touma exclaimed, sounding distressed. “But we really apologise for imposing on you like this.”
“No! Don’t worry yourselves! I’m very happy that my Haru-chan has good friends looking out for him,” Grandma replied, actually looking happier than she had in a long time. “I was so worried when he was overseas and then came back looking so sad, but I see that my worries were all unfounded.”
“…Grandma…” Haruka weakly protested.
I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have left you behind, he wanted to tell her again, but the words died in his throat when Torao threw and arm around Haruka, squishing him in his toned arms.
“Yep. This little guy looks out for us all, and we do the same for him,” Torao laughed.
Haruka elbowed Torao away. “Someone has to look out for you pathetic adults,” he muttered quietly, not loud enough for his grandma to hear.
“In any case, Minami-kun. Thank you so much for fixing that sliding door. And thank you for changing the lightbulbs in my room, Torao-kun. It’s so nice having such a tall and handsome young man around here,” Grandma continued.
“Hey! I told you I could do the lightbulbs…” Haruka weakly grumbled, glancing about the room between the faces of his groupmates and his grandma.
Grandma chuckled softly, putting away the final plate, and smiled at him wryly. “You said that two weeks ago, Haru-chan. But I’m very grateful for your thoughtfulness, too, and you’ve made it up by bringing these friends of yours over here.”
“Huh?” Haruka sputtered. “I mean…yeah. I guess?”
He was still staring at the scene, dumbfounded, while Grandma was turning to Minami. “In any case, do you all want something more for the evening. I’m afraid that what I made wasn’t enough for you boys.”
More like it wasn’t enough for Minami, Haruka privately thought somewhere in the back of his currently-static brain.
“I don’t have anything by way of snacks, but there’s plenty of drinks. Or I can whip you something up quickly.”
“No, you’ve done plenty for us, ma’am,” Minami assured her. Both he, Haruka’s grandma, and the rest of ZOOL were ignoring the crisis that Haruka’s was facing…though maybe that was because he was going through his crisis scowling openly at the back door.
This…this is just weird, Haruka thought, tuning out the sounds of further conversation that were dragged to the living room. I never imagined they’d stay overnight and…and fix parts of my house. And wear my dad’s clothes. This is weird. So weird.
His absentness was only broken up when he heard Minami say, “We’ll be all right, ma’am. Don’t feel the need to stay on account of us and rest. Your grandson tells us that you retire early.”
“How considerate of you,” Grandma laughed, standing up. “I’ll be off, then, to wash up. If you boys need me, I’ll be upstairs and awake for another hour. Haru-chan, could you get them the futons they’ll need?”
Quickly shaking off the jittery feelings, Haruka nodded. “Yeah, I will. Good night, Grandma. Sleep well.”
The four of them returned to a…companionable silence while they waited for Haruka’s grandma to leave. It was only broken when Touma hummed a little, then said, “You’re grandma is really nice, Haruka. They remind me of my grandparents.”
Haruka stiffened a little at this but relaxed when he saw Touma’s usual sincere and inoffensive smile. “Well, of course. She raised me all by herself and even supported me when I wanted to do things. She’s the best.”
“We’re glad of it,” Minami laughed. “She really is a lovely woman.”
“Mhm. Wow, I can’t imagine being the one to take care of you all by myself. Sounds hard.”
Haruka glared at Torao, who didn’t seem to get how his words could be construed aa offensive. He opened his mouth to scathingly make that clear, before shutting it back up.
The thoughts in his head scrambled as he watched the members of ZOOL laze about in the small living room that only had single couch and a moderately costly TV occupying the space with other side pieces of furniture. The sound of rain pitterpattered outside, some of it dripping through the leak in the kitchen and into the bucket they’d set up there. Upstairs, he heard his grandmother moving about, probably under the lights Torao had just replaced.
Haruka huffed and took the spot next to the kotatsu Minami had had earlier. He couldn’t help a laugh, then shook his head, hitting Torao’s leg hanging next to him lightly with a fist.
“Yeah, raising me probably was super hard alone,” Haruka told their oldest, smirking a little to hide the weird warmth that had gathered in the space between his lungs. “So you guys better not go back on your word about fixing her roof. Okay?”
The light laughter and good-natured chorus of “okay!” were enough to soothe the mess of thoughts that had been plaguing his mind.