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In addition to his seemingly broad ego, Karamatsu would say that he had a daily routine he liked to follow. Every morning he would wake up before his brothers, taking the time to do some of their chores for them, such as folding clothes or cleaning up their bedroom (the others always assumed it was Mom performing such acts of pure kindness - if only they knew!)
Once everyone was awake, he would eat breakfast with his brothers, sitting back smugly as he listened to his brothers’ harmless bickering, watching as Jyushimatsu devoured his food before running off to do his own thing. Karamatsu would wait until everyone was off getting ready for the day to clean up the mess at their table, stacking dishes and bringing them to his mother to clean.
Karamatsu would then get ready for his own day. He would start with his clothes - the signature outfit he spent so many hours studying men’s fashion magazines to perfect. The smooth leather jacket, the nearly skin-tight pants that sparkled and fit nicely around his thighs ( gave them definition - one magazine said,) the skull belt buckle and brown heeled boots - it was a look that he was sure would attract people from all over. Well… eventually it would. He was sure of it.
Next, he would spend a significant amount of time in the bathroom, much to his brothers’ irritation, but it was absolutely necessary. As he once told his dear youngest brother Todomatsu, beauty takes time, and it was a phrase he firmly believed in. He had to make sure his already thick eyebrows were well plucked and defined, had to put in his brown colored contacts and apply a bit of mascara that he generously borrowed from Todomatsu. He would run a comb through his hair several times, making sure it was as tidy as possible.
All of this usually took around an hour.
Finally, as he emerged from the bathroom, feeling dazzled and fresh but receiving nothing more than cheap grunts of annoyance from his brothers, Karamatsu reached into the pockets of his jacket and pulled out his sunglasses - his new pair, that had been begrudgingly gifted to him by Ichimatsu after his cat had broken his old pair. It had warmed his heart really, that deep down inside his cold blooded brother actually had a heart of gold. Once he cleaned the lenses a bit with his sleeve, he slipped the glasses onto his face, and he was officially ready for the day.
Karamatsu would grab what little money he had and stuff it into his pockets, then tell his brothers he was going out. “Out,” he would say, a daring grin on his face, “to get those Karamatsu girls.”
Usually, nobody would say anything to him, aside from an acknowledging grunt from Choromatsu and a “see ya, Karamatsu” from Osomatsu as he didn’t budge from his spot in front of the TV. Karamatsu was used to such responses by now.
He would leave the house, and then what? Well, although he would spend a good portion of the day standing around and waiting for girls to notice him, another phrase that Karamatsu was rather fond of was something along the lines of, I go wherever the wind takes me. And since recently, the wind had been leading him right to Chibita’s oden stand, and it was just starting to become another part of his routine.
Not that it bothered Karamatsu. He had grown quite fond of Chibita recently, and since overhearing how lonely the smaller man felt, Karamatsu felt obligated to do something for him, or at least just be there for him. One of his many life goals was to make people happy, and if he could do that for Chibita, it would mean the world to him.
“Karamatsu,” Chibita said one day as he lazily stirred the broth of his oden with a soup spoon. “Don’t you have anything better to do than sit around here all day?” It had been a slow day at the oden stand, and while Chibita didn’t mind the company (he enjoyed it, actually,) he didn’t see what was so interesting about him that made the sextuplet want to stick around so much.
Karamatsu, having finished his third plate of oden, sat back and folded his arms behind his head, shutting his eyes blissfully. He thought about Chibita’s question for a minute. Why was he here? Of course, it was to give Chibita some company, but was there something more to it? He swore he could feel the meaning to all of this deep in his heart, but it just wouldn’t come to him. “Well,” he began, opening his eyes again and peeking at Chibita over his sunglasses. “You’re lonely, aren’t you?”
“Eh..?” Chibita flinched at the comment, dropping the spoon he was holding into the broth with a loud clank. “What would give you that idea, huh?!”
With a chuckle, Karamatsu leaned forward and rested his head in his hands. “Heh, believe me, Chibita, I know a lonely soul when I see one.” He pointed to himself with his thumb. “I’m one myself.”
“Like hell you are, idjit!” The loud slam of Chibita’s hands on the stand was startling enough to shake the cart a little. “At least you’ve got your brothers! I - ah, I mean…” The shorter man’s shoulders slumped as he looked away, remembering what happened the last time he tried telling a Matsuno his feelings. “It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it, you hear?”
But Karamatsu wasn’t having it. One thing that set him apart from his brothers was his attention to others’ needs and feelings, and this was no exception. “No, tell me.” He scooted over and patted the empty space next to him, beckoning Chibita to sit with him.
After scanning the empty park for any possible customers and not seeing anyone, Chibita finally gave in and took off the towel around his neck, placing it on the counter and hopping off of his stool. He slid into the bench beside Karamatsu, who was staring firmly at him. “What’s with that face?”
Karamatsu slipped his sunglasses off and tucked them into the collar of his shirt in one swift movement, gazing at Chibita with a gleam in his eyes. “The Karamatsu Counseling Session can officially begin!”
“Wha-- counseling session?” Chibita couldn’t help but snicker at such a silly title. “ Oh, please. It’s not that bad, you idjit.” But when Karamatsu didn’t say anything and only continued to stare, it unnerved him a little too much, so he turned himself around and put his back to the sextuplet. “Can I at least look over here while I talk? I can’t take that face of yours seriously.”
When still no response came, Chibita stubbornly sighed and crossed his arms. “It’s really not a big deal, okay? It’s just, I’ve always been alone.” He took a deep breath. He couldn’t believe he was saying this.
“When we were kids, I wasn’t exactly friends with you sextuplets, what with us trying to kill each other every day. Not even Iyami stuck around for me, even though he cared about me. And besides, who would’ve wanted to be friends with me, a messed up, violent kid who didn’t have a family? I know I wouldn’t. But… that’d be kind of hypocritical, wouldn’t it?”
It was silent again, and Chibita’s heart was pounding harder than it should’ve been. He wasn’t used to pouring his heart out like that. “W-What I mean to say is, I’m used to being alone. Nobody has ever stayed with me before and I don’t see why that would change now.”
Karamatsu still didn’t say a word, and Chibita wondered if the guy had fallen asleep until he heard a sniffle. He spun around just in time to see Karamatsu’s gross crying face.
“Ch.. Chibita…” Karamatsu tried to contain himself, but it didn’t last long, and moments later he threw himself into Chibita’s arms in a violent sob. “Chibitaaa!! If only I knew you felt that way, I would’ve been nicer to you all those years ago!”
It really was an awkward situation, with Karamatsu making a scene and soaking Chibita’s work clothes with his tears. Chibita could only carefully pat his friend’s back in consolation. Wasn’t he supposed to be the counselor here? “Uh.. there there?”
After a few more minutes of Karamatsu crying his heart out, he lifted his head, ignoring the dark wet spot he left on Chibita’s shirt and instead grabbing him by the shoulders. “Forgive me, Chibita. I’ve been so awful to you all this time. I’m going to make sure you’re never alone again!”
Chibita averted Karamatsu’s puffy-eyed gaze nervously. This guy just kept getting more and more unpredictable. “Wh- uh… just how do you plan on doing that, idjit?”
“Heh,” Karamatsu smirked, grabbing his sunglasses and putting them back on, either to go back into his cool persona or to hide the fact that he was just crying. Probably both. “You’re going to be with me, of course!”
Now Chibita was just confused. “What? Don’t you already come here almost every day?”
“Yes, but that’s not enough! I need to make up for all those times I treated you poorly.” Karamatsu leaned back and grabbed his friend’s hand, similar to when Chibita did the same during the kidnapping incident. “We’re going to go out and do whatever it is friends do - maybe we could even find you a nice girl! It’s my treat.”
Friends. The word still seemed so foreign to Chibita, and while he did consider Karamatsu a friend, they had never actually hung out outside of his job. There were surely going to be a lot of flaws in Karamatsu’s plan for the two of them, but somehow, he couldn’t bring himself to care.
“Alright. Whatever you say, idjit.”
At that, Karamatsu sprung up from the bench, nearly knocking it over with Chibita still on it. “Then it’s settled! Are you off this Saturday night?” He looked at the shorter man with such excited eyes, he was almost like a puppy.
“I, uh, I think so,” Chibita stood up, grabbing Karamatsu’s long abandoned plate from in front of him and rubbing the back of his head with his free hand. He was a bit flustered at this whole situation, but even so, it excited him. As he made his way back to the other side of the oden stand, he watched as Karamatsu prepared to leave. “So, see you then, yeah?”
The ever so composed Karamatsu walked backwards away from the stand and shot finger guns towards Chibita. “You know it. See you around!” He kept this up until he nearly tripped on a rock, and then he decided to walk normally.
Yes, Karamatsu thought giddily as he strode through the park on his way home. This is a good routine.