Chapter Text
It was July 23rd. A year since Kou's mother died. He was on supernatural guard duty while his siblings were visiting her. Kou hated this. He hated not being able to see her because there was a slim chance a supernatural would show up. But at the same time he knew Teru probably misses her more than he ever could. Their mother used to cook everyone's meals, she was there when their dad couldn't be. She sacrificed everything so her family could be happy, so her firstborn could have some sort of a childhood while still being an exorcist. She never would've admitted it but she slightly resented her husband for making him exorcise all those spirits at such a young age. He didn't ask to be talented. He never should've been made to do that. Aren't there enough exorcists already?! She loved her kids more than anything, even herself. Kou is just returning that love. Returning it by being forced to stay inside and abandon her. Like he does every year. Like his dad did. He always said it was for work. Now Kou is doing the same thing. Abandoning his family for some stupid ghosts. Just as the young exorcist was about to put the telly on he heard the doorbell ring. He got up, slightly nervous because he didn't know who was behind the door. "It can't be nii-chan because he usually barges in without knocking" Kou thought to himself he struggled to put his shoes on before answering. The boy opened the door to see a supernatural with a yellow scarf carefully placed over his pink cardigan. The blond boy pauses for a moment, noticing the yellow scarf. "Are....Are you the original?!" Mitsuba, trying to deny the fact that he's wearing Sousuke's scarf yells "No! You know he can't come back..." They both stand there for a moment. Kou looking at Mitsuba and Mitsuba having a staring contest with the floor. The exorcist looks at Mitsuba for a moment. At his face which was getting as pink as his hair, at his beauty mark, at his smile that he was desperately trying to hide. Kou, who was starting to get frustrated said "Mitsuba. You're wearing his scarf. Sousuke's." "just wanted to be more like him, okay?!" The other boy yells. "I...l thought you'd like it since you miss him. Anyway that's not important!! Come on, let's cook something. You look hungry." The boy was right, Kou indeed was hungry. He was meant to be cooking for his siblings. Instead of doing that he was busy beating himself up for being at home. Like usual. Kou frequently did stuff like this. He hated that he couldn't save Yashiro, he hated that he couldn't make his mom rest instead of taking care of him, he hated that he was a weak exorcist, he hated that he couldn't save *him*. After taking a second to consider, the blond agrees. "Why not! You're still gonna have to explain after though." The boys enter the kitchen, Kou grabs a pot out of the drawer on the left of the oven while Mitsuba glances around the house. It's surprisingly clean for a place lived in by two teens and a five-year-old. The walls where mostly bare apart from a family photo - it featured Kou, Teru, an older looking man and a pregnant woman. The man had a few scars on his body, most likely from battles with spirits. The lady had a ring with a small blue gem in the centre, it matched both of their eyes. The pink-haired boy quickly looked away, noticing Kou had turned to him. "Alright, we need a lot of vegetables for this, I'll chop the garlic and onion while you do the celery, carrots and potatoes." "Why do I have to cut more stuff than you???" Mitsuba wined. The exorcist paused what he was doing and retorted "It's because it's hard to chop this stuff right you dumbass!" The ghost huffed and said "fine. I bet I'll finish faster than you though! And my vegetables will taste better!" And so, Mitsuba started racing to chop the vegetables.