Work Text:
Mao Hasegawa came home from her job as a crime journalist, a tiring day of work. Typically, when she gets home, she’s greeted with dinner cooked by her mom. She would always enjoy the food and talk with her family, all 3 of them have different jobs, and they all typically have stories to tell. They’ll talk for hours about their days, general stuff going on, or just anything that comes to mind. She loves talking with her family, they mean everything to her.
Sometimes after dinner, Mao will drag her brother to watch a new documentary with her. They enjoy each other's company, and they feel like they can talk to each other about anything. Mao loves her brother, he’s really smart and she’s so proud of how far he’s come. Mao will get ready for bed soon after, she has another day of work so she has to get her rest in.
On her days off she would try to go places with her brother, he isn’t a very social person so he doesn’t go out much unless she drags him. She’s been trying to get him to talk to people more, but he gets too anxious to do so.
She loves seeing him on TV though, her quiet, anxious brother on live television. He doesn’t even feel like the same person, he’s so confident when he’s in his area of expertise. He is the same person though, and he always will be. Mao is confident that nothing can break her brother, he’s a strong person who’s good at bouncing back when things get hard.
She’s so grateful for her mom as well, her mom has gone through a lot and she still stays strong and takes care of her kids. She’s a great mother, even if she doesn’t think so sometimes. Mao loves to hang out with her mom, she’s such a kind heart.
This is the typical daily routine of Mao Hasegawa. For the past couple years, this schedule has stayed the same and she was fine with that. She enjoyed her job then enjoyed hanging out with her mother and brother. She loves her family and nothing can break apart that love. They’ve gone through a lot together and despite that, they’re still close. She wants to help her family the most she can, she wants the best for both of them.
It’s a lot different now.
She’ll still come home from work to her mom’s cooking. Well, some days her mom doesn’t have the energy or motivation to cook. Some days she’ll come home to her mom crying, actually, most days she comes home to her mom crying. Some days she’ll make food for them when her mom feels like she can’t.
She loves her mom, she’s all Mao has left.
Mao and her mom will talk during dinner about stories from work or anything interesting.
Her and her mom have been through a lot together.
When Mao was 10, her little sister died. Reina died because Mao failed to watch her, her little sister's death was her fault. Ever since that day, Mao promised to protect her little brother, she wasn’t gonna lose another sibling. She loves her brother, she made sure he felt safe and that nothing bad would ever happen to him.
It’s been 2 weeks since her brother disappeared.
They’ve looked everywhere for him, he’s not a very social kid so the places he would typically be are limited.
They’ve asked anyone they could if they’ve seen him. They’ve used posters to find him. They’ve talked to the police. They’ve tried anything they could think of.
Nothing.
The known quiz show champion, Ken Hasegawa, was gone. He was gone without a trace, nobody’s seen him. Mao’s determined to keep looking for her brother, he has to be somewhere, right?
His room is empty, well not empty, it’s cluttered with his textbooks, notebooks, and his whiteboard. They’re all filled with his notes from studying, he studied a lot. His room is cluttered, yet it feels empty. Everything he has is still there, but…
He isn't.
Some days, Mao goes into her brother’s room in hopes that when she walks in…he’s there. She hopes that when she opens the door, he’ll be at his desk studying. Or maybe he’s just lying in bed, some days he couldn’t get himself out of bed, Mao always tried to help, she always tried to be there when he needed it.
Maybe if she was there more, he would be safe.
What if he ran away? What if she wasn’t a good enough sister?
No, not what if, if she was a better sister. Both her siblings would be alive.
No- Ken’s alive. He’s alive. He just needs some time. He’ll come back. He always does.
He’ll come back and they’ll be a happy family again.
Mao’s confident, when she comes home tomorrow.
He’ll be there.
Mao’s started writing, she’s not sure what to call it, but she’ll write to her brother. Would it be called a diary entry? Or a letter? It doesn’t matter, he won’t see it anyways.
She’s writing a new entry. Note? Letter? Well, whatever it’s called.
“Ken. I miss you, a lot. I have plans for things we can do together. You know, when you get home.
Mom misses you a lot, she hasn’t been feeling great recently. She’s gotten desperate, we’ve talked to the police, but they aren’t helping much.
Every time we ask the police, they just say that they have a couple other missing cases right now. News has gotten out about some famous people going missing, all of them are the same age as you. It’s suspicious but no one has a lead on what happened.
It’ll be alright, you’ll come home safe and sound. Me and mom will be here for you when you get back. I’m excited to see you again.
From,
Mao”
I don’t know why she bothers to write these, he’ll never see them. He’ll never see her again, she’ll never see him.
She puts her journal away. It’s getting late, she should get ready for bed.
She gets ready and starts to drift off to sleep, tomorrow, she’ll do the same thing. Get home, comfort her mom, go to her brother's room, then write to him. She’ll do this until he gets home.
Goodnight Ken. I’ll see you again. Eventually. No matter what.