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Fumiyo Akechi was losing her son.
That was how she felt for the past 3 years.
Goro started to become more conscious of their living conditions at the age of 7, and took it upon himself to do as much as he could to change them at the age of 8. For the past 3 years, he devoted himself to getting perfect grades at his elementary school (even better than he was already getting) for the sake of future scholarships, took up cleaning and cooking even more so than he already did so Fumiyo wouldn’t have to do it for him, and developed a clean, polite and charming personality so that no one would worry about him anymore.
If that clean personality was one for the world, it would be one thing. If he only used it when he needed to, to earn himself opportunities he deserved but was denied, or to rid himself of unwanted attention he got solely for being her offspring, that would be one thing.
But Goro brought the personality home. He put on that clean, polite smile for his own mother, and refused to show her anything else. The ‘uglier’ sides of his personality, his sadness and anger, he buried deep within himself so that Fumiyo would never see them again.
He was doing it for her, she knew that, and she still hated it. It was hurting him. All he was doing was bottling up his rage, and it was going to violently explode out of him one day if he kept it like that, but Fumiyo couldn’t get him to stop. No matter what, he’d never show her that side of himself again. No matter what, he never wanted his own mother to see himself.
Goro was 11. He started doing it at 8. What kind of environment was he in, where he didn’t feel safe being himself around his own mother, where he forced a smile and carefully planned his every thought and action to please his own mother, where he wouldn’t let his own mother take care of him?
What kind of mother was Fumiyo, then? How much of a failure was she? Goro was all she had and every time Goro forced a smile on his face for her, Fumiyo felt herself inch closer to losing him entirely.
But one day, Goro didn’t smile.
He came home angry.
He tried to hide it from her, as always, but his frustration was still visible in his eyes. Obviously, Fumiyo needed to conduct an interrogation.
“How was your day, honey?” she asked as she sat him down on their couch after school, the springs inside creaking with audible disrepair.
“Fine.”
“...Are you sure?”
It didn’t take long for Goro to crack. Some new kid transferred to his elementary school and took it upon himself to mess with Goro as much as he could. He’d whisper to him in class, play jokes on him, just to get him mad in front of the teacher! And he thought he was so funny, but he wasn’t funny at all!
“Jokes?” she asked. “What kind of jokes?”
Goro shut his mouth in a tight frown.
“Honey, what kind of jokes?”
Goro refused to elaborate. Fumiyo found that worrying.
As soon as she put her son to bed that night, Fumiyo started her investigation. She called Ms. Kawakami to hear more about these ‘jokes’ the new kid was playing on Goro, then called the only other school parent she knew, Ms. Sakamoto, so she could make sure her info was accurate and get extra details. According to Kawakami, she sat Amamiya-kun (the boy’s name) next to Goro so he would behave himself, since he was transferred because of some vague bad thing he did to one of the teachers at his old school, and Goro was an honor student. She caught Amamiya whispering to him a few times and noticed him staring at Goro a lot, but she didn’t think it was anything malicious. Sakamoto backed that info up, saying the bit about his record was true, but happily informed Fumiyo that Amamiya-kun was a quiet, but fun and rambunctious boy that had a sweet heart. In fact, he was already a proud close friend of Ryuji Sakamoto!
You know, the delinquent.
…Well, Ryuji was still a nice boy. Fumiyo didn’t think he got along with Goro, but if the new kid did, he couldn’t be all that bad. Perhaps Goro simply found him annoying?
A few days later, as Fumiyo was emptying Goro’s backpack, she found a curious chart scribbled on the back of his spiral notebook. It seemed to be written in black pen, almost invisible against the paper brown back, like Goro wanted to hide it.
Fumiyo turned her head. Goro was busy watching one of those “Featherman” shows on their crappy TV in the kitchen, so she had the perfect chance to investigate (snoop).
Upon further inspection with the help of a flashlight, Fumiyo found that the chart tracked how often Goro and a boy named “Ren” won against each other. As in, ever. It wasn’t just one specific game the two were playing, it was any time either beat the other at anything.
Goro had the most wins, but Ren had a couple as well, and Goro wrote extensive notes for each one that detailed exactly how Ren won and exactly what Goro needed to do to beat him next time. Ren once won a foot race against him, so Goro wrote a detailed paragraph on his exact form and swore to himself that he’d run a lap around the schoolyard once every recess until he was as fast as him. Ren was able to answer a question about the story they were reading in class before Goro could (something about Arsène Lupin and Sholmes?), and he resolved to study the short story until he could recite it perfectly. Overall, the most common competition seemed to be chess (made sense, Goro was a natural). Judging by Goro’s tallies, they’d played together 20 times and Ren won once.
The margins around his victory were filled with scribbles saying, “Stupid Idiot Clown Boy” over and over again.
As she placed the notebook back in her son’s bag, Fumiyo vaguely recalled Kawakami telling her that the troublesome transfer student’s name was Ren Amamiya; the one she thought Goro hated.
Granted, “Stupid Idiot Clown Boy” wasn’t exactly flattering. But Goro never played with kids his own age so much, and he never played chess with them after he beat them twice! He wouldn’t even play with his teacher because he didn’t see it as “challenging” enough, so where the heck did he get the patience to sit through 20 matches with the same boy? And how did that boy win?
…She doubted they were friends, but they couldn’t be enemies. They played too much for that. Maybe they were…rivals, or something? That thought made her smile, that her overdramatic little boy had found himself a ‘rival’.
A week or so later, Goro kicked open the shabby door to their house so hard that he almost broke it in half. He was fuming, ranting about that Ren boy as soon as he locked eyes on his mom when she didn’t even ask this time. Apparently, Ren had the gall to smile at him (horrible) when he was yelling, because he said that’s how Goro “really is” and he likes that (terrible) more than the “fake pretty boy” he was in front of the teachers, and he said he was gonna make him more angry, as angry as he could, just to see that (truly treacherous).
“Wait, he said he likes you?”
“He just likes making me angry!” Goro stomped his foot, ears as furiously red as his eyes. “I hate him, I hate him, I hate him! He is my nemesis!”
“Um, ok, honey.”
“That clown! That fool!” He started to stomp off to his room. “I’m going to destroy him!!!”
“Uh, not violently, honey!” Fumiyo yelled after him.
Goro slammed his door shut. A few minutes later, he awkwardly apologized to his mom for making such a ruckus.
That was only the first of the many, many rants that her son now showed her.
…Was it weird to admit that Fumiyo kind of liked it? Most moms would hate to see their kids be so bratty and furious, but she was honestly happy that Goro was getting mad in front of her at all. And telling her things! When was the last time he let himself be angry in front of her, especially this angry? When was the last time she got to console him, make his favorite dinner to cheer him up, play chess with him so he could calm down?
When was the last time she got to feel like a mother?
She felt pathetic admitting it, but she needed to feel that way. She missed it. It felt nice to be depended on, to be wanted at all, and Goro was one of the only people in Fumiyo’s life that gave her that feeling. Besides, it wasn’t entirely selfish, when she knew Goro was healthier like this. He was always an angry person (his father was the same way), it was just that he’d been hiding that side of himself until recently, bottling it up until it exploded out of him. She’d much rather he get his anger out by ranting to her over hitting a kid at school, or stomping around his safe home instead of yelling at a shady stranger on the street. Plus, now Goro was actually speaking to someone his age, and that had to be good, right?
Even though he hated him. And wanted to destroy him. Hopefully not violently.
Fumiyo didn’t feel like the best mother most of the time, but she was trying.
One late Saturday afternoon, after Goro came home and ranted about that boy again before stomping off to his room to plot his destruction (Goro’s words), Fumiyo heard a knock at the door.
The only people who knocked on her door were Goro and ‘customers’. The thought of another one coming at this hour made her shiver, but she shook her head. No, it couldn’t be, the knock was too light. It must have been a child. But what child would be at her door other than her son?
Fumiyo opened it to see.
She found a little black-haired boy standing in the dirt of her front yard. His skin was very pale, almost white, and he looked to be 10 years old; a year younger than Goro.
“Hiya, miss,” he said with a slight accent. It sounded like he was from out of town, most likely the countryside.
“Hello?” Fumiyo responded.
The boy cocked his head to the side, bouncing his tangled black curls with it. “You’re pretty.” He put on a little smile. “That must be where Goro gets it from.”
“...Uh…thank you?”
The kid looked up at her with bright black eyes, curiously scrunching his nose and the kitty cat bandage across it as he observed her. Fumiyo couldn’t help but stare back, noticing his worn, oversized gray T-shirt, shorts caked with dried mud, and black socks with loose threads hanging at their tops. She found a few more bandages on his elbows, legs and knees, all covered with small black cats like the one on his nose. Did he have a thing for cats? A scruffy messenger bag was slung over his shoulders, and it smelled a little cat-like as well. Perhaps he owned one? All around, he was a cute kid, but there was something mischievous about him, especially in the way he smiled.
Wait, she’d been staring at him for 2 minutes. “Oh, I’m sorry!”
“It’s fine. I know I’m adorable.” His eyes crinkled, proud.
“...Um…Pardon me, but who exactly are you?”
“Your future son-in-law.”
“H-Hmm?”
The boy peered behind Fumiyo’s legs, as if what he just said was the most normal thing in the world. “Is Goro home today? I can’t find ‘em anywhere else.”
Was this kid one of his friends? Did Goro have friends? “Well, he is, but-”
“Cool!” The kid immediately tried to run into the house before Fumiyo grabbed the back of his collar. “Ack!”
“Hey, no! You can’t just…” She dragged him back outside like an alley cat and placed him on the ground, blocking the entrance into her shabby house with her legs. The boy pouted. Fumiyo rubbed her forehead, trying to gather her thoughts. “I’m sorry, what was your name?”
“Ren Amamiya.” He smiled again. “Can I go inside?”
“No, and you should’ve asked that first. Why are you here?”
“Imma marry your son.”
“...What?”
“Oh, I’m going to marry your son,” he said, as if his accent was the problem. He peered behind her again. “I need your blessin’ for that, actually. That’s why I’m here today. Can I have it?”
…How was she even supposed to respond to that?
“Uh, sure?”
“Sweet.” He dropped his scruffy bag on the dirt of the front yard and pulled out a notebook. It seemed to have ‘Marage’ (marriage but spelled wrong?) written across the front. Ren opened it up and started scribbling down a few words, indecipherable thanks to his horrible handwriting.
Fumiyo had so many questions. “Wait, aren’t you…aren’t you that boy Goro hates?”
Ren looked up for a second just to show her his proud grin. “Yeah.” He looked back down and kept scribbling.
“So, you want to marry him?” Fumiyo continued, but Ren wouldn’t look up.
“Yep.”
“...D-Did Goro agree to that?”
“No, but he can’t stop me.” Ren finished his scribbles after another silent minute, then looked back up at her. “You wanna see my plan for it? I’ve got it all thought out.”
Before she could agree, Ren thrusted his opened notebook into her face. Instead of being written down like Goro’s notes, Ren’s were expressed almost exclusively through pictures and doodles, though they were just as detailed. It seemed his scheme involved getting Goro to agree to a series of ridiculous bets that Goro could easily win, culminating in a difficult bet where he’d agree to marry him if he lost. Ren hadn’t decided on what the competition would be, but seemed to be leaning on chess, based on the amount of pawns and kings he drew. The final picture was of Goro and Ren kissing, with Ren in a little wedding gown.
“That’s adorable,” Fumiyo mumbled without meaning to.
She saw Ren pump his fist out of the corner of her eye.
Looking back at the paper, she noticed the margins were littered with doodles: A decent amount of stars and hearts, a few scribbles of their names written together, and a ton of doodles of Goro’s red eyes, looking furious and glaring. Ren seemed to like that.
…Was this kid serious? He couldn’t be, he was way too young to be thinking about marriage. This had to be some kind of game they were playing. But why would his notes be so extensive, then, so deeply dedicated to one-upping her son in this specific way? Goro’s notes were the same, but she already knew her son was weird, that wasn’t surprising. No, this was…ah, this must’ve been Ren’s way of dealing with a crush! He was only 10, after all, it made sense he would struggle to process his feelings, especially if this was his first crush on a boy. This rivalry they had, Ren messing with him so much, it was just because Ren didn’t properly understand his crush on Goro yet. Well, in that case, Fumiyo wanted to encourage him!
Ren was scribbling a new doodle, this time of Fumiyo standing behind Goro in the wedding picture. He gave her a little bowtie.
“So,” she started, “...You seem to, um, really like Goro.”
“Yep.”
“Is it okay if I ask why? He doesn’t get along with a lot of kids your age.”
“He annoys me.”
“...And you like that?”
A sort of dreamy smile spread across Ren’s lips. “Yeah…”
He went back to doodling.
Ok, nevermind, this kid was just weird. Still, he wasn’t bad weird, just an oddball. Fumiyo had no idea how serious he was about the marriage, but it wasn’t like he was gonna hurt anyone because of it. He just wanted to annoy Goro. Speaking of, Ren seemed to have a genuine appreciation for Goro’s angry side, based on the look on his face just thinking about it. Once again, very weird, but by no means unwelcome. Honestly, it was nice to know someone liked the uglier sides of Goro’s personality so much, even if their…uh, affection, manifested in a bizarre way. Fumiyo supposed the only question was whether or not that affection was mutual.
“Hey,” Ren asked, halting her train of thought, “do you think ‘Goro Amamiya’ or ‘Ren Akechi’ sounds better?”
Goro Amamiya, honestly, and she was going to say as much until she heard her son’s shaky voice calling down the hall behind her.
Crap, she didn’t tell him who was at the door. He must’ve thought another ‘customer’ was here.
“M-Mom? Who’s at the…”
He spotted Ren giving him a cat-like smile on the doorstep. The anxiety in Goro’s eyes was immediately replaced with inconsolable rage. “...You.”
“Hey~”
Goro came to Fumiyo’s side, keeping his mouth in a tight frown so he wouldn’t bare his teeth. “What are you doing here?”
“Asking your mama for her blessing.” Ren winked. “I got it, by the way.” An excitement grew into his toothy grin as soon as Goro started to glare, making it clear to Fumiyo the real reason why the boy had come to her house. He suddenly pointed to her son. “Now, I have all I need to steal your heart! Just like a real Fenton Thief!”
“Phantom,” Goro couldn’t help but correct, “Phantom Thief.”
Ren smirked. “So what? When I have your heart, the wedding will be inavitable!”
Fumiyo could see the trap but her son fell for it anyway.
“Inevitable, clown, it’s inevitable!”
“So you admit it?”
Upon realizing his mistake, Goro flinched, and an even wider smile spread across Ren’s lips. Darkness bloomed in Goro’s eyes. He glanced up at his mother, furious, yet still silently asking for her permission.
After a second or two, Fumiyo mouthed the words, “Not too violent,” to him.
Ren swiftly dodged as Goro lunged forward, the dirt of the yard gripping the knees of his school pants before he leaped back up and gave chase. Ren ran around the edge of the fence and Goro followed, clearly making due on his promise to run every day by how fast he was. They were neck and neck, Goro’s hand could just barely reach the back of Ren’s shirt, and every time they rounded a corner it looked like one would finally triumph.
“When I catch you!” Goro threatened through steady breaths, clearly through practice, “I’m gonna destroy you, you understand that!? You’ll be gone, Amamiya! No trace of you will be left!”
“H-Ha! Ha ha ha!” was all Ren could let out in response, “Ahahahaha!”
Fumiyo watched as her son chased Ren around their yard with something close to murderous intent as the other boy released something close to maniacal laughter, as close as either could get to at their age.
She felt like most moms would’ve stopped them. Put them in time out for getting so mad and causing such a ruckus. Maybe put them in a ‘Get-Along’ shirt or something.
But she just watched.
…It couldn’t be that bad, could it? They seemed to be having fun. They hated each other, sure, but all-around they got along ok, Fumiyo had seen worse. And it was rare to see Goro so energetic with someone his age, or someone in general, even her! It’d been so long since she got to see it, an expression on his face that he didn’t plan, something loose and free that couldn’t care less if someone judged him for it, and this boy brought it out of him! Sure, she didn’t want Goro to feel that way constantly, and this Ren kid was really weird, but so was hers! And she probably didn’t want them to get married, but all around, was he the worst friend Goro could have? He liked him, the real him! She should be happy that Goro had someone else like that.
Yeah, she supported them!
Whatever they were.
Fumiyo didn’t feel like the best mother most of the time, but at that moment, she smiled, watching her angry little boy be himself for the first time in years.