Work Text:
It was the tenth of September that year. Toritsuka's seventeenth birthday!! Since it was a schoolday, he had attended school, tried to get Kusuo's attention (didn't work), some girl's love (he had forgot her name by the end of the schoolday) and tried to have a good day in school despite his teachers not even caring to scold him after they realized he never does his work anymore.
It went well, by the way.
But how would his birthday be complete without a visit to the graveyard? His parents had died when he was born, after all. He ought to give 'em a visit. That was always the saddest part of his birthday. He would often imagine the looks of disappointment or anger from his imaginary mother and father, but did he have any choice? They were present not even half—no, they weren't present for the entirety of his life.
Still, they were the reason he existed in this Earth. They deserved a visit from their son.
He walked to the grave, two white lilies on his hand. One for his father, one for his mother. He reached the tombs set beside other.
Yuriko Toritsuka
Born: 8th July, 1984
Died: 10th September, 2008
Shigeru Toritsuka
Born: 2nd February, 1984
Died: 10th September, 2008
Reita placed a lily on each of the tombs, and joined his hands in prayer, closing his eyes and bowing his head down. Few seconds later, he opened his eyes, expecting to see just his tombs. Then he would jabber on a bit about his day, say how he wondered it was to have parents when all you could do was steal food and money from the temple, and then walk back to where he lived.
But, this time, something was different.
For the first time in his life, he saw two spirits floating right above their respective tombs. Above Shigeru's, an man's spirit, and above Yuriko's, a woman's.
Reita: "...mom? Dad?"
Yuriko: "Yes, son. Mom—"
Shigeru: "—and Dad!"
Reita: "Aren't you...angry, or anything? You should be, heh, I thought everyone would be..."
Yuriko: "Don't downgrade yourself like a tragic hero, what you are doing is wrong, but eh, better than letting my child die, I guess."
Shigeru: "You are a strong lad. Seventeen years of your life completely alone and thriving as ever, you know how to live, all by yourself."
Yuriko: "We thought you would probably die of starvation or something by the age of ten! We were actually prepared for your soul, but you never came to the heavens. Nothing's your fault, Reita, things can go wrong if you live by spending your tender years just making sure you stay alive."
Shigeru: "And that's why we're so proud of you, good boy."
Reita's eyes brimmed with tears. This was not what he had expected from his parents if he had ever seen them. He had expected maybe some disappointment, anger... definitely not whatever this was.
Yuriko: "Hmm, you live in the temple, right, Reita?"
Reita nodded in reply.
Shigeru: "Wanna take a walk back to the temple, son?"
Reita grinned, and nodded even harder, his head bobbing. A walk with his parents! All he ever needed in his life! They didn't even need to talk, he just wanted his mother and father beside him, a wish that now got to be fulfilled after so long.
Reita took his bag and walked out the graveyard, his parents floating right beside him. He saw the little grocery shop he always bought those porn mags from, but this time, he didn't enter. This was more important to him, for now and for his whole life.
Shigeru: "Now, now, boy, I know what you want, but don't look there, you won't want them now."
Yuriko: "Yes, honey! Let's not waste that money now, shall we? You can spend it on good food! Or fulfill any wish that you want by saving your money up!"
Shigeru: "Or get a part-time job with that. To make money, you need money."
Reita nodded in reply, filing that in. He could use that for other things, porn mags were getting more and more expensive by the day. Might as well leave them behind forever. That's what the whole world wanted from him anyway. He knew he wouldn't get rid of his addiction overnight, but he could try. He could try.
Reita had many questions he had wanted to ask his parents if he could see them, now was the opportunity.
Reita: "...how did you people even die? If it's fine to ask..."
Yuriko: "No, no, boy. You deserve to know. Well, now that you're old enough. Might as well be blunt with it."
Shigeru: "It was a car accident, common, but terrifying. We were taking you back to our home, but then the car engine overheated all of a sudden and it burst into flames, thank the Lords you're alive."
Reita's eyes dried up. He wanted to cry, to say that he was glad to see them, even in spirit form, but he could not do so. He was tired, exhausted even, but definitely relieved and happy that he got an answer.
Shigeru: "I saw your grandpa and grandma taking care of you when you were young. Were they good people?"
Reita: "...they were. They were kind, taught me how to live and fend for myself, and all the while hiding they were dead too."
Yuriko: "That should've taken a toll on you, Reita...we had told your grandparents to take care of you while we were out..."
Reita: "Y-you did...?"
Shigeru: "We did, boy. We had no other choice, we couldn't take care of you as ghosts...and we were scared of your reaction too, so we left it to them for the while."
Yuriko: "...we are sorry, Reita, we didn't mean to make you feel bad..."
Reita was blank, not knowing what to do. Should he be angry at them for not appearing? Or should he be glad that his parents had planned this?
Reita: "It's...alright, I...forgive you."
Yuriko: "To make it up to you, we'll always stay together!"
Shigeru: "We made a pact. Now we'll stay with you until we reach heaven or hell or wherever souls go."
Reita: "You'll stay?"
Yuriko: "We'll stay."
Reita grinned in happiness. All his life, he had to be sneaky. Stealing money, food and water from the monks in the temple. Now his parents are in the picture too. He wanted to change, he desperately wanted to, even told Kusuo to help him change his soul with his psychic powers. All Kusuo did was just conjure up a cofee jelly and ignore him. Typical Kusuo. His father's next words brought him back to reality.
Shigeru: "Follow me."
Yuriko and Reita looked at curious, then realization dawned on Yuriko, and she smirked, urging Reita to follow. He stayed confused, wondering where they were leading him to.
They eventually reached where they wanted to. A little house, broken down a little from the sides, greenery and vines growing at the edges. People called this a haunted house from how it looked, so no one really entered in.
Shigeru: "This is where we would've lived in had we not died."
Yuriko: "It was so beautiful...! It got destroyed, I swear it looked better than this—"
Reita: "I would've got to live in a HAUNTED HOUSE?!"
Shigeru: "No boy, it just got battered. Me and Yuriko would scare anyone who got in because we thought you deserved to get in here first."
Yuriko: "So...wanna come in?"
Reita: "Of course!"
Reita opened the door of the supposed haunted house. It was completely dark inside, the lights not even flickering anymore, the roof broken down to show the afternoon sunlight spilling onto the floor, the windows battered and broken. It would've looked beautiful, but it had survived a lot of weather conditions too. He turned on the lights, and immediately covered his ears in shock of the screaming sounds he heard.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TORITSUKA!" (Hairo)
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" (Kaido)
"I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW IT WAS YOUR BIRTHDAY, REITA! AND BY THE WAY, I ATE YOUR CAKE!" (You didn't need the name for this one, but it's Nendo)
"YOU DID NOT!" (Kuboyasu)
All his own and Kusuo's classmates were surrounding him, balloons around the room, which would've been impossible to see in this dim light.
Reita (with tears in his eyes): "You all...like me? Really? A surprise birthday party for me...?"
Kusuo (sitting on a chair, slice of cake and coffee jelly in hand): "Your mom and dad here threatened to pester me for the rest of my life if I didn't arrange this. Ugh, good grief, it was a pain to get all these around."
Reita smiled for the bajillionth time of the day, this time genuine.
Reita (not knowing what to really say anymore): "Th-thank you...Saiki-san, Mom, Dad...thank you."
Akechi (butting in as always): "I would have not joined here in this party, but I have got to stay loyal to the PSIkickers group since I am now officially a part of it and I have to attend meetings and gatherings and such of other members too—"
Aiura: "Just shut up already."
Akechi shut his mouth after hearing that, closing his mouth and smiling finally.
Kusuo: "Least he stopped."
Yuriko and Shigeru: "Happy birthday, Reita."
Kusuo: "Happy birthday."