notes so so much love for this series. supposed to be studying but I couldn't help it.
forgettable - not;
"Say, Yuuta."
"Hm?"
"...Let's go to the bookstore."
"You bought manga yesterday, and the day before. Mom's going to be mad at you."
Yuuki stares at his brother for a long time, before looking back down at his feet and shuffling closer to Yuuta. "She'll forgive me," he tells him. "Mom loves me. She gives me money for a reason."
Yuuta knocks him on the head lightly. "Homework," he reprimands. "You have homework tonight. You can't sleep through class all the time, you know. One day the teacher's going to catch you sleeping in class and throw chalk at you. Or something. Homework."
"I'll do it how I always do it. I'll look at your notes. Your English notebook will magically disappear."
"Magic, huh? Is that how it happens?"
"Yes. By the way, do you have 300 yen on you? I think I dropped my coins somewhere at school today."
Yuuta stops walking and looks at Yuuki. "Dropped?" he repeats.
Yuuki stares back at him. Neither of them say anything for a long time, and they stand there in the middle of the walkway for a few minutes before Yuuta finally narrows his eyes, scrutinizing, and Yuuki gives in, sighing and pulling on the straps of his red backpack.
"There was a hole in my pocket."
Yuuta hums, starts walking again. Yuuki quickens his pace to match his brother's, and Yuuta reaches over to ruffle his hair fondly. "Good boy," he says. "You're being honest."
"Woof," Yuuki says.
"Did magic turn you into a dog, too?"
"Woof."
"I see."
"Woof."
"I'll have to tell mom that you turned into a dog then," Yuuta says. "I wonder how she'd react. 'Kyaa, my son turned into a dog!'—or something like that?" Yuuta looks back at Yuuki, who's bent over to tie his shoe. "I wonder what kind of dog you'd be."
"Woof."
"A German Shepherd?"
Yuuki's eye twitches. "Woof," he continues to say.
"I could just give you to Chizuru then," Yuuta reasons. "Oh. But then I wouldn't have a brother anymore, unless there's a magic spell that could make you turn back into a person. But if there isn't, Chizuru will take care of you."
Yuuki stares at him, still crouched.
"Or, maybe not. Chizuru might accidentally feed you chocolate. I suppose it depends on his level of stupidity, I guess. But even so, he'll feed you a lot of things. Since he's German, anyway."
Yuuki stands up and wipes his pants. "I don't want to be a dog anymore," he says. "I'll just change back into Yuuki." He spins around with his arms in the air. Yuuta watches and claps when Yuuki bows.
"That's good," he says. "Besides, the only person that would bother taking good care of you is Shun, probably. Kaname would probably starve you once in a while. He'll take your volumes of manga away, too. He'd deprive you of all entertainment. But if you weren't Yuuki he'd probably treat you nicer."
Yuuki thinks about this for a while. "Probably," he agrees.
They walk in silence for a while.
"Graduation is in a year," Yuuki says. Yuuta hums. "Doesn't that make you feel old?"
"We're still in our second year."
"How long do you think we'll be able to continue doing this?"
"This?" Yuuta turns around. Yuuki spreads his arms, and Yuuta looks up; the sakura petals are falling again this year. The trees stand tall and firm. The breeze is cool, comfortable. Leaves churn playfully on the ground. For a minute, Yuuta sees everything in the world disconnect. And then he watches it reconnect again like giant Lego pieces putting back together one giant, complex puzzle. For a minute, it is fascinating. And after that, it feels as though nothing's happened.
"This," Yuuki repeats, nodding.
Yuuta smiles. "It'll last," he says, sure of it. "For a while, at least. For now, our job is to enjoy it. Isn't it, Mister Magician?"
"Woof," Yuuki says helpfully.
"You've grown up a little bit, haven't you, Yuuki?"
"I'm not Yuuki right now, I'm a dog."
"Oh, sorry, that's right. Let's go to the bookstore, doggy. We need to buy Yuuki some manga."
"Woof!"
And so they walk. It doesn't matter, not yet. And when it does, eventually, they'd manage, one way or another. They'd be sure of it.
Owari
2011.11.14