I wonder what the mother of the six Tsukimoto siblings would think of her little brood.
She had always found it amusing.
A sweet woman like her, sweet and calm and gentle and kind...
Alright, she might have been over exaggerating a bit.
But still, she is a rather normal person. She had never gotten into any fights, snorted any illegal substances, smoked over two packs of cigarettes a month, kept her clothes neat and tidy as befits a woman of the house, her hair black and trimmed. Even chocolates, her only guilty indulgence, are taken in moderation. One bar a week was all she permits herself. Anymore and it's too much.
So... How in the world did she produce six children that got into fights constantly, smoked and drank, dyed their hair blond (only in the case of her little third), children who took a high school and made it their empire, an empire which apparently, she has heard this from some woman whose son had been thrashed thoroughly by Housen's men, scares the shit out of most high school students?
Looking at her little girls, two little girls who are fast growing breasts and a violent mouth, she thinks that it would be a matter of time before they start taking over their own school and moulding it into their own kingdom.
She loves her children, all her children, with their rough voices, scarred faces and the air of violence which always followed them.
Nobu contributes to the household income now; he works fulltime at a delivery service, often coming home late at night all dirty and sweaty. Her oldest child would bring home newspapers and little anecdotes about his job, telling them what had happened on the job. He can still find time to take in the clothes and fold them all neatly, in little piles. (she notices that Nobu's face always brighten up when he hands her his packet of money, when he tells his siblings what had happened on the job, jibing and teasing them mercilessly about their height, in which case Masa would remark that damn, but wasn't he taller than Nobu-nii?. She sees, notices that Nobu was always best at leading her brood of unruly children that her brood of little chickens would die for their oldest brother if asked to.)
Yoshi always runs the bath for her, making sure the water was nice and warm. He washes the clothes and hangs them out, and buys magazines home, telling her all about new dramas which they would both eventually find time to sit down and watch together. (she thinks that she started him on his drama serials addiction, after that one fateful Winter Sonata episode. Right now, he's watching Prison Break. She thinks that she'll sit down with him when she has time. Of course, the whole family would somehow join them, one by one.)
Masa cooks for the family, sets the tables and washes the dishes. (when she is too tired and hungry from a long day's work and squabbles at the factory, which is happening all too often now. His food always tasted good, even when it was charred and burned. Her other darlings don't think so though, they squabble and snipe at Masa, teasing and insulting him about his sub-par cooking skills. But she thinks that Masa is improving, his fish is certainly getting better. And even though Masa never did ask for help washing the dishes, she can't help noticing that his siblings help him on a rotation basis.)
Nori was the one who kept a watch out for people that he thinks is bullying his mother; her little fourth would stand by her side and glare at someone he perceived as a bully of his mama until they looked away. He talks to her, plays with her and tries to make her happy with stupid jokes and silly antics. (she can't help noticing that whenever Nori starts glaring at someone, whichever child that is with her and Nori at that time would take up position beside her and join in the glaring. And whenever Nori tells his jokes, her children would join in, babbling and snapping at each other to see who gets first, till in the end, they end up performing one giant skit for her, just for her alone.)
Ki-chan and Ho-chan were the little girls of the family, considered the youngest and weakest. But they were fierce and loud enough to keep from getting bullied, and she knows that if anybody dare lift a finger up against Ki-chan and Ho-chan, the whole of the Tsukimoto family would be down on them like a ton of very angry bricks. Her little girls were the ones who cleaned up the house, and the ones who designated household duties for the entire family. (the older boys will always listen to them, even though they might snap back at the girls and talk about respect and stuff.)
She would never, ever exchange her children for all the money in the world. She wouldn't exchange them for six good, little children, six children who scored good grades at school and came home on time, six children who never got into fights and came home bruised and bloody. That silly husband of hers, that old man of hers, what a pity that he never saw their beautiful children grow up. Silly fool, leaving in a car crash one year after Ho-chan was born.
She loves her children, Tsukimoto Natsuko did.
end.