Chapter 1 / In this evening where my life started to go wrong
It is a rainy day. I am just lazing around on my bed in the comfort of my own room, reading a book that I plan to finish. They say that rain is synonymous to sadness, gives of a depressing mood to heart of human beings. I don't know the validity of that statement, but personally, I can't relate to it at all.
If anything I love rain. Hearing the rain pouring down heavily on the city of Chiba calms me down. Having a day to myself, and just to myself, heals me from the confusion that is socializing. I don't hate socializing, in fact, I would love to be able to make friends but somehow I keep failing to do so.
As I lost myself in thought, a slam of my door room reveals a little girl with short hair, an ahoge pointing upwards just like mine, while wearing a big grin on her face. "Onii-chan! Komachi is bored. Let's play hide and seek!"
"Komachi." I sigh. "How many times have I told you not to just barge into my room all willy nilly, and don't slam the door while you're at it." I scold Komachi for being so loud, yet I can't get annoyed at her.
She pouts, "Ehh, but I didn't slam it that hard. You don't have to get so angry."
"I'm not angry." With a calm voice this time. Maybe a little bit of irritation came with my voice just then.
"You know Komachi, onii-chan is tired right now. Can't you just play with Kamakura or something?"
"Aww come on onii-chan, Komachi is really bored and I wanna play hide and seek with you. Besides Kaa-kun is sleeping right now." pleads Komachi with puppy eyes.
My onii-chan instinct instantly kicks in and forces me to oblige to the demand of my dear little sister.
"Okay, okay let's play..." Who could resist a cute little sister? Meddlesome.. But cute nonetheless.
As we head down the stairs, Komachi asks who wants to be what. I suggest 'rock, paper, scissor' to decide who will be the 'hider' and who will be the 'seeker'.
The seeker requires excessive energy, compared to hider which only waste energy during the search of hiding spot. I'm pretty tired right now so I don't feel like moving around too much.
I suppose it's time to apply simple probability knowledge that schools mandate students to learn, and a little bit of luck as a complement. Here goes nothing…
.
.
Luck is currently not in my favour which results in me being the 'seeker'.
Sitting on the staircase, I close my eyes while Komachi finds a place to hide.
"Don't cheat okay onii-chan."
"Yeah, yeah I won't."
"Four… Three… Two… One… Ready or not, here I come Komachi!" Thus, begins the quest of "The Search of Hiding Imouto."
I can start looking for her right away, but searching blindly will waste more energy than necessary. I suppose thinking about the possible hiding place can't hurt.
Second floor is out of the question because I was guarding the staircase while counting. That leaves the first floor to discover. I don't think Komachi would hide in the kitchen because mom kept telling us not to play around for fear of injury. Dad's office is a possibility, but usually he forbids us because all of his work are inside and he doesn't want us to mess them up.
Living room is the only choice left I guess.
I head towards living room filled with two chairs, a couch, a couple of bookshelves full of books ranging from science; animals; history; and economy; something that mostly only dad read, and a table with lots of books and magazines scattered on top.
I wonder why it's so messy… Doesn't mom usually clean them up if she sees a mess like this? The TV is also strangely left on.
.
.
I don't see any sign of Komachi in the living room. If she isn't here, then my assumptions were wrong and she might be in either kitchen or dad's office.
As I leave the living room, I see picture frames with photos of the whole family. It was taken at a time when our parents still had times to spend what little they have with their children. Komachi looked really happy, and I wasn't far from it either. It's a shame that dad is so busy these days with his job while mom assists him.
Near the picture frame is dad's glasses. Another strange thing I witness in this rainy evening is that dad has never left his glasses at random places. I try it on. It feels strange and hurts my eyes a bit.
As I am about to continue searching for Komachi, I hear a thud sound coming from dad's office, like someone or something fell of the ground. I slowly go to where the sound came from and all I see is Komachi is on her knees.
She wasn't even hiding this entire time?
"Oi Komachi." No answer.
"Komachi, what are you doing there?" As I get closer to her, I notice she's shaking.
"Komachi? What's wrong?" With worried voice as she may have tripped and injured herself in the process.
"Onii-chan…" With soft sound, she finally turns her head around and looks at me.
"I just heard something in there. I'm scared onii-chan…" Swiftly she hides on my chest still rather shaken up.
I gulp at the sight of the door, not knowing what is behind it. Is it a ghost? No, ghosts only exist in fairy tales. Maybe there is a rat making noise, after all dad's work involves animals and insects and whatnot.
Suddenly, the one thing I do not want to think about, and it is the last possibility.
Burglar!
Should I open the door? If my guess is correct than I should definitely not open it and call dad as he is the only adult who can fight whoever is inside. But by the time we get back here with him, they might've stolen something.
No, the thing that I should worry about is if we make noise while trying to get dad, they might kidnap us both! I can't and don't want to think about if they hurt Komachi in the process.
If they want to steal something they may have already done so.
But wait. I don't hear any movement since I got here. I can hear a banging sound from the other side. Maybe they already left.
If that's the case it's safe to see what's inside..
"Komachi, stay behind me at all times okay? When I say run, then run. Try to find okaa-san or otou-san." Hiding behind my back I can feel her nod with a soft "yes".
Slowly, I turn the door knob and open it. To my surprise, dad's office are already in shamble. It's like a hurricane just sweep everything in this room.
Papers are scattered everywhere. Chairs are flipped over. Drawers are left open. And glass door behind dad's desk are broken and keeps banging because of the wind. The sound of pouring rain are loud, enough so that none of us was aware we were being robbed.
The atmosphere feels heavy and threatening, as if something worse is sure to come. My heart beats faster as I move forward slowly to inspect more of the scene. I feel like screaming and running away, but I'm reminded of Komachi who is probably more confused and even more frightened than I am right now.
I look back to see her with teary eyes as she tightens her grip on my clothes.
"Onii-chan, what happened? Why is dad's room a mess? Who did this? We should tell okaa-san and otou-san." I pat her head to calm her and myself down. Still stun at seeing what happened here, I decide to call dad.
"Otou-san! Okaa-san!" My voice wavering unsure if it's a good idea to yell to call our parents, as the robber might still be within our vicinity.
"Hachiman! Komachi! What's wrong?!" Dad rushes here not long after I yelled. Needless to say, he is surprised.
Though I think that, but the way his face is shown doesn't look very surprised. Rather calmer than what normal people would show.
As if he expected something like this to happen.
Without explaining anything dad rushes towards the glass door and closes the curtain. He takes an empty drawer and a pencil. What is he doing?
He pokes some kind of little hole on the drawer with it and- It opens?
There is some kind of binder with files inside it and he is checking to make sure nothing's stolen.
On the contrary, mom is shocked to see a disastrous situation we are in, right in front of her eyes. "What happened here? Komachi dear, you're not hurt are you? Hachiman?" She immediately carries frightened Komachi on her shoulder.
"We need to go. Now... Honey, get the car ready. Hachiman, you follow your mother and your sister, and wait inside" Urgency in his voice makes me think nothing twice and follow his order.
"Onii-chan, where are we going?" Having the same clue as her, I reply simply
"I don't know." Mom goes back inside, to help with whatever dad is doing I'm guessing.
This evening has been a roller coaster of strange things happening all at once that I'm having trouble making coherent thoughts anymore.
Shortly after, they go back to the car bringing bags I assume to be clothes and other stuff. Are we moving out? Does a small, albeit still a robbery, justify abandoning our house just like that?
"Okaa-" I silence her to stop Komachi from continuing.
"Komachi, let's not ask questions. Okaa-san and otou-san are busy right now. I'm sure they will explain to us everything later." I said with soft voice hoping Komachi will understand.
"Hmm.." She simply nods.
The journey is long. An orange evening, clouded by heavy rain, turns into a night. Still raining heavily, mom drives fast like she is in a hurry, while dad are sorting and looking through some documents looking worried that nothing is left behind.
Not long after, I notice a familiar area we are in right now. Just up ahead, I see a house. A house that we haven't visited since we were little. Isn't this-?
"Hachiman, take that umbrella and go with mom and Komachi. It's freezing tonight, don't want you both get sick." Without so much an explanation as to why we are here, dad commands me.
A man is standing on the terrace of the house – and a woman behind the door – looking surprised as we head toward them. Are they not aware that we are coming?
"I'm sorry for the sudden visit nii-san. There is something we both need to talk to you two about."
Not wanting us to get soaked in the rain, he finally lets us in. "Yeah sure. The kids are gonna get sick if you stay here, come in come in…"
The woman comes back and brings each of us towel to dry us off. "Hello Komachi-chan, Hachiman. It's been awhile since I've seen my cute little nephews, you've both grown up! Here, let me dry you up Komachi-chan."
"Thank you obaa-san, but you just said I'm grown up so Komachi can do it herself." She finally smiles after a hectic evening.
"It's okay let me do it. You are freezing, let's have you warm up in a hot bath okay? You too Hachiman, take a bath after your sister will you?"
I simply nod.
I get out of the bath all warmed up. It was a nice bath no doubt, but I don't feel refreshed whatsoever. Not in this weird situation we are in. I would be much comfortable if I took a bath at home.
As I go back to the living room, I see dad talk to ojii-san and obaa-san and it looks like a serious conversation as both of their facial expressions is shown, while mom and dad are facing away from us. I can't hear the conversation really well because they are talking really softly. I only hear a glimpse of words.
"…need to go…Hachiman and Komachi…stay…" Need to go? Both of us stay? Right here? Why? For how long?
"…can't…awhile…job…" I can't make a coherent sentence out of it anymore. The previous sentence is currently clouding my mind.
What is happening? Both mom and dad has been acting really strange today. Why-
I suddenly feel a grip on my clothes. "What are they talking about onii-chan?"
"I don't know."
As the conversation continues, obaa-san catches us looking at them and gives us a warm smile, with a mix of… sadness?
Mom and dad finally get up and they see us, looking worried. They approach us.
"Hachiman, your mother and I have been discussing this for a long time. But you and Komachi are going to stay with uncle Benjiro and aunt Mei for the time being."
"Why? Where are you going dad?"
"It's something both of us need to do, it involves my job. So promise me to be a good boy and take good care of your sister while we are away." What kind of job that would have parents leave their children? Because I'm sure I have never heard that our parents working in military.
"Komachi dear, mommy and daddy will have to go for a little while. So stay here with your uncle and aunt and be a good girl okay?" Her voice wavering as she tries her best not to let her teary eyes flow, which she fails to do.
"Let's go Aiko, it's time to go." Dad grabs her shoulders and lifting her, commanding her to stand up. "Oh god…"
They get out of the house and hurriedly go inside the car.
An uneventful evening, where I have time for myself. To calm me and give me a feeling of serenity from the complex of social relationship is what I thought I will get.
A meddlesome, yet loving little sister annoy me to play with her to kill off her boredom sums up this rainy evening. Or it's supposed to be…
Yet, a series of strange and unexplained things; from a messy living room to a robbery – wreaking havoc of my dad's office – and strange behaviours of my parents; is all I get…
"Wait okaa-san! Otou-san!"
I brake out of my thought and rushes outside, soaking wet, only to see the car is already long gone.
"Hachiman! Don't-"
Stunned, looking at the empty street. I think back to what mom said. "We will have to go for a little while…"
That was the last time we ever saw our parents again…