Kureto set the bottle of gel down, finally finished with his morning hair routine and shower. The large mirror was fogged and the man could barely see his own reflection, dressed only in a towel that was meticulously wrapped and tied around his waist as he allowed himself to air dry.
He didn't need his reflection to do his hair, that was easy enough, but now he was wiping the mirror of its moisture and cleared a space up for his face, leaning in close to inspect himself. His eyes narrowed at his reflection, staring at his eyebrows with scrutiny. They were always so thick, trimming them every day was a pain and he decided that plucking the hairs out only made them grow back faster, it seemed.
They lacked his signature edges he applied every morning, hiding his imperfection under expensive makeup. Everything about him had to be perfect and powerful, including the fine hairs above his eyes that seemed rather inferior to a certain Ichinose. He hated how they looked compared to the perfect shape and style Guren had and the moment he realized their difference he vowed to change his look and rub it in the man's face.
Which was why he was currently applying a fine tip pencil to his eyebrows, carefully watching his hand and forming a perfect black line. Flawless work as usual, he noted to himself as he dropped the pencil and picked up the gelled brush.
His train of thought was interrupted by a knock on the door, the man sighing but never stopping his work.
"Kureto, you've been in there for almost an hour. Some of us have to piss in this house." It was Shinya's voice he heard through the door, his usual cheery demeanor obviously gone judging from the gruff behavior. Busy mornings weren't the man's favorite to begin with, let alone waiting to use the only bathroom in the house that was currently occupied.
Well, the only other bathroom was in Mahiru's room, but no one dared to enter it without permission. Sometimes he wondered why they chose to all live together in such a cramped space. "Just wait outside, I'm almost finished." He heard his brother click his tongue in annoyance.
"I don't have time for this." The door had swung open violently and Kureto jolted in surprise, his hand jerking to the side as he turned his head to face the intruder with a heavy glare.
"Look, I don't care if you kill me I just want to..." Shinya's words slowed as he made eye contact with his older brother, a dark line smeared across his forehead and it looked as though Kureto had suddenly grown a unibrow overnight. His narrowed eyes only seemed to make his large unibrow look more emphasized as it overlapped and sat right above his eyes like the outline of a bird in flight.
Shinya looked down at the small tube he was holding, squinting to read the label half-hidden under his fingers before returning to meet his brother's glare. "Isn't that Seishiro's makeup?" He recalled watching his other sibling apply the stuff to his face once while they were getting ready together, having a light conversation about beauty products to pass the time.
If he wasn't mistaken, Seishiro had mentioned the makeup was waterproof. How did Kureto manage to fuck up his eyebrows that badly- oh my god, he didn't have the patience to sympathize with his egotistical sibling. He had to piss and that was final.
Kureto never got to answer his rhetorical question before Shinya all but pushed him out of the bathroom, the oldest Hiragi still holding the makeup in his hands and only dressed in his towel. He was a grown man, how dare Shinya treat him like a toddler. Before he could even turn around to argue, the door was slammed shut and locked from the inside, preventing him from returning to the safety of the bathroom.
The hallway was cold, he noted, his body still a bit wet after his shower and his suit remained hanging on the back of the door in its dry clean bag. Out of options, Kureto turned on his heels and walked to Seishiro's room unashamed of his lack of clothes as he passed Shinoa in the kitchen eating her cereal before she went to school. She didn't bat an eye at his appearance, simply turning away and minding her own business (and keeping his image as blackmail in the later future).
As he walked, the sound of loud music started to become apparent and he could already pinpoint which room it was coming from. With a deep breath, Kureto stopped before the taped road sign decorations and slammed his fist against the wooden door three times, hearing a startled yelp and the sound of something hitting the floor, followed by a single bark. How he managed to listen to it through the thumping bass was a mystery.
The moment the door knob turned Kureto braced himself for the atrocious satanic music that blared in his ears as his younger brother made himself present. He had a small remote in his hands that he aimed at his stereo, turning down the sound until it was at a healthy level to listen to and they could speak at a decent volume.
It wasn't until Seishiro actually looked at him did he say something. "Bro, what the fuck happened-"
"I need your makeup remover immediately."
"You look like you glued a caterpillar to your face."
Kureto pushed him out of the way and walked into his room, ignoring the small lap dog that jumped up at his presence, his small body jumping to the other side of his bed and standing on his pillow. He never barked directly at him unless he posed a threat to Seishiro, but that didn't keep him from watching his every move as he rummaged through his owner's things.
He moved bottles of hair products to the side and skipped over a pile of CDs stacked by the stereo, grimacing at his poor tastes. His brother should have been getting ready for work or studying for college, not listening to whatever this was. "Where is it?"
Seishiro moved from the doorway to stand next to him, walking over a dirty pile of clothes to get there. "Where's what?"
"The makeup remover I asked for earlier. I know you have it somewhere in here." Seishiro's constant use of eyeliner and hair gel didn't go unnoticed by the rest of the family, it wasn't like he hid it to begin with. Usually Seishiro would have it in his room before bringing it into the bathroom in the evenings when he showered, which would be when Kureto used it to wipe his eyebrows clean of the makeup before going to bed.
"Oh, yeah." His brother seemed to perk up at the mention of it now that his attention wasn't solely focused on his forehead. "I used the rest of it last night but I was gonna run to the store later today to pick some up."
Kureto stopped and set down the eyebrow makeup he was holding, turning to look at him. "What."
Seishiro held his hands up in defense before anything happened. "Look, I don't know what you did to your eyebrows to mess them up that badly, but that's not my fault and you're not taking it out on me." He was not about to put up with any scary crap Kureto was planning to do before he left the house. "Go ask Mahiru, I'm sure she has some you can use."
With a grunt, Kureto walked out of his room and closed the door behind him, already hearing Seishiro turn up the music the moment he had his privacy again. He looked to his left, seeing the bathroom door still closed and he knew Shinya was in there doing more than just using the toilet now. They both left for work at the same time, having their jobs at the same company together so he knew he was probably getting ready like we was.
With no other choice, Kureto made his way to Mahiru's room at the far end of the house, adjacent to Shinoa's and across from his own. It was quieter at this end of their home, but that didn't keep Kureto from his worsening mood as he slowly but surely found himself standing in front of Mahiru's door, a hand at the ready.
With a curt knock, he only waited for a muffled invitation by his sister before he opened the door, his feet remained planted before the threshold. "Good morning, Mahiru."
His sister was laying in her bed, her purple hair peeking out from under the covers. She hummed, noticing that her door was open but she already knew it was Kureto because he was the only one who knocked like a stiff old man. "Good morning." She didn't roll over to greet him properly, and he knew it was because she was too tired to do so.
Mahiru worked night shift at Hiragi and Ichinose Co., only ever leaving her room in the evening to get ready for work and returning early in the morning before anyone was awake to see her. Due to her schedule, it was an unspoken rule in the house to never bother her during the day while she slept out of fear for their well-being.
Mahiru was a sweet woman and nice to everyone she met, but she turns into a monster the moment she wakes up from any kind of slumber. It was wise to tread with caution. "May I borrow something of yours?"
She made a noise of agreement, shuffling the comforter higher up her shoulder and burying her face into her pillow. Kureto stepped into her room as quietly as possible and walked around her bed to get to her bathroom. It didn't help that the floor boards under him seemed to creak with every step he took, the man internally cringing at his luck. At least she didn't bother asking what he needed.
He flipped the light switch on and closed the door so the brightness wouldn't disturb his sister and he browsed the cluttered counters for a familiar pack of wipes. There were lotion bottles everywhere, most of them used up, and there was hardly any room left for her other feminine products that were lined against the wall under her mirror. He didn't see makeup remover anywhere.
"Must be liquid then." He confirmed to himself, searching through the countless bottles that seemed to be never ending. One by one, he picked up each of them and read the labels, glaring at every one that seemed to mock him with the wrong answer. Hand lotions, body lotions, body spray, perfume, even hand sanitizer that looked like a scented spray bottle wound up being discovered by him, but none of them were what he needed.
Losing hope, Kureto picked up the nearest bottle that looked unfamiliar, reading the label haphazardly and nearly throwing it with the rest before he read it again. The bottle was simple and pink, half used based on the amount of liquid that was inside. "What the hell is K-Y?" He never heard about that brand of makeup before and Seishiro surely hadn't bought it, so he wasn't sure what to make of it himself.
However, the bottle was a feminine color, half empty, and he was sure this was what he was looking for to get rid of his ugly mistake. Just as he turned to leave, his towel had somewhat loosened during the search and the open flap of the fabric snagged onto a lower drawer knob, his body moving forward until the slight resistance was enough to unravel the knot that the base of his hips and his towel had fallen to the floor.
Cursing his luck, he bent down to grab the towel with his free hand before standing straight again. In that very same moment, the bathroom door opened and in came Mahiru, rubbing her eyes from the sudden bright lights. She was dressed in her sleep wear, having changed from her work clothes hours ago.
"What's taking you so long?" She blinked and her eyes focused long enough to see that her brother was naked in her bathroom with a bunched up towel, her mind going blank. Wanting an explanation but never getting the words out, her eyes traveled to the left, a pink translucent bottle in his other hand that looked an awful lot like...
"What the hell, Kureto!" Her faced flushed not with embarrassment, but in anger as her voice rose and all signs of sleep were gone. "You fucking pervert! Get out of my room!"
Kureto could understand why she was angry, it was an accident, but her shouting at him wasn't making him tie the towel around his waist any faster. He couldn't very well leave unscathed with her blocking the exit in the first place. "I'll leave right away." He hurried to move past her, wanting to get out as soon as possible.
"Not with that, you won't!" She snatched the bottle from him, nearly ripping it out of his grip before he could escape. "I can't believe you!" She didn't even notice her brother's current dilemma that clearly showed something was off about the situation, but she was too angry to care for details.
"Wait," Kureto didn't want to argue with Mahiru but he was getting desperate and that was the only makeup remover in the whole house. "I need to use that before I go to work-"
Mahiru's face flushed even more. "Out!"
Sitting behind his desk, Kureto sighed heavily and slumped into his chair. He wasn't even an hour into his job and he was already stressed beyond belief. In the end, he had waited for Shinya to finish using the bathroom so he could scrub his face clean of the mess. His skin was dry and red from the rough treatment and the mark wasn't completely gone, only faded enough to make it look like a thin shadow cast over his forehead.
He vowed to himself to go out after work and buy his own damn remover instead of relying on Seishiro for his hygienic items. Speaking of hygienic, Kureto never understood why Mahiru was so angry with him this morning. She had seen him in the nude a few times before, especially when they were younger, but she never made a big fuss about it.
He was in the middle of wondering why when his office door opened and he snapped back to reality, watching as Guren Ichinose walked through with a thin stack of papers in his hand and files underneath that most likely needed sorting. Shinya was waiting for him by the door, seeming to have accompanied Guren to his office.
They never exchanged more than a few simple words during the process, as usual, except for the instructions given with the delivery. "We need your signature for these documents."
Kureto nodded and flipped through the pile to estimate the work load before he felt Guren's eyes on him longer than he wanted them to be. "Is there something wrong?" He didn't need to look up to know that Guren was smirking.
"Of course not, sir." The tone was light and sarcastic, just like him, and he had a bad feeling about his response.
Before he could dismiss him, the man's words overtook his own. "Make sure you browse the papers more carefully this time."
Kureto snapped his head up and made eye contact with the silver-haired man across the room. Oh, he was going to kill Shinya.