Summary: Junpei learns that his parent's approval of him is impossible to reach, especially when he doesn't want it.
Needed to keep my head straight during a tough month while working on school. Had this idea pop in my head and I really liked it.
"Junpei! Time for dinner." A motherly voice shouts from down a hallway, directed to a room with a wooden sign nailed onto it that says 'JUNPEI'S ROOM. KEEP OUT!' Inside was a boy, Junpei, wearing a blue and yellow jumpsuit with spiky brown hair. He sat at a desk adjacent from the door, working on a little robot figurine at his desk. He was painting the originally grey figurine it to the jumpsuit he wore, dry paint all over his finger to smug it when there was too much in one spot..
He sighs as he hears his mother's voice again, and walks out of the room away from the figure. He walks down the hallway into a dining room, seeing his mother setting out three plates on the table. What was very different about his mother was the dirty blonde hair and blue eyes, she was half white. She noticed him and turned to him, saying,"Oh, Junpei. Please help me set out the utensils while I grab the food."
Junpei nodded as his mother walked into the kitchen, walking towards the table and setting out the forks and steak knives to each plate. As he set out the utensils to each plate, he heard the door open and close. He looked up and saw his father, placing his shoes at the door. His father was the tallest out of the three, and looked closest to Junpei, excluding the slicked back black hair and lanky stature. Junpei's face lit up and and he said,"Father, welcome home, how was work!"
His father turned to him with a stern look on his face, looking at him up and down and replying with in a monotone voice,"You're wearing that jumpsuit again..."
Oh no. He's in a mood again.
"Um... Yes, I really like wearing it."
"The classmates parents from your school talk to me about it when I'm working. They ask me why you wear something so bizarre."
"N-Nobody's told me that."
Junpei's father hummed in response, going back to placing his blazer on the couch. Junpei sat himself at the chair closest to the hallway, and placed his hands on the table. His father followed along, sitting himself at the right end of the table from Junpei. After a few minutes, his mother came out and placed out the food, steak and mashed potatoes. Once the plates were filled with food, Junpei grabbed for his fork and steak knife and started to dig in. After a few minutes into dinner, his father grabbed a folded piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to his mother. She unfolded it and read it, she reacted,"I thought he was going to a boarding school Naoki."
"Universities here in Japan don't like that as much as cram school. We need to be thinking about his future." Noaki replied.
"Wait, d-did you say cram school?" Junpei stutter as he stopped eating.
"That's where you'll be going after school everyday before you start high school in the next few years. I'm going to go sign you up next week to make sure you get a spot." His father said as he continued to eat, keeping his eyes on the plate.
"B-But-"
"I won't let you be stuck in that room playing with toys all day." His father interrupted Junpei, still not maintaining eye contact with his son,"No Shibayama will be some hikikomori with no future, especially you Junpei."
Junpei shuttered back by that statement, surprised that his father would say something like that to him. He knew that word very well, it was a boy that usually avoided society, and it was seen as bizarre by other people. He'd hear it from the parents picking up their kids while walking home from school, but they weren't talking about him, right? If only he could show his father that he was trying to be the social butterfly he wanted him to be, but he knew it was impossible. It was enough to make him feel sick, placing his fork back onto the plate,"I... I think I'm done eating..."
Junpei's mother could feel the tension in the room and stood up,"I'll clean your plate sweetheart."
"Thank you mother..." Junpei said as he began to walk to his bedroom, feeling defeated by what he had heard. He shut his door and fell onto his bed, looking up at the ceiling. He turned his head to his desk, focusing on the toy. Tears began to roll down Junpei's face, he felt shut in and trapped. His father didn't really respect him, he had no friends, and he would become what he hated. Maybe his father was right. Maybe he was a hikikomori... He tears then became silent weeping, and he fell asleep.
...
...
He woke up to his phone ringing on his desk. He shot up, feeling a chill shoot up his spine, as if it was forcing him to get up. He wobbled out of bed to the desk and grabbed it, a sign popping up with a yes or no option. It said 'do you want to start?'. What is this? He pressed okay for yes, and a strange unfamiliar symbol appeared on the flip phone's screen. This thing doesn't have any games... He fidgeted around with the buttons, seeing if the screen would change, but to no avail. Stupid thing must be broken. As he attempted to turn off the phone by taking out the battery, a voice spoke from the phone,"Shibayama Junpei."
"Huh?" Junpei muttered as he turned the phone's screen back to him. Another message appeared, telling him to go to a subway station he knew well. He looked at the clock on his wall, he had 20 minutes to get there. He put the phone in his pocket and walked out into the hallway and into the bathroom, and began to wash the paint off his finger. As he cleaned up his hand, he started to think about what just happened. Maybe I should go, just see what's there... He dried off his hand and walked out into the dining room, seeing his father taking a nap on the couch. Maybe something will happen. Maybe he'll finally appreciate me. He took a few steps before hearing footsteps from the kitchen, it was his mother.
"Junpei? Where are you going?" She asked.
"Uhhh..."
The phone began to vibrate again, Junpei not knowing that the symbol flashed on the phone's screen. Junpei's mother sighed and she flashed a warm smile at Junpei,"Have fun outside sweetheart, don't dirty your clothes."
Junpei smiled back,"Thanks mom."
Junpei crept out of his apartment, and tried to shut the door as quiet as possible. He walked down some stairs nearby to the outside, and he began to take his little trip to the subway station.
Little did he know, he was walking into something that would completely change his outlook on life and who he was going to be.