Old Wounds

Absent Bond

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Kenta's grandmother has tracked down her wayward children, and when finally faced with a chance for her recognition Kenta makes a grievous error. But asking the Maakas for help in such a state of emotional turmoil may be the last thing he ever does.


Usui-san scrutinised the small, ramshackle apartment block hunching into the ground before her. She did not double-check the address scrumpled in her manicured hand, because she had never expected her daughter to achieve better than this on her own.

Usui-san was, above all, a woman with expectations.

The carefully groomed, something-past-middle-aged visitor walked up the dirt pathway at a stately pace; she found the correct door easily and rapped on its paint-peeling surface. It was thin, cheap. She could hear the occupant mumble, stand up and patter over the tatami mats. The latch clunked.

"Is that you, Kaa-chan?" yawned a voice that had been absent from her life for many months; yet her heart had grown no fonder towards. It was a voice spawned from disobedience and shameful behaviour. She set her teeth tightly. It would be necessary to appear civil, even kind. For no matter how she detested the boy, she was fully aware that he would submit to her manipulations so long as he believed he had finally received her attention. After all, he had spent his entire life begging for just that.

"Close, Kenta." The words sullied her mouth with their false sentiment.

The door stopped moving. Ever so slowly, the evil eyes of her 'grandson' peeped around the edge of the wooden barricade, widening in horror.

"O…O…Obaa-san…" She had called him Kenta. What on earth was going on? His grandmother had always avoided direct address at all costs – as if denying his existence would make him disappear. Stranger than that, she was here.

That detective lied, realised Kenta (hands still pressed against the wooden panels, body still frozen in place); typical. And now Obaa-san is…

Pushing past, stalking into the cramped flat, examining everything in mere seconds and judging it all unclean. The woman turned to him and he moved on automatic, closing the front door quietly, shuffling forwards for inspection. His mind was racing.

Will we have to move house again? You've got to be kidding me. She can't have any hold over us anymore. The only thing she has to offer Kaa-chan and me is – is stability, and we've survived just fine-

The next words spoken were shocked and tinged with compassion. "You've got so thin! Can't you even afford food?!"

-without it. Kenta did another mental double-take, because now his grandmother was acting like she cared. Either this was one of his habitual weird dreams, or the real world had gone mad.

Usui-san had solely come here to drag her daughter back home, not interact with that despicable man's clone-child. She'd gone to the trouble of stealing files off the laptop belonging to that private investigator when he'd come to cancel their contract. She'd come all the way here without assistance. What happened? Fumio was out. Barely able to stand the dingy building, not to mention that which lived within it, she decided to wrap the conversation up as quickly as was humanly possible. She lowered her head, disguising an artificial expression behind long waves of dyed-black hair.

"You are not aware of this, Kenta, but I've been searching for the both of you frantically ever since I woke up to find my only child and only grandchild gone. That…that made me realise…just how much I valued…"

Kenta's pure astonishment and disbelief, coupled with his creepy eyes, meant that his face suddenly became immensely scary to behold. Whether he intended it or not, it made his grandmother flinch back slightly.

"What I mean to say is," continued the unwelcome intruder swiftly; "I want a reconciliation with Fumio. Please tell me when she will be back home. And…please keep my coming here secret from her – I don't want my daughter to run away from me again." She suddenly looked straight at the boy she'd always ignored. "It hurts."

Kenta could see some kind of truth in her gaze, but his mouth just flapped uselessly. Was she asking him to take responsibility for everything that undoubtedly would go wrong with this little mission?

The phone rang.

They both stared at it.

It's either Maaka or my mother, thought Kenta. He sincerely hoped it was the former. Lifting the receiver, he put it to his ear and said "Moshi moshi, Usui here".

There was a beat of suspense.

A familiar voice sighed. "Oh, Kenta, sweetie, I am so exhausted. But I have some news at last," the Usui family had stopped distinguishing between good and bad news years ago; "I have a job interview. It's a quick one I can do tomorrow. So…could you start cooking dinner? I'll be back in forty minutes."

"Uh, Kaa-chan…" he had no idea what to say. He wanted to say "run!" but at the same time…Obaa-san seemed to have changed her attitude. Of course, she could be lying, but the chance to stop living in fear was so very, very tempting. "Ob…"

"I only have twenty-three seconds left on the payphone, are you okay? Is that alright?"

Ten seconds dithered away. He stared at the person whose need for control was so overpowering she'd stalked them to another city. At the relative who may finally want him in her family.

"…Okay, forty minutes. I'll see you then. Yeah, I'm fine." The teenager saw the woman smile oddly and the doubt surged up again worse then before. The phone buzzed as his mother disconnected, any option to warn her of their uninvited guest lost.

"Forty minutes," repeated Usui-san. "May I wait here, then?" It wasn't really a question.

Kenta quailed. "Um, yes. I – I have to go to work now though. I have a night shift. At a restaurant." He couldn't bring himself to say 'no' and throw her out, though he was physically capable of doing so. He didn't want to break this rare good humour Obaa-san was displaying.

But if she was going to stay, hell if he would. He'd been conditioned since he could walk to keep out of rooms Obaa-san was using, and for once he was glad to accept such boundaries. However nice she was affecting to be, the pressure of her presence was too much to take after seven months of relative freedom.

Usui-san watched him escape, and sighed with disgust the moment the coast was clear. What a hole. Fumio must be insane to give up a secure home – and for what, the 'happiness' of her illegitimate teenage pregnancy? If she had ever hit her daughter, it was only in a futile attempt to beat some sense into her. Looking at what had happened even when the girl lived at home, who knew what terrible things would befall her in a town full of strangers? With a daughter so vulnerable and weak-willed who could blame a mother for wanting to regain some control? 'It hurts'. Hah. The only thing that Fumio's reckless actions hurt was her mother's pride.

Thirty-five minutes still remained. The wait would not be pleasant.

-Alliriyan-