When Jyushimatsu opened the bathroom door, he saw his older brother, Karamatsu, standing there. He was still wearing his leather jacket and sparkly blue pants. His sunglasses, however, were currently off of his face, so Jyushi could see his brother's eyes.
Karamatsu was giving him a concerned look. "Brother," he started, "are you really ok?"
"Yeah! Yeah!" Jyushimatsu shouted, forcing his smile to stay on his face. "I'm ok! I'm ok!" Karamatsu didn't look convinced. He looked him straight in the eyes. Jyushimatsu made no move to break the eye contact.
"You're eyes are red," Karamatsu said plainly. "Are you sure you're completely fine?"
Jyushimatsu's smile wavered, but only for a second. He thought for sure that he wasn't crying long enough for his eyes to be noticeably red. "Yep! 1000%!" He waved his arms and tried to change the subject. "How did your day go? Did you have fun?"
Karamatsu posed dramatically. "Why yes!" He exclaimed, "Despite today's rather gloomy weather, I still managed to have a glorious day!"
Jyushimatsu laughed at his brother. "Tell me! Tell me!"
Karamatsu had begun to tell Jyushimatsu every single detail about his day. He was about half way through when Ichimatsu entered, completely drenched in rain and holding a small kitten in his arms. "Ichimatsu!" Karamatsu exclaimed, having noticed him first, "You are soaking wet! Please allow me to-"
"Shut up, Shittymatsu."
Karamatsu didn't try to continue speaking. He simply got up and went to get his brother a towel. When he returned, Jyushimatsu was showering Ichimatsu with questions about his day. While he had spent a larger amount of his day looked for cats caught in the rain, Ichimatsu explained that he found a kitten all alone under a dumpster. He spent a good hour coaxing it out from its hiding place, and then brought it home as fast as he could.
As the rest of the brothers came home, Jyushimatsu threw them questions about their day. Osomatsu hardly won anything in pachinko. Choromatsu got some new idol magazines. Todomatsu, however, was trying to avoid his brother's questions.
Todomatsu hadn't come home until dinner time. He seemed unpleased that he had become the main topic of their dinner conversation. "What about you, Jyushimatsu nii-san?" he said after a while.
Jyushimatsu tilted his head in confusion. "Eh?"
"What did you do today?"
Karamatsu saw Jyushimatsu's smile waver. It was only for a moment, but he was still able to notice it. Jyushimatsu was silent for a few seconds before he responded, "I played baseball!"
"Out in the rain?" questioned Osomatsu.
Jyushimatsu shook his head vigorously. "No. Inside!"
"Inside!?" Choromatsu exclaimed, "You could have broken something!"
Jyushimatsu laughed loudly. Karamatsu couldn't help but feel it was forced. "But I didn't!" Jyushimatsu responded with his huge smile. Karamatsu felt that there was something wrong. Something was just...off with his brother.
They continued eating, and Karamatsu made a promised to himself. He promised that whatever it was that was wrong with Jyushimatsu, he'd help his brother, just like his brother helped him
