Between a House and a Home
Tomoki doesn't know what he is doing picking his sister over his friends. He trudges down the hallway littered with students who only have half the heart to give him their usual stares.
The upper floor is better. Nobody stares at him.
With his lunchbox in one hand and water bottle in the other, he enters Tomoko's class to find that it is mostly empty except for his sister and some other girl who is standing over her making Tomoko look like she's about to wet her pants.
He assesses the situation from the blackboard and relaxes when he figures that his sister isn't embarrassing herself more than necessary.
When the silky black haired girl turns around, there is a smile on her face and this trips Tomoki. The girl is genuinely smiling, like she's just enjoyed spending her time with his creep of a sister.
"Oh, hello!" the girl says when she sees him. "Good luck on your match today."
"Er, thanks," he says and wonders how this girl knows who he is.
"I'm Megumi Imae, the school representative," she says.
"Ah. I thought you look familiar," he says, though not really.
Behind her, his sister is throwing him glares. He ignores her.
"I'll be cheering for our school today. Enjoy lunch with your friends!" she says and then darts off before he can get a word in.
"What are you doing here?" Tomoko says, glowering.
"Lunch," he says. "What did the school rep want with you?"
Tomoko suddenly looks smug and Tomoki is beginning to regret his question.
"She likes me!" says Tomoko.
Tomoki drags a chair to her desk and sits across from her. "Yeah?"
"Yeah! I think she's a lesbian or something. She probably had a lot of girlfriends before, seems like she's really interested in me."
"Huh," he says.
He thinks she's lying again.
"What? You don't believe me?" she says accusingly.
"No," he says.
Tomoki opens his lunchbox and starts eating. He is grateful that Tomoko is too caught up on the school rep to interrogate why he is here. Tomoki isn't sure himself. He thinks he might be crazy.
Tomoko doesn't look like she's in a hurry to leave, which is strange, considering she was trying to get out of the classroom for lunch yesterday. Instead, she opens her own lunchbox and sighs happily at the contents.
He wonders if this is the first time she's had somebody to have lunch with and he feels sorry for her. Tomoki tries not to let it show because his sister is damn good at sensing changes in the atmosphere. They eat in silence, the hard-to-come-by peace that Tomoki realises he likes and will never get around his friends. It unsettles him to think that he might even want to do this again with his sister.
The thought scares him.
"Oh hey, Kuroki-san!"
There are two girls standing by the door. One of them is waving at his sister.
"A-ah, hi. Ah…" Tomoko stammers, blushing profusely.
The happy girl now turns to smile at Tomoki too. "Hello, I'm Hina Nemoto, Kuroki-san's desk-mate!"
They stop by the desk.
He considers his options, and opts to being stoic.
"I'm from the soccer team," he says, ignoring Nemoto's attempt to make friends.
If she is genuinely nice, why hasn't she tried to get to know his sister? Aren't desk-mates supposed to be good friends?
The blonde girl beside Nemoto looks sort of bitchy too, reminding him of that girl in his class who made fun of his sister yesterday.
He stares up at them.
They stare back.
His sister is fumbling in her seat like a loser.
"Are you related to Okada by any chance?" he asks the blonde one.
The blonde girl grins, all feral and smirky. "I'm Akira's sister, Ayaka Okada."
Tomoki nods. "Your sister has quite a mouth on her, you know."
Across from him, his sister chokes and covers her mouth with her hands.
Okada flushes, stammering, "W-what do you mean?"
Nemoto looks like she wants to laugh but is too polite to.
"Nothing important," says Tomoki before returning to his lunch.
He shoves his water bottle at his sister, which she fumbles before managing to accept.
The two girls hover by the desk a few seconds longer before awkwardly realising that they are dismissed.
"Oh, well. I'll see you later, Kuroki-san and…ah," says Nemoto.
His sister waves hastily, stammering over her goodbye. When they are out of earshot, she whirls around to glare at him.
"Why did you do that?"
"Do what?"
"Humiliate me!"
"I didn't."
"You shouldn't have said that to Okada."
"But it's true. And unlike you, I don't have to lie to be interesting," he says without real bite. He grimaces when he picks up his water bottle and realises it's empty. "You drank all my water?"
"Serves you right for being a pervert."
"Are you an idiot?" he says. "Didn't you know Okada was making fun of you? Stop being such an embarrassment."
Tomoko shoots up from her chair, but quickly sits down again when a group of boys enter the class. She glares helplessly at her lunch, looking like she wants to kill somebody and cry at the same time.
"I'm only joking," he gives in, "you haven't made a fool of yourself today. Except this morning when you tried to walk through the door without opening it."
"Shut up," she grumbles, wiping her mouth with her sleeve.
Tomoki tries not to cringe.
"Aren't you the freshman from the soccer team?"
The group of boys approach their desk.
His sister flinches and sinks into her seat.
Tomoki turns around in his chair.
The boy who spoke has messy brown hair and thick-rimmed glasses. He looks friendly enough. He sort of reminds Tomoki of Kirito with that obnoxious grin. Maybe this is what Kirito will look like with glasses, he thinks absently.
"I'm Kiyota. Good luck with your match today," he says loudly.
"Thanks."
Only then does Kiyota notice his sister fidgeting in her seat. Tomoko looks like she wants to die, and Tomoki thinks she's being ridiculous.
"Oh. You're with Kuroki. I'm not interrupting am I?" says Kiyota.
"No. I'm trying to convince her to come cheer me," he says as if Kiyota is his long time friend.
"Ah, I see. Our Kuroki is really shy, I don't think she cares much for sports," says Kiyota.
His sister whimpers and looks like she is about to turn into a blob of slime.
Tomoki raises his eyebrows and Kiyota adds in hastily, "That isn't to say our Kuroki isn't interested in you or anything! Oh man, I'm a complete disaster today-"
"Is that Kuroki-level?" one of his friends snickers.
"Kuroki-level?" says Tomoki.
"Ah, nothing! Never mind. Let's go," says Kiyota before rushing away with his friends.
"Kuroki-level?" he repeats to his sister.
Tomoko grimaces. "It's a joke."
"It doesn't sound very funny."
"Everybody thinks it's funny," she says.
"I don't."
Tomoko snorts. "Of course not, since you're a Kuroki."
"That's not it," he says.
Tomoko shoves the rest of her lunch in her mouth and swallows with difficulty.
"Whatever," she says.
"Did that guy just call you 'our Kuroki'?" says Tomoki as an afterthought.
His sister's hands are shaking. "He calls everybody that."
"Have you ever talked to him?"
"Why do you care?" she snaps.
Tomoki shrugs. "Sounds like he knows a lot about you."
She doesn't answer. And the last thing Tomoki wants is to put ideas into her head.
By the end of lunch, Tomoki enters his own classroom with a revelation. His sister isn't so much a nobody as she is awkward. People do acknowledge her, but they just aren't her friends. Well, he cannot blame them when even he recognises his sister for a creep. He wonders if there's a cure for that.
"Oh hey," Yuichi says when Tomoki returns with an empty lunchbox. "Where were you?"
Tomoki thinks he might just be imagining it, but Yuichi is staring at him weirdly, like he's hiding something. Kirito who sits at the back of the class is watching him too.
He shrugs and sits down.
"By the way, captain came by earlier. The match is postponed," says Yuichi.
Tomoki sits up. "It is?"
"Yeah. The all-boys school got into some sort of road accident. It's nothing major, though," says Yuichi, "We'll have practice today instead."
Tomoki nods.
Tatsuya enters the class just seconds before their maths teacher does. And the day carries on with nothing particularly interesting until soccer practice.
To say that his run-ins with Kiyota and Ogino after school are interesting would be one big fat lie. Tomoki thinks those two encounters border a nightmare than anything else.
He's finished changing into his soccer clothes and is jogging around the soccer field when he sees Kiyota standing by the bleachers with Kirito who's already finished his warmup. The obvious hasn't struck him until the fact is shoved in his face. Tomoki thinks he's an idiot for not having figured it out sooner.
He supposes this is some sort of price he has to pay for trying not to think too much. When he approaches the bleachers with Yuichi following after, Tatsuya is there with Okada's sister talking animatedly. Kiyota nods at him, but Kirito is avoiding Tomoki's eyes.
Tomoki pretends he doesn't notice, and promptly makes himself forget about it.
"Hey. Too bad the match is cancelled, right?" Kiyota says with a smile.
Tomoki nods and bends down to re-tie his shoelaces.
"Good thing you didn't manage to convince Kuroki to come, yeah?"
He looks up, and is caught by surprise to see his friends' expectant faces staring down at him.
"What?" he says, and then, "Kirito, is this your brother?"
"Yeah. He's Kiyota Takanashi," says Kirito, still won't meet his eyes.
"You have Ogino for homeroom?" he says to Kiyota, standing up.
When Kiyota nods, Tomoki wonders if he should break the bubble and tell them that he has a sister and she is in Kiyota's class. He decides against it when he sees the uncomfortable looks on their faces.
"What's going on?" he says.
Yuichi and Kirito exchange looks and Tomoki is getting impatient.
"Guys," he says.
"Nothing. It's just that, you were missing during lunch, and ah, Tatsuya went to look for you," says Yuichi. "He found you on the sophomore floor with a girl, and…"
Kirito cuts in, "It's just, the girl you're interested in, Tomoki, she isn't good for you!"
Tomoki blanches. He turns to Kiyota who is now slowly edging away from them like he's guilty of something. Tomoki knows his reaction is the worst when he is caught off guard, and this is one of those times that he is really caught off guard.
"You told them?" he says to Kiyota who half freezes on spot.
"Sorry. My brother came asking and I…"
"Whatever," he says because he's an idiot. "What's wrong with having lunch with somebody else?"
A hand slaps him on his back and the feral face of Tatsuya is grinning at him.
"There's nothing wrong with that, dude. Only Tomoko Kuroki isn't like the other girls, you know," Tatsuya is babbling now, "There's been a rumour going around that—"
"Okay, enough. I really don't care what you guys think of her," he says, and doesn't know if he should be angry or embarrassed.
His friends look startled, like they didn't expect him to defend his own damn creep of a sister or something.
"Look," he says. "Why don't you guys come by my house this weekend?"
Yuichi stutters, "I– you, what really?"
"Yeah," he says weakly, already regretting it.
"Are you serious?" Tatsuya says, clutching his shoulders. "You never invite us over! Like ever."
"Yeah, well…"
"You won't be taking your words back will you?" Kirito says.
"No, no I won't." Tomoki inwardly weeps. And to make matters worse for himself, he turns to Kiyota and says, "Takanashi- er, Kiyota. You come too."
This trips Kiyota, obviously, to be invited by a freshman like they are equals. But Kirito is staring at Kiyota so heatedly that the older brother is pressured into agreeing.
"Ah, okay. Fine. I'll go," says Kiyota hastily. "But I can't stay long. I have things to do."
"Dude's lying," says Tatsuya.
:::::
Then right after soccer practice, he has that run-in with Ogino who's just finished rallying the track students.
"Kuroki," she says.
Tomoki's heart plummets into his stomach.
"Ah, yes."
"How's your family doing?" she says.
Tomoki knows she only means Tomoko and so he says, "Fine."
"You've been thinking over what I said?" she says.
"Yes," he says.
"Good. See you around, Kuroki."
Ogino walks off again and Tomoki wishes they don't ever see each other again.
When Tomoki gets home, his sister is eating her dinner with their mother. Tomoki thinks it's an odd sight.
"I'm home," he says.
"How's the match, Tomoki. Did you win?" his mother says, standing up to collect the empty plates and making a new dish for him.
His sister cuts in, "I'm sorry I couldn't go watch! I know you really wanted me to, but something came up and it was really important so I had to do that instead!"
His eye twitches, and he feels like choking her. "No, I understand. I know you would've come if you didn't have plans."
Tomoko flips her hair and grins. "Of course! I mean, if it's next week, I totally could go. But since it was this week I was really busy."
He narrows his eyes.
"Yeah. I know you would totally be there if the match is next week," he says.
"Exactly!"
"Good," says Tomoki. "Because today's match is postponed. I'll be expecting you in the crowd cheering your heart out next week, sis."
And he doesn't know what he's getting out of making both his and his sister's lives miserable. But he remembers Ogino and her words, and he thinks that maybe he's doing the right thing.
:::::
The weekend arrives quicker than Tomoki hopes. He's only had the heart to tell his mother and sister last night that he's having friends over. His mother is excited, but his sister, on the other hand, threw the biggest tantrum he's seen as of late.
She isn't happy that she isn't going to be free to walk from her room to the fridge and back. Tomoki thinks she's being ridiculous, but again, he doesn't have social anxiety so he really cannot judge. He googles about it and realises that not leaving the room when visitors are over is actually a legit symptom of SAD, and decides to apologise to Tomoko but promptly forgets about it.
The internet is a truly amazing place. He's learned more from Wikipedia than he has the whole two months of high school. Again, he doesn't think his sister is a big fan of Wikipedia as much as she is a fan of virtual dating games that is her downfall.
And this is totally why he's invited Kiyota over. Tomoki thinks anyway. This is absolutely why he's trying to hook his sister up with Kirito's brother. It's a half-assed attempt on his part, but nobody gets to say that he isn't trying. He doesn't know Kiyota Takanashi, but he knows Kirito, and they can't be that different, right?
Tomoki's initial plan was to bring his friends over and officially introduce them to his creepy sister, but nothing is going as planned because Tomoko wouldn't come out of her room. It's ridiculous.
They are lazing about in Tomoki's bedroom, and Kiyota is flipping through some old soccer magazine when the latter starts cracking up. He drops the magazine and Tatsuya and Kirito drop their joysticks, scrambling over to where the sophomore is curled up on the floor.
Kiyota is howling, and Tomoki has half the mind to think 'oh shit' even before he sees it. The others start cracking up too, and Tomoki curses in his head.
"Oh god, you weren't jacking off to this were you?" Tatsuya is saying.
Yuichi is hiding his face behind his hands.
Tomoki flushes, picks up the damn magazine with his sister's face plastered all over the players and stashes it back on the shelf.
"Shut up," he says but they aren't listening. "It's not my fault she has a fucking weird sense of humour, okay."
This stops them. Even time seems like it has frozen over.
"What d'you mean, Tomoki?" says Yuichi softly.
"Nothing," he says hastily, slumping back down on the floor.
Tatsuya manages to put two and two together faster than the rest. "She came by your house before?"
Tomoki wants to slap him. He doesn't answer. This day is going terribly.
His friends take his silence as a yes and gape. "You're that close to Kuroki-san?"
"Obviously!" Tatsuya is saying to the others. "They're close enough that she's comfortable leaving troll pictures in his room!"
This trips everybody, and Tomoki wants to bury himself in his floorboards and never come out again. Everybody is quiet for a long moment.
His mother calls from downstairs, mentioning something about lunch and that she's going out to the market. That follows with the front door closing and a car igniting in the garage.
Still. Nobody speaks.
Tomoki chances a look at his friends, then at Kiyota.
Kiyota looks unsettled, like he isn't sure what to make of this situation.
It's Tatsuya who speaks. "I knew you're a private guy, Tomoki. But I never thought you'd keep the fact that you're dating a sophomore from us."
"I'm not-"
"What do you see in Kuroki-san, anyway?" says Kirito. "How far have you two gone?"
It's a knee jerk reaction but Tomoki kicks Kirito in the ribs. His friend keels over, and surprisingly Kiyota adds in a smack across his brother's head.
"Don't say stuff like that," says Kiyota, "can't you see you're making him uncomfortable?"
And then, Tatsuya says, "Wait. You guys aren't related are you? You two have really similar names."
This is it. This is his chance to tell them everything—
"That's not funny Tatsu. Tomoki's going out with Kuroki-san. They can't be siblings," Yuichi says.
Tomoki deflates. His chance is gone.
"You're right. Sorry," says Tatsuya, scratching his short spiky hair.
Tomoki is kind of lost on what to do right now.
"So, what's Kuroki like when you get to know her?" says Kiyota thoughtfully.
The others are looking at him too.
"I thought you guys said she isn't a good match?" he says evasively.
This is really uncomfortable. He wonders if Tomoko can hear them from the other room. He really hope she can't.
Kirito and Yuichi exhange a look. "Ah well…you really like her. Maybe we judged too soon."
"Besides, nobody knows her personally. I suppose she isn't as weird as the rumours make it," Tatsuya says.
His friends are strangely supportive and Tomoki doesn't know if he should be grateful and hateful towards them. They are really stupid, he thinks.
"She's smart," Tomoki says. "She's really smart."
Kiyota nods. "Yeah, I suppose she is. She's top of our class. Some of my friends even considered asking her to tutor them."
"Really?"
"Ah, yeah. But I don't think she'll be up for it. She's really shy," says Kiyota.
"That's not what you told me, the other day!" Kirito cuts in.
Kiyota flushes and glares at his brother.
"Didn't you say it's because people think she's a lesbian? That's why you guys don't talk to her?"
"What? I-"
"You won't talk to someone because of who they like?" says Tomoki. He doesn't think that's fair.
"Ah, no. That's not it," says Kiyota. "It's just. She doesn't seem like she want any friends, you know? And it's embarrassing to say this, but she doesn't answer us when we talk to her. It's like we're out of her league or something."
"Wait. Isn't that because she's shy?" Tatsuya says.
"Right. Didn't you say she's really shy, Takanashi-kun?" says Yuichi.
"Ah, er, right."
Suddenly, the door to his room bursts open. Tomoko is standing in the doorway in her boyshorts and spaghetti tee. At least she isn't up to anything creepy this time. She looks like she's only just gotten out of bed.
"Hey, where's-" Her eyes widen when she sees his friends.
She slams the door shut before any of them can get a glimpse of her face.
Tomoki sighs.
His friends turn around and sees no one. They all hear a muffled sound of a second door closing.
"Who was that?"
"Is there a girl in this house?"
"I don't know. I just saw really pretty legs."
"I'll be right back," says Tomoki and leaves them in his room.
He bombards into his sister's room. It's dark and the curtains are drawn and there's a shivering lump inside the covers on the bed.
"What did you want?" he says.
"Why didn't you tell me you have friends over?" comes the whimpering voice from under the cover.
"I told you last night," he says, exasperated.
She doesn't answer. "Why d'you have to bring them over? It's not fair."
"What's not fair?"
He grabs the blankets and yank them off of her.
Tomoko is sitting curled up with her head to her knees, her skinny arms hugging her legs. Tomoki think she's crying.
"Are you happy now? Did you bring them over to rub it in my face that I have no friends?" she cries.
Tomoki freezes.
"What?"
"Are you that happy to see me by myself? That's why you keep coming to eat lunch with me, right?" Tomoko looks up and her face is a mess of tears and misery. "Does that satisfy your big ego, little brother?"
Oh.
His heart drops.
He wants to touch her head, comfort her somehow, but he doesn't know how long it's been since she's last washed her hair. So he pats her shoulder awkwardly instead.
"That's not it," he says. "Er, I actually wanted them to meet my sister."
Tomoko tenses.
"But whatever. You don't have to," he says hastily, afraid she's going to throw another tantrum.
"Okay," she says, relaxing a little. "Can you tell them something for me?"
Tomoki stiffens. "What is it?"
About five minutes later, Tomoki returns into his room, his hair messy and his face grim. His friends turn to stare at him.
Kiyota sits up. "Hey, is everything-"
"Guys," says Tomoki, "Did you know that if you have just one cute prickly cactus, you can SHOVE IT UP YOUR ASS?"
"What the hell?" says Tatsuya, and they all burst out laughing.
Tomoki closes the door and slumps down against it.
Everybody is still cracking up, loud and obnoxious. Tomoki imagines his sister in the other room, grinning happily as she lives vicariously through him.
