Chapter III
"Okay, you know all the rules?"
"Yes, mom."
"Don't let anyone inside the house if the doorbell rings, don't leave the house, the first aid kit is—"
"In the hall closet; third shelf. Yeah, yeah, I know." Denki leaned forward, grabbing his mom's head and kissing her on the forehead. At 5'6, he towered over his 4'10 mother, which made it much easier to kiss her like that.
"You know you don't have to worry. You've left us home alone before," Denki commented, grabbing his mom's hands and looking her in the eyes. Meeting her son's gaze, Mrs. Kaminari sighed, grabbing his own face.
"I know, I know—but I'm a mom. It's my job to worry," she said, grabbing his cheeks. Denki laughed a little bit, shoving his mom away. At this point, he was used to his mom's overprotective nature. She really didn't have any reason to worry: Musutafu was one of the safest cities in Japan according to her research beforehand, and anyway it wasn't like he or Aishun was going to go and jump off a bridge the second she left them alone.
Still, every time she left to go to work or any place like that, she always ran through the same checklist just to make sure, even though Denki had been babysitting Aishun for, what, six years now? Even so, his mom couldn't help it, but Denki had never really minded.
All being said, Denki's mom was a fairly pretty woman. She had long blonde hair like Denki's, but without any black, almost looking like rods of gold. Her eyes were a bright electric blue like they were constantly crackling with energy, never resting for even a moment. They were always working, constantly taking in everything around her, like it was just a reflex to always be working.
Years of having two kids and working non-stop had given her prominent wrinkle lines, which she usually wasn't ashamed of. "They show that I work hard; why would I hide that?" She had once said to a woman at the beauty salon she used to go to in Saitama Prefecture who had commented on them.
"Aishun, you know the rules—listen to your brother, alright?" Denki's mom said, leaning down to rub Yuko's head as she grabbed her purse off the hook.
Aishun barely responded, only gave a small grunt of recognition. She was barely paying attention to either of them, her nose buried deep in some book the size of a brick as she sank deep into the couch cushion.
Denki's mom shook her head, then looked back and Denki and stood on her tip-toes to kiss his forehead, though even so Denki had to bend down a little.
Briskly walking to the foyer, Mrs. Kaminari swung open the door and letting a blast of heat into the air-conditioned house. "There's some leftover miso in the fridge if you get hungry! Call me if anything is wrong" She added quickly, and Denki shook his head, still smiling.
"You're gonna be late," he reminded her, sticking his hands in his pockets. As if the thought had just occurred to her, Mrs. Kaminari jumped a little bit, shoving her purse strap onto her shoulder.
"Right, right. I'll be back around 5-ish!" She confirmed, finally shutting the door. As she left, Denki glanced over at Aishun, who was still nose deep in her book. It was possible she would be dead to the world for at least another few hours.
For reasons Denki didn't understand, it always came as a surprise when someone he knew found out that he actually liked to read. His GPA had never exactly been the "best", but reading had been the one thing that he had actually been good at. He could name some of the greatest authors in all of literature off the top of his head, and he actually had a large vocabulary. It was just...well, everything else academic he struggled with.
Reading and learning weren't the same things. People always talked about them like they went hand-in-hand, but reading was just something Denki did for fun. He didn't sit down and flip through huge textbooks about science and math like Aishun, but rather more stories like Huckleberry Finn and everything like that. Reading was the only thing that actually stuck. Everything else, like numbers or classical Japanese or anything like that, just sunk to the bottom of his brain like rocks.
Everytime Denki used a big word or mentioned some unknown author that did something important, everyone always got wide-eyed and surprised like they couldn't believe he had said it, which Denki never really understood.
"So, do you plan to interact with anyone today?" Denki asked, placing his hands on the back of the couch. Aishun only rolled her eyes, as if she was already annoyed with him. Reluctantly, she placed down her book in her lap, which Denki now saw was something about astrophysics—whatever that was.
"Do you? We're not supposed to leave the house while mom's gone, remember?" She huffed, as if the question was so stupid she wasn't even sure why she bothered answering. Denki glared down at his sister; even though he was six years older than her, she always acted like she was some older diva.
"Jeez, forget I asked," he muttered, turning on his heel and pounding up the stairs. While Aishun planned to just waste her day away reading about something called able-living or whatever, Denki had his own plans for the day: eating Pocky sticks and people watching. Granted, he couldn't actually leave the front yard to do it, but his street was good enough. Plus, if he happened to see some girls while doing it, that was fine too...
Stepping into this room, he gazed around at the bedroom now filled with furniture after his mom had finally made him reluctantly unpack. A large twin bed sat in the corner, a bright yellow bedsheet with black lightning bolt patterns decorating the surface. Beside his window, a large wooden desk sat, a desktop computer and gold and black swivel chair accompanying it.
On the other side of his window, a large dresser sat, a few random stickers that he had collected over the years dotting the surface. On top of the dresser, it was a little more disorganized—an assorted mess of random items, from Batman figurines to a small accordion. A jar of pens and pencils sat, and above his window, there was a long wooden board with silver hooks, each hook holding a different item. One had a small pair of headphones, while another had a scarf, and so on.
There were at least two skateboards, with one leaning against his dresser and another hanging on the wall acting as a shelf. A large yellow canvas with a big black "K" for Kaminari hung right over his bed, which Denki specifically remembered arguing with his mom over.
While she had wanted the more traditional version, with the whole word Kaminari painted like かみな, Denki had wanted a more modern version. It seemed like that was the one thing he and his mom could never agree on. She was more into traditional values, such as home cooking every meal and hanging pictures with the traditional Japanese rendering, such as かみな all over the house.
Denki, for whatever reason, had never felt that way about anything. While his mom had always been big on home-cooked meals, Denki had liked things like hamburgers and Pocky sticks, all to his mom's horror. She always said they were "synthetic flavoring" or something like that, and weren't an "actual meal". He had been lucky to be able to keep one box in the kitchen.
Which was why he had to keep an entire stash of Pocky sticks under his bed.
Back in Saitama, the closest place to get Pocky sticks had been at a drug store twenty minutes away, which was why he was only able to get them at parties. When he had discovered a store five minutes from here that had an entire shelf of Pocky sticks, it was almost like his heart had stopped for a moment. He had spent almost all his money on almost all the flavors they had, but it was worth it.
Digging under the bed, Denki rummaged around through the boxes of sticks, sticking his head to the floor so that he could see underneath. After finally deciding on a box of Trinity Orange Peel, Denki quickly glanced at the door to make sure Aishun wasn't there, then shoved them into his jacket pocket. He knew that Pocky sticks were the one thing she wouldn't rat on him about; she loved them almost as much as he did. Only thing is, if she discovered he had an entire stash, she would probably make him give up half of it just to keep her quiet. It was better to just make sure she didn't know altogether.
Walking briskly through the halls, Denki quickly brushed past Aishun, making a getaway for the backdoor. The morning air felt good on his face, at that moment when the cold of nighttime had subsided but it wasn't quite boiling hot yet. Although it was only about 8:00 A.M, the sky was already a bright blue, white patches of clouds drifting across it lazily. The field where Jirou had again been playing last night stretched out before him, seemingly endless. The scene had gone the same as always: Denki had gone down to see her, and she had shooed him off.
Still, Denki refused to let that get him down. He had come outside because he liked the cool air, and if he happened to see any cute girls, that was fine too...
Making a beeline for the front of the house, Denki watched as the field behind the block stopped abruptly as houses and a long street appeared. Climbing the porch steps, Denki settled himself in the porch swing, using his fingernails to crack the cardboard on the box and pop it open. The smell of a fresh box of Pocky opened washed over him, and Denki smiled as he took a stick out of the box, biting into it with a loud crunch.
Craning his neck, Denki gazed across the street, hoping to see some sign of Kirishima, but to his disappointment, the redhead's lawn stayed quiet as ever. The only sound on the block right now was the occasional tweeting of birds, and...footsteps?
Looking over, Denki almost felt his heart and his face beam as he saw what just rounded the corner. Two girls, each in a jogging uniform, turned onto his street, each of them talking to each other. One of them seemed to be fairly tall and doing most of the talking, her messy orange hair tied into a side ponytail. She wore a black jogging jacket, with the name Kendo displayed on the back in big block letters. Her green eyes gleamed as she talked to the other girl, who mostly seemed to be smiling and nodding quietly.
The other girl's hair was green, reminding Denki of vines as they hung loosely at her sides rather than tied up. Her skin was fairly pale, and her eyes were so dark they almost looked black. They're kinda cute, especially the green one, Denki thought, adjusting his shirt. Quickly checking to make sure there were no crumbs on him, Denki started running through the list of pickup lines he had picked up after skimming through the internet several times.
At first, he had thought of using them on Jirou, but he had never gotten the chance to. These girls looked good enough though. "Hey!" Denki called as their feet pounded past. Hearing his voice, they stopped just in front of his driveway. For a moment, the orange one who was apparently Kendo, ruffled her eyebrows together and looked around to see if anyone else was there, then looked back at him, obviously confused.
"Is your dad a cop? Cause it's illegal to look that good," Denki whistled, winking as he flashed a bright smile. He hoped the girls would maybe smile or even start giggling but instead it had the opposite effect.
The girl whose hair reminded Denki of vines furrowed her eyebrows together, obviously confused, while the one called Kendo just looked annoyed. She whispered something to the vine girl, who only shook her head as the two started to jog away.
"Wait!" Denki suddenly called, leaping to his feet. "Are you a parking ticket? Cause you've got fine written all over—"
"Screw off," Kendo interrupted, flashing a rude hand gesture as she and Vine Girl turned the corner and disappeared from sight.
For a moment, Denki stood there, his hands clasping the porch railing as his brain slowly registered what had happened. When it finally came to him, he released a huff, collapsing down on the porch swing again. He didn't know why this kept happening; it always seemed like girls would fall for that stuff to him.
Well, maybe Jirou wouldn't, Denki thought to himself, biting his lip at the thought of her. For some reason, she didn't seem like the type to laugh at anything really. The few times he had actually seen her up close she was always mad at him, but from the times he had seen her from his window, her face always looked kind of neutral, like she didn't care either way. Something told him she wouldn't exactly appreciate his pickup lines.
Just as Denki was preparing to go back inside, he noticed a bit of movement on the corner where the two girls had just disappeared. At first he ignored it, thinking it was a car, but as it continued to drive on, he noticed that it didn't end. As it turned, Denki realized the sleek black car, rather than ending after a few feet like a normal car, just kept going. It wasn't until the whole thing had pulled onto his street that he realized it was a limousine, and it was pulling up to Jirou's house.
Now that he was looking, Denki saw Jirou's familiar petite form and dark purple hair sitting in the porch chair, her bangs hanging over her eyes. Did she see me talking to those girls? He wondered for a moment, and cringed slightly at the thought. He was kind of hoping no one had seen that.
Now curious, Denki furrowed his eyebrows together, watching as an old man with a gray broom mustache and a tuxedo crawled out, walking up her front steps and rapping on the door. After a few moments, the door then swung open, and another girl Denki didn't recognize stepped out. She had long black hair tied up into a spiky side ponytail, and black eyes to match. She wore a simple red sweater and long leggings, and had a white duffel bag slung over her shoulder, like the kind you took to sleepovers.
She said a few words to the old man, who nodded and took her duffel bag, walking to the limo and placing it inside. Jirou soon followed out the door soon after, saying a few words to the girl. Wait, is she hugging her? Denki thought as Jirou wrapped her arms around the girl. Jirou didn't seem like the hugging type at any point that Denki had met her; even Kirishima had said that she had tried to stab him with a fork.
Then again, he had also said the two people Jirou actually liked were some guys named Yaoyorozu and Hagakure. But now that he was actually seeing Jirou hugging someone, he was starting to think that one of them might be a girl rather than a guy. Whether it was Yaoyorozu or Hakakure Denki didn't know, but just standing here he could see that she was pretty friendly with them. Plus, whoever they were, they were rich as heck.
"Hey Jirou; who's you friend?" Denki called, cupping his hands over his mouth. He didn't take a moment to think about it; the words just slipped past his lips. Despite the overwhelming evidence that every time Denki spoke to her she seemed to get pissed, Denki called out to her anyways, not thinking about the results.
Startled, Jirou jumped a bit, then turned towards his house. Instantly, her expression turned sour as she scowled, Yaoyorozu or Hagakure (Denki still wasn't sure) furrowing her eyebrows together as she said something to her. Jirou muttered something back, and apparently whatever she said made the girl shut up.
Jirou didn't say anything to Denki, only held up the same gesture that the other girl, Kendo, had held up to him. With a huff, Jirou muttered one last goodbye to the girl, then stomped into her house, slamming the door shut. For a moment, her friend stood there, looking at the door, then at Denki. He wasn't sure if she wanted to talk to him or not, but before she got the chance, the guy with the mustache popped his head out of the front window.
"Mistress Momo? I believe it is time for us to depart," he said with a fancy accent that reminded Denki of those old fancy movies his mom and Aishun liked to watch all the time. The girl, who was called Momo, looked back at Denki one last time, then nodded hesitantly to the man and walked over to the limo, pulling open the door and climbing inside.
The limousine sped away, but as it did, Denki saw Momo watching him curiously through her window. I wonder if she talked about me, Denki wondered, the thought suddenly popping into his head. He wasn't entirely sure how he felt about that. For one, he had just assumed that Jirou just thought of him as "that annoying guy that always bothers me", and not something that she would talk about to her friends. On the other hand, it probably wasn't anything good, considering the few quality of the few interactions he had with her.
Still, weirdly enough, that didn't sit right with Denki. He knew he shouldn't care; he had been shut down by more girls then he could bother to remember over the last few years. It was just that Jirou seemed...different. It wasn't just him that she hated; it was like she hated everyone except for a few select people. She tended to give everyone the cold shoulder, but when she was alone at night she seemed a completely different person.
When she sang, her voice was full of emotion and heart. In fact, Denki was sure he had actually seen her smile one or two times, but he wasn't 100% sure on that. He wasn't sure he had met any girl, or rather anyone who was that passionate about anything, especially not himself, he realized.
There were few, if any, things that Denki could remember sticking to. It just seemed like he gave up on anything if it got old or too hard. He had always been more into the action scene, going to parties and laughing at memes on his phone rather than actually dedicating himself to anything. Of course he could remember people who had dedicated themselves to something, but no one seemed as passionate about it as Jirou. She almost seemed like a challenge, now that he thought about it.
And for some reason, Denki wanted nothing more than to win this challenge.
