Kaguya and continued to sit by the fire pit. Soon, Eirin came outside and joined us. The sunrise took my mind off of the unfortunate things. I normally only sat outside and watched the sunrise when I had isolated myself, but there I was doing the same thing, but with friends. Many would find the sunrise boring, and uneventful as it always happened every day, nearly the same exact way. I still watched it as a sign of hope, that brightness and good would overcome, and I needed hope more than ever, as I was going to face possibly the most powerful enemy Gensokyo had ever seen.
"So, Kaguya. Do you know anything about what I'm going to be fighting?"
"I wish I did know, but I do not. If I find anything out, I'll be sure to let you know."
"Okay." After some time we went back inside when the Sun had mostly risen, and the fire had burned itself out. I decided to use mouthwash when I went inside, and then I ended up drinking tea. It resulted in a painful freezing feeling in my mouth, as always happened when tea and mouthwash mixed. To avoid allowing it to get worse, I sprayed out the tea in my mouth, and all over the bottom of the kitchen sink where I was drinking. Nobody was watching, fortunately, and so I rinsed the sink out, and went upstairs to take yet another nap. I was interrupted by my mother scolding me, trying to get me to wake up. I was too tired to care exactly what words she threw at me in any particular order. so I got up before I had to endure even more. I wanted to just sleep the day past, to evade the risk of yet another party, but I remembered that it would probably have been just as destructive, whether or not I was conscious at the time. I resolved to stay awake, as I still had a duty to protect Eirin and Kaguya, and I was not going to ignore that fact. I had to face the day whether I wanted to or not. I just hoped that it wouldn't be a miserable one. Then the doorbell suddenly rang. I took the pocket knife in my drawer, and hung it on my belt. I decided I was more than capable to ward off any potential intruders. I opened the door, and found that there was no need to take the tool off of my belt. It was my brother, Bryan. It took no time for me to figure that he had arrived for the wedding, even though he also had some resentment for Geoff. I never liked that Geoff was named what he was. He wasn't a respectful person, and he himself was hard to respect. That was contrasting to my grandfather, who was also named Geoff, but was a very good person, easy to respect, easy to be around, and a very kind and caring person. I didn't like the same name that described my grandfather to be attributed to the punk that called me his cousin, and who was the primary reason I isolated myself from my family. "Hey Bryan." I greeted him.
"Hey little brother." I knew he didn't much like hugs, so I offered to shake his hand, which he accepted. "How has Geoff been? He isn't getting out of line, is he?"
"Well, yesterday the house was swarming with drunks, so you tell me…"
"Wonderful… He really doesn't get that we grew up here, does he?"
"He must have no idea at all. It's disgusting at best."
"Seriously…"
"Well, Mom said there will be no more parties. The best part, he tried to say the party was in my honor."
"That's pretty barbaric by your standards, isn't it?"
"Exactly. I imagine a party for me would be much more respectful, and dignified. In fact, one of my friends was being harassed by one of the inebriated freaks, so I had to sock him in the face. I just sat in my room for a time after. I must admit, it feels good to be back in familiar territory, even if Geoff is still polluting it with his disgraces."
"I can't imagine what it would be like to be so far from home."
"Yeah, not exactly fun with the budget restrictions, I had to take up work, go hungry, and honestly, my education is at a standstill due to recent events."
"Doesn't sound exactly like the vacation that Mom and Dad said it would be."
"Yeah, I didn't expect it to be like that either, but I had just hoped it wouldn't be as bad as it got. Then again, it probably could have been worse."
"Yeah, let's be glad about that much."
"Optimism is a virtue. It was all I really had overseas. I did make a few friends though."
"Jacob, who's there?" Kaguya asked, walking downstairs. Bryan looked at her, somewhat confused.
"It's my brother, Bryan."
"Is she a friend of yours?"
"Yeah, we met while I was away. Her name is Kaguya Houraisan."
"Hello Mr. Kenneth." Kaguya bowed her head respectfully.
"Hello to you Ms. Houraisan. How has Jacob been?"
"He's been very kind and helpful to me."
"Good to hear." He then went to see Mom and Dad. The rest of the day was to function like a reunion of sorts. The only people I could recognize were the family of Geoff, and the rest seemed to be his friends, or other people I didn't have any relation to. I simply ignored most of them, as I had Kaguya and Eirin to tend to. The three of us went back upstairs, and I turned on the television for them to watch. The channel it was on was the news, which I always avoided watching, because it never seemed to show the good as much as it did the bad, and it would always upset me. I put up with it, as Kaguya and Eirin still probably wanted to know a bit more about the outside world.
"I'll warn you two that this may not be an accurate picture of life in the outside world. The media has a way of emphasizing bad things." I then lay back down on the bed, tired. The three of us waited silently, then the broadcast finished.
"What should we do now?" Kaguya asked.
"I really don't know. I used to do a few things, but they're not really group activities. Writing poetry, meditating, stuff like that. Unless we want to do it as a group."
"Well, I'm not very much of a poet..."
"That's okay. I guess we could use the telescope, if only, wait a second, it's still day outside... Here, I've got an idea." I took the alarm clock off of my nightstand and set it to about seven thirty in the afternoon. "I set the alarm to about the time it should get dark, then we can use the telescope."
"You mean that one?" Kaguya asked, pointing at the telescope in the corner of my room. It wasn't the worst telescope ever, but it also wasn't the best. Regardless, I always was amazed by getting a better view at what lay beyond the planet I called home.
"Yep, that's it."
"I have a telescope too. It doesn't look quite like this one though."
"Oh, so you know how to use it?"
"I could probably figure it out."
"Okay, I think I'll change into some of my clothes from here."
"I'll see if I can get the telescope ready."
"Alright, I'll be right back." I went to my closet, took some clothes to make an outfit, went into the bathroom, and put them on. I went back into my room, and took a nap on the bed once more. I was satisfied. I got to live through my first pleasant day back at home. I knew the next day was going to be the last.