Neither Sunako nor Kyohei is greedy for money, for riches, for gold.
There's yelling in the sitting area, something incomprehensible from the backyard where Takenaga is starting yet another writing assignment by his lonesome. He'd realized belatedly that while they were all financially in debt to Obaa-chan, Sunako was living rent-free - but that didn't mean she was as rich as her aunt was.
It's not a matter of regarding friendships and memories as the "true treasure", but the two of them are deathly practical when it comes to spending money.
"Nakahara, if I find the receipt that says you spent forty thousand on a full body ballistic doll, I'm going to scalp you!"
That is to say, as long as it's money that is theirs.
It isn't the first time Sunako had gone off the wrong end with spending money that was meant for more important things; the first time had been several Halloweens ago, when she'd bought Josephine and Sergeant George a full wedding package, from the dress and tux to the matching coffins. It had significantly dented their already measly household budget, and Kyohei taking one too many days off from his job at the time wasn't helping. Ranmaru, the other secret genius among the four of them, had gotten tipped off about a job opening at a DVD rental store and kicked the two to that direction, under the guise of earning back the money they lost (c/o Sunako) and were too lazy to work hard to recover (c/o Kyohei), and also under the obvious ploy to get those two together.
Then he proceeded to call up three or four women and asked them for pocket money, the gall of that man. Sunako and Kyohei were basically slaving for money while the three of them became temporary sugar babies, and it's a secret Takenaga has sworn to take to his grave.
Aside from Yuki, Kyohei is without an outstanding, outlandish family background. His father is a common salaryman with the common vices - women, gambling, liquor. His mother is a tired housewife who lost her savings to constantly bailing out her son prior to his move into the mansion, and his older brother has a family of his own that needed support. Kyohei understands the value of money and somehow still doesn't think much of it. He earns as he spends, living out his days as if he were to die the next.
There's a loud crashing, like furniture falling one on top of the other, and the sound is more comical than it is concerning. It's a bit distracting, though, and Takenaga needs to concentrate. He just doesn't like how their two other housemates left him to babysit because he was the freelancer among them. He sighs, but he keeps writing.
Sunako's of a somewhat similar upbringing and yet an opposite path altogether; her father is a an associate researcher at a lab in their hometown Hokkaido, and her mother was a happy housewife. They financially supported their daughter, but it was Sunako herself who had turned down their money once she turned 20, claiming that she had to be independent and be a true adult.
She had said it with such passion it almost reminded us about how passionate Obaachan was about transforming her niece.
"You spent our takoyaki gig money on a fishing boat!" Sunako counters, screeching from inside the house. There's still a lot of grunting and shuffling and overall brawling sounds happening, so Takenaga opts to keep himself safe by staying outside from a safe eavesdropping distance. "And we still haven't finished paying for it!"
Takenaga's ears perk. 'We'?
It doesn't come as a surprise to anyone that Sunako and Kyohei do odd jobs here and there even though they both graduated university and had passions separate to what they're currently doing. They were perfect all-rounders for the neighborhood, considering their past for getting random work and performing swimmingly well in the name of high pay and bonuses. Money was the driving force to get either of these two to function, but it's never brought them closer to each other like it has now.
It's simultaneously surprising and predictable that these two have mutually decided to create a shared account for their earnings, like married couples and business partners would think to do if such a collaboration were to be longterm.
"I bought the boat so we could catch food," Kyohei reasons with her, and he commands with him a domineering silence that Sunako is subconsciously compliant to. "And we could either sell the food or keep it to ourselves. Can you imagine having shrimp and lobster hotpot every night? You can, right?"
"I can almost taste it," Sunako answers, less hostile about the fishing boat now that Kyohei's successfully defended its purpose. She almost sounds guilty for purchasing the ballistic doll for personal reasons. "But we still didn't have enough money to pay for all of it all at once," she says, finally snapping out of the guilt-and-pleasure purchase seesaw she had been riding in her mind.
"We could have had said money if someone didn't decide to add Shiraki to their collection." Kyohei teases her in a tone Takenaga finds is dangerously close to flirting. Not that either one of the two idiots inside the house would even realize, anyway.
"Shiraki? Is that what we're calling the ballistic doll?" Sunako doesn't sound at all affronted about being called out for her impulse buying. In any case, Sunako always took accountability when she knew she was at fault. "Have you gotten attached to her? I could always take her back and negotiate for a refund."
"It's fine," Kyohei assures her in a foreign tone that Takenaga realizes is a mixture of mature understanding and exasperated endearment. "If we work double shifts for the next two months at the Hen-na Hotel, we can pay Tsuchiya-san back in no time. Or in at least five months."
Laughter rings out and graces Takenaga's ears. "You like Shiraki more than Hiroshi-kun," is Sunako's only jovial comment. It's teasing, and it's got the same tone as Kyohei's underlying flirty one earlier, Takenaga notes.
"You need pocket money, don't you?"
"I was going to follow up by pointing out why you're the one holding the purse strings considering you're more prone to impulse buying, but yeah, sure, I won't say no to that."
Takenaga notes Sunako's laughter is as melodious as it is rare, and he smiles when he hears her chuckling again, genuinely amused by the blond man's attempts to ask for money.
It's beyond my comprehension that these two are slowly building a future that is heavily reliant on the presence and cooperation of the other; Kyohei has accepted Sunako's dolls and skeletons as if he were marrying into a single-parent household, whereas Sunako is steadily improving when it comes to financial matters now that she's in a situation where she's responsible for another person. These two likely don't realize how dependent they've become of each other, but they are ironically very well aware of how having the other has been beneficial to their growth, even outside the financial context. One can only hope this would also, eventually, include the romantic context as well.