Chapter 04 — To a Home That Never Felt Like One
The sun hung low on the horizon, signalling that nighttime will be soon upon the residents of Seasoning City; and in this particular timeline — Yumei found herself running towards a silhouette on her way back home.
"K-Kageyama-san!" she panted, catching up to the male. The said male only looked back in surprise and confusion, stopping in his tracks for her to catch up. "Shizuma-san?" he asks, genuinely surprised for once.
"A-are you..." she paused to catch her breath, her heart pounding in her ears from that small jog. "—going home this way?"
Shigeo blinked, not expecting this as he replied shortly. "Yes."
"I see..." she then became withdrawn all of a sudden, like she was hesitant to say something; but whatever she had in mind wouldn't stay there for long since her fear eventually overwhelms her timidness. "My house is also this way...shall we...go together?" she suggested, her voice becoming softer again because she wasn't used to asking someone this type of question.
The same goes for Mob, who instantly exploded into a stuttering mess when he heard what she said, his cheeks going pink. "E-eh...?!"
With how he was acting, it flustered her in return, her cheeks getting redder than his and was gesticulating everywhere. "I mean...! There's n-n-nothing wrong with just walking together, right?!"
"Ah..." he says, snapping out of it. "You're right..." he agreed, seeing her point but still couldn't get rid of the pink hues on his cheeks. Seeing him so calm about it caught her off guard, inevitably giving off a vibe that would make her calm, too. Who wouldn't, without looking at that deadpan face? 'He really is hard to read.' she thought wryly while pushing her glasses back.
She then started to walk with her hands both clutching her school bag in front of her, stiff and nervous to talk first especially to an acquaintance she just met. Shigeo fell into stride with her as he followed suit, being a gentleman enough to wait for her and let her lead to avoid being rude; however, they walked side by side so as not to let each other feel left out.
Meanwhile, in the distance was a certain ravenette male looking quietly towards two silhouettes in front of him, walking together side by side — and in a moment of pure happiness, he wiped a tear coming out from his eye before walking to a different route home, thinking,
'I'm proud of you, nii-san.'
Mob still couldn't get the idea in his head that a girl was willingly walking with him on the way home. And she was the one who asked first! Okay, maybe he was thinking too much of it, and she even said herself that her house happened to be this way too, so there was no need to be so overexcited about it. He was sure if Dimple was here he would also say the same thing (though he would be wrong to think of that), and it brought his hopes down. However, the fact that a girl was walking with him now was not an illusion, so unnoticeable though it may be — one could see Shigeo slightly staring into space with a dazed expression on his visage, if one looked hard enough.
'Does that mean that I am...popular?' the hopeful boy thought to himself, imaginary sparkles surrounding his head.
This was a first time for him, the first time wherein he had a girl to walk with going home. So it was going to be a memorable day.
"S-so...you and your brother don't go home together?" Yumei asks suddenly, pulling him back to earth with which he just calmly nod his head. "Ritsu has his Student Council duty, so most of the time I go home early. Although," he added, glancing at the sunset, "This is past the time I usually go home."
"Well...I did just delay all of you back there..." Yumei mumbled low, her mind going back to the events barely an hour ago.
"Good to have you!"
Musashi says with a big smile as he took Yumei's hand in his big one's for a handshake. She then gladly introduced herself afterwards, "M-my name is Shizuma Yumei...! I know it's unusual for a girl like me to join you but pleasetakecareofme!" she yelled for her voice to project to her taller upperclassmen and bowing deeply to show respect to her new club mates.
"Eh? Shizuma-san? You're joining us?" Shigeo finally got through the tall figures of the others, seeing her in the center of the two groups. Yumei straightened her back at his voice, pushing her glasses further back on her nose since it slid down when she lowered her head.
"Oh, Kageyama, you know her?" Musashi asks him.
Mob nodded as he stared up to the man. "She's my classmate."
"That makes it easier then. Hello, passionate one, my name is Gouda Musashi from Class 3-3 and this club's president, nice to meet you!" the male with the thick eyebrows said.
"I'm Sagawa Jun, I'm also a second year like you from Class 2-2." the one with the shaved head nodded his head to her casually. "Y-you're a second year?!" She asks incredulously, looking at him in shock who just nodded slowly. Yumei couldn't believe it. Someone her age was this muscular...and short (Though she's still the shortest one of them all).
"He doesn't look like it, right?" laughed a male with a tall, lemon colored Mohican who had no visible eyebrows. "Anyway, I'm Kumagawa Hiroshi, from class 3-2. Nice to meet you." Yumei gave a short nod accompanied with a small smile to acknowledge his greeting.
"I'm from Class 3-3 same as Musashi, Yamamura Hideki. Pleased to meet you," a male with flat black hair and small eyes told her next, his face drawn into an emotionless expression making it hard for her to read if he's actually pleased with her joining or not.
"My name's Shimura Ryohei," a tall male with a long and sharp pompadour hairstyle nodded to her (which nearly stabbed her eye when he did that), "I'm from class 3-1, nice to meet you."
"Onigawara Tenga, third year." says another one who had a pompadour hairstyle, but shorter, and had visible bags under his eyes. Unlike the other members, he wasn't that apparently muscular (aside from Shigeo of course), and he wasn't even looking at her when he introduced herself, something she was always quick to notice. She then immediately thought that maybe he didn't like her joining them, but didn't say anything about it.
Yumei then turned to the last member, Shigeo, and smiled at him. "I guess we're in the same club now, Kageyama-san." She says shyly, scratching her cheek lightly as she stared at him. Shigeo nodded, his eyes beaming, "Welcome to Body Improvement Club, Shizuma-san."
Yumei observed him as he said that, looking for any signs in his face that he was happy for her; but the only recognizable change in his ever deadpan face was that his eyes were different. 'I guess I'll have to look more closely on that part from now on,' she noted to herself so that she can read him more accurately.
"Shizuma," Musashi approached her, looking down on her small form. She then snap her head up in return, being too short compared to him. "I don't think you know this but, in order to officially join us — you have to submit a form to the Student Council."
"Ah, I forgot about that." Mob says, also looking at her.
"What's wrong? Is there a problem?" she asks, not understanding what they're getting at.
"You see, Shizuma-san," Shigeo addressed her. "We have to wait for the Student Council to finish their meeting for the day so that you can pass your form."
"Oh, is that so?" she thought back to Ritsu and the others in the Student Council Room earlier, wherein the president just walked out on them and they were currently confused as to what was happening. Although Ritsu came back to the room for some urgent matters, meaning they were still busy at the moment. "Then, when will that be?"
"Since we were early to end our activity, we would have to wait for an hour or so." Hiroshi says as he glanced at the wall clock in the room and combed his Mohican straight.
"A-an hour more?!" Yumei exclaims loudly, thinking, 'What could we possibly do during that time?' "I...I guess I can wait." she told nobody in particular as she looked around for things to do, and in doing so, she saw the uninterested stare Tome was sending her.
"I'll wait for you. After all, I'm the president." smiled Musashi as he pat her head with his rough and large hand, making her jump because she didn't anticipate him to. "Just stay put, I'll go and change."
And as if that was a cue that all the members were waiting, they all picked up their bags and head out the room to change. Shigeo stayed put, his gaze fixed to the retreating backs of his club mates before looking back to Yumei. "I'll wait for you, too."
Before Yumei could look at him and be surprised, he was already gone, just like before.
"Shizuma-san, if you don't mind..." Shigeo calls out to her, interrupting her thoughts. "I have a question I would like to ask."
"What is it, Kagayama-san?" she casts him a side glance in question, noticeably walking closer to him as the sun sets lower in the horizon.
Shigeo looked at her dark brown eyes, not noticing the closing distance. "Why did you join our club?"
She pursed her lips and shifted her gaze, afraid that she may be laughed at when she told her reason. Then again, Shigeo seemed to be not that type of person, and so even if they just met today, she felt like she could already trust him. She fixed her glasses nervously, "I-I really don't have any talents in sports or things like arts..." she began, her voice slightly quivering from her sudden confession. "But I want to improve my health. It's not like I'm sick or anything like that, but I just wasn't fit enough...and besides, I would like to try new things in a new city and in a new school."
Shigeo looked at her in a new light as she offered that explanation, in a way relating to her with regards to improving himself. It was just like looking in a mirror.
"That's amazing...Shizuma-san." He mumbled to himself, soft enough for her not to hear.
"Hm? Did you say something, Kageyama-san?"
"N-no, nothing..." he said, then tried to change the subject. "Uh, I was trying not to be curious about it, but..." he trails off, not sure how to proceed. Yumei looked at him with a brow raised, waiting for him to continue. He then tilted his head, "What happened between you and the Telepathy Club before we came?"
"Ah...! Hahaha," she scratch her cheek nervously, trying to remember what happened earlier.
During the one hour that they were waiting for the Student Council meeting to end, Musashi tried to strike a conversation between all of them and the Telepathy Club; however, they were uncooperative. They were either back to gaming or reading or sleeping, and any attempt of apologizing to them didn't make Tome less hostile to Yumei — who didn't clearly understand her reason on why should a girl like her join a club of muscle building. There was no urgent reason that they needed Yumei to join their club since they were allowed to continue to exist, however, Tome insisted that Yumei had "something special" that will make the search on telepaths become easier and therefore bring their club's purpose to a close especially since Tome was a graduating student; and also believed that Yumei was a "true believer at heart" and told her meeting them was "fate" (while passionately gesticulating everywhere to add a dramatic flair). With which Yumei solidly declined her offer because their club was "shady", and "weird".
Let's just say the remainder of that time was spent in silence.
"They tried to recruit me but as you can see, I declined them and joined your club. Uh, well - I didn't actually decline them by telling them directly but I decline them by joining you...so I guess that was a shock to them and..." the words after that were lost as Yumei absentmindedly mumbled to herself along the rest of their way.
Mob blinked, not knowing how to react to her spontaneous mumbling. He then decided to let her be and stare ahead to see the street where they're heading to.
He notices something as he sees the road ending, so he interrupted her thoughts by calling her name. "Shizuma-san, I'll go this way..." he points to the direction directly opposite to where Yumei was going.
She blinked. "Oh, okay. Then...see you tomorrow, Kageyama-san." She smiled at him, slightly disappointed that their walk together ended here.
"See you tomorrow." he waved back.
Yumei waited until he turned around to go to his destination before she turned as well. However, her demeanor changed when the last rays of the sun went out - and she became instantly jittery, her smile dropping. She stayed close to the street lights on the way home and was walking briskly, eyes flitting back and forth in the near darkness of the streets. When at last her house came in her sight, she sprinted towards it without anymore hesitation.
"Okaa-san, otou-san...I'm home." Yumei says with a blank face, as she swung the door open, her dark brown eyes scanning the entrance for any sign of them as she removes her school shoes by the door. The response she got was instantaneous.
Loud and quick footsteps were heard coming to her way as a man came into view from the living room on her left. He has dark brown hair with a military buzz-cut, with a large scar on the left of his face, running down from his hairline to his upper lip that almost made his onyx eye blind. His square jaw was the second most prominent feature on his face, aside from the scar, that defined the man without needing words. He was significantly taller than an average Japanese, a trait that he got from his American mother.
"Kyouko! Yumei's home!" he hollers to his wife, before walking towards his daughter. "What happened? Did you get lost? Why are you late?" He asks worriedly as he clutches her by the shoulders.
"I joined a club, otou-san, so I went home late. I'm sorry I didn't text you," Yumei told her father as she slip her indoor slippers, not looking at him.
"Ah! No, no! I was just curious no need to be sorry—"
"Itsuo!" Kyouko came from the kitchen as she looked over her husband, untying her yellow apron as she did. She was a woman with long and wavy blonde hair tied up into a high ponytail, with deep brown eyes that just complement her hair color. She had a perfect heart-shaped face and slightly tanned complexion that most men would vie for. "What are you doing there, dallying? She must be starving. Let's eat!" she sternly told her husband, glancing at Yumei once before setting her eyes on Itsuo.
"Right, let's eat!" the male brunette urged the other brunette in the house, placing a hand on her back.
Yumei nodded silently, following her mother's lead as her father took the rear, going to the dining room straight ahead past the stairs. The air was silent as always, the only sound in the entire house were the sounds of their feet on the wooden floor, making the trip seem longer than it actually were. Yumei did not attempt to speak, for she knew that it would just make them jumpy.
"H-how was school?" Kyouko's voice cracked under the heavy atmosphere as she removed her apron over her head and crossed the threshold. "It was fine. I met a lot of people today," Yumei responded flatly as she gazed around curiously. They just moved in recently after all, so she still hasn't gotten used to her new home.
The one-wall kitchen took up a fourth of the size of the room: neat and orderly, just like what her mother would like. The rest of the space served to be the dining room, with an eight seater table complete with four wooden chairs that looked like it belonged to a hotel. However, that wasn't the eye-catching detail that piqued Yumei's interest, it wasn't the large glass sliding door that leads to the garden outside nor the azure wallpaper that made the room look underwater nor the flat screen TV that hung opposite the said sliding door — what caught her eye was the large painting on the wall, facing the table. It seemed out of place with its elegant strokes and ancient Japanese art style depicting a cherry blossom on the peak of spring, with swallows circling the quiet stream beside it.
"Really now?" Itsuo smiles at the back of his daughter's head while she stared at the painting, "No accident, I suppose?"
Yumei shook her head and offered him a tight-lipped smile whilst pulling a chair and sitting down, placing her school bag on the chair beside her. "Fortunately, no."
"That's good!" Her father exclaims, grinning as he took the seat in front of her. Yumei kept her tight-lipped smile in response and avoided his gaze.
"Here, curry rice! Your favorite," Her mother says as she served them one by one with a plate. "Thanks, mom." Yumei told her, catching the deep brown eyes she inherited from her mother involuntarily — and in an instant, Kyouko looked away, feeling a shiver run down from her spine. "O-of course...! Anything for my daughter!" She added hurriedly as she took the seat beside her husband.
Yumei looked down to hide her eyes with her bangs and pretended nothing happened while fixing her glasses. She started wearing them for this particular reason, to hide her eyes or to lessen the effect on her parents, but she supposed that was naive thinking.
So she decided to get it over with. "Itadakimasu!"
In response, her mother and father followed suit. "Itadakimasu!"
Dinner was spent in silence as they ate while staring at their own plate, none of them trying to uplift the atmosphere as they all eat animatedly. Thankfully, Itsuo opened the TV and changed it to his favorite sports channel just to liven up things, giving the excuse that he hasn't seen the latest game yet, then turned the volume up — loud enough to serve as white noise.
It was suffocating. The atmosphere was suffocating. Yumei had no appetite in this situation and felt exhausted just by sitting there eating noiselessly, trying not to gaze onto each of their eyes and keeping her head down so she won't catch any of her parent's nervous glances. Hence, she finished her plate without asking for seconds and stood up — which Itsuo and Kyouko immediately reacted by looking up at her.
"Finished?"
"Do you want to take a bath?"
She shook her head, talking to her plate. "I'm tired. I just wanna sleep."
"Oh, of course!" Itsuo stood up as well and looked down at her. "I'll send you to your bedroom."
Yumei nodded, taking her school bag while telling her mother good night which she sent back. The both of them then exit the dining room, back to the hallway and turned to the stairs beside the entrance door. They then go up to her bedroom right beside the stairs which was enclosed with two padlocks, three chain locks that vary in size, and one deadbolt. Yumei stood aside to let her father unlock all of these before entering her bedroom.
Upon entering, she flipped the switch to light up her forest green bedroom, making her way to her desk adjacent to her door to discard her school bag on her chair. Her room was fairly big, enough for her to do various things without worrying about space. She had indoor recreational stuffs like board games, video games, and books all arranged into their respective cabinets and shelves on the wall. She also had a low coffee table surrounded by flat violet cushions to sit on.
What impressed her was that how quick the workers arranged her bedroom: with the layout of the furniture and the specific wallpaper of a deep, green forest exactly like it was before. A few days ago, this was but a storage room, but she soon stopped wondering because she remembered her father was a retired military, which means they had money to pay them to do their work fast.
Before closing, her father stopped and stared at her — which she noticed since he wasn't locking her in and raise an eyebrow yet tried to avoid his gaze by looking at his nose. "Yumei..." he said, and for the first time that day, her father dropped his exhausting smile. "Don't give up, you hear me?"
Her eyes widen as she looked him in his onyx eyes in shock. But before she could speak in return — her father locked her in. There was silence in her room, except for the sound of the locks outside as Itsuo placed the locks back to its place.
Yumei kept quiet as she stared into space, repeating the words her father said to her.
Don't give up, you hear me?
"Don't give up..." she repeated to herself, then scoffed, turning on her heel to take her futon from the cabinet in the far corner and lay it on the tatami mat.
She won't — couldn't give up even if she wanted to. They didn't need to remind her; she had no choice on the matter. Besides, she, of all people, would know what happens if she did. Because if she did give up, then that was when all will truly end — for her...and for her parents.
'I couldn't give up even if I wanted to...' she told herself.
With that bitter thought in mind, she changed into her light blue pajamas and flip the switch to turn off the light in her windowless bedroom.
'I couldn't give up...'