See, I did not forget this story. Again, I apologize for letting it sit so long.
Taka was hardly surprised to see his room half-empty. Nearly all of Shun's things were gone. Shun was folding his sheets, the last things left of his. He jumped a bit when Taka entered the room.
"Oh! Um…hi." Shun turned back to his sheets, blushing. "I hoped I'd be done before you got back."
"You're aunt's here, then?" Taka tried to ignore the fact that he seemed to terrify his roommate. Former roommate.
"Yeah. She's out by the car. She sent me up to get the last of it." Shun put the folded sheets down on the mattress and smoothed out the wrinkles with his hands. "I'm sorry."
In Taka's life, whenever someone had said, "I'm sorry," the appropriate response was always along the lines of, "No big deal," or, "It's okay." Neither of those quite fit for what Shun was apologizing for. Taka had no idea how to respond, so he stood there, silently watching Shun. There was a small wrinkle in one corner of the sheet that he was obsessed with getting out. His hands ran over that one spot over and over. Taka could vaguely hear Todd lecturing some kid about losing his key. In the uncomfortable silence of the room, it sounded louder, as though Todd were dragging the poor kid to their door. Both he and Shun were shocked when it was their door that opened, revealing a nervous Kai and an irate R.A.
"I'm really sorry, but with packing it's so confusing. Kai, you have my key, don't you?" Kai addressed his twin. Shun nodded dumbly, having no trouble responding to his brother's name. "It was really great of you to help me pack."
"Anytime." Shun half-gasped the word. He took the key from the desk and handed it to Todd. "This is the last of the stuff, so we won't need this anymore."
"Nope, your brother's got to turn that in at the office downstairs." Todd refused the key.
"I'll do that." Kai smiled. Todd looked at each twin, an expression of confusion on his face. He seemed to have a vague idea that something was wrong between those two, but he couldn't be sure. He shrugged and left the room. Taka, too, shifted his eyes from one to the other. They both seemed more than a little apprehensive. Of course there was only one thing for him to do.
"Well, since you've got your key up here, I'll head downstairs and make sure your aunt has no trouble getting in." Taka was out the door before either could protest. He didn't think they would have; they needed their time alone.
It wasn't too long before an impatient woman who looked slightly familiar was stalking around the outside of the building. Taka put on his best dealing-with-a-parent expression and approached her.
"Are you Shun's aunt?"
"Did something happen? Where is he?" Impatient and nervous, she jumped down Taka's throat.
"Nothing happened. They were folding sheets, so I thought I'd come down and get you." Taka tried to smile reassuringly. The woman calmed at first, then nearly attacked him again.
"They?"
"Shun and Kai-" She didn't let Taka finish.
"You left Kai alone with him?" Taka stared at her. Granted she had to be Kai's aunt too, but Shun was the one she was coming to get.
"Why shouldn't I? They've never had any problems together before." It wasn't exactly the truth, but it wasn't quite a lie either. As far as he knew, the only problem that came up after Kai's first visit was his own. Shun's aunt paled.
"Before…oh dear. No wonder he was so upset." She stared hard into Taka's eyes. "You're his roommate, aren't you?"
"Yes."
"Shun says good things about you. I'm glad you could be nice to him. It isn't easy sometimes." Taka nodded. The woman had no idea. "You seem like a good person. I guess you really couldn't have known, but Shun isn't good for Kai."
"Well, you said it, and Shun said it. I've never heard Kai say that, though."
"Kai doesn't know any better. He loves his brother."
"There's some reason he shouldn't?" The woman was beginning to irritate him. If everyone in Shun's family was like her it was no wonder his roommate was insane.
"Of course he should! Listen, I don't have to defend our family's policies to you! Just take me upstairs so I can take Shun home."
"I'm sorry. Of course you don't." Taka proceeded to lead her to their room in the longest way possible. Kai came to see Shun; they should have some time together.
