Yuuki is tired of hearing Kotoko talk on the phone with her friends. She is so annoyingly loud. She squeals at her phone, giggles into the receiver, and sometimes she even shrieks! Yuuki cannot possibly wonder who would stand to hear that for hours on end.
He has finished five large chapter books in the time she has been talking on the phone. Naoki is asleep at his desk. Yuuki cannot understand how he is able to sleep through that noise.
Yuuki leaves his room, turns off both the main light and the lamp by Naoki's desk, closes the door. Naoki's sleeping habit might prove to be a problem sometimes, but now, it serves as a proper solution against Kotoko's annoyingly high voice.
He decides to tell Mama. Surely she would prioritize her son's complaints against a complete stranger's needs. Even Mama is not that heartless.
Yuuki cries when Mama laughs, waves him off, tells him that they should actually invite Kotoko's girlfriends over sometime soon.
He stops crying when she scoops ice cream for him on a chocolate cone, wonders when Mama even bought these huge, oversized cones.
"They were for Kotoko," Mama explains, smiling. "She loves sweets, just like you!"
"They'll make her fat," Yuuki says, taking a bite of the bottom of the cone. The cone always tastes better when it is crunchy and crisp and not soggy. "Not me, though."
"There's nothing wrong with a chubby girl," Mama tells him, now frowning. "In fact, they're quite beautiful. I was one, when I was younger."
"Because you were pregnant with me," Yuuki finishes, rolling his eyes. "I know."
Mama says nothing, only brings him a bowl when his cone begins to drip. Yuuki suspects he's said the right thing.
Kotoko stays home a lot after school. She isn't like Naoki, who's always leaving the house early and coming back in the evening. Naoki has plenty of friends, and Naoki always has things to do. Kotoko is lazy and friendless.
"You should find something to do," Yuuki tells her, leaning on the kitchen table. He nudges a half-full cup with his elbow. "Pour me some more juice."
"You have to say please, Yuuki! Don't be rude!"
Kotoko is very good at being loud and demanding.
"I can be mean to stupid people," he tells her, laughing when she snatches the cup from the table. "I'm smarter than you, so I can be mean to you."
"That's not how it works," Kotoko mutters, opening the fridge. "Who even told you something like that?"
"Naoki," Yuuki replies, easily. He sits up, pulls his chair closer to the table. "Naoki says it's fine to bully you. He even gave me permission to."
Kotoko freezes, apple juice still in her hand. "Permission? Irie-kun gave you permission?"
"You can call him Naoki," Yuuki replies, frowning. "Call him Naoki."
"He doesn't like that," Kotoko says, turning away. Her face is slightly pink.
Yuuki frowns at her. "You're so weird, Kotoko."
"What? What makes you say that? I'm not weird," she says, laughing. Yuuki watches as Kotoko sets the apple juice down on the table, leans down to his level. Her annoying pink face is close to his, wide-eyed and ugly. "Do you really think I'm weird?"
"Get away from me! You stink!"
"I do not!"
Yuuki is more than relieved when ugly Kotoko straightens. He watches her pour him his drink, and he is surprised when Kotoko can talk and pour at the same time.
He'd thought stupid people had no mobility, no balance at all. Hm.
"I'm not stinky! And I'm not weird," Kotoko adds, pushing the now full glass towards him.
"Naoki thinks you're weird, and my brother is never wrong," Yuuki replies, taking a sip. He can only hope that Kotoko didn't taint the juice with her contagious stupidity. "So you're weird."
"He…thinks that about me?"
"Yes," Yuuki replies. "He also thinks you're ugly," Yuuki adds, just because. "Naoki tells me so everyday."
Her shoulders slump as she re-caps the juice container. "I see," she says, turning back to the refrigerator.
"You should really consider moving out," Yuuki adds, smiling. "Nobody likes a weird, ugly girl."
He thinks he hears Kotoko say something, but she slams the fridge loudly and then Yuuki can't really hear anything.
He watches her leave, wonders if she'll be coming down for dinner. Hopefully, with his comments, she will just stay in her room and not show up at all. Kotoko can cry in her room right now, and then, when Yuuki climbs in his bed later that night, Kotoko will already be asleep!
Perfect plan.
Dinner time comes, and when Kotoko shows up at the table, smiling widely, she takes her seat right next to Yuuki's, sparks up a conversation like nothing happened at all.
Kotoko really is weird.