The door of the homely apartment opened, letting the moonlight illuminate the darkness of the house, and allowing a single figure in. The figure was cleanly-cut in a full suit typical of an office worker, and his briefcase did little to dissuade that notion.
Indeed, the only thing that Kuchinashi Takashi did differently than others, was the time he came back. Being the sole breadwinner of his family was a tough job, but he'd pull through. It was something he had to do.
Following his usual routine, he took off his shoes and left them on the rack, moving on to the bathroom, where he started filling up the bathtub, knowing that it would be filled by the time he was done with everything else.
Moving to the kitchen, he opened up the fridge looking for something he could have for dinner, and saw the cling-wrapped curry inside marked 'For Papa' on it. He shook his head, sighing and muttering as he did so. "I already told her she didn't have to…" A smile was on his face though, as he saw the hand-written note. Closing it back, he moved into the living room and the family shrine, newly installed just a year prior, that sat in one corner.
The final step in his back-from-work ritual. Gently, he took out a joss stick, and with a small lighter lit it, before placing it in a pot filled with ash. Behind the pot, was a picture frame and a small, modified handgun. He adjusted the pistol to sit just a little stabler on the shrine, before wiping the dust off the picture frame.
It had been nearly a year since Kuchinashi Sanae had passed away, and everyday he was reminded just how much he had depended on her, how much he had needed her, how much he missed her.
He would have to do his best to take care of their daughter alone, to make sure she could rest peacefully.
Clapping his hands, he bowed in prayer, before turning to the side as he heard another pair of hands clap.
Even though she was supposed to be asleep, Takashi couldn't help but curl his lips up into a smile. "Yume, what are you telling mommy?"
Kuchinashi Yume had bawled her eyes out at her mothers funeral, but while it still took some getting used to for him, Yume was already moving on, stepping into some of the roles her mother had left empty, even if it caused him grief to know that his daughter had to learn all of this herself and for him.
He justified it by telling himself that he did it for their sakes. That it was necessary for him to be away from home from sunrise until midnight so that they wouldn't have to worry about anything. That Yume understood it, and that she knew why her father could never be at school events, could never be at home, and could never spend time with her.
A part of him he kept quiet told him that he was stupid for thinking that, and that he ought to spend more time with her.
"Eh?" She looked up at him with a quizzical expression on her face. "Uh… I didn't know you did this to talk to mommy!" Her face brightened up in an instant. "What's mommy saying!"
On a bent knee, he mussed up Yume's hair. "She says that she hopes her little darling has been a good girl at school today. Have you?"
"Yeh!" She nodded her head frantically.
"That's good. Mommy says it's good too!" A hand landed on her head, and despite her protests and squeals it started ruffling her hair.
"Papa! Stop it! My hair!"
The slightly worn door to the apartment opened, letting the midnight moonlight into the still lit house and silhouetting a backlit figure. Taking off his shoes, Takashi stopped for a moment to look into the mirror. His figure had lost some of the tone it once had, while his hand ran down the outgrown beard, and he took in his eyebags and unhealthy complexion. "Might need to get some makeup for this…"
That's when he noticed the lights. Quietly opening the door, he spotted a silhouette slumped on the dining table.
Yume had grown up well in the six years since her mothers death. He had made sure she would not grow up wanting, that she would have everything her mother and him didn't have.
She was still shorter than him though. Truly her mothers child, and sadly enough in the chest area as well. He already had plans on how to beat off anyone with ill-intentions towards her… years of beating off horny folks on the beach who tried to flirt with Sanae would come in handy with that.
It still stung, sometimes, knowing that she wasn't here. Even with how many years it had been.
He shrugged that thought off. Right now, he had to try and carry his daughter to bed.
The floorboards had different ideas though, and as he stepped on them they creaked loudly, and he saw Yume move.
He froze and watched as Yume moved, and slowly got up from where she had been lying.
"Papa? 'sat you?" Drool was coming down the side of her mouth as she blearily rubbed her eyes. "Mmmm… I was waiting for you to come back… I made dinner…" She yawned. "Sorry… I must've fallen asleep…"
"It's fine, dear. What did you make?" Taking a seat beside her, he looked at the covered dishes on the table. "Is that miso soup?"
"Mhm, and this bwol - this bowl! - is nikujaga, I know how much you like it papa! And this plate is teriyaki chicken, for a full balanced meal! Oh, and they had a deal for this rice down at the supermarket, so I bought it! It's some sort of specialty from Shanhaijing." Her energy slowly came back as she spoke, and by the end of it she was back to her sparkling self.
Despite how tired he was, Takashi laughed and ruffled her head. "Thank you, Yume. I'll enjoy-"
"Let me heat it up first!" Standing up, she took the bowl of rice and the bowl of nikujaga, while Takashi quickly took the plate of teriyaki. Upon seeing that, Yume pouted. "Papa, go sit down! I can handle it myself."
"Like this we can take it in one-shot right? C'mon, let me help you out."
"Grrrrrrr… fine! Hmph! You workaholic!" She faked a huff and walked off behind the kitchen counter, while Takashi sheepishly followed.
"Ahaha, sorry about that."
Yume stopped in her tracks for a spell before replying. "It's fine. I know you do it for me."
The two of them waited for the oven to heat up the meal, when Yume spoke. "I'm applying to Abydos."
Takashi whipped his head to face Yume. "What?"
"That's why I was waiting for you tonight. I've already sent in my application-"
"Yume, are you sure? You know what's happening to-"
"I know, papa." Her eyebrows furrowed as she looked into his eyes. "But I can't let the place where you and mama met disappear. You always looked so happy when you shared stories of how the two of you met there, and I don't want you to lose those too."
The words touched Takashi, and yet he wanted to turn her away from it. Abydos was dying, no matter how hard people tried - and very few people were trying.
Even he had left with Sanae before Yume was born. But now it seemed the repercussions of the old stories he told of his life with Sanae in Abydos were coming back to bite him.
Yet, as he looked into Yume's eyes, seeing the determination in them, he held back the words he wished to say, the words he wanted to use to dissuade her from going to a place with no future, with no hope.
Instead, what he heard coming out of his mouth was something he didn't want to say. "If you're so sure about it, then I'll support you the whole way." He gestured towards the shrine, and the pistol that sat there. "How about you take your mothers gun? She would want you to have it…"
She shook her head, but the smile on her lips lit up the room. "Nope, it was something you treasured but thank you papa!"
A ding came from the oven. "Alright, let's get the food out so you can eat! You must be starving!" Yume opened out the oven while Takashi took out the tray.
"Papa! Let me do it all!"
Takashi laughed as he carried the tray with one hand and ruffled Yume's hair with the other.
"Papa~!"
His laughs grew louder and heartier the more Yume wailed.
As the door opened and let the inhabitant of the house in, his legs finally gave out and he crumpled onto the floor.
Tears falling from his face, he cradled the jar holding the remains of his greatest treasure in the whole world.
He had managed to keep a strong face throughout the entire ceremony, unlike the pink-haired student that had been the only person from Abydos High School that had been there. She had been crying throughout. Probably the junior that Yume had always raved about, the always reliable little junior.
It had warmed his heart to see how much she had loved Yume, but at the same time it had made it so much harder to keep strong until now.
He couldn't let others see how much it had hurt him. Old-fashioned sensibilities maybe, but he didn't want others to see his pain.
Now that he was at home and alone, he let it all out. He cried and cried and cried, and only the thought that he still had the urn in his arms made him want to move.
Wiping his eyes, he got up on shaky legs, trembling with every movement that he made as the memories that filled the empty home taunted him with what he had lost. Yume may have not lived here for the last two years of her life, but she had made her mark here, and to his own immeasurable sorrow he wasn't around for most of it.
And there wouldn't be more.
She would not sheepishly laugh as the oven was filled with popcorn, could not accidentally burn the roof of the kitchen, or panickedly be cleaning the floor of a jelly accident.
There would be no more nights she spent awake waiting for him, drooling asleep on the dining table as she failed to stay up. No more times he would catch her empty-headed as she walked out of the bathroom after a long bath. No more praying with her to her mother, as they tried their best to talk to the dead.
Now, he was left alone.
His trembling hands put the urn beside her mothers, and once it was there, safe and secure, could he catch his voice.
"Welcome home, Yume."
The tears rolled down as he repeated himself like a broken alarm.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
He stayed there for hours until he finally found the remnants of courage to pull himself from the two people he cherished the most in the whole world.
Another one?!
I might have more planned, so subscribe or something to be notified when it's out. Also, if you haven't, I would suggest following this on AO3. FFNet isn't good...
