Behind Watanabe

Living Room.

Junkyu's first Monday as a manny started in the morning. Remembering that Junkyu had to help Hanami with her school preparation, he got up around seven o'clock and made sure that he made himself ready before helping anyone else.

As he opened his eyes, the first thing Junkyu saw from his bedroom window was the overcast, low, and gray sky that covered the beach outside. It was dark, the air had become very humid and a strong wind could be seen through the branches of the trees that kept swaying in a lost direction. Junkyu sighed and hoped that the bad weather would pass soon, so he could take Hanami outside to play.

After tidying himself up and getting ready, his hand grabbed the door knob and his feet stepped through the door frame, but he stopped in an instant when he witnessed a scene that was completely beyond his impression. Since Junkyu's room was on the ground floor and had direct access to the living room, he had to act more sensitively because he has less privacy than other family members.

However, he didn't expect that his efforts to look good in front of the Watanabe family would be rewarded with something disturbing. The living room in the house seemed to have been transformed into an exploded ship that had just sunk to the bottom of the sea. Files, photos, dust, dirt, plates, jars, all could be found in various sides of the living room. Paper and shards of glass strewn across the floor, flower vases overturned, photographic figures no longer in their place, all of this happened in just one night.

"What happened?" Junkyu's eyes widened. His two long legs stepped very carefully through all the chaos and tried to think clearly. Was there a burglar who just stole things in the house? Was there just a commotion around the village? How can the living room be a mess and no one to clean it?

When Junkyu looked at the kitchen, everything looked normal and tidy. He didn't even notice any damage to the windows or the access door to their house.

"Mr. Watanabe? Mrs. Watanabe?" Junkyu called the host, but got no response from anyone. "Hanami? Haruto?" He kept calling out anyone who might be, should be, in the house. Of course Junkyu felt goosebumps creeped onto his neck and scared by the messy and destroyed living room (except for expensive items such as television and other electronic devices).

Confused until his chest felt tight, Junkyu's legs walked backwards and his heels stepped on a thick and hard book cover. He turned his head back and looked down to see the condition of the object, but what he found was an old photo album that he had never seen before. All the things that were on the floor, weren't there when Junkyu had just come to Watanabe's house for the first time.

Just as Junkyu was about to bend down to reach for the photo album, approaching footsteps were heard from the second floor. Junkyu quickly avoided all the turmoil, but he was too slow compared to Haruto's long legs, the first child.

"Junkyu-ssi?"

"Haruto-ssi?"

Haruto didn't answer.

"Haruto... what happened in here? Why is the living room a mess and no one is cleaning it?  Where are Hanami and your parents?" Junkyu asked with a hasty tempo. Who wouldn't panic to see a beautiful and magnificent house suddenly shattered for unknown reasons?

In contrast to Junkyu, Haruto didn't even show a sight of fear, panic, worry, or anything like that. He wasn't even surprised, as if he already knew the odd occurence happenin in his house. Haruto's hands were tucked into his trouser pockets and his expression was dull, he was standing behind the railing of the second floor foyer while looking at Junkyu with an unperturbed look.

"What happened?" Again Junkyu asked, trying to get some light out of the chaos he had just seen.

"Nothing. Probably my dad worked really hard last night and made this living room a mess. My dad is a professor of Japanese culture and often does this at home. He has a lot to research." Haruto replied casually. "Oh, my parents already left for work this morning."

Junkyu was taken aback and still couldn't understand Haruto's answer logically. Your father is more like a burglar in his own house than a professor, Junkyu thought. Once again Junkyu looked at his surroundings and tried to absorb what was really going on. However, he did not want to prolong the skeptical response that could make him fail to execute a good work performance as a manny.

"Junkyu brother!" Hanami shouted with joy as she approached Junkyu and immediately hugged the young man's arm tightly.

"Careful!" Junkyu tries to protect Hanami from any unwanted accidents by catching her right into his arms, whether it's stepping on a shattered glass, tripping over, or something else.

"Mom and dad went to work early this morning and they said I should come to you if I needed help." Hanami pursed her lips as she spoke in a spoiled tone to Junkyu.

"U-uh... of course, you can come to me whenever you need me. I'll help you right away, but... shouldn't we clean up all this mess first?" Junkyu replied nervously.

"Uhm, no need! Let Haruto nii-san take care of all this. He only has one class today, so he has more time. Come on, Junkyu sis, let's have breakfast together then help me prepare for class." Hanami sounded like she wanted to distract Junkyu from the chaos that was going on in the living room. At first Junkyu was afraid because their living room was instantly becoming a mayhem on his first day as a caretaker, like Junkyu was someone who brought bad luck. The young man then lifted his chin to look at Haruto.

"It's okay, I'll take care of it."

"By yourself?" Junkyu asked.

"Mhm, don't worry!"

As much as Junkyu really wanted to help, his main priority on a daily basis was to look after and help Hanami. Actually, Junkyu wasn't sure that Haruto would be able to take care of everything on his own, but judging by the way Haruto responded and reacted, it didn't seem like that was the first time the turmoil had happened.

"Okay, but don't hesitate to call me if you need help!" Junkyu exclaimed, then continued his morning activities to make breakfast with Hanami and eventually helped Hanami with school preparations before the teacher came to their house.

A few minutes after Hanami entered the private class in his room, Junkyu returned to the living room to check on the condition. As it turned out, Haruto hadn't moved a muscle to clean up the room, everything was pretty much still at the same position, disordered. Since Junkyu had free time for the next few hours, he decided to work a little more intensely on his first day of work. For one reason or another, Junkyu avoided touching valuable objects such as wooden sculptures, handicrafts, or physical documents that might be important and confidential to the family, so Junkyu started his work by collecting broken glass scattered on the floor.

He took a flannel from the kitchen and started picking up shards of ceramic, glass, anything that could harm someone. Junkyu's concentration skill should be appreciated because it was highly accurate, he even managed to avoid getting injured because he could detect the location of those tiny, shining objects correctly.

The condition was starting to improve, but there was still a lot of things that Junkyu had to lift off the wooden floor, so the first thing Junkyu touched was a photo album that was a little worn, but looked well preserved. He opened the photo album on a whim to satisfy his curiosity and at the same time ensure that the contents of the album were not scratched at all. Sheet after sheet of photo prints were found still in perfect condition in the album and interestingly, Junkyu found notes for every photo he saw.

"Watanabe family with Choi Hyunsuk."

"Watanabe family with Takata Mashiho."

"Watanabe family with Kim Yeri... Miyawaki Sakura... with Hwang Yeji, with Lee Seo..."

And many more.

"Who are these people?" Junkyu chirpped.

To be continued.