Psycho's game (As the Gods will)

"the bad days overshadowed the good ones."

'Surprise guests? Who are they?' 'I don't want to spoil the surprise, so you'll have to see tomorrow. And you and our neighbour are going to sit as far away from eachother as possible.' 'Was that all?' Reika has gone back to her sleeping position. 'No, actually. I was thinking you could tell me about Amaya. Maybe try to make me understand why you would go against me for some boy, if not for rebellion caused by puberty.' 'Can we do this some other time, I was actually texting Natsumi.' 'Ofcourse we can do it some other time, I'll leave you to it.' She grabs her phone again to read what he sent her. Shit.

'So, what's bothering you.' Amaya is now staring into the distance. 'You don't have to talk to me, you'll probably get bored.' She puts her hand on top of his. 'Let's see, tomorrow is a sunday, so no school, and Hanako over here is already asleep.' She says while pointing to the small brown dog sleeping next to her feet. 'Nope, I see no reason why I shouldn't have time right now to listen.' 'Okay, so I live with my brother, for reasons I'm not comfortable in sharing today. But anyway, we are having dinner at a fancy restaurant tomorrow, and the suit he wants to wear is one our mother made for my father. And I can't accept that he can just put it on like there is no history behind it.' 'I get it.' 'Are your parents still together?' 'Yes, still happily married. But I used to be really close with my grandfather, he lived nearby so almost every day after school I would go to him for about an hour, and we would play one of his made-up cardgames.' She is smiling, a single tear drips down her cheek. 'But he got sick, and eventually the bad days overshadowed the good ones. My dog was actually his for two years, but knowing his health was deteriorating, he insisted we cared for her.' 'So, your parents didn't want a dog, or how is this similar to my situation?' He rubs his neck, not wanting to sound mean. 'Oh, right. He would write down the games in his little notebook which he took with him everywhere he went. And he came up with a new game almost every month. Every time we played, we had to use this vintage deck of cards.' 'I have a question. How did he come up with so many games?' 'No idea, a lot of imagination I guess. He used to create games for a living actually, he just didn't want to sell them anymore. That's what my parents did though. He died about a year ago, and in his will he had written that I would inherit both the notebook and the deck of cards.'

'Uhmm, hi?' The little phone with a red circle around it is on the screen, along with the amount of minutes the phonecall has lasted so far. It's almost at five minutes. 'Hey... Your response makes me think you didn't call on purpose.' 'You're right. But how much did you hear exactly, since I put my phone under a pillow you might not have heard everything that clearly.' 'I can recall your mother being proud, surprise guests at dinner, and rebellion because of someone with the name Amaya.' Her face turns red in shame. 'Sooo... What time does your shift start tomorrow?' 'I don't really know, I'm good friends with the manager, so when someone calls in sick, or if it's really busy, I'm there.' 'Cool, cool. I hope our possible friendship isn't going to be compromised by my family and ex-boyfriend.' 'It won't, we have actually signed a contract that says, among other things ofcourse, we can't judge the guests on how they act. Everyone gets the same service.' 'Good to know. I think this has to be the end of our conversation, though.' 'Oh, okay. Would you have time tomorrow to call again?' 'I'll try, it truly depends on how much time my mother gives me to do something for myself.' 'Well, I hope she'll give you enough time. Goodnight, and if we don't speak again before your dinner, good luck.' 'Thank you. Goodnight.' She hangs up the phone with a smile on her face, this has been the first normal conversation she has had with a person of the same age since Amaya.

'But apparently a couple hundred thousands of yen were more important than the legacy of my grandfather. They just had to sell the cards, and use the games written in his notebook for their own failing buisiness. I didn't care about the money, my parents weren't earning a lot, but atleast we could afford a house and food. They don't even have time for me anymore.' The girl rests her head on Amaya's shoulder, and he sees no reason to pull away from her. 'So how did you deal with it?' 'I ignored it, the only reason I say anything to my parents is when they threaten to send me to a boarding school if I won't talk to them at all.' 'But I can't ignore him, he doesn't deserve that. He is still taking care of me, even after all the shit I've pulled. If it was the other way around, I might've just let him rot in jail for a couple of years.' 'Then I think you just wasted your time, because I'm not a therapist, all I know is that you seem to really care about him, and he didn't seem to know that wearing that suit would hurt you as much as it did.' 'So... I should just forgive him?' She turns her entire body his way, sitting even closer to him than before. 'If that's the first thing coming to your mind, you should listen to it.' He turns his head in her direction, smiling while nodding slightly. 'Thank you.' 'For what? You thought of it yourself, all I did was tell you my useless sob-story.' 'I wouldn't have figured it out without you. But I don't feel like telling him now.' 'You don't have to yet, we can just sit here if you want. Unless..' 'Unless what?' She leans closer to him, balancing herself by putting her other hand on the bench. 'We could do something else.' She kisses him, taking Amaya by surprise.