Project: Karma

76 | A Name to Remember

"Well, he does bully her quite often, but I think deep down, he cares." I brought up.

"Of course, it's a brother's job to protect their sister. Doesn't matter the age. It's vise versa as well." He added.

"What are you suggesting Papa?" I crossed my arm.

"Well, in some cases. The youngest will follow upon what the oldest always does. In some circumstances, they would look up to them." He explained. "And sometimes, a little sister like Namari, can take care of you too."

He and I kept the exchange of eyes for awhile.

"How can you be so confident? You didn't have siblings of your own." I pointed out.

Papa gave me a dissatisfied expression and patted my head. He didn't say anything else after that and he suddenly stood up. As I suspected he would walk out of the kitchen, he did.
Gosh Nakaru, I think you should tone it down with your remarks. I laid my head on the table and closed my eyes.
I still don't know what he means.
••••••
When I finally came upstairs, Mari was waiting on her bed, gentling swinging her legs back and forth. She had two dolls in her hands as she hummed a tune.

"Mari." I called.

"Ah! Are you ready to play?" She asked.

"Yeah, of course." I walked over and sat on her purple floral bed. Mari nodded her head and handed me a doll.

"Naki?" Mari said my name, other than big brother, which she calls me every time.

"What is it? Am I not doing this right?" I lifted up the doll and made it fly like it was a super hero action figure.

"No ,its just that..." Mari frowned.

"Yes?"

"I know you're sad." She pointed out.

"Huh? W-wait. No no no! I'm not, well yes but not because of you." I tried to explain while stumbling upon words.

Mari took back her doll and stared at them both. She sighed and placed them down on the bed beside her.

"What is it Mari?"

"Nothing." She replied.

"Hmm. I don't think so." I playfully tried to tease her, but she didn't look like she was having fun either. "Hey Mari." I held her hand

"Hm?"

"What's bothering you?"

"I think there's a ghost." She said randomly.

I coughed.
"What? What makes you so sure?"

"The man in the photos!" She shouted.

"What man?"

Mari pouted her lips and bounced off the bed. She ran out of the room and disappeared. I wonder what got into her all of a sudden?
Soon later, she came back in with Momma's white photo album.

"This here!" She pointed out.

"Let me see." I took it in my hand and she pointed at Koro-sensei. This gleaming smile that radiated off the photo. A smile that I haven't seen in years, a smile that I will never be able to see in real life again.

"That's Koro-sensei, he used to work with Momma." I explained. I guess we never did show her any photos of him, but he has come up during conversations.

"No ghost?" She seemed slightly relieved, yet bummed out at the same time.

"Well, I don't know. That's if you want to believe in them." I suggested.

Mari eyed the picture as if mesmerized by it. She has heard of the many stories from Momma and Papa about Koro-sensei, I guess I would be wondering about it all, if I hadn't known what he was to us, as a family.

"Mari, remember where Momma said that Koro-sensei saved Papa's life? He wouldn't be with us if Koro-sensei hadn't saved him." I explained.

"I-I know." She strayed from the conversation and held her stuffed bear to her face.

"Can I meet him?" She asked.

"N-not necessarily, don't you remember? He's not alive anymore."

Mari's facial expression was very displeased, like she was about to burst into tears. Why is she so fixated on him? She wasn't so needy about stuff like this when we mentioned Koro-sensei before.

"You don't have to believe in ghost, Mari but, you can believe in good spirits." I brought up.

"You're weird Naki." She tried to push me off the bed but it obvious that she couldn't.

Then a knock came upon the door.

"What's going on here?" Momma leaned on the frame of the door, with her arms crossed.

Mari turned her head.

"Ah well we're just talking right now." I spoke.
"Mari? What's the matter?" Momma walked over and knelt down in front of her.

"I want to see Koro-sensei." She said.

"Why all of a sudden?" She questioned.

"B-because I love Momma, Papa, and big brother. Y-you said that he saved Papa and if Papa wasn't here now then we wouldn't have the four of us and maybe not even me.

Mari's words struck the both of us. Why would she even be thinking about that? In any case, where was this all coming from?

"Hey, then why don't we visit Koro-sensei's grave? It will be your first time, won't it?" Momma pinched her cheek.

"Visit his grave?" I asked.

Momma nodded her head.
"Yes, it will be your 4th time." She spoke to me.

"R-really?" Mari lit up with excitement.

"Of course. We can ask your dad to drive us all down there this weekend. Well, visit his family while we're they're too." Momma added.

That means we'll see Ichiro too it's been so long since the last time I've seen him. Surely he must be 17 years old by now.

I glanced back at Mari and she was delighted to the soul. Momma embraced Mari with her loving tenderness and kissed her cheek.
Momma reached for my arm and tugged me into the group hug.

Then we heard Papa's footsteps and I saw him by the door.
"Oh, family hug?" He strolled over and knelt down to wrap his arms around all of us. At least tried to.

"Hey, Karma. Let's visit Koro-sensei this weekend, it's been awhile." Momma held his hand.
Papa laid his head on Momma's shoulder and replied, "of course." With a smile that followed.

For us, Koro-sensei is the essence in which this family of ours, is able to exist.