[Hey y'all, promise I'm not on hiatus, I just finished this chapter hella late and ended up missing a week. I'm so sorry but my life's been so unbelievably hectic the last couple weeks. Anyhoo, here's the long awaited chapter!]
"Oh, you're already here," Saishuu said as he entered the classroom the next morning. "I got your text, and of course you can stay with me, but... what kind of trouble?"
"Uh... brother trouble..." Shirota answered, hoping he wouldn't have to explain further. Saishuu didn't pry.
"Well you're welcome to come home with me after school," Saishuu told him, "long as you don't mind my siblings being there, that is."
Shirota recalled Saishuu mentioning that he had ten older siblings which seemed kind of ridiculous, but he didn't talk about them that much. Come to think of it, Saishuu almost never talked about personal stuff. He was kind of the mom friend, always more concerned for the rest of them than himself.
"Thanks Saishuu-kun, you're a real pal," Shirota said with a grateful smile.
"No problem."
"Ah, hello boys," greeted Nagisa as he returned from the staff room with fresh tea. "How are you doing Shirota?"
"I'm doing okay now," Shirota answered. "I'm gonna stay at Saishuu's place for the time being."
"Good plan," Nagisa said, "I hope you figure out something more permanent soon. And as I said, don't hesitate to call for help."
—
"So this is where you live..." Shirota looked up at the house as he and Saishuu walked their bikes up the driveway to the garage. It was a nice place, bigger than Shirota had expected, with a neatly clipped front lawn and a blooming cherry tree. "I don't think I've ever been here before."
"I don't think so either," Saishuu said pensively. "Usually when we hang out it's at Matsuraiken, or Akemi-chan's house, sometimes. I'm pretty sure I've never been to your place either."
"You wouldn't want to, trust me."
"Whatever you say," Saishuu said with a shrug, and led his friend to the front door. As soon as the door opened, Shirota heard yelling.
"That's my jacket!" screeched a female voice.
"They're literally exactly the same!" another shouted back in exasperation.
"But that one is mine!"
"There. Is. No. Difference!" A girl with spiky, dark green hair like Saishuu's and a stylish black coat descended the stairs quickly. "I have to go to work, I'm not going to argue anymore!"
"Fuyu-nee get back here!" Demanded the first voice as the young woman snatched a set of keys from a hook by the door and left without so much as a 'goodbye.'
Saishuu sighed and went to a closet on their right. He withdrew a coat just like the one worn by the woman who'd just left, and balled it up under his arm. He stepped to the side of the stairs as another woman, who looked nearly identical to the first except for her long hair, stormed down the stairs in a rage without noticing them.
Once she'd passed, Saishuu went upstairs and Shirota followed curiously. Once upstairs, they went through an open door at the end of the hallway on the right, and Saishuu threw the coat haphazardly on one of the beds. Then he left the room and went back downstairs to find the woman with the longer hair glaring at the closed door.
"Toki-nee, are you sure that was your jacket?" Saishuu said. "Don't you usually leave yours on your bed?"
"Yes, and that bitch twin of mine took it, I'm sure she did," explained the woman, Toki apparently.
"Maybe you just didn't see it," Saishuu suggested. "Maybe you should check again."
"Fine! I'll check one more time, just to prove to you, Mr. know-it-all, that Fuyu-nee is a thieving ass!" Toki said, and stormed back up the stairs with as much ferocity as she had stormed down them, her little brother and his friend in tow. "See! Just like I told you it's n—" she looked at her bed to see the jacket Saishuu had placed there moments earlier—"it's... right there. I could've sworn... nevermind..." finally she turned to really look at Saishuu, and she saw his friend. "Who's this?"
"This is my friend Shirota," Saishuu supplied, and Shirota offered her a shallow bow. "And this is my sister Toki, and the one that just left is her twin Fuyu, like from our class except she's a girl."
"Nice to meet you Shirota-kun," Toki said, still obviously miffed about the jacket.
"He's gonna be staying over for a while, so I'm gonna take him to get his stuff settled." Saishuu turned to Shirota, and they both started down the hallway in the other direction. "We don't have a guest room, but you can crash in Korito's room. He's living in Kyoto right now, so there's no danger of him showing up and getting mad about it." A few doors down, Saishuu stopped at a door with stickers all over it, and a sign that read "Private Property: Tresspassers Will Be Persecuted," and stepped inside.
The room was painted black, but you could hardly tell with all the posters and art work plastered all over the walls and ceiling for various bands, movies, and plays, especially musicals. Shirota didn't even recognize most of the names. He thought Fukara might be able to, but his level of pop culture knowledge was nowhere near Fukara's.
"I know, Korito is kind of a huge nerd, but all the artwork is his own," Saishuu explained. "He's doing a whole exhibit for some art museum in Kyoto; that's why he's there. Anyway, make yourself comfortable, but if you touch any of his posters he'll know, and don't ask about the skirts in the closet, no one's supposed to know about those.
"Dinner's usually around six-thirty or seven, my room is the one at the far end of the hall on the left if you need me, but I'm hardly ever in there, so if I'm not check the basement. I'll leave you be for a while."
—
"Dinner time!" came a loud cry from upstairs. Not really wanting to be alone, Shirota had joined Saishuu in the basement to play video games and do homework, mostly play video games.
"Let's go," Saishuu said, pausing the game. "Mom doesn't like us to be late for dinner."
"Ah Saishuu, who's this?" asked a woman upon seeing the head of shaggy black hair bobbing up the stairs from the basement behind Saishuu. Her own dark hair was held back in a sloppy bun, and she wore a stained old apron, but she had kind eyes, the same shape and dark green color as Saishuu's.
"Ah, Mom, this is Shirota, I told you he asked to stay over for a while."
"Oh of course!" Mrs. Yukki seemed to remember. "I'm sorry, it must have slipped my mind, I swear I'm so scatterbrained sometimes! Why don't you boys go wash up and have a seat in the dining room, I'll put out an extra plate. Oh! And Dad's back from his trip, so Rakka and his wife are coming tonight."
"It'll be good to see them again," Saishuu remarked.
"Oh yes!" his mother enthusiastically agreed. "They're finally going to tell us the baby's gender tonight! Isn't it exciting?"
Saishuu chuckled and the boys went to wash their hands in the kitchen sink, and then sat at the table. Moments later, Toki walked in, taking a seat by the corner and resting her feet on the adjacent chair while she scrolled through her phone. The next arrival was an older man whom Shirota assumed was Saishuu's father based on the streaks of grey in his forest-green hair, who sat at the head of the table with a warm smile towards Shirota.
"And who might you be?" he asked good-naturedly.
"Ah, Shirota Yukine, I'm Saishuu's friend," Shirota responded.
"Well it's lovely to have you, Yukine," Mr. Yukki said. "I'm Saishuu's father." Shirota bowed his head politely.
A girl walked in, long, bleached-blonde bangs hid most of her face, and long sleeves, her hands. She snuck in like she didn't want to be noticed, and sat to Mr. Yukki's right as if trying to hide behind his broad shoulders and wide belly.
"Ah, Maketa, I was wondering where you were my boy," Mr. Yukki said, patting the boy(?) on the shoulder. He had such a small, meek presence that Shirota had assumed he was a girl at first, but seeing him closer it was clear that he was just shy.
"Rakka and Riwari should be here any minute," Mrs. Yukki said as she placed a pot of hot rice on the table. "Where's Fuyu?"
"Stuck in traffic," Toki answered quickly, not looking up. "She'll be here."
"Ok, good. Does anyone know if Akarui will be here?" Mrs. Yukki asked.
"Not a clue," Toki responded.
"No, she's still in that play, she has a performance tonight," answered Maketa, almost inaudibly, though it seemed his mother heard him fine.
"Ah, of course!" she said. "How could I forget, I swear I'm so scatterbrained sometimes." Shirota was beginning to think that was her catchphrase or something. She laughed. The doorbell rang. "Oh that must be them!" she sang, and left the room to answer the door.
There were some indistinct greetings, and then a young man bearing the Yukki family's distinct moss-green hair walked in, hand in hand with a pretty young woman in a blue dress and matching knit sweater, who was about five or six months pregnant. Shirota had always assumed his friend dyed it before, but apparently green was a natural shade, how strange.
"Hey everyone!" the man greeted. This must be Rakka, Shirota guessed, which meant the woman was his wife, Riwari. Rakka pulled out a chair for her to sit down in before sitting down himself.
"Fuyu says to start without her, but save her some of the buta," Toki reported.
"You heard the lady," Rakka laughed, clearly eager to get started on the meal.
"Thank you for the meal," chorused the group, and then plates were served and bites were taken.
Fuyu arrived, Shirota introduced himself a few more times, Mrs. Yukki scolded Toki for having her phone out at the table, Shirota learned that Maketa was actually the drummer in a band, which came as a huge surprise considering how soft-spoken the boy was. Rakka and Yanwari announced that the baby was going to be a girl, and that they weren't sure what they wanted to name her yet.
It was all so... normal? Was that the word? Comfortable? And yet so completely foreign to Shirota. Even though he felt that he really had no business being there, Saishuu's family welcomed him with open arms, and treated him like he was part of their family, just one more brother, green hair or not.
It was something Shirota had never experienced before. Family dinners were for families who were close, who really loved each other, and Shirota's family was not really one of those. He hadn't realized how true that was until he was thrust into a family that was all of those things and more. He hardly knew any of them, and yet he felt more at home around this dinner table of strangers than he had ever felt with his own family.
After dinner he helped wash dishes, Rakka actually hugged him when he left, which was weird, but not unappreciated. He and Saishuu finished their game and went upstairs to get ready for bed, and Shirota couldn't stop himself from telling his friend one thing. "I can't believe you live like this... I didn't think families like this were real..."
"Yeah, I know, they're all kind of weird, aren't they?" Saishuu joked.
"They're... happy..." Shirota said. "I didn't think families could be happy like this. Mine never was..."
"Oh..." Saishuu seemed at a loss for words. "Don't worry bro, we'll find some kind of fix to whatever's going on. I'll make sure of it."
"Thanks," Shirota said, and he really meant it, but at the same time, he wasn't sure what they even could do. At least, without incurring the wrath of the ruthless Daimondai and his numerous lackeys. "I really owe you one."
[Ok, I present you a chapter I finished beyond late. And I would just like to say: fuck school. Fuck that time-consuming, energy-draining, mind-numbing shit. And fight me. (My play opened this week and I'm exhausted but we still have three more shows to do.)
Thank you and good night. Love y'all.
<3 Raaor!]
[[P.S. Here's a list of the Yukki siblings in age order, in case you were curious *Name (kanji ; meaning (gender-age))*:
1) Sento (先頭 ; first, lead (m-30))
2) Shiroi (白い ; white (f-29))
3) Korito (氷と ; with ice (m-27))
4) Tekibishi (手厳しい ; harsh (m-26))
5) Rakka (落下 ; falling (m-25))
6) Nohaka (の墓 ; grave of (m-23))
7) Akarui (明るい ; bright (f-22))
8) Toki (冬季 ; winter (f-20)) -twin
9) Fuyu (冬 ; winter (f-20)) -twin
10) Maketa (負けた ; lost (m-18))
11) Saishuu (最終 ; last (m-17))
Mr. and Mrs. Yukki are in their mid-late fifties, and Riwari(Rakka's wife) is 23.
I've been trying to do better with coming up with original names instead of taking names randomly from anime so... yeah.]]