Hexus

~9~ Inmacy

[4:32PM, February 2, UTC +09:00]

“So how was school?”

Sakaki was playing with the egg whisker. It looked like an oval as it spun between his palms. He made it spin too far and it rolled out and clattered across the kitchen table.

“It was fun. Yuriko got whacked by a ball, you should have seen it.”
“Oh my God! Is she okay?”
“Yeah. She got up and went back to play. But it was still funny though.”

Ayame-san exhaled. He guessed she wasn’t going to give him a lecture about how to be empathic and appropriate, like Mum did. It’s not that he didn’t care about Yuriko’s safety, he did. It’s just…the way she fell was so dramatic and he couldn’t help himself. Just thinking about it tickled him.

“How’s your family?”
“They’re fine. Everyone is fine. Kojiro-niisan is about to finish fourth year and so he’s been reading like a crazy person and doesn’t answer his calls. And Ayako-neesan has some stupid crush on our neighbor, but I’m not allowed to make fun of it because it’s ‘sensitive’.”
Ayame-san laughed. “And your parents? How are they holding up? It’s only been three weeks since…”
“They’re getting better. Mum is still a little mad at me though.”
“Why? What did you do?”
“I laughed during the funeral.”
“Neh? Why did you do th- Oh, Sakaki, you have to learn to take some things seriously.”
“But something funny happened. Someone put chrysanthemums in the casket. Grandma hated chrysanthemums. She always joked that if someone ever put one in her casket, she would get up and slap the person. So I waited for her to get up, and when she didn’t, I realized I was being silly and I laughed. I couldn’t help it.”
“Your mother must have been so embarrassed.”

He smiled and focused back on the egg whisker. He didn’t know why Mum refused to accept his explanation or apology, but he figured she would forgive him eventually. He wasn’t at all comfortable with the hurt stares she kept giving him, so he came to Yuriko’s house to get some time away. Nero walked into the room and pawed at his leg, and he carried the dog and placed it on his head, with its warm belly on top and legs dangling beside his face. He laughed when Ayame-san panicked and snatched it off.

“He could have fallen off! You should more responsible, Sakaki.”
“He likes being up there. He feels like the king of the world.”
“What? How many times have you done this?”
“Do you really want to know?”

Ayame-san shook her head. He smiled at her and she started to say something about coming over to visit when he heard a door slam. He and Ayame-san perked up and looked around, and he heard hurried footsteps going deeper into the house. Seconds later, the door opened and another set of footsteps followed.

“Yuriko! Yuriko, wait!” It was Takehiro-sama, Yuriko’s father. He sounded stressed, almost like he was pleading, not cool and powerful as usual. Sakaki got off the stool and poked his head out of the kitchen to see what was going on. Yuriko was standing at the base of the stairs, looking back at her father. Her shoulders were tense and her eyes were shiny, like she was crying. She whirled around and went up the stairs.

Yuriko never cried.

Yuriko barely even smiled on an average day.

This had to be serious.

Takehiro-sama turned to look at Sakaki and startled, before his expression returned to being apologetic.

“Sakaki wh- what are you doing here?”
“I just came back from school with Yuriko. I’m sorry, I should have called first.”
“No, it’s okay I just…this is so much harder now,” he said, turning back towards the stairs. “Yuriko! Yuriko please come back. I’m sorry. Please just…”