It was the last week of summer and as usual, I woke up feeling like a sponge boiling in a rusty bucket of stagnant water under the scorching sun. And as usual, I only managed to fall asleep about two hours after my head touched my pillow. This wouldn’t have been such a problem any other day, but today was the day I would move back into my hometown to live in my childhood house after my dad kicked the bucket a month back.
I had already packed my things the night before and my aunt already dealt with the paperwork to transfer me to a new school. It was no big deal for me though because I was never too close with anyone at school and my hometown wasn’t completely full of strangers either. My uncle took some photos of my old neighborhood while scouting the place out a while back and there were some familiar faces in them. One, in particular, was that of an old friend who I never thought of as much when we were kids but was now quite the looker.
Right on time, there was a violent knocking on my door with my younger cousin as its source.
“Soichiro, get up already! It’s time for breakfast!” her voice burst through the seams of my bedroom door.
“Comiiiiing…” I groaned as I forced myself into a sitting position on my bed, a gross blotch of sweat pooling where I laid.
Through the dewy lenses of my half-closed eyes, I could barely make out the numbers on the clock atop my bedside cabinet spelling out “10 A.M.”. On any other summer day, this would’ve been an early awakening for me and thus I was even groggier than usual.
“Hurry uuuuuuup! And grab some new clothes!” she pounded the door, the fast-food restaurant calendar I hung on it swaying with each blow.
Her prodding did nothing to dispel my lethargy. I stumbled over towards my splintery closet on the other side of my room and pulled out whatever mish-mash of clothing my eyes spotted first. Today was gonna be Band Shirt Sunday. After picking my outfit for today, I continued my fatigued stupor over to my door to greet my cousin. Without missing a beat, right as I opened the door, she grabbed my hand and with a hurried yet focused strut, all but dragged me across the hall to the bathroom.
“Go wash up quick, okay? No sitting on the toilet for half an hour.” she said as she combed her long black hair with her fingers.
“Mhmm… sure thing, Anzu-chan.” I nodded as I scratched my stomach.
I entered the bathroom with a sigh, undressing right after Anzu-chan closed the door behind me. A quick cold shower was enough to shoot my senses awake. Anzu-chan rushing me over to the bathroom also helped wake me up.
My hair was a bit dry today and smelt just as bad as it looked, so I decided I would help myself to Anzu-chan’s shampoo. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind, as it wasn’t the first time I had done this. We both had silky hair, a trait that originated from our grandpa, but there was just something about her hair that elevated it above mine. I guessed that the main difference would be a lack of care on my part.
I stepped out of the shower, towel around my waist, and dried my hair. The strands blew all over my face and into my mouth.
“Hmm…” I frowned at the sight of myself.
Even after a shower, I still looked awfully drained. My eyes were a dreadful, dreary mess of bags upon bags. No amount of washing up could possibly get rid of the years of sleep deprivation that had left its mark on my visage.
“You look worse than usual, kid… Something on your mind?” I said to myself.
“Soichiro! Done yet?” Anzu-chan yelled, giving me a start.
“Y-yeah, just about.” I said as I put on my OOTD, an Arcade Fire t-shirt, with the hand holding the quill and everything, and some plain old jeans which chafed my thighs.
After I combed my dry hair, once again with Anzu-chan’s comb, I headed out of my bathroom to face her. She took my hand and led me out into the dining room. My uncle and aunt were both sitting at the dinner table as usual. I gave a smile and sat on one of the two empty seats on the four-chair dining table with Anzu-chan taking the one next to mine.
Breakfast today was a standard meal you’d find in any Japanese household. Rice, fish, miso, and some vegetables to freshen up your palate. The whole shebang.
“Notice anything different about the spread today, Soichiro?” my aunt smiled.
I looked over to my uncle while raising an eyebrow.
“Hmm… No culinary experiments today, uncle?” I jested.
“Oh no. Not today, So-chan. Since you’re moving into a new place, I decided the theme for today’s meal would be ‘home’.” A triumphant smile grew on his boxed jaw.
“Home, huh?”
“There you go again, dad…” Anzu-chan shook her head. Her mother could only chuckle.
“All this stuff’s easy to cook, So-chan, so it’s likely you’ll be whipping it up often once you’re livin’ alone. I wanted you to get accustomed to it before you head out.”
I let out a bit of a laugh.
“You really think these things through, huh?” I said.
“Not just that, So-chan.” he shook his head. “Since this is the last meal you’re having here, every time you eat this kinda breakfast over there, you’ll be reminded of us back here.” he gave a thumbs up.
“Isn’t that just wonderful?” my aunt interjected.
“Hah hah! I know, right? Food is an art!” he crossed his arms.
He was quite an amusing man.
“Dad, it’s rude to be so loud at the dinner table. Let’s just eat, okay?” Anzu-chan said, cold as usual.
“O-Okay, An-chan…” my uncle scratched his scruffy cheek.
Breakfast continued in almost complete silence. Today’s meal wasn’t the best thing my uncle had made, but it definitely tasted like something I’d be able to make and would make while living alone. In fact, it tasted almost inedible with how much my tongue had been spoiled by his gourmet cooking. I was definitely gonna miss the taste of his food.
“You know you don’t have to move out, So-chan…” my uncle said solemnly.
“Dear…”
“I… I want to do this, uncle. It’s in my old man’s will, right? I don’t think it’s right for me to take his inheritance money and not move into his old place like he wanted.” I laughed.
“But…” my uncle looked down dejectedly.
My aunt chuckled.
“Soichiro’s just like you were when you were young, always trying to be on a path of his own and in search of something that it seemed nobody else understood. Maybe it’s puberty kicking in, huh?” she looked at me.
“Yeah, I guess so… Maybe it is the hormones.” I said.
“Right? And teenagers need their own space to grow, to search for that something. Maybe that space is his father’s house. Isn’t that just like the hot-blooded novels and manga you used to read?”
Suddenly my uncle jolted up.
“That’s right! Absolutely right! So-chan’s a young man — No, he’s no longer So-chan. He’s So-kun! He’s now a fully-fledged hot-blooded, hot-headed teenager right on the cusp of adulthood. I’d be an absolute failure as a guardian for denying him his desire to grow!” he held up his fist.
“You’re more of a hot-blooded and headed teen than Soichiro…” Anzu-chan looked at her father with a look of utter embarrassment.
Her mother was nodding enthusiastically in agreement though.
“Glad to have your… blessing, uncle.”
“And if you ever miss us, you can come back here any time you want! There’s a chance it’s gonna be a lot livelier though, with two more on the way.” my uncle said as he rubbed the stomach of his wife.
“...I’m looking forward to it.” I smiled.
“But if anyone’s gonna miss you, it’s An-chan!” he patted a completely stone-faced Anzu-chan on her fluffy head.
“Stop it.” And so he did.
“A-anyway, it’s already…” my uncle paused as he checked his watch “11 o’clock, so how about we get on moving, So-kun? Don’t wanna get stuck in rush hour traffic.”
“Huh, right now?”
“Uh-huh, I bet you’re just rearing to go and welcome your new home, huh?” he got up from his seat.
“Yeah, sure am.” I chuckled.
And on that abrupt note, I spent my last moments in this house, at least for the summer. Regardless, this place was no longer mine.
Something strange tugged at my chest. It wasn’t like I regretted leaving the house or anything, as it really was my decision. All this just didn’t feel nearly as… gratifying as I thought it would be. The things I thought I would feel just weren’t there.
It was the feeling of trying relisten to that one song that made you cry that one time, but it ended up not being nearly as emotional as the first time. Maybe I really was just sleep-deprived.
Oh well.
