Days Without Nights - Chapter 16
May. 10th, 2015 03:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
angevonFortunately the summer festival could take Yosuke's mind off of the looming idea of divorce, even if just for a day. Before breakfast, Kichirou asked if his friend Hiroshi could go with them to the shrine, and Yosuke had him call the boy over.
"Hiro-chan~" Yu greeted when the boy entered the house.
Hiroshi looked at Kichirou. "Your weird uncle is still here? Even my mom doesn't call me that..."
Yosuke was unable to keep from laughing, even after Yu shot him a flat look. "Dude, he's telling the truth. You're weird."
"Only Kicchan's opinion matters." Yu crossed his arms. "Kicchan?"
"U-umm..." Kichirou seemed hesitant, but then he declared, "D-don't you remember? My uncle's a cool ninja cat!"
"Ha! See?" Yu was almost stupidly proud. His chest was all puffed out and everything.
"Cool and weird," said Yosuke, shaking his head. "And apparently a cat. Come on, you two. That cool cat made breakfast."
"Don't forget the 'ninja'!"
The festival grounds were crowded with hundreds of people when they arrived. Many women wore traditional summer kimono in a variety of colorful designs. Yosuke tried not to think of his wife's kimono hanging in the closet. He needed to just enjoy the festival. It was olive-colored with a purple flower design...
One of the first stands they came across was selling masks, and they had some fun trying them on. The children went straight for the Featherman-themed masks, even though Yosuke reminded his son he already had one hanging over his door at home.
Yu put on a Loveline mask because despite his attitude earlier, apparently he wanted to continue to be weird. He ended up buying an orange fox mask. He elbowed Yosuke while he had it on. "Reminds you of something, huh?"
"It's missing the scars and the scarf, but... yeah." Yosuke wondered vaguely what had ever happened to that yen-loving shrine fox. How long did foxes live, anyway?
They found a vendor offering yakisoba, and since it was Kichirou's favorite, they had to get some, so it was time for an impromptu lunch. Yosuke and Hiroshi ended up getting takoyaki instead, but it was a little too hot so they kept blowing on it to cool it off. Kichirou giggled when Yosuke burned his tongue anyway. Taiyaki cakes were available for dessert, but Yu passed on that because he wanted to find a Topsicle stand instead.
There were several games available to play: dart throwing, ring toss, a bowling game, and others. Yosuke stayed away from the goldfish-catching booth due to his aversion to fish, so Yu took over and made sure both of the boys caught something.
Kichirou held the plastic bag close to his face and poked at the fish inside. "I'll name him Feather Orange!"
"It doesn't have any feathers," Hiroshi pointed out.
"S-scale Orange?" Kichirou replied hopefully.
"Sure, and mine's, umm... Bubbles!"
"That doesn't sound like a Featherman character at all!"
There was also a fortune draw. Yosuke shied away from this one, not wanting any more bad luck, but Yu told him it couldn't hurt, so he drew one anyway. He closed his eyes as he pulled it out, reluctant to read it. Yu told him it was a Mild Blessing, and he let out his breath with relief and tied the fortune to the tree.
The afternoon drew to a close, so they took Hiroshi home. To Yosuke's surprise, the boy's mother, Mrs. Ito, invited them to stay for dinner. "It's the festival," she said, a tinge of pink to her cheeks. "You and your son are welcome here."
"That's right," said Mr. Ito from the tea table in the living room. "You've endured our son all day. Stay a while!"
"W-well, my friend, err, a friend of the family, is visiting, so..." Yosuke said. He stepped aside so they could notice Yu behind him. "We don't want to impose."
Mrs. Ito ushered everyone in. "Of course, you're welcome, too!" She introduced herself and her husband, and Yosuke introduced Yu. Mr. Ito invited them to the living room, and the two boys went off to Hiroshi's room to play after putting their goldfish into the fish tank the family already had in the kitchen.
They made some small talk about the festival before Mrs. Ito said, "We heard about what happened through Kichirou-kun. Such a nasty business... Don't be afraid to ask us for help, Hanamura-san. Kichirou-kun is a good boy."
Mr. Ito chimed in. "My brother went through the same thing, a couple of years ago. His daughter ended up with the harpy, though..." He trailed off with a frown.
"I'll be able to keep Kichirou-kun," Yosuke reported. "She already said, and I don't see her changing her mind."
Mrs. Ito was visibly relieved. "That's good. The last thing a boy his age needs is to be moved around. Or to be caught in the middle."
"Yeah, I'm not planning to move away with him or anything," Yosuke assured them. "I want his life to go on as normal as possible."
She nodded in agreement. "I'm glad to hear that. Hiro-kun would be devastated if you had to move..."
She excused herself to attend to dinner, and they turned to a lighter topic in the meantime: baseball. Mr. Ito seemed to be a big fan. He began to show off his autograph collection until his wife returned and playfully scolded him for boring the guests.
"It's all right," Yosuke assured her. "Though I haven't been to a game in a while."
"Oh?" said Mr. Ito. "Perhaps we should go together sometime."
Yosuke agreed that it might be fun, and Yu nodded encouragingly at him, as if making Yosuke connect with the Ito family was his goal all along or something. Upon further review, Yosuke wouldn't put it past his friend. Who knew what schemes he and Kichirou came up with while he was at work?
"D-Dad...?"
Speaking of Kichirou... Yosuke blinked and turned his head to see his son standing in the hall, shyly biting his lower lip. "What's the matter, Ki-kun?"
"Can I stay the night with Hiroshi-kun?"
"You might want to ask his parents first," Yosuke pointed out.
"O-oh!" Kichirou stepped towards Hiroshi's mother. "U-umm, Ito-san? C-Can I please stay over tonight?"
Mrs. Ito's lips turned up in an indulgent smile. "Since you asked so nicely, of course you may."
"Th-thank you!" The boy bowed and backed away hurriedly, presumably returning to his friend's room.
"I didn't say, 'yes,'" Yosuke protested, but he was smiling. "Silly kid."
"You couldn't say 'no' to him if you tried," Yu commented.
Yosuke waved at him. "If he turns out as spoiled as Nanako-chan, I'll blame you."
"Guilty as charged!" Yu announced unashamedly, and they both laughed.
Dinner with the Ito family happened to be curry, and Yosuke wondered how Mrs. Ito knew that he'd wanted to try her curry. He complimented her cooking with genuine feeling. It had just the right amount of spiciness and sweetness—even Yu seemed to be impressed. The mood was so light and playful... Yosuke tried hard to enjoy it and not to be envious of this happy family.
Later that evening, the Itos invited them to the small balcony on the second floor of the house. "We always watch the fireworks from here," Mrs. Ito explained. There wasn't very much room for everyone on the balcony, even after the small table and set of chairs were pushed out of the way, but the six of them managed to fit together.
Yosuke felt a hand creep into his while they stood there waiting for the show to start, and it took him a moment to realize it was Yu's. He almost pulled away, but then the man swiftly connected his hand with Kichirou's. Now Yosuke was holding his son's hand... and Yu was giving him an encouraging smile.
Kichirou looked up and Yosuke squeezed his hand. His son squeezed back and leaned against him as the fireworks began.
Later that night, Yosuke reclined on the couch that acted as his bed, a pillow under his head. He and Yu had returned to the Hanamura residence, and though it was still a little too early for bed, he was ready for it. "Seems too quiet here without Ki-kun," he observed with a yawn. "Not that he's loud or anything, but..."
Yu set a cup of tea down on the tea table and took his customary seat before it. "Since we're alone, do you wanna do anything tonight?"
Yosuke's brow knit together. What was his friend suggesting...?
"If you want to talk freely," Yu went on, "it's a good opportunity."
Oh. And Yu had been so good about not pressuring him to talk about Michiko! Yosuke sighed. "There's not much more to say, partner. Nothing that you don't already know. She left me. She left me and I don't really know why."
"You hear of that happening," Yu murmured, looking mournfully down into his tea, "but you never expect it to happen to someone you know."
Yosuke stared up at the ceiling. Not a day went by in which he didn't wonder what he could've done differently to keep Michiko with him. There were a bunch of little things they'd disagreed about. Had all those little things come together to make one big thing that she couldn't tolerate anymore? Or maybe she'd seen something on TV that prompted her into looking outside of the life she had? Or, or had she found someone else...?
He shifted on the couch, sighing in aggravation. It was quite likely something he'd never figure out.
The tinkle of a spoon against ceramic took his attention away from such thoughts—Yu was stirring his tea. Yosuke watched his friend for a moment while he apparently tested the tea's temperature with a spoonful. "Say, partner," he said slowly. "Tell me more about you and Ta-chan?"
His friend hesitated, the spoon still in his mouth. Yosuke didn't expect much of an answer—Yu was always rather close-mouthed about his past—but to his surprise, the man chuckled. "You know, to this day I'm surprised she ever let me call her that."
"What, 'Ta-chan'? I'm suddenly reminded of how Teddie could get away with calling Naoto 'Nao-chan.' I'm surprised she never drew her gun on him."
Yu didn't comment on that. His expression had become faraway, and the sigh he released wasn't heavy. "We got together because I reminded her of someone she used to know."
"Yeah...?" Yosuke hazarded.
"She's a good woman." Yu was nodding to himself. "Reliable, but a little headstrong. We were a good team—we worked well together. And everyone around us thought we were a good match."
"You ended up engaged," Yosuke murmured. He tried to imagine the woman who had captured his best friend's heart, but all he could think of was Nanako-chan, and that wasn't right at all!
When Yu didn't continue, Yosuke turned his head on the pillow to look at him better. The man's mouth was thin, and his stormy eyes were fixed on his thumb tracing the edge of the teacup.
Yosuke was about to tell him that he didn't have to tell him any more when Yu began to speak. "It was kind of like a workplace romance. There was a lot of pressure on me, on us... And our seniors were always quick to point out that we're 'not getting any younger.' It was almost like I was obligated to propose simply because we saw each other every day and went to lunch together a few times."
"Ah," said Yosuke. "I know exactly what you mean."
"I mean, I did like her," Yu said, shooting him a tired smile, "but in the end, I couldn't live up to what she wanted. It became too much for me, so I broke it off with her."
Yosuke blinked, and a moment later he gaped at his friend. "You... you broke it off?"
Yu nodded.
Yosuke sat up, flattening his pillow against the couch's arm. "I thought you were dumped!"
His friend looked taken aback by his surprise. "Well," he said, "by the time we reached that point, it was more or less mutual, but I was the one to put it into words, yeah. I told you that we're still friends, right? I haven't spoken with her in a while, but it's true. Who knows? Maybe she's even found someone else by now."
Yosuke watched his friend, wondering if he could ask for more details. "Someone else, huh..." he muttered mostly to himself.
Yu chuckled in amusement. "I know you want to know about Hei-kun."
Yosuke coughed, somewhat indignantly. He hadn't been thinking about that at all—but it was true that he was curious about that particular situation.
"I'll just tell you. He was a rebound, more than anything." Yu's mouth quirked, all signs of amusement gone. "Mutual or not, a breakup is still a breakup, so I was a bit... lost after Ta-chan, I suppose, and he found me, and... He wasn't healthy for me. At least I figured that out pretty fast."
"Oh," said Yosuke. Not healthy... how? Suddenly he didn't want to know.
"It didn't last very long," Yu confided, "and I'm not sure why I ever told you about it."
"Probably because I asked!" Yosuke laughed in a desperate attempt to lighten the mood. "You know me, nosy nosy nosy!"
"Your nose isn't that big," Yu teased. He sighed softly. "Regardless, there's not much more to say about it. Nothing really worked out, so here I am."
"Here you are," Yosuke echoed.
Yu began to sip at his tea, and Yosuke watched him.
Here he was, his best friend, still living with him and taking care of his son after how many weeks now? Without asking for anything in return except, apparently, a place to sleep. Making sure that Yosuke wasn't broken after losing Michiko...
Knowing that Yu had his back made Yosuke so much less fearful of his uncertain future. "Thanks," Yosuke told him.
"Hmm?" Yu set his drink down and sent him a questioning look.
"For being here," Yosuke explained. "I'm not sure I would've made it through this without you."
"Oh, well..." Yu shrugged like it was nothing. "I wasn't doing anything, anyway. And I think you would've been fine. You're stronger than you think."
"You sure? I cower during thunderstorms." Yosuke chuckled, but Yu was looking at him with a strange expression.
"I'm sure," he said softly. "Besides, we're partners, right? I know what you're capable of."
Yosuke felt his face turn red despite himself. "Don't get sappy on me!"
"You started it," Yu pointed out with a smug little grin.
Yosuke flatly ignored him by turning on the TV to the weather report. While the weather lady explained that it was going to be sunny until next Tuesday, Yosuke further considered his best friend. They were halfway through summer, and he hadn't shown any signs that he was planning to leave, and after he'd been here for so long, it didn't seem right to ask.
He supposed Yu would bring it up himself at some point. What a sad day that would be.
