angevon

Author's notes: See this page for rating information and the chapter index.
Every so often there'll be mini chapters focusing on Kichirou like this. I'm sorry it's so short ;_;

Kichirou was a thoughtful boy. That is, he was often lost in thought—although he was, indeed, a kind-hearted boy, too. Now, when he wasn't thinking about school and his friends there, he was thinking about his parents.

He didn't want to think about them. It hurt, thinking about them. It hurt, calling Mom up on his cell phone and hearing only that her number was not in service. Why would she go away and not tell anyone...?

The first few days without her had been the most difficult for him. When he came home from school, she wasn't there to greet him and ask him about his day, to watch TV with him, or to give him the snack she always made for him. Dad taking her place by waking him up in the morning and putting him to bed, that was fine. But coming home and having to unlock the door by himself instead of being let in...

He'd cried the first day, sniffled but kept it in the second day, and on the third day...

On the afternoon of the third day, when the loneliness from doing homework at the desk in his room all by himself was becoming almost too unbearable, the house phone rang.

Kichirou walked from his room and stood before the phone. If it was Mom, she'd use his cell phone, so it might be one of his grandparents or someone from Dad's work or maybe a telemarketer. It might be Dad, too. Sometimes he called the house line when he was going to be working late. Kichirou picked up the receiver and answered it tentatively. "Hello?"

"Hey hey," came a very enthusiastic voice. "Kichirou~chan! It's your Uncle Narukami~ How are you doing?"

"Uncle Narukami!" the boy exclaimed. He hadn't talked to his favorite uncle in months. "Oh, Dad's not home... He's still at work."

"Actually, Kicchan," Uncle Narukami said. Kichirou squirmed a little, still holding the phone. Only Uncle Narukami and his mom called him 'Kicchan.' It was always strange to hear it from him—but Kichirou liked it. It made him feel special. "I wanna talk to you. I wanna know how you're doing."

"M-me?" Kichirou asked, surprised. "Umm, I'm..."

"I heard about your mom," Uncle Narukami said solemnly. "Hey, Kicchan. You know... When I was growing up, my mom and my dad often went away for a very long time. I was left home alone a lot... It's lonely being alone, right?"

"Y-yeah..." Kichirou admitted. He was sure he could trust Uncle Narukami. He took him the most seriously out of all his relatives.

"Sometimes they'd make me stay with Grandma and Grandpa," Uncle Narukami went on. "Sometimes I'd like it, because they gave me candy, but sometimes I'd hate it, because they made me go to bed early! Would you like to stay with your grandparents?"

"M-maybe..." He didn't really like that idea. They were fine to visit, but...

"They kind of smell, right? Like too much makeup, or perfume, or just... old people." His uncle snickered.

"Uncle Narukami!" The boy laughed, scandalized.

His uncle's voice became serious. "So... You and your dad are alone now, huh? You okay with your dad?"

"...I miss Mom..."

"Yeah, Dad isn't Mom." Uncle Narukami sounded sad, about as sad as the boy felt. "I don't know if I could choose between my mom and my dad... I love them both very much. Listen, Kicchan..."

Kichirou held the phone very close to his ear. "Uncle Narukami?"

"Your dad misses Mom, too. Can you be strong for him?"

"U-umm..." the boy replied uncertainly.

"Is Hiroshi-kun still your best friend?" Uncle Narukami asked suddenly.

"Y-yeah..." Kichirou was surprised he remembered that. He hadn't talked to him about his friends in a long time. "I went to his house yesterday."

"Hiroshi-kun is important to you, right? Your dad is important to me in the same way. Keep an eye on him, okay? Kicchan."

"Okay..."

"Do you know my phone number? You can call me, Kicchan, any time you're lonely or feeling mad or sad or anything. I care about you. Honestly I wish I wasn't so far away. I wanna see you again. I bet you've grown up so much!"

"I don't know your number," Kichirou admitted.

"Do you have paper handy? Here, write it down!"

Kichirou did as he was told, feeling quite happy to have his uncle's attention.

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