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“-eru. Kakeru… Kakeru!”

My eyes shot open. I would have sat bolt upright too had my body not been that impossibly paralysed by sleep.

I heard a laugh and let my eyes wander till I found a familiar face. I could barely see the man’s grey eyes through the two slits they made when he laughed. He seemed to find my after-sleep distress rather amusing.

“Geez, Hiro-san.” I frowned, a little embarrassed but not showing it. I sat up on the couch and massaged the bridge of my nose.

“You really aren’t a heavy sleeper, are you?” He calmed himself down and settled for watching me as I desperately tried to chase the sleep away.

“If you know that, be a little less loud next time.” I narrowed my eyes at him.

“I’ll try to.” He chuckled and turned towards the dining area. “Come on. Dinner is being served.”

“Ah.” I planted both palms on the couch and stared after him. The guy’s so regularly eating with us that he was practically a member of the family already.

I got up, stretched a bit, picked up the book that I had been reading before I fell asleep from the from the floor next to the couch, placed it on the coffee table among the crayons and strewn papers that had been in use not too long ago and went to join the others at the dining table.

“Ah! Kake-jii’s awake!” A shrill voice greeted me.

“Mm. Good morning, Aki-chan.” I smiled at the three-year-old niece of mine who was seated in her high chair at the head of the table.

“It’s evening!” She informed me matter-of-factedly.

“Is that so?” I chuckled and took my seat to her right and opposite my elder brother. His wife sat next to him and our “guest” sat to my right.

We lived in a decent enough apartment in Tokyo. After my brother got a job in Tokyo while I was still in university here, he invited me to live with him. He let me stay even after his marriage. I ended up getting a job in Tokyo myself and while I did continue to live with his now family of three, I was on the lookout for a place of my own.

Hiro-san, or Fuyukawa Hiromitsu, was my brother’s classmate in university. The two of them have been close since their days as classmates. Incidentally, Hiro-san too had been offered a job in Tokyo and he has been living in the city for over a year now. A year was obviously more than enough time for him to get familiar with our family anyway. Hiro-san had been working at an architecture firm till a few months ago. According to what my brother told me, he had earned himself quite the name. He decided to become a freelance architect owing to that. He was doing fairly well for a twenty-six-year-old designer too. That also allowed him the liberty and the time to plan his work such that he could make it in time for dinner at ours at least three times a week.

“Kakeru.” Hikaru-nii called. “Your hair’s a mess. You seem to have gotten a good nap in.”

His daughter had inherited his brown eyes. And to be fair, his hair was a little messier than mine was. But his hair had always been like that.

“Mm. I was playing basketball.” I said grace and began eating.

“Basketball?” Hiro-san asked.

“Yes. I was peacefully dreaming and then you came and ruined it very loudly for me, Hiro-san.” I raised my eyes to him. Kaori-nee was a good cook and the food did not allow me to make a distasteful face at him.

“That much?” Hiro-san chuckled, raking a hand through his dyed light hair. I still haven’t figured out whether calling it white or silver or grey or a really light shade of black (which would mean that it wasn’t black) would do it justice. Either way, it suited him. It complimented his eyes. “Do you miss playing basketball so much?”

“Mm. Not really. I hadn’t really thought about it. The last time that I played was in university. The dream just made me remember it. That’s all.”

“You were good back then, weren’t you?” Kaori-nee asked. She had straight black hair, maintained short, which, thankfully, Aki-chan got, and a lovely smile that reminded me of my own mother. Our folks were back in Kyuushu and I had’t seen them in a while. I was thankful for this family around me just then though. “I had heard from Hikaru.”

“Ah. Somewhat.” I shrugged, a little abashed. “It was just… fun.”

“Do you play basketball even now?” Aki-chan asked.

“No. I don’t have the time for that now.” I sighed. “I’ve become an adult, haven’t I?”

“Who? You?” Hiro-san scoffed.

I ignored him. “Ah, Nii-san, what time are you going to work tomorrow?”

“07:00 am. Want to go together?”

“Yes. Till the Convenience Store. I have a client to meet.” I continued eating.

“Adult.” Aki-chan echoed.

“Hey, Aki-chan! Don’t flail your hands around.” Kaori-nee scolded her when she flung her arms around.

Hikaru-nii laughed. “Aki-chan, you’ll have to clean up afterwards.”

“Mn.” She made a face and settled down. She hated cleaning up with a passion. That was why her crayons and drawings were still lying scattered in the living room.

This joyous atmosphere was typical of our family dinners. Living with them and watching them every day, I did sometimes feel a little out of place though. I was family too. True. They valued my presence as well. However, it was time to move on. I couldn’t keep clinging to the comforts they offered me.

After all… I’ve become an adult, haven’t I?

“I’ll come again.” Hiro-san said and gave Aki-chan a big, warm squeeze. “Be a good girl while Hiro-jii is gone, okay?”

“Aki-chan is always a good girl.” She proclaimed. The rest of us stood in the entryway and watched the exchange. Thanks to having slept in the afternoon, it did not seem like she would want to sleep any time soon. At least I would have some company while I worked on my ongoing project.

I was part of a fashion brand’s marketing team. They weren’t too big a name in the industry yet but they weren’t doing badly either. If anything, they paid well and offered reasonable work hours. Sometimes, I tended to take on a lot more work than I should though. It wasn’t that I was a workaholic but I liked keeping myself occupied. Even if the contribution was on the work-front, I felt less like a burden to my brother and his family, at the least. There was really no need for me to think that way but… that was just how it was. Besides, my own laziness was to be blamed for my prolonged stay at their place. I had gotten too comfortable.

Ah. Maybe Hiro-san was so regular because of the same reason. We were two stray souls who had been taken in by this loving young family.

“Kakeru.” Hiro-san’s call brought my wandering thoughts back to him. “You’re going to go work again after this, aren’t you? Ugh. I wonder why you go asking for extra work when the rest of us are trying to get rid of what we have.”

I shrugged. “Some of us are yet to become popular enough to have people lining up with jobs to offer, Hiro-san. I’m but a fledgling at this point.”

“Mm. I understand. It’s just… Don’t overdo it. You look tired now.”

“I am tired now.” I admitted. “But I’ll be relatively less tied up after this project.”

“Don’t go running into another one immediately though.” Hiro-san shook his head. “You did that last time.”

“You worry too much.” I commented. “Leave taking care of me to me.”

“Okay. Okay.” He chuckled and looked at my brother and sister-in-law. “Thank you, Kaori-chan. I’ll come again. Then, Hikaru.” He gave a short wave. “Good night.”

“Ah. Good night.” My brother responded.

Once the door was shut, we all went inside. Aki-chan was right back to skipping around. After helping to clean up a bit, I went to the room that I was using and settled to work. Aki-chan joined me for a while with her colouring kit and eventually fell asleep on my bed. It took me a few hours to turn in for the night though.

… I really did need a break after this project.

Notes:

Nii-san/-nii : Elder brother

Nee-san/-nee : Elder sister

-jii : Uncle