FIC: Like Family (Rokkaku, PG)
Title: Like Family
Author: Anj (anjenue)
Characters: Rokkaku (Kentarou-centric)
Rating: PG-ish
Word Count: ~4800
Summary: While Kentarou's new school isn't really a dream come true, the students are another story entirely. Past-fic, set about three and a half years before the start of the manga.
A/N: This fic is very personal to me because it was sort of inspired by my students and the things they face every day. Rokkaku is such a fun group of people, but I wondered if maybe there wasn't more to them than that. As a result, this fic isn't fluffy and ridiculous and made of insanity. Rokkaku is still Rokkaku, bad puns and all, but it's...a more serious look at what might be beneath that. Thank you so much to Indy for helping me start, to Linz for helping me finish, and to Liz for understanding.
They were late.
Kentarou sat down on the curb, resting his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands. He supposed he shouldn't've been surprised. After all, his brothers were all in high school, or past it, and they had girlfriends and social lives and lots of work to do. They didn't have time to be doing things like picking up their baby brother. And in truth, Kentarou had always been pretty good at taking care of himself. His brothers had mostly raised him, since his parents worked so hard all the time, but as they'd all gotten older, Kentarou had started to do more and more things by himself. None of his friends cooked dinner for their whole family...well, some of them did, but they took turns, and normally when they cooked, the whole family sat down and ate it.
He sighed. Everyone in his family worked so hard to make ends meet - his parents trying to pay rent and put supper on the table, his brothers working hard in school so they could move out and get good jobs - and he was just the baby, the one drawing on all the resources without really contributing anything in return. He tried as best as he could, but he always felt like it was never enough. He'd even decided to transfer out of his private school, because he didn't want his parents to have to pay for it anymore, especially now that they'd just moved to a new neighbourhood and so the transportation costs would be way too much. That was why he was currently here, visiting the school he would be attending starting in April.
It wasn't the best school. Rokkaku had a feeling of carelessness about it, like it had already been given up on and was just dying a slow and painful death. Kentarou remembered a gerbil his oldest brother had had, back when Kentarou was just a little boy, and how as his brother had gotten busier with school and extracurricular activities, he'd forgotten to feed it, and forgotten to pay it any attention. Kentarou had tried to talk to it sometimes, but nobody else in his family had noticed, and it had taken three days after the gerbil died before his mother had noticed and demanded that his brother get rid of it immediately.
The school felt kind of like that. Most of the teachers he'd seen reminded him of his father, stressed out and busy and too tired to smile, and the one who'd been taking him around had spoken to him for about a minute and a half before rushing away to shoo students to class. She'd never come back either, and Kentarou had sighed and wandered on alone. It was his own fault, really, expecting the teachers to babysit him - he should have had a parent or one of his brothers with him, but they were all too busy, and it wasn't the school's fault he didn't have an escort. He didn't really need one, either - most schools were designed about the same, so he could find his way around.
It was a bit scary though - the paint on the walls was peeling, a lot of the lights were broken, the windows were cracked and the doors creaked, and he'd had to pee but he'd been afraid of the bathroom so he'd held it until he thought his bladder was going to explode and he was forced to give in (but he'd held his breath the whole time). There was writing all over the lockers, and gum stuck under the desks, and when he'd peeked into one of the classrooms, he'd seen three students huddling over one textbook, the other students staring out of the window or blowing spitballs or falling asleep on top of their desks while the teacher lectured without turning around. It was kind of depressing, and Kentarou was tempted to go home and tell his mother he'd changed his mind and yes, please, he would really like to stay at private school.
But he knew that they really couldn't afford it, not with so many of them to feed and clothe, and especially not with his eldest brother starting university. It wasn't so bad here, after all. The classes were small, and the students seemed pretty okay, though a bit bored of everything, and it was close enough to their new house (he thought) that he could walk if he had to. Of course, he didn't know his way home from here, or else he would have walked now to save his brothers the trouble, but as it was, he was just going to have to sit and wait for them. Hopefully it would only be an hour or two, instead of like the time before last, when it was already dark out by the time they finally remembered him.
While he was here, though, he thought he might as well look around some more. He didn't want to stray too far, in case they came and he wasn't there and they left without him, but there was a park close by, and that didn't seem like it would be too problematic. He crossed the street, carefully, and walked right up to the jungle gym. A couple of boys about his age were playing on it, dirt smearing their faces and laughter ringing loud through the air, and he couldn't help but smile. It was a nice change from the sombre mood of earlier, and it helped cheer Kentarou up a bit. These kids seemed to be having fun, enjoying the sunshine and the fresh air, and Kentarou would have gone and joined them, only he didn't know if he was allowed. He didn't like going where he didn't belong, or where he wasn't wanted - he knew what it felt like to be an interloper, had experienced it often enough when his brothers brought friends home, and he didn't want that here, if this was going to be his new school. So he bit his lip and stepped back, watching the boys clamber all over each other as they fought to be the first one to the top.
'Hey, kid!'
Kentarou looked around, suddenly nervous. He wasn't sure if he was even allowed to be this far into the park - maybe it was just for Rokkaku students, and the person calling out to him knew he wasn't one and was coming to kick him out even though Kentarou was only just looking and didn't mean any harm or anything and the words were on the tip of his tongue but just wouldn't come out--
--and then a tall boy who looked a few years older than Kentarou came over and put a hand on his shoulder.
'Are you new here?' the boy asked, smiling at Kentarou, and it was so not what he'd expected that his mouth went dry and all he could do was stare.
The boy chuckled. 'Hey, I'm not gonna bite!' he said cheerfully. 'Calm down. What's your name?'
Kentarou swallowed. 'Um.... Aoi Kentarou, sempai,' he said, voice trembling a little bit.
The boy laughed again. 'You don't have to be so formal, Aoi!' he said cheerfully.
'He looks more like an Akai to me,' said a new, serious voice from Kentarou's left. Kentarou looked up in confusion at the other boy, a gangly boy with puffy red hair, and just barely saw his lips twitch.
And then all of a sudden, the first boy's foot came out of nowhere and clocked the redhead right in the back of the skull. Kentarou made a sharp noise of surprise, jumping back, and ran straight into another boy.
'Bane, knock it off!' said the new boy, who had the oddest, whitest hair Kentarou had ever seen, except for the weird bits of black at the bottom. 'You'll scare the poor kid to death!'
'I'm okay,' Kentarou said shakily, and the white-haired boy shook his head.
'Don't mind Bane,' he said, shooting a glare at the first boy, who had the grace to look ashamed. 'He's really very gentle.'
'Like a spring breeze,' said the redhead, and then ducked as the first boy - Bane - lashed out with a hand.
The white-haired boy rolled his eyes. 'Or Davide,' he said. 'He likes to say stupid things. He thinks he's funny.'
Kentarou chuckled, albeit a bit weakly. 'It's really okay,' he said.
'You keep saying that,' said the white-haired boy with a snicker. 'Really, if you're trying to escape from us, you're going about it all the wrong way.'
'How do you mean?' Kentarou's eyes widened in surprise. 'And...and I wasn't trying to...do anything,' he added hastily.
'He is awfully formal,' said the white-haired boy, looking back at Bane. 'It's okay. He'll learn.'
'We're all a big family here,' said Bane cheerfully. 'I'm Bane, like he said; this idiot here is Davide, and that one is Saeki.' He grinned as Davide made a noise of protest, but ignored him. 'Over there playing on the swing is Itsuki, and the twins over there are Ryou and Atsushi.'
'Are you all...students here?' Kentarou asked, forgetting his fear. These boys seemed nice enough, and they were interested in him at least, and it was unusual enough to make him want to stick around and talk to them.
Saeki chuckled. 'Yep!' he said. 'Most of us will be entering the middle school in April, but Davide's just a baby, and Gen-chan and Kai-chan over there are even younger.'
'And...your parents let you play here all by yourselves?' Kentarou looked around. He didn't see any adults anywhere, and while the neighbourhood seemed safe enough, judging by the school, he couldn't be certain.
'Naw,' said Bane. 'Ojii's in his workshop. He pokes his head out once in awhile to check on us, and that's usually more than enough, plus once the middle school gets out, there's tennis practice.'
'Tennis?' Kentarou blinked, suddenly interested. He'd never actually played, but they had a dusty racquet lying around at home and he'd always been curious about it. 'Are you all tennis players too?'
'This whole place is meant to court players,' said Davide very seriously, and then giggled as Bane rolled his eyes and put his hand over his face.
'What he means to say,' Saeki cut in, 'is that Ojii built this so that the local kids would come play on it, but it's all designed to teach us coordination and strength and stamina and stuff so that we'll all be ready for the tennis team by the time we get to the middle school.'
'He built this?' Kentarou felt like he was asking a tonne of questions, but now he was really interested. Ojii sounded like a pretty awesome man, judging from all the play structures, and all the kids seemed like they liked him a lot. Maybe this wouldn't be such a bad place to be after all!
'You want to meet him?' Bane grinned.
Kentarou's eyes widened as they fixed on Bane's face, and all he could do was nod.
Bane's grin widened. 'Excellent,' he said cheerfully. 'Come along then!'
'Sae-saaaaan!' came a voice from the swings, and Saeki paused and looked over to where Itsuki was waving at him. 'I found a shell! What's it doing here?'
'I'll catch up with you guys,' said Saeki apologetically, and turned to go.
'Ojii must've been shelling out money for the sand,' said Davide, and then ran for it as Bane aimed a kick at him.
Bane sighed. 'That kid,' he grumbled. 'I swear.'
'Why does he make all those bad jokes?' Kentarou knew it was kind of a rude question, but these people had said he was being too formal, and he was genuinely curious. Besides which Bane seemed to think they were bad jokes too, so he didn't think there was any harm in asking.
Bane chuckled, but when Kentarou looked up at him, he saw that his expression was very serious. 'Davide's family is...well, let's just say they don't encourage free thinking,' he said quietly. 'They aren't the sort to have conversations with him over supper, except to ask about his classes and his grades, and they don't really listen to what he says.'
Kentarou nodded, pressing his lips together. He knew how that one went.
'So when he first came here,' Bane continued, 'he was really shy. Wouldn't say a word. He was afraid people would yell at him for talking about "pointless things". But the older kids got him talking, and Ojii laughed whenever he said something clever, and before you knew it....' Bane gestured back to where Davide was saying something to the twins, who were looking at each other with a not again expression. 'Now it's getting him to shut up that's the problem.'
Bane sighed, shaking his head. 'He's actually pretty funny sometimes,' he chuckled. 'But he likes the attention he gets when he makes bad jokes better. For some reason, just making someone laugh isn't enough.'
'Maybe he feels like getting kicked is more personal,' Kentarou said thoughtfully. 'At least then he knows you're actually listening.' He could understand that, at least. Whenever his parents or his brothers laughed when he said something, he was never sure if they were actually laughing or if it was just a thoughtless response to what he said. It was something, so he didn't question it, but sometimes he wished that someone would actually look at him when he spoke so he knew they were paying attention.
All of a sudden, he realised that Bane had stopped walking, and he stopped too, turning around in confusion. 'Bane-san?' he asked. 'Is something the matter?'
Bane was looking at him intently, gaze sharp, and, as Kentarou stared at him, he took a few steps forward, and rested his hands on Kentarou's shoulders.
'Is your family always really busy?' he asked slowly, gaze boring into Kentarou. Kentarou shifted, suddenly uncomfortable, but Bane didn't look away, just kept staring at him as if trying to figure something out.
'Well....everyone's family is busy,' Kentarou hedged, glancing down.
'That's not what I mean.' Bane hadn't moved. 'I mean...are they....too busy for you?'
Kentarou bit his lip. 'Not....I don't.....'
Bane caught hold of his chin, tilting Kentarou's head up until he was forced to look straight at him. Bane's expression was very serious, but his eyes were sad, and...Kentarou thought...understanding. He looked like he actually understood. It wasn't the blank sort of look he was used to seeing from teachers when he explained to them why his parents couldn't be at a parent day, or the curiosity he saw from other kids when he mentioned he had older brothers but never said anything else about them. It was something much deeper than that, and before he could even think about it, just like that, the dam broke.
'My parents work a lot,' he blurted. 'They're not home very often, and when they are they're usually on the phone or doing paperwork. My brothers are all older and in high school, except my eldest brother, Takashi - he's starting university soon. He's going to go work for my dad once he finishes school, and my second eldest brother, Akira, is going to join him. My other three brothers, Hiroki and Kohei and Ren, have awhile to decide, but they'll probably go work for other companies since my dad doesn't need everyone to work for him and he says it's better to have connections in other places, and so they all kind of...forget about me.' He smiled, a bit tightly, and blinked hard. 'It's not that I mind or anything because I know they're busy and it takes a lot of work to keep food on the table and everything, and they all take care of themselves pretty well so I should be able to do the same, but sometimes I wish that we could just sit down and have a meal together or something once in awhile so I don't forget what it feels like to be a family and--'
His rambling cut off as Bane caught him suddenly in the first hug that Kentarou had had in a very, very long time. As such, Kentarou stiffened, arms by his sides - he wasn't really even sure how to respond to this anymore, and the touch felt foreign, unfamiliar, and almost a bit painful because of that. Kentarou didn't let himself miss things like this, because missing something only made it worse when he couldn't have it, so having it now was doubly painful, because it reminded him that it was missing, and also that this was what he wanted. He sniffled, closing his eyes hard - he wouldn't cry, not in front of a total stranger, because he was a big boy and big boys didn't cry - but then Bane's arms tightened around him and he murmured it's okay into Kentarou's ear, and Kentarou couldn't stop himself anymore.
'I'm sorry,' he managed to choke out between great gulping sobs that he somehow was able to keep mostly silent. It was humiliating to be crying like this, especially on the shoulder of another boy, but now that he'd started he couldn't stop, and it was like months and years of pent-up sadness and anger and frustration were all coming out at once and it was too much for him to handle and he wanted to just collapse and let Bane hold him up because he was too tired to be strong anymore. But he had to be strong, because that's what he had learned how to do, and--
'Don't be sorry,' Bane murmured. 'You have nothing to be sorry for.'
'I shouldn't...shouldn't be....' Kentarou fought for words, fought to stand up straight, to be a man, but Bane still wasn't letting go.
'Everyone does, Kentarou,' Bane said. 'Think of it as your initiation.'
'M-my....' That was enough to get Kentarou's attention, and he swallowed his sobs, pulling back slowly to look into Bane's face. Even through the veil of wetness, he could still see Bane's small smile.
'That's right,' he said, taking a step back, and reached up, chucking Kentarou very gently on the chin. 'Me too. We've all got our little secrets. Or did, anyway, until someone managed to get them out of us.'
'I don't understand.' Kentarou wiped the back of his forearm across his eyes. 'What do you mean?'
Bane took Kentarou by the shoulders and turned him around gently. 'Well I told you about Davide,' he said, nodding toward where he was now apparently terrorising Itsuki and Saeki. 'Saeki was kind of the same. His parents are too busy to really spend any time with him, and they're not very affectionate people - they're both scientists, see - so he grew up learning to analyse and observe instead of enjoying. And he's really smart and all, but he has a tendency to be kind of boring and standoffish and stuff. Wasn't very good at people. He had a couple friends growing up who made sure he had fun, but...they moved last year, and Saeki wouldn't really have had anyone else if he hadn't started coming here.
'Itsuki on the other hand...he's...not the cleverest of boys. He needs more attention at school to get his work done and stuff, and, well...Rokkaku's not great for that. But he's really bright, and curious, and he tries really hard, and Ojii taught him how to use that. He's already really awesome at tennis - better than most all of us - and he's amazing whenever we go clam-digging.'
He grinned. 'You'll like clam-digging with us,' he said, rumpling Kentarou's hair again. 'It's craziness. One of the older boys said it's supposed to help us train too, but mostly we just think it's fun, and Ojii lets us be as crazy as we want. He's kind of laid-back like that.'
'Ojii sounds pretty awesome,' Kentarou said wonderingly, his tears forgotten. In fact, this whole thing seemed pretty awesome. He felt like he was looking at people he'd known for years now, instead of strangers - something about knowing why they were here and where they came from made them feel like...like kin, somehow, even though that was silly.
'He is,' Bane said, sounding just a bit gleeful. 'He's like, the coolest old man you'll ever meet. But he can be firm too, sometimes, in his own way. Like, the twins?' He pointed. 'Their parents are really strict. They weren't allowed to do anything outside of school. But when their parents met Ojii, they decided he was plenty strict enough to take care of Ryou and Atsushi after school, so they've been coming here for about a year and a half now.'
Kentarou nodded, biting his lip again. Something about this seemed like it was too good to be true. There weren't just places like this hanging around, waiting for him to stumble across them. He'd spent the better part of his life so far learning how to stand on his own, since that's what he needed to do, and he didn't know if he could trust these people. Sure, they sounded like they had issues just like his, but they all seemed so happy, and carefree, and he had a hard time believing that they really had been just like him. Maybe they were just pretending, like he had to sometimes, and really they did just keep themselves isolated, protecting themselves in case they got hurt again. But watching Saeki and Itsuki together, and the twins, and Davide and Bane earlier, it didn't seem like that. It really did seem like they genuinely treated each other like....
....like family.
Kentarou looked up at Bane. 'Why...are you here then?' he asked hesitantly.
Bane chuckled. 'Anger issues,' he said, adopting a very serious tone, which sounded very odd in his boy-voice. 'I used to get into a lot of fights, and I got kicked out of my first school, and my parents thought about sending me to Catholic school just for the discipline, but fortunately I found Ojii first and he convinced them that all a healthy, growing boy needed was an outlet. So I have tennis.'
'And kicking Davide in the head,' Kentarou blurted. He clapped a hand over his mouth, an apology already on his tongue, but Bane just burst into laughter and rubbed his knuckles against Kentarou's head.
'Quite right!' he said. 'And kicking Davide in the head. It helps with that extra little bit of aggression that tennis can't get out.'
Kentarou stared at Bane, still a bit horrified by his own words, but the massive grin on Bane's face looked so ridiculous that Kentarou couldn't help but snicker, and then chuckle, and then out and out laugh. Bane laughed even louder, eyes gleaming as he looked at Kentarou, and then slung an arm around his shoulders.
'You'll fit right in here, Kentarou,' he said cheerfully.
'Why, because my family is....' Kentarou couldn't finish that, as much as he was trying to be flippant - he didn't really want to think about it at all, in fact, although Bane seemed to speak so casually about all the problems everyone else had to deal with.
But Bane shook his head, tightening his arm around Kentarou. 'Naw,' he said. 'Because you haven't run screaming yet.'
Kentarou blinked in surprise, and then snickered, pushing all thoughts of his family from his mind. 'Yet,' he repeated.
'True enough!' Bane chirped. 'After all, you haven't met Ojii. But that, my friend, is all about to change.'
He steered Kentarou straight around the edge of the tennis courts to a big building, and pulled open the door. Kentarou squinted into the huge room, and then Bane pushed him gently inside and closed the door behind him.
'Ojii!' he said. 'I brought you a new recruit!'
Kentarou's eyes slowly adjusted to the dimmer light. The first thing he saw as they did was...racquets, all over the walls, all shapes and sizes and all, oddly enough, made of wood. Wood was piled on one of the workbenches too, stacked high and waiting to be finished, and a few rolls of string sat nearby, the end of one unraveled and curling up from the spool. Kentarou looked around, curious and fascinated...and then started as his eyes lighted on the oldest little man he had ever seen. He had a bald head and a long beard, and was kneeling on one of the benches, bent over a racquet he was just stringing. He didn't seem to have noticed them yet, but a glance at Bane showed that he didn't find this at all unusual, so Kentarou kept his mouth shut and watched.
Even though the man looked very old, his hands were quick, weaving the plastic string in and out and around so fast that Kentarou felt a bit dizzy. He almost expected the man to weave his own beard into the racquet, the way he was going, but after a minute or two, he was finished, and the beard and the racquet were still two separate things.
As Kentarou watched, the old man stood carefully, back curving over as he did, and slowly held up the racquet to the light, examining it. There was something odd about it that Kentarou couldn't quite put his finger on, but maybe he just didn't know enough about tennis racquets to tell for sure, and he certainly didn't want to sound stupid. But a glance around showed that the racquet was kind of a weird shape, not round at all, and the strings looked odd too, like they were....
'Here.'
Kentarou blinked, surprised. The old man was looking straight at him, and he was holding out the racquet expectantly as if he expected Kentarou to....
'Well, take it!' Bane sounded excited. 'Ojii doesn't just give a racquet to anyone!'
'But....' Kentarou looked over at Bane. If he didn't just hand out racquets, then this couldn't be right, could it? He didn't even know Kentarou, and yet he was trying to give him this brand new racquet, because...why?
'But nothing.' Bane grinned. 'It's yours. Take it.'
Kentarou took it.
The old man smiled at him. 'Welcome,' he said, nodding once, and then turned around and shuffled off into the depths of the workshop, leaving Kentarou staring at the racquet in complete perplexity.
Bane came up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder. 'There,' he said. 'Now you can't run away. You're one of us.'
'But I....'
'I told you!' Bane scolded, knocking Kentarou gently in the back of the head. 'No buts. You're Rokkaku now, and you'd better get used to it!'
Kentarou turned around to say something, and then noticed that Bane was holding a racquet too. It didn't look anything like Kentarou's, except that it was made of wood, but it seemed to say something, like it was somehow suited to Bane. And as Kentarou hefted his racquet, turning it over in his hand and noticing the hexagonal shape, repeated in the strings, he realised that somehow, this suited him. He didn't know a thing about tennis, and yet it felt right, the same way that Rokkaku felt right despite him not knowing anything about it. It felt....like home, somehow, and it made him smile before he even realised it.
Bane smiled back. 'So,' he said. 'Feel like trying it out?'
Kentarou's fingers tightened around the handle, smile widening into a grin. 'I'll race you!' he shouted, and took off running.
+
It was another four and a half hours before his brothers finally showed up.
Kentarou didn't even notice.
Author: Anj (anjenue)
Characters: Rokkaku (Kentarou-centric)
Rating: PG-ish
Word Count: ~4800
Summary: While Kentarou's new school isn't really a dream come true, the students are another story entirely. Past-fic, set about three and a half years before the start of the manga.
A/N: This fic is very personal to me because it was sort of inspired by my students and the things they face every day. Rokkaku is such a fun group of people, but I wondered if maybe there wasn't more to them than that. As a result, this fic isn't fluffy and ridiculous and made of insanity. Rokkaku is still Rokkaku, bad puns and all, but it's...a more serious look at what might be beneath that. Thank you so much to Indy for helping me start, to Linz for helping me finish, and to Liz for understanding.
They were late.
Kentarou sat down on the curb, resting his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands. He supposed he shouldn't've been surprised. After all, his brothers were all in high school, or past it, and they had girlfriends and social lives and lots of work to do. They didn't have time to be doing things like picking up their baby brother. And in truth, Kentarou had always been pretty good at taking care of himself. His brothers had mostly raised him, since his parents worked so hard all the time, but as they'd all gotten older, Kentarou had started to do more and more things by himself. None of his friends cooked dinner for their whole family...well, some of them did, but they took turns, and normally when they cooked, the whole family sat down and ate it.
He sighed. Everyone in his family worked so hard to make ends meet - his parents trying to pay rent and put supper on the table, his brothers working hard in school so they could move out and get good jobs - and he was just the baby, the one drawing on all the resources without really contributing anything in return. He tried as best as he could, but he always felt like it was never enough. He'd even decided to transfer out of his private school, because he didn't want his parents to have to pay for it anymore, especially now that they'd just moved to a new neighbourhood and so the transportation costs would be way too much. That was why he was currently here, visiting the school he would be attending starting in April.
It wasn't the best school. Rokkaku had a feeling of carelessness about it, like it had already been given up on and was just dying a slow and painful death. Kentarou remembered a gerbil his oldest brother had had, back when Kentarou was just a little boy, and how as his brother had gotten busier with school and extracurricular activities, he'd forgotten to feed it, and forgotten to pay it any attention. Kentarou had tried to talk to it sometimes, but nobody else in his family had noticed, and it had taken three days after the gerbil died before his mother had noticed and demanded that his brother get rid of it immediately.
The school felt kind of like that. Most of the teachers he'd seen reminded him of his father, stressed out and busy and too tired to smile, and the one who'd been taking him around had spoken to him for about a minute and a half before rushing away to shoo students to class. She'd never come back either, and Kentarou had sighed and wandered on alone. It was his own fault, really, expecting the teachers to babysit him - he should have had a parent or one of his brothers with him, but they were all too busy, and it wasn't the school's fault he didn't have an escort. He didn't really need one, either - most schools were designed about the same, so he could find his way around.
It was a bit scary though - the paint on the walls was peeling, a lot of the lights were broken, the windows were cracked and the doors creaked, and he'd had to pee but he'd been afraid of the bathroom so he'd held it until he thought his bladder was going to explode and he was forced to give in (but he'd held his breath the whole time). There was writing all over the lockers, and gum stuck under the desks, and when he'd peeked into one of the classrooms, he'd seen three students huddling over one textbook, the other students staring out of the window or blowing spitballs or falling asleep on top of their desks while the teacher lectured without turning around. It was kind of depressing, and Kentarou was tempted to go home and tell his mother he'd changed his mind and yes, please, he would really like to stay at private school.
But he knew that they really couldn't afford it, not with so many of them to feed and clothe, and especially not with his eldest brother starting university. It wasn't so bad here, after all. The classes were small, and the students seemed pretty okay, though a bit bored of everything, and it was close enough to their new house (he thought) that he could walk if he had to. Of course, he didn't know his way home from here, or else he would have walked now to save his brothers the trouble, but as it was, he was just going to have to sit and wait for them. Hopefully it would only be an hour or two, instead of like the time before last, when it was already dark out by the time they finally remembered him.
While he was here, though, he thought he might as well look around some more. He didn't want to stray too far, in case they came and he wasn't there and they left without him, but there was a park close by, and that didn't seem like it would be too problematic. He crossed the street, carefully, and walked right up to the jungle gym. A couple of boys about his age were playing on it, dirt smearing their faces and laughter ringing loud through the air, and he couldn't help but smile. It was a nice change from the sombre mood of earlier, and it helped cheer Kentarou up a bit. These kids seemed to be having fun, enjoying the sunshine and the fresh air, and Kentarou would have gone and joined them, only he didn't know if he was allowed. He didn't like going where he didn't belong, or where he wasn't wanted - he knew what it felt like to be an interloper, had experienced it often enough when his brothers brought friends home, and he didn't want that here, if this was going to be his new school. So he bit his lip and stepped back, watching the boys clamber all over each other as they fought to be the first one to the top.
'Hey, kid!'
Kentarou looked around, suddenly nervous. He wasn't sure if he was even allowed to be this far into the park - maybe it was just for Rokkaku students, and the person calling out to him knew he wasn't one and was coming to kick him out even though Kentarou was only just looking and didn't mean any harm or anything and the words were on the tip of his tongue but just wouldn't come out--
--and then a tall boy who looked a few years older than Kentarou came over and put a hand on his shoulder.
'Are you new here?' the boy asked, smiling at Kentarou, and it was so not what he'd expected that his mouth went dry and all he could do was stare.
The boy chuckled. 'Hey, I'm not gonna bite!' he said cheerfully. 'Calm down. What's your name?'
Kentarou swallowed. 'Um.... Aoi Kentarou, sempai,' he said, voice trembling a little bit.
The boy laughed again. 'You don't have to be so formal, Aoi!' he said cheerfully.
'He looks more like an Akai to me,' said a new, serious voice from Kentarou's left. Kentarou looked up in confusion at the other boy, a gangly boy with puffy red hair, and just barely saw his lips twitch.
And then all of a sudden, the first boy's foot came out of nowhere and clocked the redhead right in the back of the skull. Kentarou made a sharp noise of surprise, jumping back, and ran straight into another boy.
'Bane, knock it off!' said the new boy, who had the oddest, whitest hair Kentarou had ever seen, except for the weird bits of black at the bottom. 'You'll scare the poor kid to death!'
'I'm okay,' Kentarou said shakily, and the white-haired boy shook his head.
'Don't mind Bane,' he said, shooting a glare at the first boy, who had the grace to look ashamed. 'He's really very gentle.'
'Like a spring breeze,' said the redhead, and then ducked as the first boy - Bane - lashed out with a hand.
The white-haired boy rolled his eyes. 'Or Davide,' he said. 'He likes to say stupid things. He thinks he's funny.'
Kentarou chuckled, albeit a bit weakly. 'It's really okay,' he said.
'You keep saying that,' said the white-haired boy with a snicker. 'Really, if you're trying to escape from us, you're going about it all the wrong way.'
'How do you mean?' Kentarou's eyes widened in surprise. 'And...and I wasn't trying to...do anything,' he added hastily.
'He is awfully formal,' said the white-haired boy, looking back at Bane. 'It's okay. He'll learn.'
'We're all a big family here,' said Bane cheerfully. 'I'm Bane, like he said; this idiot here is Davide, and that one is Saeki.' He grinned as Davide made a noise of protest, but ignored him. 'Over there playing on the swing is Itsuki, and the twins over there are Ryou and Atsushi.'
'Are you all...students here?' Kentarou asked, forgetting his fear. These boys seemed nice enough, and they were interested in him at least, and it was unusual enough to make him want to stick around and talk to them.
Saeki chuckled. 'Yep!' he said. 'Most of us will be entering the middle school in April, but Davide's just a baby, and Gen-chan and Kai-chan over there are even younger.'
'And...your parents let you play here all by yourselves?' Kentarou looked around. He didn't see any adults anywhere, and while the neighbourhood seemed safe enough, judging by the school, he couldn't be certain.
'Naw,' said Bane. 'Ojii's in his workshop. He pokes his head out once in awhile to check on us, and that's usually more than enough, plus once the middle school gets out, there's tennis practice.'
'Tennis?' Kentarou blinked, suddenly interested. He'd never actually played, but they had a dusty racquet lying around at home and he'd always been curious about it. 'Are you all tennis players too?'
'This whole place is meant to court players,' said Davide very seriously, and then giggled as Bane rolled his eyes and put his hand over his face.
'What he means to say,' Saeki cut in, 'is that Ojii built this so that the local kids would come play on it, but it's all designed to teach us coordination and strength and stamina and stuff so that we'll all be ready for the tennis team by the time we get to the middle school.'
'He built this?' Kentarou felt like he was asking a tonne of questions, but now he was really interested. Ojii sounded like a pretty awesome man, judging from all the play structures, and all the kids seemed like they liked him a lot. Maybe this wouldn't be such a bad place to be after all!
'You want to meet him?' Bane grinned.
Kentarou's eyes widened as they fixed on Bane's face, and all he could do was nod.
Bane's grin widened. 'Excellent,' he said cheerfully. 'Come along then!'
'Sae-saaaaan!' came a voice from the swings, and Saeki paused and looked over to where Itsuki was waving at him. 'I found a shell! What's it doing here?'
'I'll catch up with you guys,' said Saeki apologetically, and turned to go.
'Ojii must've been shelling out money for the sand,' said Davide, and then ran for it as Bane aimed a kick at him.
Bane sighed. 'That kid,' he grumbled. 'I swear.'
'Why does he make all those bad jokes?' Kentarou knew it was kind of a rude question, but these people had said he was being too formal, and he was genuinely curious. Besides which Bane seemed to think they were bad jokes too, so he didn't think there was any harm in asking.
Bane chuckled, but when Kentarou looked up at him, he saw that his expression was very serious. 'Davide's family is...well, let's just say they don't encourage free thinking,' he said quietly. 'They aren't the sort to have conversations with him over supper, except to ask about his classes and his grades, and they don't really listen to what he says.'
Kentarou nodded, pressing his lips together. He knew how that one went.
'So when he first came here,' Bane continued, 'he was really shy. Wouldn't say a word. He was afraid people would yell at him for talking about "pointless things". But the older kids got him talking, and Ojii laughed whenever he said something clever, and before you knew it....' Bane gestured back to where Davide was saying something to the twins, who were looking at each other with a not again expression. 'Now it's getting him to shut up that's the problem.'
Bane sighed, shaking his head. 'He's actually pretty funny sometimes,' he chuckled. 'But he likes the attention he gets when he makes bad jokes better. For some reason, just making someone laugh isn't enough.'
'Maybe he feels like getting kicked is more personal,' Kentarou said thoughtfully. 'At least then he knows you're actually listening.' He could understand that, at least. Whenever his parents or his brothers laughed when he said something, he was never sure if they were actually laughing or if it was just a thoughtless response to what he said. It was something, so he didn't question it, but sometimes he wished that someone would actually look at him when he spoke so he knew they were paying attention.
All of a sudden, he realised that Bane had stopped walking, and he stopped too, turning around in confusion. 'Bane-san?' he asked. 'Is something the matter?'
Bane was looking at him intently, gaze sharp, and, as Kentarou stared at him, he took a few steps forward, and rested his hands on Kentarou's shoulders.
'Is your family always really busy?' he asked slowly, gaze boring into Kentarou. Kentarou shifted, suddenly uncomfortable, but Bane didn't look away, just kept staring at him as if trying to figure something out.
'Well....everyone's family is busy,' Kentarou hedged, glancing down.
'That's not what I mean.' Bane hadn't moved. 'I mean...are they....too busy for you?'
Kentarou bit his lip. 'Not....I don't.....'
Bane caught hold of his chin, tilting Kentarou's head up until he was forced to look straight at him. Bane's expression was very serious, but his eyes were sad, and...Kentarou thought...understanding. He looked like he actually understood. It wasn't the blank sort of look he was used to seeing from teachers when he explained to them why his parents couldn't be at a parent day, or the curiosity he saw from other kids when he mentioned he had older brothers but never said anything else about them. It was something much deeper than that, and before he could even think about it, just like that, the dam broke.
'My parents work a lot,' he blurted. 'They're not home very often, and when they are they're usually on the phone or doing paperwork. My brothers are all older and in high school, except my eldest brother, Takashi - he's starting university soon. He's going to go work for my dad once he finishes school, and my second eldest brother, Akira, is going to join him. My other three brothers, Hiroki and Kohei and Ren, have awhile to decide, but they'll probably go work for other companies since my dad doesn't need everyone to work for him and he says it's better to have connections in other places, and so they all kind of...forget about me.' He smiled, a bit tightly, and blinked hard. 'It's not that I mind or anything because I know they're busy and it takes a lot of work to keep food on the table and everything, and they all take care of themselves pretty well so I should be able to do the same, but sometimes I wish that we could just sit down and have a meal together or something once in awhile so I don't forget what it feels like to be a family and--'
His rambling cut off as Bane caught him suddenly in the first hug that Kentarou had had in a very, very long time. As such, Kentarou stiffened, arms by his sides - he wasn't really even sure how to respond to this anymore, and the touch felt foreign, unfamiliar, and almost a bit painful because of that. Kentarou didn't let himself miss things like this, because missing something only made it worse when he couldn't have it, so having it now was doubly painful, because it reminded him that it was missing, and also that this was what he wanted. He sniffled, closing his eyes hard - he wouldn't cry, not in front of a total stranger, because he was a big boy and big boys didn't cry - but then Bane's arms tightened around him and he murmured it's okay into Kentarou's ear, and Kentarou couldn't stop himself anymore.
'I'm sorry,' he managed to choke out between great gulping sobs that he somehow was able to keep mostly silent. It was humiliating to be crying like this, especially on the shoulder of another boy, but now that he'd started he couldn't stop, and it was like months and years of pent-up sadness and anger and frustration were all coming out at once and it was too much for him to handle and he wanted to just collapse and let Bane hold him up because he was too tired to be strong anymore. But he had to be strong, because that's what he had learned how to do, and--
'Don't be sorry,' Bane murmured. 'You have nothing to be sorry for.'
'I shouldn't...shouldn't be....' Kentarou fought for words, fought to stand up straight, to be a man, but Bane still wasn't letting go.
'Everyone does, Kentarou,' Bane said. 'Think of it as your initiation.'
'M-my....' That was enough to get Kentarou's attention, and he swallowed his sobs, pulling back slowly to look into Bane's face. Even through the veil of wetness, he could still see Bane's small smile.
'That's right,' he said, taking a step back, and reached up, chucking Kentarou very gently on the chin. 'Me too. We've all got our little secrets. Or did, anyway, until someone managed to get them out of us.'
'I don't understand.' Kentarou wiped the back of his forearm across his eyes. 'What do you mean?'
Bane took Kentarou by the shoulders and turned him around gently. 'Well I told you about Davide,' he said, nodding toward where he was now apparently terrorising Itsuki and Saeki. 'Saeki was kind of the same. His parents are too busy to really spend any time with him, and they're not very affectionate people - they're both scientists, see - so he grew up learning to analyse and observe instead of enjoying. And he's really smart and all, but he has a tendency to be kind of boring and standoffish and stuff. Wasn't very good at people. He had a couple friends growing up who made sure he had fun, but...they moved last year, and Saeki wouldn't really have had anyone else if he hadn't started coming here.
'Itsuki on the other hand...he's...not the cleverest of boys. He needs more attention at school to get his work done and stuff, and, well...Rokkaku's not great for that. But he's really bright, and curious, and he tries really hard, and Ojii taught him how to use that. He's already really awesome at tennis - better than most all of us - and he's amazing whenever we go clam-digging.'
He grinned. 'You'll like clam-digging with us,' he said, rumpling Kentarou's hair again. 'It's craziness. One of the older boys said it's supposed to help us train too, but mostly we just think it's fun, and Ojii lets us be as crazy as we want. He's kind of laid-back like that.'
'Ojii sounds pretty awesome,' Kentarou said wonderingly, his tears forgotten. In fact, this whole thing seemed pretty awesome. He felt like he was looking at people he'd known for years now, instead of strangers - something about knowing why they were here and where they came from made them feel like...like kin, somehow, even though that was silly.
'He is,' Bane said, sounding just a bit gleeful. 'He's like, the coolest old man you'll ever meet. But he can be firm too, sometimes, in his own way. Like, the twins?' He pointed. 'Their parents are really strict. They weren't allowed to do anything outside of school. But when their parents met Ojii, they decided he was plenty strict enough to take care of Ryou and Atsushi after school, so they've been coming here for about a year and a half now.'
Kentarou nodded, biting his lip again. Something about this seemed like it was too good to be true. There weren't just places like this hanging around, waiting for him to stumble across them. He'd spent the better part of his life so far learning how to stand on his own, since that's what he needed to do, and he didn't know if he could trust these people. Sure, they sounded like they had issues just like his, but they all seemed so happy, and carefree, and he had a hard time believing that they really had been just like him. Maybe they were just pretending, like he had to sometimes, and really they did just keep themselves isolated, protecting themselves in case they got hurt again. But watching Saeki and Itsuki together, and the twins, and Davide and Bane earlier, it didn't seem like that. It really did seem like they genuinely treated each other like....
....like family.
Kentarou looked up at Bane. 'Why...are you here then?' he asked hesitantly.
Bane chuckled. 'Anger issues,' he said, adopting a very serious tone, which sounded very odd in his boy-voice. 'I used to get into a lot of fights, and I got kicked out of my first school, and my parents thought about sending me to Catholic school just for the discipline, but fortunately I found Ojii first and he convinced them that all a healthy, growing boy needed was an outlet. So I have tennis.'
'And kicking Davide in the head,' Kentarou blurted. He clapped a hand over his mouth, an apology already on his tongue, but Bane just burst into laughter and rubbed his knuckles against Kentarou's head.
'Quite right!' he said. 'And kicking Davide in the head. It helps with that extra little bit of aggression that tennis can't get out.'
Kentarou stared at Bane, still a bit horrified by his own words, but the massive grin on Bane's face looked so ridiculous that Kentarou couldn't help but snicker, and then chuckle, and then out and out laugh. Bane laughed even louder, eyes gleaming as he looked at Kentarou, and then slung an arm around his shoulders.
'You'll fit right in here, Kentarou,' he said cheerfully.
'Why, because my family is....' Kentarou couldn't finish that, as much as he was trying to be flippant - he didn't really want to think about it at all, in fact, although Bane seemed to speak so casually about all the problems everyone else had to deal with.
But Bane shook his head, tightening his arm around Kentarou. 'Naw,' he said. 'Because you haven't run screaming yet.'
Kentarou blinked in surprise, and then snickered, pushing all thoughts of his family from his mind. 'Yet,' he repeated.
'True enough!' Bane chirped. 'After all, you haven't met Ojii. But that, my friend, is all about to change.'
He steered Kentarou straight around the edge of the tennis courts to a big building, and pulled open the door. Kentarou squinted into the huge room, and then Bane pushed him gently inside and closed the door behind him.
'Ojii!' he said. 'I brought you a new recruit!'
Kentarou's eyes slowly adjusted to the dimmer light. The first thing he saw as they did was...racquets, all over the walls, all shapes and sizes and all, oddly enough, made of wood. Wood was piled on one of the workbenches too, stacked high and waiting to be finished, and a few rolls of string sat nearby, the end of one unraveled and curling up from the spool. Kentarou looked around, curious and fascinated...and then started as his eyes lighted on the oldest little man he had ever seen. He had a bald head and a long beard, and was kneeling on one of the benches, bent over a racquet he was just stringing. He didn't seem to have noticed them yet, but a glance at Bane showed that he didn't find this at all unusual, so Kentarou kept his mouth shut and watched.
Even though the man looked very old, his hands were quick, weaving the plastic string in and out and around so fast that Kentarou felt a bit dizzy. He almost expected the man to weave his own beard into the racquet, the way he was going, but after a minute or two, he was finished, and the beard and the racquet were still two separate things.
As Kentarou watched, the old man stood carefully, back curving over as he did, and slowly held up the racquet to the light, examining it. There was something odd about it that Kentarou couldn't quite put his finger on, but maybe he just didn't know enough about tennis racquets to tell for sure, and he certainly didn't want to sound stupid. But a glance around showed that the racquet was kind of a weird shape, not round at all, and the strings looked odd too, like they were....
'Here.'
Kentarou blinked, surprised. The old man was looking straight at him, and he was holding out the racquet expectantly as if he expected Kentarou to....
'Well, take it!' Bane sounded excited. 'Ojii doesn't just give a racquet to anyone!'
'But....' Kentarou looked over at Bane. If he didn't just hand out racquets, then this couldn't be right, could it? He didn't even know Kentarou, and yet he was trying to give him this brand new racquet, because...why?
'But nothing.' Bane grinned. 'It's yours. Take it.'
Kentarou took it.
The old man smiled at him. 'Welcome,' he said, nodding once, and then turned around and shuffled off into the depths of the workshop, leaving Kentarou staring at the racquet in complete perplexity.
Bane came up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder. 'There,' he said. 'Now you can't run away. You're one of us.'
'But I....'
'I told you!' Bane scolded, knocking Kentarou gently in the back of the head. 'No buts. You're Rokkaku now, and you'd better get used to it!'
Kentarou turned around to say something, and then noticed that Bane was holding a racquet too. It didn't look anything like Kentarou's, except that it was made of wood, but it seemed to say something, like it was somehow suited to Bane. And as Kentarou hefted his racquet, turning it over in his hand and noticing the hexagonal shape, repeated in the strings, he realised that somehow, this suited him. He didn't know a thing about tennis, and yet it felt right, the same way that Rokkaku felt right despite him not knowing anything about it. It felt....like home, somehow, and it made him smile before he even realised it.
Bane smiled back. 'So,' he said. 'Feel like trying it out?'
Kentarou's fingers tightened around the handle, smile widening into a grin. 'I'll race you!' he shouted, and took off running.
+
It was another four and a half hours before his brothers finally showed up.
Kentarou didn't even notice.