[Fanfiction] After Dark, Chapter 13
4:05 AM.
The three men have arrived at Hotel Kogarou. Ryuuki is thinking if he should spend whatever time he has left in that room. Staying in Shuuei and Kouyuu’s room is also out of the question - he doesn't want to be in their way. As he ponders upon it, he sees someone waving at him. He looks ahead, and sees the girl who attended to him earlier in the lobby. She’s waving her hands vigorously, as if she is demanding him to notice her.
“Ryuuki, do you want to ...” Shuuei begins.
“No, thank you. She’s calling me.” He answers.
Shuuei turns to the direction of the front desk and nods. “We’ll be seeing you, then.” He turns back and heads for the elevator. Kouyuu also looks at him, then follows suit.
Ryuuki walks toward the front desk, to the girl whom he met for the first time on the very same spot a few hours ago.
Shuurei puts down her hand as she sees him come near. Ryuuki puts his hands down on the mahogany table. “You were waving?”
She nods, then hands him a few thousand and hundred bills. Ryuuki frowns upon them and counts. “Six thousand yen ... I don’t understand.” He poses a confused look at Shuurei.
“We’re giving you a refund.” Shuurei tells him. “Bad night. Bad service. Half of it was my bad.” She admits, scratching her head in embarrassment. “Your room was actually still booked when I gave it to you. Long story. But yeah, the owner approved a refund, so that money’s yours.”
“I see.” Ryuuki nods. “Thank you.” He grabs his wallet from his pocket and puts the bills inside them neatly.
“The diaphragm you found underneath the bed is proof enough.” Shuurei tells him.
“Yeah. And that thing that happened along the hallway.”
“That ... is actually related to what you found in your room, believe it or not.”
“Really?”
Shuurei nods. “Long story. But everything’s been sorted out, so you don’t have to worry about a thing.”
Ryuuki puts his wallet back into his pocket. “Would you mind if I sat with you?” He asks. “It’s all right if you say no ...”
“Oh, that’s no problem at all. I have an extra chair here.” She answers, then motions to a seat beside her that is invisible to Ryuuki on his side. He then goes around the front desk and leads himself inside, walking towards the vacant chair. It is moderately high. He sets his backpack on the floor and sits down.
“So ...” He begins by taking a look around him. “You sit here all night, huh.”
“Yeah. I do front desk duties. I also do the bookkeeping when it’s the end of the month.”
“Oh really? How are you doing, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“Last year’s earnings were much better.” She answers. “Recession is really hitting the industry hard, but strangely enough, a bulk of our income this year is coming from tourists seeking low-cost accommodations.”
“Low cost? My room is not really on the low side.” Ryuuki tells her.
“That’s low compared to the hotels outside the love ho district.” Shuurei counters. “We’ve got a lot of businessmen coming over to stay, so to accommodate them we’ve converted some of our ... flashy rooms to the standard ones. You simply have to go where the business is to survive.”
Ryuuki nods.
“Um ... I’m sorry ...” He says sheepishly. “I didn’t quite get your name earlier.”
“Oh ... yeah, I haven’t introduced myself.” She extends a hand. “Kou Shuurei. Pleased to meet you.”
Ryuuki’s eyes widen. “Kou?” He exclaims. “As in, the Kou family?”
She nods. “You got that right.”
“You have got to be kidding.”
“I know, I know. You’ll say ‘what is a young girl from the Kou family doing in brothel, working there, of all places?’ - or something like that, right? I get that a lot.”
“Well, this is definitely one of the last places I’ll go to if I have to look for someone like you.” He takes her hand and shakes it.
“Point taken.” She says soflty, and lets go of his hand. “I have my reasons, though.” She thumbs through the frills of her skirt. We notice for the first time what she is wearing. Pink, long-sleeved blouse underneath a red jacket. White, pleated skirt that’s just above the knee and knee-high white heeled boots. She is dressed modestly compared to the usual couture of the love ho district.
“Even if I come from a noble family, I’m not very well-off.” She begins, folding her fingers outward to make a stretch. “I live in a small apartment in the suburbs, and we don’t really earn much. I’m the only daughter, and my father works in the city library. So, I help him out by working myself.”
“Can’t he get a more high-paying job than that?”
“Well, for some reason, he’s very happy with his job there. Can’t really say why. I did try to convince him to find some other work, even a baito. But, at the end of the day, I’m just his daughter. I can’t really impose.” She pauses, then turns her head to Ryuuki suddenly.
“Oh, don’t get me wrong. Otousama is wonderful. He’s just hardheaded, that’s all.”
Ryuuki nods. “Yeah, I get it.”
“So, when I was younger, I started looking for work that’s suitable for me. It had to be a night job, cause I go to school in the morning. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people like me in the city who are also looking for one. The competition can be quite fierce. Being a minor also doesn’t help my situation at the least. To cut the long story short, in my desperate search for a job, I ended up there, at the entrance of Hotel Kogarou. You can imagine how scared I was at first when I saw the bouncer there.” She makes a short laugh. “But, I held back my tears and demanded, ‘I want to work for you!’. And so, here I am.”
“Wow, it’s a good thing you weren’t hired to be …”
“Oh,” She waves her hand. “That was never an option for me, but Kochou-neesan - she’s the owner - met me later that night and told me I can start the next night. I told my father, and I remember him having a blank look on his face at first … but later on he sounded very happy about it.” She thumbs her hair slowly.
“Later on, Kochou-neesan would tell me that Otousama came here and asked her - while bowing low, mind you - to give me a job that’s suitable.” Shuurei smiles. “I was so embarrassed when I first heard the story! But from the beginning, she had other plans for me. First, I was assigned to housekeeping. Then, bookkeeping - I’m pretty good with math. Just two months ago I was assigned to the front desk.
“So … there you have it.” She sighs and smiles to him. “That’s why I’m here.”
“That’s amazing.” Ryuuki tells her. “But, I’m thinking … you can easily get support from your family if you’re having a hard time. I know everybody’s pretty much in the same boat now, facing hard times and all, but family is family, right?”
“Well … I’d like to think we have that option.” Shuurei answers. “But, I’ve never heard Otousama ask for help from our main house. Actually, I think our main house already reached out to us, but he refused.” She frowns a bit when she says this. “I try not to get into all that.”
“Oh, I’m sorry if I said anything wrong.”
“No, not at all. You’re right with what you said, family is family.”
They are silent for a while. Ryuuki sees the uniformed women from housekeeping walking about, keeping themselves busy. Not too much of the love ho’s women are walking about now, for the night is nearly over.
“I wish I can be more useful to my family.” He says softly. Shuurei looks at him, but doesn’t say anything.
“Can I … tell you something I’ve never told anyone before?”
Shuurei blinks in surprise. “Sure, if you feel comfortable about it.”
“I have an older brother. He’s much older than I am, by seven years. He’s my only sibling.”
“Okay.”
“He’s asleep. He’s been sleeping nonstop. He’s been at it for more than three months now.”
“Three months!?”
“Yup. And I don’t think it will stop at just that.”
“He never wakes up?”
“No. Well, I’m actually not sure. But we’ve not seen him awake for a while.” Ryuuki knits his brows. “I’d like to think he does, just to be optimistic about things. The maids in my house place food and water on his table, and when they come back the next day, they’ll find them slightly disturbed. The change though isn’t that drastic - the way the hashi is placed on the table suggests that they have been used, and pieces of vegetables seem to be misplaced. But, when we check on him, he is, without a shadow of a doubt, asleep. We shake him and call out his name, but he doesn’t budge.”
“Have you called a doctor?”
“Lots of them. My father favors my elder brother, so we’ve had a bunch of them over at my house. Those guys did the works on him when it came down to tests, but they all concluded that there was nothing wrong - medically speaking - about him. He’s just asleep. A psychiatrist also came to see him - we thought that if there’s nothing wrong with his body, something in his mind must have triggered this - and he said that he cannot proceed with treatment until my brother wakes up. So … we just wait, until that happens. Eventually.”
“Have you thought of bringing him to the hospital?”
“Out of the question for Chichiue. He fears that the repercussions that will happen when my brother’s condition goes public with be bad for the business. Aside from that, even the doctors didn’t recommend confinement. His vitals are low, yet enough for him to stay alive. He’s getting enough nourishment, so there’s no need for an IV. And, like what they said - he’s just asleep.”
“Wow.” Shuurei shakes his head. “That’s really disturbing.”
“It is. My father seems to be calm about the whole thing, but out of necessity, he’s starting to make me do things that my brother used to do. One of those things is getting a good grasp of what our business is about. I’ve never done that before, I’ve never really cared. But now, I’m forced to. I have to. And I’m really not liking the pressure he’s putting on me now.”
“So … is that the reason why you’re here?”
“Well, yeah. Part of it.” Ryuuki admits. “I didn’t run away. I go home very late at night every so often, when everyone’s asleep, just to replenish my supplies.” He makes a soft kick on his backpack. “Got everything I need in here. I’ve been spending my nights in convenience stores, coffee shops, libraries, school - until it closes, of course.”
“Do you bathe?” Shuurei makes a disgusted face.
“Of course I do!” Ryuuki answers adamantly. “Toudai has a gym. Lots of showers. Got soap and shampoo and deodorant and a shaver and all of those other things in my bag.”
She sighs with relief. “I’m so glad you do.”
Ryuuki nods. “I also go out because I couldn’t stand to be at home anymore. Especially when I started losing sleep.”
“Your drinking coffee compounds to that problem, you know.”
“No, it’s not that. I’m losing sleep, and I also don’t want to sleep. When I was at home, and I go to bed, all I can think about is my brother who’s in the same roof as I am, sleeping like that. It drives me nuts. So, I left.”
“Three months in bed sleeping. That’s a long time.”
Ryuuki nods in agreement. “Chichiue actually changed my brother’s mattress into the kind that hospitals use. He didn’t want my brother to get bedsores. They’re really bad when they start to appear on your back. I guess, he’s also thinking that my brother may be into this sleeping bit for the long haul.” He heaves a loud, deep sigh.
“But, it must be really hard for you to go through all that.” She chimes in.
“To be completely honest though, I kind of had an idea that this was going to happen. He told me he was going to be sleeping for a while. I just didn’t think it would mean this.”
“He told you?”
“Uh huh. That was three months ago. He suddenly wanted to see me - we haven’t really seen each other much prior to that. We have a really good relationship, but I thought he was busy with his stuff so he probably didn’t have time to spend with me.”
“Can you tell me more about him?”
Ryuuki nods. “He’s a businessman. He’s managing a lot of our family’s companies on his own, and he’s been doing that for a number of years now. He’s very focused and doesn’t really say much. Unlike me, he’s been homeschooled. He’s very smart. He is who he is because that’s what expected of him. But even with that knowledge, he assumed the role anyway.” He pauses. “He’s not married, but my father’s been arranging marriages with him for some time. My brother’s rejected all of them thus far. He’s got very high standards, I guess, or maybe he doesn’t have the time to settle down.”
“High standards? Is your brother handsome?”
“This may sound really strange, but he isn’t handsome. He’s beautiful.” Ryuuki answers sheepishly. “Like, there was a time that I tried spending a day in his room when he was already sleeping, and I just stared at him. He looked ridiculously serene, but the aura that his face exuded was beautiful. It’s weird, I know … but, I can almost imagine him playing the role of Sleeping Beauty …”
“And a handsome prince will come to wake him up?” Shuurei laughs.
Ryuuki smiles broadly. “He’d be very mad if that happened. Sleeping Beauty wakes up with a kiss. It’s got to be a princess. But either way, it’s going to be very awkward.”
“Based from the way you talk about him, you must get along with him well.”
“Yeah. My brother comes across to others as very cold, but he’s the opposite when it comes to me. I really enjoyed the time we spend together. He simmers down when I’m with him, as if he’s an entirely different person. Believe me, I know how he is with others. He can be quite unforgiving to everyone else, except me.” He pauses for a while.
“He told me he was going to be sleeping, but I didn’t pay attention.” His voice becomes lower, much softer. “I was thinking about other things that time. I just … took that moment for granted. It was very important for him - the fact that he asked to meet me proves it. And … I think he never told anyone about it, just to me. But even that, I took for granted.”
Shuurei’s face softens. She tries to find the words to say. “No one, not even you, could have known what he had meant that time.”
“Yeah, but still, that’s not an excuse.” Ryuuki says forcefully. “I think he gave me a hint that night. He kind of asked, a bit jokingly, if I will watch over him while he sleeps, and I remember telling him no, because I wouldn’t want to disturb him.” He shakes his head with the memory. “He laughed a bit when I told him that, but … still.”
Both of them are silent for a while. Shuurei straightens out her skirt again. Ryuuki stares straight ahead, his face expressionless.
“Hearing your story … makes me want to rethink the things that I’m doing now.” He says, after a while. “Your situation’s not the same with mine, but you made it work out. I have to make mine work out, somehow. I just don’t know how I can do it.”
“It will, I know it.” She says firmly. “I have a feeling.”
“Why?” Ryuuki turns to her. “How can you be sure?”
“Well,” she tilts her head slightly. “The fact that your brother told you that he was going to sleep meant that you were the only one who needed to know what he was about to do. You’re the only one who mattered.” She answers. “So, maybe, the way to get him out of sleeping lies with you, or what you do from here on in. I really don’t know … but this is your situation. You’re more capable of knowing how to deal with it.”
Ryuuki nods.
“It’s tough, but life is a rock.”
“Huh?”
“It’s hard.”
Ryuuki smiles again. “That’s pretty witty of you.”
Shuurei smiles back. “You learn a lot of things in this part of town.”
Time passes again between the both of them. Shuurei swings her legs on the high chair, while Ryuuki adjusts his cap.
“Thank you. For hearing me out.”
“It’s no problem at all. You need to let these things out eventually.”
“Yeah.” He looks around and sees the chairs in front of the front desk. They look really comfortable. “Hey, is it all right if I can sit by there? I know I’m no longer paying, but …”
“Oh, it’s all good.” She replies quickly. “We owe you, after the ruckus that happened earlier. Are you planning to …”
“Sleep? I don’t know.” Ryuuki answers. “But, they strike me as interesting, suddenly.”
Shuurei smiles and nods. “Suit yourself.”
“Can you watch over my backpack for me?”
“No problem.”
Ryuuki gets off the chair and starts toward the chairs. As he sits on him, a chill erupts from his spine to his head, one that calms him completely. He lowers his baseball cap again, and closes his eyes.
Probably, a few minutes of shut-eye isn’t so bad.
The three men have arrived at Hotel Kogarou. Ryuuki is thinking if he should spend whatever time he has left in that room. Staying in Shuuei and Kouyuu’s room is also out of the question - he doesn't want to be in their way. As he ponders upon it, he sees someone waving at him. He looks ahead, and sees the girl who attended to him earlier in the lobby. She’s waving her hands vigorously, as if she is demanding him to notice her.
“Ryuuki, do you want to ...” Shuuei begins.
“No, thank you. She’s calling me.” He answers.
Shuuei turns to the direction of the front desk and nods. “We’ll be seeing you, then.” He turns back and heads for the elevator. Kouyuu also looks at him, then follows suit.
Ryuuki walks toward the front desk, to the girl whom he met for the first time on the very same spot a few hours ago.
Shuurei puts down her hand as she sees him come near. Ryuuki puts his hands down on the mahogany table. “You were waving?”
She nods, then hands him a few thousand and hundred bills. Ryuuki frowns upon them and counts. “Six thousand yen ... I don’t understand.” He poses a confused look at Shuurei.
“We’re giving you a refund.” Shuurei tells him. “Bad night. Bad service. Half of it was my bad.” She admits, scratching her head in embarrassment. “Your room was actually still booked when I gave it to you. Long story. But yeah, the owner approved a refund, so that money’s yours.”
“I see.” Ryuuki nods. “Thank you.” He grabs his wallet from his pocket and puts the bills inside them neatly.
“The diaphragm you found underneath the bed is proof enough.” Shuurei tells him.
“Yeah. And that thing that happened along the hallway.”
“That ... is actually related to what you found in your room, believe it or not.”
“Really?”
Shuurei nods. “Long story. But everything’s been sorted out, so you don’t have to worry about a thing.”
Ryuuki puts his wallet back into his pocket. “Would you mind if I sat with you?” He asks. “It’s all right if you say no ...”
“Oh, that’s no problem at all. I have an extra chair here.” She answers, then motions to a seat beside her that is invisible to Ryuuki on his side. He then goes around the front desk and leads himself inside, walking towards the vacant chair. It is moderately high. He sets his backpack on the floor and sits down.
“So ...” He begins by taking a look around him. “You sit here all night, huh.”
“Yeah. I do front desk duties. I also do the bookkeeping when it’s the end of the month.”
“Oh really? How are you doing, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“Last year’s earnings were much better.” She answers. “Recession is really hitting the industry hard, but strangely enough, a bulk of our income this year is coming from tourists seeking low-cost accommodations.”
“Low cost? My room is not really on the low side.” Ryuuki tells her.
“That’s low compared to the hotels outside the love ho district.” Shuurei counters. “We’ve got a lot of businessmen coming over to stay, so to accommodate them we’ve converted some of our ... flashy rooms to the standard ones. You simply have to go where the business is to survive.”
Ryuuki nods.
“Um ... I’m sorry ...” He says sheepishly. “I didn’t quite get your name earlier.”
“Oh ... yeah, I haven’t introduced myself.” She extends a hand. “Kou Shuurei. Pleased to meet you.”
Ryuuki’s eyes widen. “Kou?” He exclaims. “As in, the Kou family?”
She nods. “You got that right.”
“You have got to be kidding.”
“I know, I know. You’ll say ‘what is a young girl from the Kou family doing in brothel, working there, of all places?’ - or something like that, right? I get that a lot.”
“Well, this is definitely one of the last places I’ll go to if I have to look for someone like you.” He takes her hand and shakes it.
“Point taken.” She says soflty, and lets go of his hand. “I have my reasons, though.” She thumbs through the frills of her skirt. We notice for the first time what she is wearing. Pink, long-sleeved blouse underneath a red jacket. White, pleated skirt that’s just above the knee and knee-high white heeled boots. She is dressed modestly compared to the usual couture of the love ho district.
“Even if I come from a noble family, I’m not very well-off.” She begins, folding her fingers outward to make a stretch. “I live in a small apartment in the suburbs, and we don’t really earn much. I’m the only daughter, and my father works in the city library. So, I help him out by working myself.”
“Can’t he get a more high-paying job than that?”
“Well, for some reason, he’s very happy with his job there. Can’t really say why. I did try to convince him to find some other work, even a baito. But, at the end of the day, I’m just his daughter. I can’t really impose.” She pauses, then turns her head to Ryuuki suddenly.
“Oh, don’t get me wrong. Otousama is wonderful. He’s just hardheaded, that’s all.”
Ryuuki nods. “Yeah, I get it.”
“So, when I was younger, I started looking for work that’s suitable for me. It had to be a night job, cause I go to school in the morning. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people like me in the city who are also looking for one. The competition can be quite fierce. Being a minor also doesn’t help my situation at the least. To cut the long story short, in my desperate search for a job, I ended up there, at the entrance of Hotel Kogarou. You can imagine how scared I was at first when I saw the bouncer there.” She makes a short laugh. “But, I held back my tears and demanded, ‘I want to work for you!’. And so, here I am.”
“Wow, it’s a good thing you weren’t hired to be …”
“Oh,” She waves her hand. “That was never an option for me, but Kochou-neesan - she’s the owner - met me later that night and told me I can start the next night. I told my father, and I remember him having a blank look on his face at first … but later on he sounded very happy about it.” She thumbs her hair slowly.
“Later on, Kochou-neesan would tell me that Otousama came here and asked her - while bowing low, mind you - to give me a job that’s suitable.” Shuurei smiles. “I was so embarrassed when I first heard the story! But from the beginning, she had other plans for me. First, I was assigned to housekeeping. Then, bookkeeping - I’m pretty good with math. Just two months ago I was assigned to the front desk.
“So … there you have it.” She sighs and smiles to him. “That’s why I’m here.”
“That’s amazing.” Ryuuki tells her. “But, I’m thinking … you can easily get support from your family if you’re having a hard time. I know everybody’s pretty much in the same boat now, facing hard times and all, but family is family, right?”
“Well … I’d like to think we have that option.” Shuurei answers. “But, I’ve never heard Otousama ask for help from our main house. Actually, I think our main house already reached out to us, but he refused.” She frowns a bit when she says this. “I try not to get into all that.”
“Oh, I’m sorry if I said anything wrong.”
“No, not at all. You’re right with what you said, family is family.”
They are silent for a while. Ryuuki sees the uniformed women from housekeeping walking about, keeping themselves busy. Not too much of the love ho’s women are walking about now, for the night is nearly over.
“I wish I can be more useful to my family.” He says softly. Shuurei looks at him, but doesn’t say anything.
“Can I … tell you something I’ve never told anyone before?”
Shuurei blinks in surprise. “Sure, if you feel comfortable about it.”
“I have an older brother. He’s much older than I am, by seven years. He’s my only sibling.”
“Okay.”
“He’s asleep. He’s been sleeping nonstop. He’s been at it for more than three months now.”
“Three months!?”
“Yup. And I don’t think it will stop at just that.”
“He never wakes up?”
“No. Well, I’m actually not sure. But we’ve not seen him awake for a while.” Ryuuki knits his brows. “I’d like to think he does, just to be optimistic about things. The maids in my house place food and water on his table, and when they come back the next day, they’ll find them slightly disturbed. The change though isn’t that drastic - the way the hashi is placed on the table suggests that they have been used, and pieces of vegetables seem to be misplaced. But, when we check on him, he is, without a shadow of a doubt, asleep. We shake him and call out his name, but he doesn’t budge.”
“Have you called a doctor?”
“Lots of them. My father favors my elder brother, so we’ve had a bunch of them over at my house. Those guys did the works on him when it came down to tests, but they all concluded that there was nothing wrong - medically speaking - about him. He’s just asleep. A psychiatrist also came to see him - we thought that if there’s nothing wrong with his body, something in his mind must have triggered this - and he said that he cannot proceed with treatment until my brother wakes up. So … we just wait, until that happens. Eventually.”
“Have you thought of bringing him to the hospital?”
“Out of the question for Chichiue. He fears that the repercussions that will happen when my brother’s condition goes public with be bad for the business. Aside from that, even the doctors didn’t recommend confinement. His vitals are low, yet enough for him to stay alive. He’s getting enough nourishment, so there’s no need for an IV. And, like what they said - he’s just asleep.”
“Wow.” Shuurei shakes his head. “That’s really disturbing.”
“It is. My father seems to be calm about the whole thing, but out of necessity, he’s starting to make me do things that my brother used to do. One of those things is getting a good grasp of what our business is about. I’ve never done that before, I’ve never really cared. But now, I’m forced to. I have to. And I’m really not liking the pressure he’s putting on me now.”
“So … is that the reason why you’re here?”
“Well, yeah. Part of it.” Ryuuki admits. “I didn’t run away. I go home very late at night every so often, when everyone’s asleep, just to replenish my supplies.” He makes a soft kick on his backpack. “Got everything I need in here. I’ve been spending my nights in convenience stores, coffee shops, libraries, school - until it closes, of course.”
“Do you bathe?” Shuurei makes a disgusted face.
“Of course I do!” Ryuuki answers adamantly. “Toudai has a gym. Lots of showers. Got soap and shampoo and deodorant and a shaver and all of those other things in my bag.”
She sighs with relief. “I’m so glad you do.”
Ryuuki nods. “I also go out because I couldn’t stand to be at home anymore. Especially when I started losing sleep.”
“Your drinking coffee compounds to that problem, you know.”
“No, it’s not that. I’m losing sleep, and I also don’t want to sleep. When I was at home, and I go to bed, all I can think about is my brother who’s in the same roof as I am, sleeping like that. It drives me nuts. So, I left.”
“Three months in bed sleeping. That’s a long time.”
Ryuuki nods in agreement. “Chichiue actually changed my brother’s mattress into the kind that hospitals use. He didn’t want my brother to get bedsores. They’re really bad when they start to appear on your back. I guess, he’s also thinking that my brother may be into this sleeping bit for the long haul.” He heaves a loud, deep sigh.
“But, it must be really hard for you to go through all that.” She chimes in.
“To be completely honest though, I kind of had an idea that this was going to happen. He told me he was going to be sleeping for a while. I just didn’t think it would mean this.”
“He told you?”
“Uh huh. That was three months ago. He suddenly wanted to see me - we haven’t really seen each other much prior to that. We have a really good relationship, but I thought he was busy with his stuff so he probably didn’t have time to spend with me.”
“Can you tell me more about him?”
Ryuuki nods. “He’s a businessman. He’s managing a lot of our family’s companies on his own, and he’s been doing that for a number of years now. He’s very focused and doesn’t really say much. Unlike me, he’s been homeschooled. He’s very smart. He is who he is because that’s what expected of him. But even with that knowledge, he assumed the role anyway.” He pauses. “He’s not married, but my father’s been arranging marriages with him for some time. My brother’s rejected all of them thus far. He’s got very high standards, I guess, or maybe he doesn’t have the time to settle down.”
“High standards? Is your brother handsome?”
“This may sound really strange, but he isn’t handsome. He’s beautiful.” Ryuuki answers sheepishly. “Like, there was a time that I tried spending a day in his room when he was already sleeping, and I just stared at him. He looked ridiculously serene, but the aura that his face exuded was beautiful. It’s weird, I know … but, I can almost imagine him playing the role of Sleeping Beauty …”
“And a handsome prince will come to wake him up?” Shuurei laughs.
Ryuuki smiles broadly. “He’d be very mad if that happened. Sleeping Beauty wakes up with a kiss. It’s got to be a princess. But either way, it’s going to be very awkward.”
“Based from the way you talk about him, you must get along with him well.”
“Yeah. My brother comes across to others as very cold, but he’s the opposite when it comes to me. I really enjoyed the time we spend together. He simmers down when I’m with him, as if he’s an entirely different person. Believe me, I know how he is with others. He can be quite unforgiving to everyone else, except me.” He pauses for a while.
“He told me he was going to be sleeping, but I didn’t pay attention.” His voice becomes lower, much softer. “I was thinking about other things that time. I just … took that moment for granted. It was very important for him - the fact that he asked to meet me proves it. And … I think he never told anyone about it, just to me. But even that, I took for granted.”
Shuurei’s face softens. She tries to find the words to say. “No one, not even you, could have known what he had meant that time.”
“Yeah, but still, that’s not an excuse.” Ryuuki says forcefully. “I think he gave me a hint that night. He kind of asked, a bit jokingly, if I will watch over him while he sleeps, and I remember telling him no, because I wouldn’t want to disturb him.” He shakes his head with the memory. “He laughed a bit when I told him that, but … still.”
Both of them are silent for a while. Shuurei straightens out her skirt again. Ryuuki stares straight ahead, his face expressionless.
“Hearing your story … makes me want to rethink the things that I’m doing now.” He says, after a while. “Your situation’s not the same with mine, but you made it work out. I have to make mine work out, somehow. I just don’t know how I can do it.”
“It will, I know it.” She says firmly. “I have a feeling.”
“Why?” Ryuuki turns to her. “How can you be sure?”
“Well,” she tilts her head slightly. “The fact that your brother told you that he was going to sleep meant that you were the only one who needed to know what he was about to do. You’re the only one who mattered.” She answers. “So, maybe, the way to get him out of sleeping lies with you, or what you do from here on in. I really don’t know … but this is your situation. You’re more capable of knowing how to deal with it.”
Ryuuki nods.
“It’s tough, but life is a rock.”
“Huh?”
“It’s hard.”
Ryuuki smiles again. “That’s pretty witty of you.”
Shuurei smiles back. “You learn a lot of things in this part of town.”
Time passes again between the both of them. Shuurei swings her legs on the high chair, while Ryuuki adjusts his cap.
“Thank you. For hearing me out.”
“It’s no problem at all. You need to let these things out eventually.”
“Yeah.” He looks around and sees the chairs in front of the front desk. They look really comfortable. “Hey, is it all right if I can sit by there? I know I’m no longer paying, but …”
“Oh, it’s all good.” She replies quickly. “We owe you, after the ruckus that happened earlier. Are you planning to …”
“Sleep? I don’t know.” Ryuuki answers. “But, they strike me as interesting, suddenly.”
Shuurei smiles and nods. “Suit yourself.”
“Can you watch over my backpack for me?”
“No problem.”
Ryuuki gets off the chair and starts toward the chairs. As he sits on him, a chill erupts from his spine to his head, one that calms him completely. He lowers his baseball cap again, and closes his eyes.
Probably, a few minutes of shut-eye isn’t so bad.