[Fic] A Seaside Story (1/4?)
OK, so nira_chan gave me a kickin' idea for a fic for Valentine's Day. I wanted to write romance, I wanted to write AU... so this is what she offered me, and it was perfect. XD Of course, I didn't finish it, but I wrote nearly 3000 words and am posting it to make myself write more, lol.
Title is a working title only, but probably won't change. XD Unedited; will hopefully be tidied up when it's finished~
Yasuba, drama-cliche abounds, no warnings as yet.
It takes Subaru three trains, a boat, and about four hours to get to somewhere two prefectures over. When he gets off the boat at the end, though, he sees that he might as well be on the moon, it’s so far removed from the bustle of Osaka that he knows. He feels like he’s been transported back in time; it looks like a ghost town in the grey January light. Everything he walks past is shut up - almost all the shops, and, apparently, just about every inn, except the one he’s been forcibly booked into. The lady who owns it is an old family friend who retired to the seaside many years ago, and his mother has given her strict instructions to contact her if Subaru doesn’t turn up, or comes in later than the 9pm curfew she’s set for him.
Subaru’s surprised they even have phones on this stupid island. Maybe the old lady will have to send a carrier pigeon back to Osaka. He’s fairly confident he can manage to keep the old dear at bay - if his own mother, a formidable lady by Subaru’s own admission, was at her wits’ end, he doesn’t know how a sweet old lady from the countryside will manage to control him. He’s fairly certain there won’t be many police this side of… Nara, never mind on the island, so Subaru’s not really worried; just bitter.
His own mother! His own mother sent him here! ‘It’s for your own good!’ she said, and he thought he knew what she meant - but now he’s starting to wish he’d just gone that one step further, and taken the inevitable jail sentence instead.
That’s what this place feels like, anyway! A big rocky prison. Albeit one with a big beach and picturesque ocean views, but what good is that in winter? Subaru shivers just thinking about it, huddling down inside his coat and quickening his pace when he spots the little place where he’ll be staying.
He steps into the hall, out of the biting sea breeze, standing there dumbly for a minute before managing a less than enthusiastic “Hello?” He hopes the old biddy remembers he’s coming - hopes she hasn’t managed to die at some point during his journey! How terrible would that look, him being the one to find the body? With his track record, he’d be getting that jail sentence for sure.
“Hello?” he tries again, louder. Maybe she’s just a bit deaf…
This time, he hears footsteps scuffling across tatami, and to his left a door is slid smartly back.
He jumps when he sees a tiny elderly lady - even smaller than his own grandmother - peering up at him like a wizened little bird.
“Shibutani?” she says, voice clear and piercing.
“…Yeah,” he mutters, nodding warily. She isn’t quite how he pictured her.
“Speak up! And don’t slouch!” she barks.
Subaru straightens up reflexively, then scowls, settling back down into a more determinedly hunched pose.
She eyes him. “Let’s get some things straight right now,” she says. “Your poor mother’s asked me to keep an eye on you, so that’s exactly what I’m going to do. You’re getting your room and board for nothing, your parents are giving me an allowance to keep you on out of the goodness of their hearts - so while you’re here, I’m your guardian!”
“I’m 23 years old!” protests Subaru, then regrets it when she narrows her eyes.
“That’s the sort of attitude you’re going to have to drop, young man! While you’re staying in my place you play by my rules! Well, they’re rules I drew up with your dear mother, bless her, so if you don’t respect them, you’ll have to pay for it to me and her!”
It’s already working, to Subaru’s horror. He blanches, cursing himself.
She draws a tiny notepad from the pocket of her housecoat. “I’m sure your mother has been through these with you already, but here you are,” she says, tearing off a wad of sheets of paper. “Study these carefully! If you break any of these conditions, ignorance will be no excuse! But if you abide by them well, then I have your mother’s permission to negotiate rewards,” she says, though her expression suggests that she doesn’t fully approve of this.
Subaru glowers. He can’t think of any other response, and he certainly doesn’t dare open his mouth again.
“Hold it,” she says, and before Subaru can ask what, she’s whipped out a little camera and snapped him. “Oh, that’s a great face to show your mother,” she says scathingly. “But I promised her I’d prove you arrived and hadn’t absconded, so I’d better go and email it to her,” she says, stepping back into the tatami room. “Your room is at the top of the stairs!” she says, and slides the door back in place.
He blinks for a moment, registering what she said - is she going to keep some kind of video diary of him?! He starts to get a desperate feeling in the pit of his stomach. She’s got the photo now… he could just leave right now, get a head start on his parents… he even starts to turn on his heel, very quietly, before he remembers - his mother took his bank card! She gave him enough to get here, and no more! ’There’s nothing to spend money on there anyway, you won’t need it!’ she’d said, so cheerfully, as she put it in her own wallet.
“Don’t even think about leaving!” shrills a voice. “Even if you had the money for the ferry,” she does on, and then the door opens again and she leans out, grinning at him, “They have your photo now at the office. And strict instructions to not let you off the island unaccompanied!” She sounds so triumphant. Subaru feels a little bit broken already.
“Now! Get your bags upstairs! Then you can come and make a start on your chores!”
Subaru drags himself up the stairs and into the room that must be his. At least there’s a futon already laid out, and plenty of covers; Subaru lies down on top of them, feeling completely out of energy and, for that matter, will to live. He hasn’t cried for many years, but he feels like that might change sometime very soon.
Maybe he falls asleep, or maybe he’s just lost in his wallowing in self-pity, but he doesn’t know how much time has passed when the door slides abruptly back.
The old lady stares down at him icily. “I can see this is going to take a lot of work,” she says ominously. “Now get shifting! My floor’s been waiting three weeks for you to come and wash it!”
That doesn’t sound like very long to Subaru, but at least that means it probably won’t be very dirty. Somehow he can’t imagine this old bird letting anything get too untidy.
It’s true the floor’s not too dirty, and it doesn’t take him too long to mop the kitchen and wipe the tatami in the living room and dining room, though that doesn’t mean he doesn’t mutter under his breath the whole time he’s doing it. “You just wanted a slave,” he mumbles to himself. “A desperate young man with no way out! I’m being exploited! My human rights are being violated!”
There’s no way she can have heard him, he’s sure, but he can’t help but wonder when a disembodied voice calls from the hall, “And when you’re done in there, you can do all the guest rooms too!”
‘But no-one’s even staying!’ he wants to protest, but he already knows it’ll do no good. He’s been here not even a couple of hours, and his spirit is already crushed.
When he’s finally done, it’s dark outside, and he’s just about to crawl back into his room and hide under his futon, but again, she somehow supernaturally knows where he is and what he’s doing, as soon as he does it, and as soon as he closes his eyes the door slides back and the light comes on and she’s standing there brandishing a piece of paper.
“If you want any dinner, you can go and get these things for me!” she commands, and Subaru drags himself down the stairs and out the door and back out into the bitter seaside cold.
He’s done for, he decides. He’s not going to last a week. He wants to go back home and tell his mum he’s sorry for all the trouble he’s caused, if she gives him a chance he’ll pay back all the money he coerced out of all those people, and make amends for all the cigarettes and beer and lottery tickets he stole, all the loitering he did! He’ll even take out all his piercings, dye his hair back to black! He’ll become a model citizen! And in record time, too.
Screw pride, he’s ready to grovel already! Anything to get back to his warm, modern home, with 24 hour combinis and bars and his stereo and his AV collection, oh god, the full enormity of this is really sinking in! He decides to call his mother and beg her to let him come home; if he’s going to be anyone’s slave he’d rather clean her house and wash her dishes! It’s better to get a smack from your mother than from a random scary old lady! But when he gets out his phone - of course, so stupid, why had he expected to have signal? He sighs, resigned now. There’s no way the old lady will let him use her phone, or her internet, but he guesses that’s rather the point. He has to do his time here, follow his path, get to the end of his journey and all that crap, and afterwards he’ll be a changed man.
Subaru starts to wonder how to convince everyone he’s changed as quickly as possible, so he can get the hell out and get back to his life.
He manages to find his way to the shop - at least there’s some signs of life here, and no matter how bitter and stubborn he feels, something in him is still cheered by the hum of the fridge and the fluorescent lights and the little hot cupboard with coffee cans in. The old lady only wants eggs and milk, but she’s given him the exact change so he can’t even buy himself a tiny 100yen can of beer.
The middle-aged lady behind the till looks at him closely when he goes to pay. “I’ve not seen you around here before,” she says.
Subaru almost scowls - he never feels like talking to shop assistants, especially not when he’s done more work in the past few hours than he has in the last 5 years. But, for once, he thinks about it. If he acts moody, there’s nowhere else for him to go, here; everyone will know him, and if they know him as ‘the scary guy’ that’ll get around, and he won’t get any favours from anyone. And if he doesn’t manage to get on here, his mother will find somewhere even worse.
Proud of his reasoning and restraint, Subaru manages a very strained smile. “Yeah, I… just got in today,” he mumbles.
She looks at him curiously. “It’s an odd time for a holiday out here… There’s not as much to do in the off-season!”
Yes, Subaru had noticed that much. “I’m… visiting an old family friend,” he says, squirming.
“Oh, isn’t that kind of you,” she says, smiling. At least she seems nice, Subaru thinks. It’s a refreshing change, after the past couple of hours. “Where are you staying?”
“At the Minami-ya,” he says, looking down at the counter.
“Oh, with Sadako?” the lady says. “Oh, she has a lovely place. Absolutely spotless,” she goes on. ‘It is now!’ Subaru thinks, biting his lip. “And she’s a great cook too!” she adds, smiling. That, Subaru thinks, remains to be seen. He doesn’t want anything to get in the way of the bitterness he feels towards the old lady. “How long are you staying?” she asks.
“I’m… not sure yet,” he replies weakly.
“Ahh, you’re a good boy,” she says. Subaru almost laughs - it’s been a long time since anyone said that to him! He feels even more self-conscious, knowing why he’s really here. “Coming to help her out like that. She’s getting on a bit these days, but she’s proud, she doesn’t like to admit she needs the help.” Subaru nearly laughs again, even more bitterly. He wouldn’t have guessed, from this afternoon! “But don’t you take no for an answer!” the lady goes on insistently.
Not much chance of that, Subaru thinks humourlessly, but he nods with a very vague attempt at a smile, picks up the eggs and milk and forces himself to mumble “Goodnight” as he heads out again.
She’s a witch, Subaru thinks. Sadako has the whole town under her spell! They think she’s a harmless, frail old dear, but he’s sure she’ll have him washing cauldrons and picking mystery herbs for her in no time! He’s going to be careful to look out for foxes and snakes when he gets back.
When he leaves the combini, though, he finds himself getting more and more uncertain which way the inn is. He gets to a crossroads and nothing looks familiar. It was only a five minute walk, how can he be lost?! Must’ve been subconscious, he thinks, so he can take longer getting back to where Sadako will be waiting for him, with a pair of rubber gloves and a scrubbing brush.
He shudders, reluctantly wandering across the road towards a bar - he can ask someone in there. At least everyone is likely to be able to direct him. He doesn’t really want to be out in the cold for longer than he needs to be.
He gets to the doorway and suddenly hesitates - as soon as he walks in, everyone will stare! And people are sure to ask him what he’s doing here, and he’ll probably have to listen to them tell him what a lovely lady Sadako is again… He can’t face it! Subaru’s lied to and stolen from and intimidated plenty of strangers before, but walking up and being ingratiating and asking them for help is out of his league!
He’s still standing stupidly outside the bar when he hears a voice beside him. It makes him jump, and he turns defensively, automatically ready to smack someone if he needs to. He feels stupid - no-one’s going to start a fight, not in a sleepy little town like this, but it’s a hard habit to break. “Did you say something?” he says eventually, finding himself staring into the earnest face of a guy not much younger than himself.
The guy smiles. “I was just wondering if you were going in - it’s fine you know!” he says, obviously clocking Subaru for the stranger he is, just like the woman in the combini.
Subaru’s automatically irritated by that, and because this guy’s not a kindly older lady he feels less like he has to hide it. “No,” he says bluntly. “I…” he realises he’s going to have to ask this guy for directions, which means admitting he’s a newcomer anyway. It’s probably easier to ask this guy, who he can look down on, for directions anyway. “I think I took a wrong turn,” he says, trying to look confident. “I’m heading back to the Minami-ya.” There, that wasn’t giving away too much.
“Oh,” the young guy says, with an easy smile. “You just need to go down this road here, turn right at the end, round the corner and you’ll see it,” he explains.
He pauses for just a brief moment, but when he opens his mouth again Subaru hurriedly says “Thanks,” and hurries away before the guy can utter the inevitable ‘I’ve not seen you round here before…’ He’s not in the mood, not at all.
TBC
Title is a working title only, but probably won't change. XD Unedited; will hopefully be tidied up when it's finished~
Yasuba, drama-cliche abounds, no warnings as yet.
It takes Subaru three trains, a boat, and about four hours to get to somewhere two prefectures over. When he gets off the boat at the end, though, he sees that he might as well be on the moon, it’s so far removed from the bustle of Osaka that he knows. He feels like he’s been transported back in time; it looks like a ghost town in the grey January light. Everything he walks past is shut up - almost all the shops, and, apparently, just about every inn, except the one he’s been forcibly booked into. The lady who owns it is an old family friend who retired to the seaside many years ago, and his mother has given her strict instructions to contact her if Subaru doesn’t turn up, or comes in later than the 9pm curfew she’s set for him.
Subaru’s surprised they even have phones on this stupid island. Maybe the old lady will have to send a carrier pigeon back to Osaka. He’s fairly confident he can manage to keep the old dear at bay - if his own mother, a formidable lady by Subaru’s own admission, was at her wits’ end, he doesn’t know how a sweet old lady from the countryside will manage to control him. He’s fairly certain there won’t be many police this side of… Nara, never mind on the island, so Subaru’s not really worried; just bitter.
His own mother! His own mother sent him here! ‘It’s for your own good!’ she said, and he thought he knew what she meant - but now he’s starting to wish he’d just gone that one step further, and taken the inevitable jail sentence instead.
That’s what this place feels like, anyway! A big rocky prison. Albeit one with a big beach and picturesque ocean views, but what good is that in winter? Subaru shivers just thinking about it, huddling down inside his coat and quickening his pace when he spots the little place where he’ll be staying.
He steps into the hall, out of the biting sea breeze, standing there dumbly for a minute before managing a less than enthusiastic “Hello?” He hopes the old biddy remembers he’s coming - hopes she hasn’t managed to die at some point during his journey! How terrible would that look, him being the one to find the body? With his track record, he’d be getting that jail sentence for sure.
“Hello?” he tries again, louder. Maybe she’s just a bit deaf…
This time, he hears footsteps scuffling across tatami, and to his left a door is slid smartly back.
He jumps when he sees a tiny elderly lady - even smaller than his own grandmother - peering up at him like a wizened little bird.
“Shibutani?” she says, voice clear and piercing.
“…Yeah,” he mutters, nodding warily. She isn’t quite how he pictured her.
“Speak up! And don’t slouch!” she barks.
Subaru straightens up reflexively, then scowls, settling back down into a more determinedly hunched pose.
She eyes him. “Let’s get some things straight right now,” she says. “Your poor mother’s asked me to keep an eye on you, so that’s exactly what I’m going to do. You’re getting your room and board for nothing, your parents are giving me an allowance to keep you on out of the goodness of their hearts - so while you’re here, I’m your guardian!”
“I’m 23 years old!” protests Subaru, then regrets it when she narrows her eyes.
“That’s the sort of attitude you’re going to have to drop, young man! While you’re staying in my place you play by my rules! Well, they’re rules I drew up with your dear mother, bless her, so if you don’t respect them, you’ll have to pay for it to me and her!”
It’s already working, to Subaru’s horror. He blanches, cursing himself.
She draws a tiny notepad from the pocket of her housecoat. “I’m sure your mother has been through these with you already, but here you are,” she says, tearing off a wad of sheets of paper. “Study these carefully! If you break any of these conditions, ignorance will be no excuse! But if you abide by them well, then I have your mother’s permission to negotiate rewards,” she says, though her expression suggests that she doesn’t fully approve of this.
Subaru glowers. He can’t think of any other response, and he certainly doesn’t dare open his mouth again.
“Hold it,” she says, and before Subaru can ask what, she’s whipped out a little camera and snapped him. “Oh, that’s a great face to show your mother,” she says scathingly. “But I promised her I’d prove you arrived and hadn’t absconded, so I’d better go and email it to her,” she says, stepping back into the tatami room. “Your room is at the top of the stairs!” she says, and slides the door back in place.
He blinks for a moment, registering what she said - is she going to keep some kind of video diary of him?! He starts to get a desperate feeling in the pit of his stomach. She’s got the photo now… he could just leave right now, get a head start on his parents… he even starts to turn on his heel, very quietly, before he remembers - his mother took his bank card! She gave him enough to get here, and no more! ’There’s nothing to spend money on there anyway, you won’t need it!’ she’d said, so cheerfully, as she put it in her own wallet.
“Don’t even think about leaving!” shrills a voice. “Even if you had the money for the ferry,” she does on, and then the door opens again and she leans out, grinning at him, “They have your photo now at the office. And strict instructions to not let you off the island unaccompanied!” She sounds so triumphant. Subaru feels a little bit broken already.
“Now! Get your bags upstairs! Then you can come and make a start on your chores!”
Subaru drags himself up the stairs and into the room that must be his. At least there’s a futon already laid out, and plenty of covers; Subaru lies down on top of them, feeling completely out of energy and, for that matter, will to live. He hasn’t cried for many years, but he feels like that might change sometime very soon.
Maybe he falls asleep, or maybe he’s just lost in his wallowing in self-pity, but he doesn’t know how much time has passed when the door slides abruptly back.
The old lady stares down at him icily. “I can see this is going to take a lot of work,” she says ominously. “Now get shifting! My floor’s been waiting three weeks for you to come and wash it!”
That doesn’t sound like very long to Subaru, but at least that means it probably won’t be very dirty. Somehow he can’t imagine this old bird letting anything get too untidy.
It’s true the floor’s not too dirty, and it doesn’t take him too long to mop the kitchen and wipe the tatami in the living room and dining room, though that doesn’t mean he doesn’t mutter under his breath the whole time he’s doing it. “You just wanted a slave,” he mumbles to himself. “A desperate young man with no way out! I’m being exploited! My human rights are being violated!”
There’s no way she can have heard him, he’s sure, but he can’t help but wonder when a disembodied voice calls from the hall, “And when you’re done in there, you can do all the guest rooms too!”
‘But no-one’s even staying!’ he wants to protest, but he already knows it’ll do no good. He’s been here not even a couple of hours, and his spirit is already crushed.
When he’s finally done, it’s dark outside, and he’s just about to crawl back into his room and hide under his futon, but again, she somehow supernaturally knows where he is and what he’s doing, as soon as he does it, and as soon as he closes his eyes the door slides back and the light comes on and she’s standing there brandishing a piece of paper.
“If you want any dinner, you can go and get these things for me!” she commands, and Subaru drags himself down the stairs and out the door and back out into the bitter seaside cold.
He’s done for, he decides. He’s not going to last a week. He wants to go back home and tell his mum he’s sorry for all the trouble he’s caused, if she gives him a chance he’ll pay back all the money he coerced out of all those people, and make amends for all the cigarettes and beer and lottery tickets he stole, all the loitering he did! He’ll even take out all his piercings, dye his hair back to black! He’ll become a model citizen! And in record time, too.
Screw pride, he’s ready to grovel already! Anything to get back to his warm, modern home, with 24 hour combinis and bars and his stereo and his AV collection, oh god, the full enormity of this is really sinking in! He decides to call his mother and beg her to let him come home; if he’s going to be anyone’s slave he’d rather clean her house and wash her dishes! It’s better to get a smack from your mother than from a random scary old lady! But when he gets out his phone - of course, so stupid, why had he expected to have signal? He sighs, resigned now. There’s no way the old lady will let him use her phone, or her internet, but he guesses that’s rather the point. He has to do his time here, follow his path, get to the end of his journey and all that crap, and afterwards he’ll be a changed man.
Subaru starts to wonder how to convince everyone he’s changed as quickly as possible, so he can get the hell out and get back to his life.
He manages to find his way to the shop - at least there’s some signs of life here, and no matter how bitter and stubborn he feels, something in him is still cheered by the hum of the fridge and the fluorescent lights and the little hot cupboard with coffee cans in. The old lady only wants eggs and milk, but she’s given him the exact change so he can’t even buy himself a tiny 100yen can of beer.
The middle-aged lady behind the till looks at him closely when he goes to pay. “I’ve not seen you around here before,” she says.
Subaru almost scowls - he never feels like talking to shop assistants, especially not when he’s done more work in the past few hours than he has in the last 5 years. But, for once, he thinks about it. If he acts moody, there’s nowhere else for him to go, here; everyone will know him, and if they know him as ‘the scary guy’ that’ll get around, and he won’t get any favours from anyone. And if he doesn’t manage to get on here, his mother will find somewhere even worse.
Proud of his reasoning and restraint, Subaru manages a very strained smile. “Yeah, I… just got in today,” he mumbles.
She looks at him curiously. “It’s an odd time for a holiday out here… There’s not as much to do in the off-season!”
Yes, Subaru had noticed that much. “I’m… visiting an old family friend,” he says, squirming.
“Oh, isn’t that kind of you,” she says, smiling. At least she seems nice, Subaru thinks. It’s a refreshing change, after the past couple of hours. “Where are you staying?”
“At the Minami-ya,” he says, looking down at the counter.
“Oh, with Sadako?” the lady says. “Oh, she has a lovely place. Absolutely spotless,” she goes on. ‘It is now!’ Subaru thinks, biting his lip. “And she’s a great cook too!” she adds, smiling. That, Subaru thinks, remains to be seen. He doesn’t want anything to get in the way of the bitterness he feels towards the old lady. “How long are you staying?” she asks.
“I’m… not sure yet,” he replies weakly.
“Ahh, you’re a good boy,” she says. Subaru almost laughs - it’s been a long time since anyone said that to him! He feels even more self-conscious, knowing why he’s really here. “Coming to help her out like that. She’s getting on a bit these days, but she’s proud, she doesn’t like to admit she needs the help.” Subaru nearly laughs again, even more bitterly. He wouldn’t have guessed, from this afternoon! “But don’t you take no for an answer!” the lady goes on insistently.
Not much chance of that, Subaru thinks humourlessly, but he nods with a very vague attempt at a smile, picks up the eggs and milk and forces himself to mumble “Goodnight” as he heads out again.
She’s a witch, Subaru thinks. Sadako has the whole town under her spell! They think she’s a harmless, frail old dear, but he’s sure she’ll have him washing cauldrons and picking mystery herbs for her in no time! He’s going to be careful to look out for foxes and snakes when he gets back.
When he leaves the combini, though, he finds himself getting more and more uncertain which way the inn is. He gets to a crossroads and nothing looks familiar. It was only a five minute walk, how can he be lost?! Must’ve been subconscious, he thinks, so he can take longer getting back to where Sadako will be waiting for him, with a pair of rubber gloves and a scrubbing brush.
He shudders, reluctantly wandering across the road towards a bar - he can ask someone in there. At least everyone is likely to be able to direct him. He doesn’t really want to be out in the cold for longer than he needs to be.
He gets to the doorway and suddenly hesitates - as soon as he walks in, everyone will stare! And people are sure to ask him what he’s doing here, and he’ll probably have to listen to them tell him what a lovely lady Sadako is again… He can’t face it! Subaru’s lied to and stolen from and intimidated plenty of strangers before, but walking up and being ingratiating and asking them for help is out of his league!
He’s still standing stupidly outside the bar when he hears a voice beside him. It makes him jump, and he turns defensively, automatically ready to smack someone if he needs to. He feels stupid - no-one’s going to start a fight, not in a sleepy little town like this, but it’s a hard habit to break. “Did you say something?” he says eventually, finding himself staring into the earnest face of a guy not much younger than himself.
The guy smiles. “I was just wondering if you were going in - it’s fine you know!” he says, obviously clocking Subaru for the stranger he is, just like the woman in the combini.
Subaru’s automatically irritated by that, and because this guy’s not a kindly older lady he feels less like he has to hide it. “No,” he says bluntly. “I…” he realises he’s going to have to ask this guy for directions, which means admitting he’s a newcomer anyway. It’s probably easier to ask this guy, who he can look down on, for directions anyway. “I think I took a wrong turn,” he says, trying to look confident. “I’m heading back to the Minami-ya.” There, that wasn’t giving away too much.
“Oh,” the young guy says, with an easy smile. “You just need to go down this road here, turn right at the end, round the corner and you’ll see it,” he explains.
He pauses for just a brief moment, but when he opens his mouth again Subaru hurriedly says “Thanks,” and hurries away before the guy can utter the inevitable ‘I’ve not seen you round here before…’ He’s not in the mood, not at all.
TBC