“‘Welcome to our home!’ …That’s not quite right… ‘We’ll be living under the same roof now, huh?!’ …No, that sounds a little creepy. Hmm.”
Eyeing the piles of boxes on the floor and the brand-new furniture that had arrived the day before, I stared into the mirror and practiced my lines like some kind of one-man show.
It was five in the evening.
I was sitting in one of the rooms in our third-floor apartment, located in Japan’s most upscale neighborhood (okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration).
Our place had three bedrooms, a living area, dining room, and kitchen. It had felt too big for just my dad and me, but starting today, it would be a little cramped. How would I greet the new members of our family, arriving any moment? That was what I’d been contemplating for the last five minutes.
Things had already started off on the wrong foot.
It made sense that Dad would prepare the room he and Akiko would use.
But to have me, a teenage guy, help set up a room for a girl I’d just met the day before? Even if she was going to be my little sister, wasn’t that kind of insensitive?
“Oh, crap,” said my dad. “Where did that thing go?”
“What’s the matter?”
Dad was walking back and forth in the hallway, mumbling and looking troubled.
“Oh, there you are. Do you know where the Febreze is?”
“I think it’s in the living room. I left it there after using it on the drapes yesterday.”
“Oh, the living room! Thanks!”
Dad slapped his slippers noisily against the floor and hurried to the living room.
“What’s with the last-minute rush?”
“I left the bedroom for last, but once I started, I got worried about the smell… I’d be devastated if Akiko thought I stank…”
“Are you that sensitive?”
“It’s a critical issue at my age! You’re still young, but give it twenty years, and you’ll be just like me.”
“I feel like you’re cursing me.”
I watched Dad run into his and Akiko’s future bedroom, clutching a bottle of Febreze, and sighed.
If you’re that worried, I thought, then clean every day; don’t wait until the last minute. But I supposed that was a bit much to ask of a busy office worker.
“My room’s okay…right?”
I was starting to get a little worried.
I’d promised Ayase that we wouldn’t expect anything from each other, but I wasn’t so short on common sense that I’d ask her to come into a room that smelled like a male high schooler on her first day in the house. But on the other hand, I’d cleaned it, washed the sheets, and sprayed everything with Febreze, so unless my nose was broken, it should be okay.
I was sitting there, happy with the results of the past few days, when the doorbell rang.
…They were finally here.
“Yuuta! Will you get that?”
“Coming!”
I half ran to the door in place of my dad. It seemed he didn’t know when to give up and was still holding the Febreze, spraying away.
“Hello ther— Huh?”
I had intended to be friendly and cheerful.
But the perfect smile on my face froze the moment I opened the door.
Akiko stood there, holding several department-store shopping bags in both hands.
The bags were so stuffed, things were spilling out of them, including a huge leg of prosciutto. Everything seemed to have a big, exaggerated presence.
“Uh, Akiko. What is all that…?”
“I bought these to thank you for taking us in!”
“So much? You didn’t have to.”
“Don’t worry. It’s not what you think,” said an exasperated voice from behind Akiko.
It was Saki—no, Ayase. She was also holding paper bags in both hands, and she sounded exhausted.
“Mom has a hard time saying no, so she bought everything the sales clerk recommended.”
“Oh, I see…,” I replied.
“Hey,” Akiko cut in. “You’re making me sound like a useless adult.”
“You are, though,” Ayase shot back.
“What?! That’s not true, is it, Yuuta?!”
Now I was being dragged into it.
Personally, as I stared at the leg of prosciutto, I thought Akiko sounded like a pushover. But all that vanished from my mind when she looked at me with a childish pout.
That didn’t mean I was ready to lie and say she didn’t have a problem, though. Ayase’s eyes were silently telling me, “Don’t pamper her.” I felt like middle management, stuck between mother and daughter with no good options.
“Come on in,” I said. “I’ll take your bags.”
I figured ignoring them was the best option. A wise person once said the ability to ignore is indispensable for achieving happiness.
Akiko handed me the paper bags and smiled sweetly, unbothered by my change of topic.
“Thank you. It’s nice to have a man around.”
“Ah-ha-ha.”
I flashed her a neutral smile, turned on my heel, and offered them both newly bought slippers as I invited them inside.
Akiko cooed in joy as soon as she stepped into the living room.
“Mmm, it smells fresh and citrusy.”
“Wow, you keep the place pretty clean,” said Ayase.
She also appeared impressed and exhaled. The air was fresh, and the wooden floor had been polished to a shine.
“We did a rush cleaning job,” I began. “It isn’t usually—”
“It’s just like Taichi said,” Akiko interrupted. “You two do like to keep things clean.”
“—They say you need a healthy environment to nurture a healthy mind,” I finished, swallowing my denial and quickly agreeing instead.
That was close. Dad had been telling Akiko good things about us to impress her. Of course, it would serve him right if she found out the truth and her impression of him went down the drain, but I felt bad getting in his way when he was finally recovering from his old wounds and trying to be happy. For now, I decided to go along with it.
Meanwhile, Ayase was staring at me like she thought something was up.
“Do you always keep the place this clean?” she asked.
“Oh yeah, of course. It’s our family motto to exterminate everything without leaving a speck of dust.”
“That sounds kind of scary.”
I was telling the truth. My grandmother out in the country was always saying those words came from one of our ancestors—some lord from the Warring States period. I recalled smiling as I listened to her and thinking that it was almost certainly a lie.
“But wow, Taichi truly is amazing,” Akiko said, smiling. “I know he pays a lot of attention to his appearance, but even his home is wonderful.”
“His appearance…?” I asked. “You’re talking about my dad, right?”
“Of course! The first time he came to our bar, he seemed down-to-earth, probably because he was there with his boss. After that, he always wore lovely cologne and a nice tie from a high-end brand like an elite businessman.”
“Oh, I see.”