I couldn’t help but smile slightly as I struggled to pick a color to put on my lips. “Just ’cause you’re a mama’s boy doesn’t mean everyone else has to have the same issues. Obviously, I love my mom, but that’s normal.”
“It’s not about just loving her either. You trust her completely, right? Like, she’s your mom, so everything she says is correct. Everything. That’s what you believe from the bottom of your heart, without a shred of doubt. You think your mom’s like this perfect being, and you badly want validation and acceptance from this perfect, all-powerful being. That’s why, when things get just a tiny bit confrontational, you get super emotional and snap back at her like you did just now. Your anger comes from your absolute trust in your mom. You get me?”
“Nope.”
“You’re not even trying to understand!”
“I don’t hafta to know you’re talking nonsense. By your logic, everyone who trusts their mom has mommy issues.”
“Only in the most extreme cases. Like yours.”
“No way am I an ‘extreme case.’ You are. By the way, how is your mom doing?”
“She’s great, thanks. Oh yeah, she told me to ask you if your family wanted her to send over a load of garlic this year too.”
“Um, yes! Tell her I’m super excited for it. All of us go nuts for garlic. The resident alien always fawns over it and goes on about how delicious and healthy it is. She fries the bulbs whole and then eats every last clove off of ’em. Says there’s no garlic like Aomori garlic.”
“Man, I’d love to see that.” Kengo laughed. “An alien gorging on garlic.”
“She’s not wrong about how tasty and healthy it is though. If an alien thinks so, you gotta believe it, right? I mean, I do.”
“Yeah. If I’m gonna take anyone’s word for it, I’ll take an alien’s.”
“In terms of technology, that might be where we’ve got aliens beat. Aomori garlic’s gotta be the best there is.”
“Y’know, maybe you should’ve gone to work after all.”
“Hey!” I stopped coloring my lips for a second. “What’s that gotta do with garlic? I’m glad I skipped! Nothing’s more important to me than spending time with you.”
I found myself getting mad at Mom all over again as I spoke. Because she went off at me, the precious time I had with Kengo was now tainted by a dumb sense of guilt. I wasn’t gonna let that ruin the evening though!
I jumped to my feet. “All right, I’m ready. And starving!”
“Wanna eat out? Or at my place?”
“Hmm. Either way works for me.”
The huge house Kengo used to live in with his dad got put on the market and sold right away. His dad went back to the country to live in his parents’ house, while Kengo had been living alone in the city since he started job hunting.
“I think I’m craving some ramen,” I said.
“You sure? After you’ve gotten all dolled up?”
“I sent you a link to that one place, remember? I wanna go there.”
“Oh, that place? I looked it up, and apparently it’s crazy popular. We’re probably gonna have to line up to get in. You okay with that?”
“Why don’t we go over there and see? If the line’s super long, we can figure something else out. Like, we can go to your place and cook something together, or maybe get takeout.”
“I guess. Let’s check it out, then. Okay, so it’s 7:37… Prime dinnertime. It’s probably gonna be packed. You need to go to the bathroom?”
“Nope.”
“Grab a jacket too.”
“Oh, right!”
Kengo made sure I put my hoodie on before pulling on his light leather jacket. It was warm out, but he said we had to wear ’em for safety’s sake.
I took the pole away from the door and started down the stairs. Halfway down, I turned to Kengo and put my finger to my lips.
“You sure you shouldn’t tell her we’re heading out?”
“It’s fine!” I whispered as quietly as I could. “I don’t wanna hear another lecture.”
Keeping our footsteps light, we made it right up to the front door.
“Rara?” Mom called from the living room. “Are you going somewhere?”
I swear she had the sharpest hearing on the planet. Kengo looked like he was gonna say something, so I pushed him right out of the door and stepped out after him. I really didn’t wanna speak to Mom right now, especially when I was due a long “rational discussion” with her later. For now, I wanted to enjoy the time I had with Kengo.
“Your mom’s gonna think I’m rude now. I mean, I just ignored her and took you out without saying anything.”
“Don’t sweat it. I’ll explain it all to her later. Let’s just get outta here. Hopefully we can get that ramen.”
Kengo sighed at me. He had two helmets in his hands, one pink, one black. Obviously I took the pink one; it was mine. Kengo made sure he picked out a cute color when he bought it for me.
After putting his own helmet on, he turned to me. “Hey.”
“Mm?”
“You sure about the pink one?”
“What are you talking about? I love it.”
“What if I told you that the black one might be tougher?”
“C’mon now. It’s not gonna be tougher when they’re the same brand. The only difference is that the pink one’s cuter, so the pink one’s mine!”
“Thought so,” Kengo said, but then he paused.
Confused, I looked up at him. “What’s up?”
He was wearing a full-face helmet, so I couldn’t see enough of his expression to figure it out. Kengo didn’t answer. He just swiveled round so his back was facing me.
“Kengo? What’s wrong?”
Again with the silence.
“Are you mad about something? Kengo? Wait, is it ’cause of that thing with Mom? ’Cause I was rude to her?”
He still wasn’t saying anything.
“I’m sorry. But, I mean, you kinda went silent outta nowhere. What’s up? C’mon, please. Please just say something.”
It was like he’d suddenly turned into a completely different person. Had I messed up somehow? Made a mistake? Done something I shouldn’t have?
“Kengo?” Panicking, I touched his shoulder. It was trembling. Heaving over and over like he was sobbing. The night was silent. There was no disguising his convulsing breaths. “Why are you crying?”