There was a rather desolate commuter town three stops away from my school. Its decidedly retro downtown area looked like it was stuck in the ‘80s while the world had moved on without it. It was here that an old, wooden, two-story apartment building stood. And inside that building, a single room served as the Satou family’s “castle.”
Upon entering the premises, I could hear a phone ringing from the second floor—in other words, from my apartment. As the stout, older woman who lived next door glared down at me, I raced up the steel-frame staircase, which had long since fallen into resembling a rusted hunk of swiss cheese. When I finally reached the second floor, the old woman remarked scathingly, “It’s been ringing for 10 minutes straight.”
Seriously? Why are they being so persistent? It had better be a damn emergency. I bowed my head to the old woman in apology, raced inside the apartment, and yanked the hallway phone from its cradle.
“Hello?! Who the hell might this be?!” I barked, doing nothing to hide my displeasure.
“You finally picked up! It’s me! Your incredible father!”
“Gah! I should have known it was my bastard of an old man!”
The perpetrator of these passionate, lovesick calls was my father—Naoyuki Satou. Knowing this, my tone grew even more irritated.
“Dad, you know that our apartment has zero soundproofing,” I nagged. “If I don’t answer, call again later. You’re bothering the neighbors.”
“Hahaha! Sorry, sorry. I just got this weird desire to hear your voice out of nowhere!”
“Ugh, why are you being such a creep?”
“There’s nothing creepy about a father worrying about his precious, one-and-only son. So how are things? Are you feeling well? Having fun at school?”
Oh crap. I should have known.
I had a sudden sinking feeling in my stomach. This was all too familiar. Prior experiences warned me that my dad was trying to hide something, much like when a child tried to cover up a bad report card from their parents. Well, it was an apt comparison for him—despite being in his late 40s, my old man still acted like an elementary schooler sometimes. Probably because he was off chasing dinosaurs.
In any case, I needed to hang up as soon as possible.
“Yeah, I’m doing well and having fun,” I said. “Nothing could be better. Does that take care of everything? Good night, sleep tight, and don’t let the bedbugs bite!”
“Wait, wait, wait! Hold on a second! Don’t hang up!” my dad frantically jumped in. “If you hang up, I’ll call again! That phone’s gonna keep on ringing until you pick up! I did want to hear your voice, but I actually have something important to discuss with you today!”
You got me, you sly bastard. Since I wanted to avoid the neighbor’s glare, I briefly entertained the idea of pulling out the phone line altogether. That would have been going too far, though. Alright, I’ll hear him out.
“That’s what I was afraid of,” I said. “So what is it?”
“Well, about that... Hmm...” he mumbled.
“What’s up? It must be really important, huh?”
“Not exactly, but acting so formal makes things awkward. Er, maybe ‘embarrassing’ is the right word.”
“Gross. I don’t want to hear a middle-aged man talking like some bashful, love-struck teen girl gushing about her first crush. Spit it out already. It can’t be anything good anyway. I’m guessing you’ve spent Grandma’s money on another excavation and want me to apologize to her?”
“Actually, I’ve gotten remarried.”
“See, that’s exactly what I th—wait, what the hell did you say?!”
I felt so completely overwhelmed that a scream had unintentionally leaped from my throat. A moment later, someone banged on the opposite side of the thin wall that served to separate the neighboring rooms. I responded to the old woman’s protest with a loud apology and returned my attention to the conversation.
“R-Remarried?!” I cried. “As in, you got hitched?! When?! Wait, you never even mentioned having a partner!”
“Yeah, I met her in the city I’m currently working in.”
“In Fukuoka? But you’ve only been there for two months, right?!”
“As a wee little high schooler, you might not understand yet, but sometimes, the flames of love can ignite in an instant.”
Seriously? One spark, and you can go from zero to married in two months? I found that incredibly difficult to believe; in fact, it scared me more than anything. How much could you truly learn about someone in the span of only two months? The inner machinations of adults were still a mystery to me, I suppose.
“So that’s all you called to tell me about?” I asked. “Well, it’s your life, Dad. So long as you chose her, I’m okay with anyone.”
“I’m happy to hear you say that... and that was one of the things I called you about, but there was something else I wanted to discuss with you today.”
“What is it?”
“I wanted to tell you about Tsukiko’s—my wife’s—child from another marriage.”
“‘Child from another marriage’? She’s already a mother?!”
“At our age, it’s not that uncommon. I mean, even I have you.”
“Y-Yeah, I guess so. Guess that means I have a new sibling.”
“Exactly. And just like you, your new sibling is a junior in high school. Is she your little sister or big sister...? Oh, since you were born in April, that would make her your little sister. So anyway, Shigure—your new sibling—will be moving into our apartment as of today.”
“Hold on! What the hell did you just say?!”
Once again, the wall shook, and for a second time, I ended up having to apologize. Due to my distress, however, my words of appeasement lacked any sincere emotion.
“Hiromichi,” my father scolded me. “No need to shout over every little thing. You’ll disturb the neighbors.”
“Right now, I’m the most disturbed person in the entire world! For the love of God, what the hell is going on?! You suddenly call to tell me you’ve gotten remarried, your new wife has a daughter the same age as me, and we’re going to be living together immediately?! I can’t deal with this! I mean, for one thing, this apartment doesn’t even have proper rooms!”
I lived in an incredibly modest one-room apartment. There was my makeshift “room,” complete with an eat-in kitchen, and a sliding screen that separated my father’s cluttered “room” from mine. I was using his space as a storage for now, but both sides were already incredibly cramped. Sure, it was a decent enough living situation for one person in an old, wooden complex, but there just wasn’t enough space for two new inhabitants.