Departure

The next day came and it was not one Hakuta was looking forward to. How could he when it meant the time for him and Shiuka to live alone together had now come? It also wasn’t a good thing for him to have to say goodbye to his dad for an indeterminate amount of time. Despite their differences, they were still family after all.

“Papa, I’ll miss you so much.” Shiuka was giving her farewells to her father with a tearful hug. The moment might’ve seemed sweeter to him were it not for one thing.

“It’s nice that you’ll miss him, but can you at least help out first?” They were still moving the copious amounts of bags and cases being loaded up into the truck. Whatever it was that this man did, it certainly entailed bring a ton of stuff. Hakuta found himself strapped on with about a dozen boxes on his back as he tried to pull himself out of the house. “Why couldn’t you guys have hired some movers?”

“Well, it’ll be the last time we’ll see each other for a while.” His dad answered. “So wouldn’t this make for some great bonding time?”

“Of course this was your idea.” How come every time that man came up with a plan, it involved pain to his son? This stuff wasn’t light in any manner. “But I guess the two of you are going to be roughing it. So it’s up to me and Otari should lighten things up for you.” At this point, he was only ever going to call that girl by her family name. That way no one would be mistaken in assuming they had become friends.

Especially since friends don’t make only one of them do all the work. “I said, me and Otari should lighten things up for you!” He repeated him in a much louder voice. This girl had hardly done anything to aid in the process. And that was despite being the one more experienced between the two of them.

“Huh?” That finally caught her attention. “Oh, don’t worry I’m just your supervisor.” Just like she was at school, Shiuka was good at dodging having to work hard. “You’re doing a great job.” Her words of encouragement did little to make the boy feel better.

“She’s right, you really are.” His dad said. Was no one going to help him on packing for this trip? The idea enraged him so much that the burst of strength allowed Hakuta to power up and get everything inside the truck in less than ten minutes. The rush of energy he got was most likely the same thing that happened when he raged out when playing an online game. Those things always got him riled up.

“Wow, you really took care of everything.” Shiuka commented while leaning over him. After his burst of power, the boy ended up tiring himself out and laid on the bench just outside the house. “All by yourself too.”

“Thanks for… Nothing.” Through his labored breaths, he still had snide remarks directed towards her.

“Now that’s everything, looks like it’s time for us to go.” Said Kankichi. The two men got themselves ready to take the vehicle to wherever their destination called them. The man hugged his daughter tightly for one last time. Meanwhile, Toukou walked up to his exhausted son, shaking his hand.

“I’ll see you later.” He said, unconcerned with the well being of his child.

“See you… Later too.” Still breathing heavily, the rest of Hakuta’s energy was expended in shaking the man’s hand. With that over with, this was the last time he saw his dad as his eyes shut closed.

The next thing he knew, his eyes were opening up to gray skies as water hit his face. Was someone splashing a bucket over him? No, that wasn’t it. The weather had taken a turn for the worse as a flash of lightning shook him straight up. The rain had woken up as he saw he was still outside on the bench. Quickly, the boy got onto his feet and rushed inside to the warmth of his new house.

“Oh hey, you’re finally awake.” Inside, he was greeted with his new roommate.

“Why didn’t you wake me up?” He asked with irritation in his voice.

“I tried to, but like, you wouldn’t.” She responded. “And I tried to pick you up, but you’re way too heavy.”

“Whatever.” Again, for the second day in a row, he had to go to his room to change out of soaking wet clothes. Though in fairness to her, at least he could understand why she was unable to save him from that fate. This knowledge still did not mean he wasn’t mad at her. The feeling of hate towards her was not one that could easily be lost.

“Now that we’re living together like this.” She said as he returned after changing. “We need to set some rules.”

“Like what?” He asked. It wasn’t like her to care about such things like structure and order.

“It’s not like we can just tell the whole school we live together like siblings.” She was right about that. In fact, it would cause quite the scandal should their classmates learned the pair were living alone together in this house. This was a smart thought coming out of her. “That would wreak my entire image.” Well, he thought that for only a brief moment.

“You’re right.” He responded. “Then here’s the game plan…” So people wouldn’t know they were living together. The two were to leave her house at different times so they wouldn’t be spotted near the other. On their way back to the house, they were to take separate routes so they wouldn’t have to walk next to the other. “Seeing as we pretty much never interact at school. That should be fine, but…”

“But what?” She already knew what he was about to say, but the girl was hoping he wouldn’t state the obvious.

“But we can’t ever have guests while I’m here.”

“Ah…” She hung her head down in disappointment. “That’s going to be totally lame.” Of course, she was the sociable type who wanted to see her friends all the time. “But fine, I’ll just make sure we only meet in public.” At least the karaoke place was always available to them.

Glad that everything for their lives were squared away. Hakuta went to the living room, for there was only one thing he cared to do while living here. That being to hop onto his Toystation and play some video games. At least, this was what he was hoping to do were it not for the phone ringing. The only reason it was something that caught his interest was that it wasn’t just a mere house phone.

“Hello?” Shiuka answered the phone, which was a giant one with an antenna sticking out of it. This was one designed for people who needed to contact the other when not in a typical location. “Oh papa, it’s great to hear your voice.”

“Put it on speaker.” He directed her. Apparently it was their father who were up in a plane on the way to their destination. “Are you guys all right?”

“Of course we are.” His dad replied. They had to speak loudly into the phone for them to hear, but it came out as unnecessary yelling for the kids. “We’re nearly at the island already.” It apparently was not too far off into the coast of Japan.

“Hope the two of you are doing well yourselves.” Her dad continued on. From the way they were talking, it seemed the side of their plane was open as if they were about to jump from it. “Judging from how things are going, we should be back in about a couple of weeks…” There seemed to be a bump that caused him to trail off.

“Is everything fine?” Hakuta asked. That didn’t sound good from where he was standing.

“Of course.” He responded in a slightly more nervous manner. “Things don’t always go to… Hey, where did this storm come from?” The voices became to get more static, making it difficult to determine what was being said.

“Who kn… Isn’t... fun?” Was what they could gather from Toukou.

“Oh dea... Looks lik... ading fo... Landing.” Kankichi yelled out, not towards the phone. “Pilot… Keep he… Steady!”

“I’m trying, but the controls aren’t working!” The man responded in a panic. “We’re going to crash!”

“Well, looks like our trip’s going to-” With that, the phone’s audio cut out. This left the pair a bit speechless at what had unfolded.

“Are they going to be all right!?” Hakuta asked in a panic. “Oh dear, what if they’ve…”

“Nah, I’m sure they’re fine.” Shiuka seemed much more calm and composed compared to him. It was like she didn’t care about the fate of her father, but that was unlikely to him given the way she acted around him. That may have been spoiled love, but it was also a genuine love. “He’s always messing around on the phone, so it’s probably nothing.”

“Messing around?” That didn’t sound like the voice of someone messing around. Then again, his dad did use the word ,‘fun’, in the middle of that transmission. Though that man was likely to refer to anything in that nature despite whatever reality they were in.

“Yeah, they’ll be fine.” She put down the phone and began to get herself ready in the mirror placed in the living room. “I know my own papa better than you, so just trust me.”

“I guess you’re right.” He decided to believe her and sat back down onto the couch. “What are you doing?” Though her deciding to freshen up in front of him was not a welcome sight.

“I’m getting ready to go out.” She answered as the girl put lipstick on. “Since you interrupted my plans yesterday, we decided to do it today.” Her idea of going out for karaoke was one that perplexed him. How much could one possibly love to sing?

“Go ahead.” Not that he cared about what she did with her life. He was only here for living purposes, so it wasn’t like they needed to worry about the other. “Though, it’s not like-”

“See ya.” Barely able to finish his sentence, Shiuka was already out the door. Hakuta rolled his eyes from her rush to leave that she nearly forgot to lock the door, so he went and took care of that. Finally, after all this time, the boy was able to play some video games.

As always, he lost track of time as he got lost in a fantasy RPG world. Not one that was made in Japan, which were usually more plot driven, but one that was created by those in the west. This game was known for allowing players to make decisions for themselves, no matter how tough.

It was an interesting experience from someone who didn’t typically play these kinds of games. Unfortunately, his choices were limited at the moment given that Kankichi didn’t happen to buy his entire library of titles. So he was stuck with this one for the time being until he lucked into saving some cash for new ones to begin rebuilding his collection.

This game ended up sucking a lot of time from him. Before he knew it, day had turned into night. Hakuta yawned as he shut down the console and began to process for heading to bed. From the looks of things, he took note that Shiuka still had yet to return home. Strange, but not a matter he cared about. Last time the boy checked, he wasn’t her father.

So, with no worries on his mind. Hakuta got into his bed and drifted off to sleep quickly.