I Stayed Home Sick, I Guess

The next morning, Katsuo awoke to his alarm. He had forgotten to turn it off the night before, and even though he hadn’t slept well, once he was up - he was up. He didn’t bother going to the bathroom first before heading downstairs. His mother was in the kitchen preparing breakfast. His father appeared behind him, newspaper in hand, giving Katsuo a knowing look.

“I hear someone got home pretty late last night.”

“Oh, uh, yeah. I did. I was with a friend.”

“So I heard, and not feeling well either?”

He shook his head, stifling a yawn as he did so. His mother set something on the table and walked over.

“What are you doing out of bed so early, you should be resting. Or did you decide to go to school after all?”

“No, I barely slept at all last night. I think I’ll stay home today, if that’s alright?”

“Of course it is, I wouldn’t send my poor boy off to school if he’s not feeling well. Now come get some breakfast, a little food in your stomach will help.”

He thanked her and sat at the table, his father took the seat opposite of him and began flipping through his newspaper. Katsuo sipped at the juice his mother had poured for him, and grimaced.

“May I have some coffee?”

“Absolutely not, caffeine will only wear you out. You need to eat your breakfast and head right back on up to bed.”

He nodded and sipped his juice. It’s not that he didn’t like it, he did, he just preferred coffee in the morning. Well, any time really. His sister soon came crashing down the stairs and took the seat to his right.

“Good morning!”

She declared to everyone as she sat down.

“How are you feeling onii-chan? You still look awful by the way.”

“Kanna, be nice to your brother.”

“Aw, but mom. You know it’s the truth.”

“Kanna, listen to your mother please.”

His father said, folding up his newspaper and placing it on the corner of the table. Kanna gave a humph, making one of her notorious pouty faces. Katsuo smiled at her; it was honestly kind of fun to see the little version of his big sister. Little sister? He’d have to think about that one, or just get used to the idea of having a little sister instead. No telling if he’d ever see his old world again. That thought hit him harder than he had expected, his grimace must have shown on his face.

“What’s wrong onii-chan, are you going to be sick?”

“Oh no sweety, are you okay?”

“I’m fine, just felt weird for a moment. But I’m fine now.”

They looked as if they might not believe him. He made a show of smiling and eating, hoping to dissuade their worry.

“Oh hey, Kanna. Sorry about not coming to get you yesterday. It was a weird day for me.”

“That’s okay, I forgive you. But if you weren’t feeling good, why didn’t you just come home? Who were you hanging out with anyway?”

Uh oh, so far everyone had managed to overlook this part. He hadn’t really thought of an explanation himself either. His parents were looking at him now as well, his mother seemed the more interested of the two.

“Ah, well she thou-“

“She? Were you with Kame?”

“Wh-, er, I mean no. I was with Kimiko.”

Would his parents know her? He had no memories of her of course, but she also had no memories of him. What if everyone else did have memories of them together? The more he thought about this the more daunting the task of hiding his lack of memory was looking.

“Kimiko huh? Hmm, don’t think I know her. Is she new?”

“Uh no, we’ve just never really mingled before.”

His mother nodded, with an odd look to her face. Meanwhile his sister was making a pouty one, for reasons unknown. His father was grinning at him and trying to hide it. His mother pressed on.

“So, what were you doing with this Kimiko?”

“Mom, it’s nothing like that. We were just talking, and she thought I seemed a little out of it, that’s all.”

“I see, well if you say so. Speaking of, how is Kame?”

Kame. Yep, he had no idea who that was. All he could do was cross his fingers and hope that whoever this Kame was, was still alive and well. Surely they were, right? And his mother had said “she,” right?

“Oh uh, she’s good.”

His mother nodded slowly, giving him another odd look. Somehow a little sad but also suspicious? He wasn’t sure what to make of this. This day needed to hurry up and pass by, so Kimiko could come over and help him figure all of this out. Which reminded him.

“Oh by the way, I’ll be having a friend over later. Kimiko that is. I hope that’s okay?”

All three of them were looking at him again. What was up with that? Did they remember him not having friends here? Or was it the fact that it was a female friend? Come to think of it, he hadn’t really brought anyone over in his world either. So maybe it was the same in this world too. Or at least they had memories of him that way? Was there another him before he got here? No there couldn’t be, after all, Kimiko didn’t have any memories of him prior to his arrival. He realized his father had started to respond.

“Of course it’s okay, right dear?”

“Yes yes, of course.”

Kanna was pouting again.

“Two days in a row, I wish you wanted to spend time with me after school. Hhmph.”

“How about we do something this weekend then?”

“Really, you mean it?”

She was obviously surprised, but also seemingly quite excited at the prospect of it.

“Sure, wherever you want to go.”

“Yay! A day with onii-chan! We’re going to go to the mall, and go ice skating, and get crepes, and –“

“Kanna dear, shouldn’t you be getting to school?”

Their mother gave her a meaningful look and then glanced over to the clock, grabbing some dishes off the table as she did so. Kanna jumped from her seat and began putting on her shoes. Their father stood up from the table.

“You can ride with me Kanna, I can drop you off on the way to work.”

“Oh thanks dad!”

The two waved their goodbyes and headed out the door. Katsuo stood and started gathering the dishes off the table.

“Here, let me help you with that mom.”

She smiled and thanked him, the two set about clearing the table and then washed the dishes together.

“So, Kimiko? Are you two dating?”

“Mooom.”

“It’s just a question. A mother has a right to know these things about her son.”

“We’re not dating. She’s just a… a friend. That’s all”

He felt weird even saying that much. After all, he had only just met her yesterday. And yet, she was willing to help him figure out his way around this new world. Or at least try. His mother smiled but didn’t say anything else for a few minutes. When she finally spoke again, she asked –

“So, what about Kame?”

“Right, Kame. What about her?”

“Well, you two are close, have been for years. I mean you’ve been friends since you were little.”

Oh boy. He needed to figure out who Kame was and fast. Not to mention what their relationship was. He hoped Kimiko knew enough to get him by. Childhood friends? Oh man, how was he going to pull that off, even with Kimiko’s help. What if they had a secret handshake? Or just plain old secrets? Or maybe – Ah forget it. There’s no telling.

“We’re friends, good friends, but just friends.”

He paused, hoping he sounded certain but not too certain. He just hoped he was right. His mother sighed.

“That’s a shame, she’s a sweet girl. I had hoped to see you two together.”

“Mooom.”

“I know I know, there’s nothing wrong with that. I just hope this Kimiko of yours is just as sweet.”

Oh boy was she ever wrong. Almost the exact opposite in fact. But then again, she had offered to help him. Maybe the ‘Cold Princess’ had a warm center. After he didn’t respond, his mother gave him a half hug and kissed his head.

“Thank you for your help, now why don’t you go get some rest. I’ll see you this afternoon. Will Kimiko be joining us for dinner?”

“Of course, mom. And I’m not sure, maybe? She mentioned stopping by after school, but we hadn’t really discussed how long she’d be here. Just that we’d, uh, work on some stuff.”

Man did he hope his face wasn’t as red as it felt. He didn’t want to lie anymore than he had to, but he also wasn’t sure what to say. He was also quite aware of how he had made everything sound up to this point. His mother smiled at him.

“Alright, I’ll grab enough groceries for an extra just in case. Have a good day son, and get some rest.”

She said the last more sternly this time. He nodded to her and headed back upstairs. He fully intended on taking a nap at the least. He hadn’t slept well the night before and had already felt a lack of sleep when he started the day yesterday. He hit his bed and quickly fell asleep.

He woke some time later to the sharp feeling of hunger, checked the clock on his nightstand, and saw that it was a little after lunch. He yawned, stretched, and worked his way out of bed. He decided to shower first, then after putting on some clean clothes, he headed downstairs.

The house was quiet and empty, more like what he was used to. He went to the fridge first, expecting he’d need to make something. With the lack of choices in the fridge, he began checking the cabinets, familiarizing himself with the layout of things as he did so. Things were mostly the same, with a couple minor differences. Then he checked the pantry. Ramen, instant ramen. His mother never had allowed that in his world, not at all. But here, there were at least three different kinds.

Making his choice for the heartiest of them, he set to warming up some water. Then went back to the pantry to confirm a suspicion. Yep, melon pans. He snatched one up and ate it while he waited for his ramen. After eating, he grabbed a box of pocky. He was never going to get tired of this.

As he snacked, he walked around the house looking at pictures of himself and his family. Many of the pictures were familiar to him. The only differences being his mom’s hair, dad’s glasses, and of course, Kanna. That was definitely the hardest part to get over. He spent his whole life with an older sibling, and now that role was his. He’d half expected to wake up and see this whole thing had been a crazy dream.

But apparently it hadn’t been, that or the dream wasn’t over. Either way, he’d have to keep going along with all of this. He sighed.

“Without Kimiko’s help, I don’t know what I’d do.”

Having reminded himself of Kimiko coming by, he started tidying up the place. Not that much was needed, his mother kept a clean house, even in this world. He then made his way to his bedroom. Huh? Why did he have a small pile of dirty laundry already, and where was his basket? None of it had even been worn by him. He gathered them up and took them down to be washed. Shaking his head at the unfairness of it. Who washes the laundry of a person that had never existed? If he had been somehow woven into a parallel world where he hadn’t formerly existed, he couldn’t imagine why it would include a pile of dirty laundry.

With the laundry started he cleaned his room, vacuuming the floors and dusting off his desk and bookshelf. He was glad to see that at least most of his personal belongings were the same. He skimmed through the titles, noticing the slight differences in names of some, while others had the same name but just different cover art. There were a couple he had been surprised to see were still the same, at least until he opened them. Some character names or places would be slightly different, but the story appeared to be the same.

“I feel like I’m seeing the after effects of a world a time traveler had visited.”

That gave him a thought. What if this wasn’t a parallel world after all, what if he had just been thrown into the past instead? He supposed that would still technically be a parallel world. But no, there were too many things that were different. The name of his school for starters, and his dad wearing glasses for another. Not to mention all the other minor changes here and there. He looked down at his copy of the first novel of “The Approaching Giants” before putting it back on the shelf.

He spent the rest of the day looking around the house and within the neighborhood, taking note of the differences. Surprisingly many things were still the same. Such as, which drawer the utensils were in, or as Kimiko prompted yesterday, that his usual park still bore the same name. Some things were only slightly off, his usual bench at the park was now on the opposite side of the tree it neighbored – that or the tree was now on the opposite side of the bench. Then there were the things that seemed even further from his world.

The convenience store he frequented for example, was now several buildings further down the street. He would now walk past the park to the store, and then back to the park again – given that he would maintain his usual routine. Now having a little sister to walk to school each morning was certainly a notable difference.

Although it may change how he started each day, Katsuo found that he might enjoy having a little sister more. Not that he didn’t love his big sister, but with the alcohol and sitting at home all the time. It was kind of a sad sight. He liked thinking of her as sweet innocent Kanna, and not hiccupping pitiful Kanna. He smiled at this thought. Despite things being different, he still felt like he was with his family. And in the end, that’s what really mattered anyway, right?

He made his way back home, getting there shortly before his sister arrived.

“How was school?”

“It was good, but walking home without you just wasn’t the same onii-chan.”

“Oh, sorry. I’ll walk with you next week.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.”

She gave a delightful cheer, as if she had just scored a victory in something. Just then, their mom arrived. Kanna rushed to the door, letting out another small cheer.

“Yay mom, you’re home!”

“Hey mom.”

They both helped unburden her from the groceries she was carrying.

“You’re home early, will dad be too?”

“No, he’ll actually be home late today. That’s why I left early.”

Katsuo realized he hadn’t thought about their parent’s business. It sounded like they still worked together, but what if they didn’t do the same kind of work? He was pretty sure in his world that they did some kind of financing or book work. His grandfather had started the business, Katsuo’s father inherited it from him. His mom had started working there a few years ago, once he was old enough to manage at home on his own. He supposed here it would have been more recent, with Kanna currently being younger than he was.

“So it will just be the three of us for dinner?”

“Not if your brother’s friend will be joining us? Kimiko, right?”

His mother had put just a bit of emphasis on ‘friend,’ almost subtly enough that he might not have noticed had she not been looking at him from the corner of her eye. He acted as if he hadn’t noticed.

“I’m not sure, she might. I haven’t spoken to her. I, er, I don’t have her email.”

“Ah I see, well I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”

As if on cue, the doorbell rang. His mother turned a goofy grin on him.

“Well go on, go get the door for her.”

He hadn’t realized he wasn’t moving. Grateful for his mother’s prompting but too embarrassed to say anything, he chose to nod his thanks and then headed to the door. He opened it, and there stood Kimiko. She must have gone home before coming because in place of her school uniform there was a dark blue skirt, white blouse, and a dark tan cardigan. Her blue eyes were on him, partially hidden behind a stray lock of her black hair. She quickly pushed her hair behind her ear. She looked a little embarrassed.

“You look cute.”

It just slipped out; he hadn’t even realized he’d said it until her face had started to turn pink. Before either of them could say anything, he slipped out of her way and beckoned her to enter. She strode through as if nothing had happened, he gave her time to remove her shoes before they both stepped from the entry.

“This is my little sister, Kanna and my mom. Mom, Kanna, this is Kimiko.”