The Great Interrogation - Part 1

There was a song in Kimiko’s heart that she knew she shouldn’t sing. It was pretty hard not to though after the man she'd harbored affection for kissed her the night before. This morning, she wore a simple blue tank top and white cotton shorts. She swayed around the apartment in happiness, eager to make breakfast.

Makoto was busy taking a shower, but Kimiko asked if he wouldn't mind going to fetch them some eggs after he finished. After he agreed, she focused all her attention on prepping the food after that.

Not ten minutes later, she heard a knock at the door. After she dried her hands, she hurried over and opened it, assuming Makoto must have his hands full.

“Thanks, Makoto!” She exclaimed, only to tilt her head when she saw he was empty-handed. “You didn’t find any eggs?”

Her exclamation gave the man a moment of pause. He perked up a moment later and waved off the notion with his hand, as Makoto was often prone to do. “Oh, that? I just figured the chickens would rather hatch than get cracked into a pan.” He said, taking off his shoes, then moving over to the kitchen counter and leaning against it with a smirk.

Kimiko followed his movements, then took a step closer so she could see him in better detail. Her eyes darted over his features analytically. Something felt off to her, but she couldn’t pinpoint what it was. “Well… I hate to break it to you, but those chickens were never gonna hatch.” She said with humor despite her suspicions before stepping back.

“Ah-ha… well, I probably should have looked into that further then, huh?” He said as Kimiko turned her attention to the meat on the pan, moving it around with her spatula.

“Mmhm…” Kimiko mused, before pointing the kitchen tool at the blue-haired man as quick as a whip. “Explain yourself non-Makoto!” Her eyes flickered with fire.

“W-What are you talking about, Kimiko?” He said with a nervous laugh accompanied by an innocent boyish smile. “You must be pretty hungry, ha-ha.”

“I may be hungry, but I know a Makoto when I see one!”

“A Makoto?”

“You know very well what I mean!”

“What makes you think I’m not… me?”

“Your eyes look different!”

“How?!”

“I can’t explain it. I just know!”

Well, eyes are the window to the soul, I suppose… He thought.

The front door opened. “I didn’t know how many you wanted so I got a bunch and they ran out of bags so-”

The two in the kitchen turned their heads to stare at yet another Makoto, this one held two cartons of eggs in his hands. He blinked as he stared at his doppelganger. “WAIT. There are TWO of me?!”

Finally, the first Makoto dropped the act to a simple deadpan. “I need you to quit pretending you don’t know we’re twins when this happens.”

“THERE ARE TWO OF ME?!”

The twin sighed and shook his head before he faced Kimiko with a bow. “I apologize for tricking you, I’m Tatsuya, Makoto’s older brother by ten seconds.”

“I can’t believe this is happening.” Makoto muttered as he put the eggs down on the table.

Tatsuya rolled his eyes. “You see, we used to do this sort of thing all the time when we were kids. Trying to see if anyone would realize who we really were and also just plain being brats.”

Kimiko looked from Tatsuya to Makoto. “Oh I see, how interesting!"

“This time it was by accident, though. It was a little too tempting to play along when you mistook me for Makoto at first.” Tatsuya admitted.

Makoto shut the door. “Now that there’s two of me, I can get so much more done.” He said, looking at his hands as if he had gained some new superpower.

“Excuse me a moment.” Tatsuya said, then walked over to Makoto and smacked him upside the head.

“OW! That hurt, me!”

“If anything, you’re me. Considering I was born first.”

“Not true. You were probably split from me.”

“Whatever you say.”

“What are you doing here anyway, Tatsu?”

The man raised his eyebrows at that. So Makoto hadn’t gathered why his older brother might be here? He should have been surprised, but he wasn't. He then looked at Kimiko who was watching them with great amusement and a sweet smile on her face. Tatsuya looked back at Makoto. “Well, I’ll talk to you about that after you have your breakfast, alright?”

“No, no!” Kimiko insisted. “Have breakfast with us, Tatsuya. We have plenty of eggs for it now.” She chuckled.

“Emm…” Tatsuya hesitated, but Makoto was already sitting at the table leaning back comfortably. “Alright, thank you.” He agreed, then sat in one of the chairs with perfect posture only for his foot to jitter under the table at a pace to make Makoto sigh with a roll of his eyes.

“What is it?”

“Nothing.”

“You can say it now if you want. I don’t care.” Makoto assured.

Finally, Tatsuya stopped tapping with a sigh and then spoke. “Mom saw the footage.”

“You talked to mom?”

“It wasn’t preferred, but I know her opinion matters to you and you haven’t had much time to process all of this so I went to see her. I didn’t tell her anything. She was the one who brought it up.”

“What did she say?”

“Nothing I wish to repeat.”

“Oh.”

“I haven’t seen dad though.”

“Eh, no reason to.” Makoto shrugged, unbothered. “Probably off losing money somewhere like usual.”

“Probably.”

“Anything else?”

“Yes, but I think we should discuss it elsewhere. It would be rude of me to dismember my brother in front of a lady.” He said with a nod in Kimiko’s direction.

“D-Dismember?! What did I do huh?!”

“Don’t worry, you’ll find out soon enough.”

While Kimiko made the food, she’d heard some of their conversation. It was hard not to. She didn't realize that Makoto had such a broken home life. It reminded her how little she knew about him still. Kimiko knew she was a “leap first find out later" type when it came to matters of the heart, but the reminders she'd get from time to time did help keep her from floating off in a bubble though. Regardless, it didn't put her off from him. In fact, it only made her more determined to be closer to Makoto.

Later, as they enjoyed the meal she made, Kimiko noticed that Makoto was eating at a rate of one bite per minute. “Is everything okay? I didn't make it bad did I?” She asked.

“Huh? No way! Your food is always amazing Kimiko.” Makoto said with a grin, then a nervous gulp when he saw the look on his brother's face. It was like a coyote waiting for a rabbit to stumble. To Kimiko’s eyes though, Tatsuya looked rather serene. A hidden language between the two.

“Then why are you taking so long?” Tatsuya pointed out.

“No reason. Just want it to last. Savor the moment, ya know!” Makoto took another slow bite.

“You’re going to insult Kimiko, eating so slowly that your food gets cold.”

“Jokes on you, I’ll just heat it up!”

“You cannot delay the inevitable, you know.”

Kimiko looked between them with great curiosity, like a string waved back in forth in front of a kitty.

Makoto stared at the delicious food with a shaky breath, hot and steamy, getting colder by the second. “I… I… I can’t take it anymore!!” He ate the rest of his food in a tornado of bites, making Kimiko giggle. “It’s too good!” He exclaimed with fake tears welling up.

“You would never survive an interrogation.” Tatsuya said, unimpressed.

“Good thing I’m not planning on needing to!”

“Oh, you’re gonna need to.” He said, then stood up and bowed to Kimiko. “I will return my brother to you shortly. Thank you very much for the food. I hate to eat and run but I have other business to attend to, I hope you can forgive my rudeness.”

Kimiko stood up as well with a smile. “It’s no problem Tatsuya! You’re welcome here any time okay?” She said, then gave him a big hug instead of a bow. “You be nice to him okay?”

Caught off guard by the gesture, he fumbled with his answer for a moment. He gave her a gentle hug back then cleared his throat and took a step back with a nod. “I will treat him as he deserves.”

“Phew!" Makoto breathed a sigh of relief. "Wait… is that a good thing or bad thing?” Makoto said with a funny smile.

“I don’t know. You tell me.” Tatsuya said with a knowing smile before he headed towards the door. “Come on, let’s go.”

Makoto ran up to Kimiko and wrapped his arms around her. His tight hold on her brought his cheek against hers. “You’ll wait for me on the outside won’t you?” He said as if he were going away to prison for a long time.

“Of course.” Kimiko said, playing along as she rubbed his back. “So long as you write me letters.”

Makoto pulled away, complete sincerity on his face. “Everyday.”

“Come on Makoto!” Tatsuya said, becoming impatient with his brother’s constant dramatics.

After a few minutes, Tatsuya was finally able to get Makoto outside of the apartment building.

Once they stepped out into the sunlight, Tatsuya looked at his phone for a moment to track their ride. “By the way, I checked, and anything I say to you in there will not be broadcasted. I never gave them my consent for anything, so whatever footage or soundbite with me in it cannot be used by them.” Tatsuya explained. "So keep that in mind in the future."

"Well that's a relief at least." Makoto said. "Leave it to you to find loopholes."

"Always."

A few minutes later the taxi drove up. Once inside, Tatsuya gave the driver the address, and soon the car was in motion.