Much Needed Love

‘There are different types of love. Eros, philia, storage and agape. In our short lives, most of us will experience some if not all of these types of love. Storage is the type love one would feel towards a family, member. For you, your sister and father. Philia is the love of friendship, what you feel towards Tomo, as we’ve no confirmed. Agape, the love of humans in general. Then there's eros. A much more romantic and sexual way to love. The love you feel towards...’

“Akio,” Mitsu cut ‘Hana’ off her monologue, His confession making her mouth open wide Once again, she appeared before him in her room, leaning against his desk. “Don’t look so shocked,” Mitsu sighed, running a hand threw his bangs. “If you’re the one saying it, I'm basically saying it myself, right?”

Hana smiled softly, moving to sit beside Mitsu on the bed, the bed making no movement as she sat but somehow Mitsu could still feel her presence. ‘You’ve finally started to admit it huh?’ She laughed. ‘So, you’re finally talking to him then?’

Mitsu nodded. Pulling out his phone and looking at the text Tomo has so lovingly sent for him. After their kiss and realising there was no feelings in it, Tomo asked to see Mitsu’s phone and a ping later, a message was sent and he and Akio we’re meeting up in the morning. No more hiding, no more lies. He was finally coming clean about everything.

It was terrifying.

Every date with Akio has been as ‘Hana’ but now he was leaving that persona behind. He was perusing something that he believed could be a real relationship. “How am I going to break it to him about you?” He groaned, cupping his face with both his hands.

‘Um, are you dumb?’ ‘Hana’ said, her face as straight as her question. ‘You’ll find you already told him?’

Mitsu raised his head, blinking at ‘Hana’ as if this would somehow answer his question. ‘Hana’ blew raspberries, crossing her legs to keep a firm stance. She raised her finger, looking like a teacher about to scorn a student for not doing their homework. ‘At the last outing with Akio you mentioned Yui.’

“Well yeah,” Mitsu replied back sarcastically. “She’s his sister and I figured he’d want to win her some prizes.”

‘You missed the point,’ ‘Hana’ growled. ‘I, Hana, know about Yui.’ It took a couple moments but the look on Mitsu’s face said it all. ‘There we go.’

“Shit!” Mitsu screamed grabbing his pillow, throwing it at the door. Before impact the door opened, his dad being met with the full force of the throw. “D-dad?”

The pillow slid down his face and fell to the floor. Mitsu expected his dad to scold him however he just smiled. He walked into the room, uninvited and took a seat where ‘Hana’ once was. He placed a hand on Mitsu’s head ruffling his head. “I know that kind of cry,” he laughed. “That’s the, ‘I’m in love and don’t know how to tackle it.’ Am I close?”

Mitsu laughed, knocking his dad’s hand away. “You’re dead on,” he said.

His dad groaned, scratching at his forehead. “I’ve already gone through this and still have no idea how to handle this. I always thought your mother would handle this. Then I hoped Emi might be able to help too.” Mitsu felt his eye twitched. His dad was trying to avoid this? Pretty hard to avoid the inevitable. “But she’s locked herself away, so I am the only solider left in this war called ‘Love’.”

‘Your dad is pretty dumb,’ ‘Hana’ was blunt with the statement.

“In a way,” Mitsu felt his heart drop as he looked into his lap. “I’m glad mom hasn’t seen the stupid mistakes I’ve been doing recently. All because of a crush that wasn’t a crush and now I have a crush on someone else because of the stupid thing I’ve been doing.”

“What you’ve done can't be th-”

“I dressed up like a girl,” Mitsu winced, expecting the worse.

‘You are just as dumb,’ ‘Hana’ snapped as Mitsu got up, going to his wardrobe and pulling out the wig. He put it on before turning back to his dad with his cheeks flushed a deep red. His dad gasped getting up and cupping Mitsu’s cheeks, staring intensely at his son’s face. ‘What the hell?’ ‘Hana’ couldn’t work out what was happening. This wasn’t what she expected.

“You’re the spitting image of your mother,” His dad started to cry before pulling Mitsu into a bone crunching hug. Mitsu held onto his dad tightly in return. “Damnit, it’s like she’s here. You’re just like your mother.”

“I’m so sorry dad,” Mitsu sniffed, digging his face deeper into his dad’s chest. After a small cry from them both, Mitsu did with his dad like what he did with Tomo. He explained to his dad everything; from the initial crush to Tomo, to dressing as a girl to deceive everyone to developing feelings for Akio. After the last part he had expected to be disowned but his dad just stayed quiet. “Dad? Please say something.”

His dad just smiled, removing the wig from his son. “That’s my boy,” he said, kissing Mitsu on the top on the head. “You will always be my son. Though answer me one thing.”

“Anything.”

“Why the name ‘Hana’?” His dad asked, sounding worried. “Out of all the names, why your mother’s?” Mitsu stumbled backwards, falling against his desk. “Mitsu?” His dad cried, getting down to the floor, making sure Mitsu’s head was okay.

“I choose mom’s name?” Mitsu questioned, his breath raspy. All this time, he never noticed it was his mom’s name. He looked down to the wig in his dad’s hand, realising why Emi reacted the way she did when meeting ‘Hana’ for the first time. “Was I pretending to be mom?”

‘And the penny drops,’ ‘Hana’ sighed.

“Of course not,” his dad protested, shaking his head. “You were still being Mitsu.”

“Then why did I do what I do?” Mitsu cried out, pulling at his hair in confusion.

“I don’t think I can answer that,” his dad said softly, moving Mitsu’s hands away from his hair and to his sides. “I think maybe, you need to get all this off your chest and then we can move on from there. Does that sound okay?”

Mitsu nodded, starting to wail loudly. ‘Hana’ stared at Mitsu; her eyes sad. This was a love Mitsu needed for a long time.