Responsibility Over You

We were inside of Misako’s home. It was massive. An old-school, traditional Japanese home in Osaka was a sight to behold. Misako said that it was her great-great-grandfather’s home, and it was considered to be a national heritage home by the provincial government. There were many rooms, more than I could count. The wood-flooring was marvellous, ancient, but well maintained. Natural lighting from candles littered the long hallway in the front of the house, I was absolutely bewildered.

“Wow…it’s amazing.” I stated, admiring the home.

“It’s too big.” Misako replied, “The hallways are also too small in some places for my wheelchair to go through.”

Misako said that my mother had to work long-hard nights to maintain the house. She’d told me her mother refuses to sell it, that she wanted to keep it within the family forever. I understood from then, Misako rarely wanted to rely on her mother, she was a hard-working single mother.

“How many people live here?” I asked her.

“Just my mother and my sister.”

“YOUR WHAT?” I yelled.

She recoiled from my sudden outburst.

“Why’d you yell?”

“You never told me you have a sister! Is she your actual sister? Not like Yuta?”

“You never asked me! And…she’s my half-sister. We don’t have the same father.”

“Your mother has another husband?”

“No! It was just a one-time thing!” Misako’s mother exclaimed, appearing from behind.

“She had a thing with a businessman, and it’s someone’s uncle. Someone we know all too well.” Misako told me.

I was afraid of that statement. I was all too afraid.

“I don’t understand, what do you mean?”

“He’s a very famous businessman. He and his brother own a lot of companies in Japan.” Misako’s mother gloated, reminiscing about her fling relationship.

“Oh no…” I trailed off, looking at Misako, “Please don’t you dare tell me.”

“It’s true.”

“No way in hell, what kind of coincidence is that?”

“I don’t know, and frankly, I don’t care.” Misako concluded.

“Does he know?” I asked.

“He does. He’s met her a few times.”

“Is she…just like him?”

Misako laughed…she laughed at me.

“I’m going to die-”

‘SLAM!’

A foot to the stomach put me on my knees, the wind rushed out like a tidal wave. I trembled; I was in for a miserable summer-break.

“INTRUDER!” A voice yelled.

I looked up to see my attacker, a girl, no older than twelve years in age, dressed in a fully kitted samurai outfit, stood in front of me. Her hair was fiery green with a mixture of orange, I knew in that moment, she and Hiroshi were related.

“Yuki! He’s not an intruder! He’s a guest!” Misako yelled.

“I don’t believe you; I’ve seen the documentaries! They pretend to be docile, then…they pounce on you when you least expect it.” Yuki retorted.

“I-I’m a civilian…I promise…” I gasped for air as I said so.

My cell phone rang as I stayed on my knees, I excused myself from Yuki’s antics to answer the call:

“H-Hello?” I grumbled.

“Pal! You in Osaka yet?” Hiroshi asked.

“W-What do you want?”

“Are you in Osaka?” He repeated.

“We-We are.”

“Good! Have you met my cousin yet?”

“Y-yes. I’m currently in the midst of getting to know her.”

“Okay! Just letting you know, she’s very aggressive, I can’t even handle her energy!” He laughed.

“Why is your family…like this?” I asked.

“That’s my uncles DNA inside of her.”

“You’re all the same…”

“Anyway, hand the phone over to her, I wanna speak to her!”

I followed as he wished, giving the phone to Yuki.

“Hiroshi…your cousin…is on the line.” I mumbled.

She yanked the phone from me in an instant.

“Hello? Oh! Cousin Hiroshi! How’re you?” She excitedly spoke.

Yuki walked off and away from me, speaking to Hiroshi with my phone.

“David, are you okay?” Misako asked.

“L-let’s just leave, before she reappears.” I said, defeated.

I helped Misako to her bedroom, the long corridor made it difficult to move her through the corner, so I offered to carry her inside.

“How did you move around freely in this house?” I asked her as I carried her.

“My mom, she’s pretty strong.” Misako replied.

As we reached her door to her room, I opened it to go inside, and Misako covered my eyes. I was blind and could not see where I was going.

“Hey!” I began, “What’re you doing? I can’t see!”

“Just don’t look! I forgot about all this stuff!” She yelled.

“What do you mean? Just let me see-“

And I had tripped over something. With a twist of my ankle, I could feel the both of us fall. Miraculously, we landed atop what I presumed to be her bed.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

Misako’s hands uncovered my eyes, and the predicament we were in was…awkward. I was atop of Misako, on her bed. Pink bedsheets with old-school magical girl anime characters were imprinted on her pillows and bedsheets. We did not move at first. I could feel her heavy breaths, her gorgeous eyes were wide as ever. I made the first move to distance us from one another.

“Sorry, about that.” She spoke.

I looked around her room; photos of our in-game characters from different games were plastered all around her walls. But there weren’t any of Hitomi’s characters on the wall, just mine and Misako’s characters.

“Why…I forgot…” Misako said with her hands in her face to cover her shame.

After dinner, we had scoured Misako’s room for any pocket watch that could’ve been left there by Hitomi. We unpacked her wardrobe, cupboards and storage chests, looking for any sign of Hitomi’s pocket watch. Under the beds and tables as well, I left no surface unchecked. Though, in the end, we had not been able to find any sign of it being there. We uncovered some of Hitomi’s clothing that she had left behind at Misako’s house, but nothing else. Misako’s sister, Yuki, had left for soccer practice for the evening, meaning my life was preserved for the time being.

“I’m keeping an eye on you, demon.” Yuki told me.

“I promise that I am NOT the demon here, child.” I retorted.

Misako’s mother had also left for her job, since she was a hostess, it meant we would not see her until the morning. Such was the life of a night-girl.

“Please be safe, you two!” She yelled as she walked out the front door.

“We aren’t going out, mom.” Misako replied.

“That’s not what I meant, my daughter!” And her mother disappeared.

Her family was very lively, but I was glad she had some enjoyment in her house. I was afraid she was a lone soul living in a massive house, but her mother and sister were keeping her company. After our fruitless search for the pocket watch, we had given up. I was a tad upset, I was sure it would’ve been in Misako’s house, but it seemed it was not the case.

“I don’t know if we will ever find it.” Misako said to me.

“We can’t give up, not yet.”

“Then where else can we look? Hitomi’s been all over the country.”

“Then we search the whole country. We made a promise; we won’t repair our watches until we find Hitomi’s.”

“I know. I know. It’s just where do we start?”

We sat outside, admiring the night-sky above us. I had made us some tea to enjoy during the chilly evening. Misako did not seem content, we were about to begin our summer-break, but she seemed despondent. I decided not to question her well-being, sometimes we all needed to be in our heads to think about life. The chill of the wind grew stronger, so I unravelled my jacket, putting it on Misako’s shoulders.

“It’s getting cold out, here.” I said.

“Thank you, David.”

“Spend some time outside by yourself,” I began, “If you need me, just call me.”

As I stepped back into the house, Misako spoke:

“Why are you so kind to me?” She asked, “You never ask for anything in return.”

“I don’t do things expecting something in return, I do things because I want to do them.”

Misako held her head down.

“Listen, tomorrow, let’s go on our date.” I said to Misako.

“W-what?”

“We haven’t been on a date since that day. So, tomorrow, let’s go out.”

Misako nodded.

“You are paying for me.” She added.

“Of course.”