Revival

A few weeks have passed since the day I began working on both Tai and Aoki’s commissions. I got Tai’s commissions done first (the drawing of Ena at her salon) within a week, and sent it to his email.

Since Tai said to be creative with my piece, I decided to go with a version of Ena working on a customer (whom I intentionally blurred) from the front. Since I’ve never visited her salon myself and only had a single photo of her, I did my best to fill in various gaps, such as the background of her shop.

Oddly, Tai continued texting me on a daily basis, and we continued growing our random friendship through conversations of anything but the art request. I learned that he also loved reading manga, and was running the business side of things for Ena’s salon. Life wasn’t exactly the greatest for him either; he was laid off from his salaryman job less than a year ago, and was barely scraping by until a few months ago when Ena offered him a role to help her business. Perhaps it was this which allowed me to bond with him further, even if it was through just online interaction.

As for me, life continued on as usual - my aunt returned from her business trip a few days ago, and we had our first face-to-face conversation (no more door between us) in what felt like a year. Her face, uncharacteristically stoic upon returning home, grew bright and cheerful once I asked her in-person how her trip was.

“Wait, so you really ran into that bitch while trying to mail off the letter?!” she asked, once I told her about my encounter with Ena and Tai.

“She’s actually a pretty nice lady,” I responded, prompting a twitch of shock from my aunt.

“I… I see. So, are you guys all friends now?”

“Yes, I suppose.”

A wide smile appeared on her face. “Then that’s all that matters.”

My cheeks flushed in embarrassment. It had been forever since my aunt saw me talking so fondly of anyone; maybe she truly felt happy?

“Listen, aunt Yua, I want to…” my mouth temporarily froze. I had prepared this speech for a week in my head, and expected trouble in conveying it. But I have to. “I want to stop being a hikikomori. I don’t know how I’m going to do it, or how long it will take, but -”

My jaw dropped to the floor. My aunt, who fell to her knees, covered her tearful peachy face with both hands.

“Rin, I’m so happy,” she mumbled. “I know the hardest part is taking that first step, but you’ve conquered it simply by declaring it yourself. I can’t state how proud I am.”

A tear of my own flowed down my cheek. My aunt, who had been so patient with me for years, probably repressed all her feelings about my situation for my sake. She chose to be restrained and kind. She didn’t push me over the cliff from behind. She treated me with respect despite my circumstances. If there was anyone I wanted to dig out of my hole for, it was her.

A series of conversations between my aunt and I in the past still echoed in my head:

“Well, Rin, do you think visiting a therapist may help?”

“No, like I said, I have trouble communicating, and I’d just sit there in awkwardness.”

“Then, what about me? How can I help?”

I paused and glanced down to my lap. Besides just giving me a home, I couldn’t bear to ask my aunt to shoulder anything else.

“I’m sorry, maybe I shouldn’t have phrased it like that,” she continued. My eyes widened in surprise. “Listen, you’re an adult, and I’m always going to treat you as one. Just please, promise me that you’ll think of ways to integrate back into human society, even if it takes a long time.”

“O-Okay.”

My aunt and I spent the rest of the day chatting in her living room. A single beige couch sat in front of a TV, with an old wooden coffee table in-between. I sat on one end of the couch while she sat on the other, with both of us sipping our drinks while smiling. We talked about everything - her work, her hobbies, my past art aspirations, and, funnily enough, she got to fully describe what happened at Ena’s salon.

“She came up to me with a book of hairstyles, and said, ‘pick one from here and I’ll take care of the rest’ with such confidence in her voice!” my aunt recalled. “Afterward, when I complained about the length and texture, she’s say stuff like, ‘I studied this for a whole year!’ and ‘There’s a reason why my salon is so successful!’ At one point, she even said something along the lines of, ‘You don’t understand a single thing about hair! I’m never getting married because of how demanding my business is!’”

“Why would she say that last part?” I asked, chuckling in-between my aunt’s recounts.

“Exactly! I was like how does that have anything to do with my terrible haircut! Actually, now that I think about it, everyone who I talked to who's been to her salon before knows about her situation.”

“You mean, everyone knows she’s never marrying?”

“Yeah! It’s as if anyone who visits will overhear her declaring how she’s never marrying ‘cause she’s too dedicated to her work! It’s hilarious how proud she is about it.”

“I mean, maybe she’s still young?”

“Nope, a friend of mine mentioned how she’s already 30-years-old I believe. I guess the ship really will sail for her soon.”

I stopped my coffee-sipping. She’s 30? So her love life is similar to mine in terms of age.

“Oh yeah, you mentioned you did an art commission for her and Tai, right? Does that mean Tai might be her new boyfriend?”

“Um,” I opened my phone since I had been planning to show my aunt my drawings anyway. “I’m not sure, they seem like only friends.”

“Mhmm, interesting.” My aunt leaned in to peek at my screen as I showed her my drawing of Ena at her salon. “Wow! So you really have been honing your skills all these years! Couldn’t you make a living off of this?”

“I guess so, but it won't be easy, the market’s too saturated with talent. I’ve hardly become any better since I’ve been living in my room for the past five years.”

“Heeeeey,” a cheeky smile emerged from her lips. “I can tell you paid extra attention to Ena’s portion of your drawing. You’re so detailed with her face. Do you think she’s cute?”

“I, uh…”

“Haha, I’m kidding. But anyway, I’ve gotta go take a bath.”

“Okay.”

As my aunt pounced up from the couch and skipped away, I picked up my phone from the table to catch up on messages. I almost dropped my coffee mug upon the first glance of my screen: It was Ena.

[Hey, I got your number from Tai, hope you don’t mind. Thanks for the drawing you did. I didn’t realize you were that talented.]

I couldn’t help but lie back against the couch pillow and stare at her message, processing it in shock.

[No problem, hope you liked it.]

Phew, I thought. That reply felt like it took hours.

Ding!

Her immediate reply had me roll off the couch and slam my face first onto the wooden flooring. I whimpered an “Ouch!” but forgot about the pain immediately as I continued gawking at my phone:

[Would you like to have lunch with me some time with just Tai and I? I owe you a proper apology for last time.]

Holy shit, for real?

I began drafting a reply. [No, that’s alright! Don’t worry about-] But then I froze my fingers on the spot for what was probably a minute or two.

Fuck, should I really decline?

Deep breath. Breathe in, breathe out. I placed a hand against my chest, and closed my eyes.

Fuck it. I’ll send this now before I regret it.

[Sure, where?]