Hades

Chapter Seventeen - The Summer, Part Three

Chapter Seventeen: The Summer Part Three

On the day that Mrs Kamiya and her family packed the bright red six-seater car ready to go to the beach, the weather was fine. The sun blistered and the sky, deep blue and cloudless, looked higher than ever.

Harusame,  in a white sundress and large floppy hat with a yellow bow, came down the steps of the apartment building with a joyful smile and a rosy tint to her cheeks.

‘Thank you so much for taking me, Takeo-san,’ she said to Takeo Kamiya, who was tying a surfboard to the top of the car.

Takeo was a good natured, broad shouldered man in his late thirties, wearing a citrus print shirt and khakis.

‘Thank you for coming,’ he said, ‘You’ll be great company for the kids. My mother is always talking about what a lovely, polite little tenant she has, so it’s my pleasure to finally meet you.’ There was a clattering, yelling sound from within the kitchen, and out came Mrs Kamiya, her arms around a huge wicker luncheon basket, with two young boys pulling on her skirt.

‘C’mon Grandma, we wanna get to the beach!’ said the taller of the two.

‘Boys!’ said Takeo, ‘come here for a minute and meet the nice young lady who’ll be accompanying us today.’

The boys came over, tripping over each other’s legs, and bowed at her deeply. Pleasantly surprised at how respectful they were, Harusame bowed back. As she looked up, they both flashed her with cheeky smiles. The taller boy was gangly with midnight blue eyes, wild hair and a cocky expression, and the shorter boy had a rounded face, fair hair, and chubby fingers which held out a gift for her.

‘Here, Izuki Nee-san1,’ he said, presenting her with a tiny seashell. ‘I’m gonna find a bigger one today, so you can have this one.’

‘Ah, thank you very much!’ Harusame blushed, excepting the faintly sticky present.

‘Oh yeah, Arada?’ said his big brother. ‘Well I’m gonna catch her a squid with my bare hands!’

‘Oh…you mustn’t do that…’ said Harusame, panicking, and their father chuckled, ruffling his elder son’s hair.

‘Izuki-san, let me introduce my boys: Ryunosuke and Arada. I assure you they’re both harmless.’

Mrs Kamiya closed the car boot and clapped her hands.

‘Is everybody ready to go? I think we’re only waiting for one person now, yes?’

‘That’s right,’ said Harusame. ‘I don’t know what’s keeping him…’

As she turned to go indoors, a tall figure came down the steps to the car. He’d been argued out of his long dark cloak, but still wore the rest of his usual black ensemble, which looked even stranger than usual when in contrast to the bright, light beauty of the day. He also wore a defeated, thoroughly cheesed-off expression of surrender that Napoleon himself would have been proud of.

‘Hello Hades,’ whispered Harusame affectionately.

‘So, this is the friend you’re bringing along? It’s nice to meet you, dear,’ said Mrs Kamiya with a wrinkled smile, and just as Harusame expected, the older lady seemed to look right through Hades. Takeo also nodded a greeting then quickly looked away again, but Ryunosuke narrowed his eyes.

‘What’s with your weird clothes?’ he asked loudly.

‘Ryunosuke! Now that’s no way to talk to someone you’ve just met. Apologise right away,’ said his father, though from the confused look that flittered across his face, he wasn’t quite sure who he was ordering his son to apologise to.