Michi's Babysitting Service

Chapter 4

"So I am able to stay home on Wednesdays and Thursdays, hopefully those two days are enough to keep up on your online course?" Izana asked.

Takemichi nodded, even though it really wouldn't be enough. He was in his third year now and had missed a lot of stuff already so he was much behind. And he would still be working nights at the DVD store so he would have to cram sleep and study into those two days. It will be fine, he'll be fine.

"And if it's not too much trouble, I really am needed back at the office soon so, can you start tomorrow?"

"Yes, of course. Um, is there a dress code? I'm not used to wearing stuff like this," He gestured to his clothes, well, they were Naoto's, again.

"Comfortable clothing is fine, just as long as it's appropriate. The kids tend to get a little rough sometimes so it's probably not for the best for them to ruin your fancy clothes."

"Oh, well these are actually my friend Naoto's, my style is more hoodies anyway. I'm glad to know I can just wear that," Takemichi replied, flashing a smile.

He couldn't help but noticed the way Izana's eye twitched in response, did he say something wrong? Maybe he should just stick with Naoto's clothes, his style isn't exactly fitting to Izana's house mansion.

There was a series of knocks at the door, Izana called out for them to come in. The door opened to reveal Ran, Rindou and Shion.

"Yes, boys?"

"We wanted to know if you were done," Shion said.

"So we can show him around," Ran added, Rindou nodded wordlessly beside him.

"That sounds like a great idea, just a few more minutes, okay? We still need to discuss payment," Izana told them, the children nodded and closed the door behind them.

Izana then turned his attention back to the boy across from him, "So, do you want to be paid weekly, biweekly, I could even do daily if that's what you want."

"Um...weekly, yeah that should be fine."

Izana pulled some documents from the drawer and put them on the desk, "Just write in your account details and...."

(this is getting soooooooooo boring. Let's just skip ;))

Ran was quick to grab Takemichi's hand when he walked out, Rindou hesitantly grabbed his other. Shion walked on ahead, claiming he was bored and was going to the gym room. The boys led him down the hallway and up the stairs to the second floor.

"All of our bedrooms are on this floor, Izana's is on the third floor," Ran exclaimed.

"This is mine and Ran's room," Rindou gestured the the first door in the hallway.

Takemichi was going to question it, 'why didn't they have separate rooms?' but he remembered that the two were brothers. From experience, he knew that siblings in orphanages and foster care are often very close and reliant on each other. Ran opened the door and pulled him in enthusiastically.

"That's my bed- oh and that's my desk- Rindou's bed is over there and-" he continued to ramble off every little thing in the room, Takemichi thought it was adorable.

He already had a head start with Kakucho, but he already had some thoughts about the kids. Ran was very outgoing, he liked having his hair played with and he was very protective of Rindou. Rindou was more quiet, reserved, he seemed to have difficulty expressing himself. Takemichi hoped he could help with that. Hajime seemed very intelligent and a little bit of a perfectionist. He felt as if Mucho didn't really like him, perhaps because the kid was always blankly staring at him. It kinda freaked him out a little, but he just brushed it off as the boy not trusting him yet. He hadn't really interacted with Shion and Mochi too much yet, but from what he had seen, they were pretty uninterested in his presence.

The Haitani's showed him each of the boys rooms and then led him back down to the ground floor where all their playrooms were. A room just for video games, a library with aesthetic reading spaces and a table of chair with a box of chess packed up upon it. There was the gym too and the enormity that was their backyard adorned with playsets and a basketball court. It seemed like the dream house for kids.

He caught sight of Mochi and Shion sparing in the gym, it seemed like Mochi had a winning streak and Shion wasn't pleased by that.

"Oh, those two fight all the time. Shion tries but he just isn't strong enough to take Mochi down," Ran commented.

"Well...sometimes technique is better than strength, especially if your opponent is bigger than you," Takemichi replied, looking down at the brothers.

At that, Takemichi could have sworn he saw the ghost of a genuine smile on Rindou's face, "S-see Ran, technique is good too," he said quietly, clenching and unclenching his fists as if he was trying to contain his excitement. Takemichi felt a warm feeling spread within, he felt like he was finally being useful again.

"Shion is doing judo at the dojo at the moment. That's why he keeps trying to take Mochi down rather than striking him. He's not good enough yet, which is why he keeps losing," Ran explained.

"What martial arts do you all do?"

"Mucho and Mochi do kickboxing, Kakucho does both kickboxing and karate, Shion does judo, Rindou and I do both judo and karate."

"Hajime?" he asked.

Rindou shook his head, "He doesn't really like that stuff. He's new too."

Takemichi raised an eyebrow, "New? To what?"

"The family. He was only adopted by Izana about a year ago, he doesn't really talk about his interests. But he likes maths for some reason and he always tells us how to save our pocket money."

"That's very useful too, otherwise you won't have any money and you can't do things."

The brothers peered up at him, "Do you not have any money?"

Takemichi felt himself go red in embarrassment, "Um, I only have a little. I go to university which costs a lot of money. That's why I really needed this job otherwise I would have kicked out and that would have made me sad."

"Don't your parents help you pay? Izana said he would pay for us to go to whatever schools we wanted."

Help from parents? That would be great. But not something that was possible. Takemichi hated lying, he hated it more than anything. But he didn't know how to explain it to children, and that was something he'd have to prepare for since children always ask invasive questions.

"No, they didn't unfortunately. I'm not really close with them, so I had to pay for it myself," Takemichi said slowly, hoping it sounded believable enough and they wouldn't keep asking.

"Do you fight with them? Our parents used to fight a lot," Rindou muttered.

"I-um-"

"You can talk to Hanagaki more tomorrow, he's technically not working right now, he doesn't have to answer your silly questions," Izana said, leaning against the doorframe, looking between the three.

Takemichi nodded and knelt down, "I'll see you guys tomorrow, okay? Sleep well."

"Bye bye Takemichi-san!" Ran yelled, waving.

"Good bye," Rindou added.

/

Takemichi basically lived at Naoto's apartment. His own place wasn't great, it had a lot of issues. He didn't mind though, Naoto was his best friend and constantly looking out for him. Takemichi had been having nightmares since he was six years old, when he was with Hina, she was always there, talking him through his breakdown afterwards. And after a while, he stopped having them. But for some reason, ever since he's been nearing the two year anniversary of her death, they've become more frequent.