Family Bonds

2

Yu was seething when he arrived home.He tossed his jacket onto the chair, wandered into the kitchen, and took a bottle of water from the fridge.He did his best to ignore the pain in his face and left eye.

"Damn Guren," he swore, taking a sip of water. He held the cold bottle to his stinging face.It wasn't unusual for the teen to curse his boss and a few coworkers, but the day had been one of the worst.

"Yu?" Akane called, setting the grocery bags on the table. The teen turned to her.Akane frowned, noticing the redness. "What happened?" She questioned, moving closer to him. Yu pulled out of her grasp.

"It doesn't matter." He grumbled, "I would've kicked Guren's ass if we didn't need the money." Akane removed a bag of frozen peas from the groceries and passed it to her brother, who held it to his injury.

"So that's why you're home so early," She commented, "You didn't get fired, did you?"
"No. It's not what you think."

"I'm sorry you had such a hard day." She said, "I know it has to be tough for you and Mika to keep us all going. As soon as I'm old enough, I'll get a job too, and then it won't be so stressful."

"Everything would be fine if people knew how to mind their business and shut the hell up," Yu raged, "I don't mind bringing in some of the money, but some of the people I work with suck."

"I told you not to take that job before you did it," Mika said, entering the kitchen. The boy wore his red long-sleeved shirt and black vest. Mika paused, looking at Yu with concern.

"Yu, what happened to-"

"I don't want to talk about it. I had to take this job. We need the money, and You can't manage everything by yourself. Isn't it too early for you to be ready for work?" Yu pointed out.

"The assistant walked out, so I'm going in, and I told you before you took that job, I don't like that Guren guy. Didn't I tell you something's wrong with him? I can't put my finger on it, but I know something's wrong.If you promise me you'll leave, I'll pick up a couple more shifts until you find something." Mika replied, "It's really not worth all this." Yu scoffed.

We all know what that leads to," Yu countered, "You pick up more hours, then I get a job, but you're stuck in a new schedule that you can't pull yourself out of.You already work too much.We both know I won't find anything that pays as much as I'm getting now. I thought you hated the day shift, isn't that guy going to be there? What's his name, Ferret?" Mika chuckled.

"Ferid, and unfortunately, yes. I'd be willing to bet he made Saito walk out, and Kaiya left before that. I took some money from the emergency fund for the bus. I'll put it back next pay."

"That guy's a psycho," Yu muttered.

" Things could be worse, Yu.. I'll see you guys sometime tomorrow." Mika grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and walked out of the room. Yu followed close behind.

"Mika, wait." He called. The blond turned to face his brother.