We Are Family

Rude Awakening

Yuya woke up later that night to the sound of the neighbor's dog barking. The young tomato groaned and covered his head with his pillow, trying to block the sound out. The pillow didn't seem to help, so Yuya sighed and sat up to close his window, which he normally kept open at night for a nice cool breeze. He'd found that he slept better in cooler temperatures.

He paused in surprise when he saw an odd sight in the neighbor's front drive. There was a police car, and a couple of officers walking the neighbor's teenage son to the front door. Curious, Yuya leaned out the window to see if he could hear what was going on.

The cops rang the doorbell of the neighbor's house, causing the dog to bark some more. After a moment the door opened, and the cops began talking to the neighbors. Yuya was just able to hear the conversation.

Apparently the neighbor's teenage son had been caught out after curfew drinking sake with a group of his friends. Which was illegal, since the legal drinking age in Japan was 20.

Yuya shook his head in disbelief at the neighbor's idiot son's behavior, and lay back down. He was sure the dog would stop barking soon, so he didn't close the window. And sure enough, the dog stopped barking shortly after the police left.

Unfortunately, Yuya now had a problem. He couldn't fall back asleep. He tossed and turned, trying to sleep but to no avail. Minutes passed. Then hours. This was a problem. Yuya needed to get some sleep so that he had enough energy for his gymnastics class tomorrow afternoon. The boy had been training for months to be ready for his next gymnastics meet in a couple weeks. He couldn't afford to be tired in his class.

But he couldn't sleep. He glanced at the clock and saw that it was now almost five AM. He groaned. "C'mon, sleep!" But sleep did not come again. Just as his eyes were finally starting to get heavy, he heard the sound of Zarc getting ready for the day.

Yuya whined. Zarc usually spent about half an hour getting himself ready before waking his brothers up. Now Yuya knew that he wouldn't be getting any more sleep.

Too soon, Zarc knocked on Yuya's door. "Yuya, time to get up!" he called out to his youngest brother. Yuya whined in distress, reluctantly getting up and getting ready for the day.

His brothers could tell that something was wrong the moment he came down the stairs. Yuya almost always went down the firepole, unless he was sick or too tired to trust himself with it. Zarc set a plate of pancakes down on the table and hurried over to Yuya. "Are you okay? What's wrong?"

Yuya whined. "The neighbor's stupid kid was caught out after curfew drinking sake, and was brought home by the police at like 2 AM, and it made their dog bark, and it woke me up, and I wasn't able to fall back asleep..."

"How do you know the kid was drinking sake?" Yuri asked. Yuya groaned. "I heard the police telling the neighbors about it."

"Ah," Yuri nodded sagely. Yuya whined some more as he sat down at the dining table. "I have gymnastics class today! I needed my sleep! Stupid neighbor!"

"I could call your coach and have you excused for the day," Zarc offered. Yuya immediately shook his head. "Nono! I have a meet in a couple weeks! I have to train!"

"You can miss one class," Yuto said. "You've been training for three years without missing a class. It's no big deal if you miss just one."

Yuya shook his head some more. "No! No! I gotta train!"

Zarc sighed. "Well then, I'll make you some strong black tea to help you stay awake for the day. You can have two cups."

"Thanks, Zarc," Yuya said, yawning. "I really need that."