A Hero I Look Up To

True Colors

It's been a year since Chris left Tobio's house. Tobio is now in seventh grade. Compared to when Chris was there to now, his birthdays stopped becoming fun and became boring. It became noticeable to Loid, where back in sixth grade, Tobio faked a smile, trying not to worry Loid. Now, Tobio wouldn't want to come out of his room because a year had passed and he realizes what Loid said about neglect was correct. Usually it would be normal for Tobio to be depressed, but he felt afraid of his parents and how much power they hold compared to Chris, which was the reason why he shut himself in. He was witnessing the true colors of his parents before his very eyes. Tobio didn't know what to do at this point. He doesn't know how to drive to find Chris, nor could he contact him because his his parents told him to block his number and delete him off of his contacts. Tobio remembered Loid asking him something a day after he cut contact with Chris.

***

Tobio ran up to Loid, with a smile painted on his face. Loid glanced at Tobio and was taken aback to how close he was to him.

"Yo, L-Loid!" Tobio waved at Loid.

"Y-Yo..." Loid waved back at Tobio, but he started to notice him act strange. He felt the need to comment on what had happened, but the curled corners on his lips made Loid suspicious. "You're not acting like yourself, Tobio...."

"What makes you think that, Loid? I'm perfectly fine!" Tobio lied, taking a few steps backwards. A good day is waiting for us, so let's make use of it!"

As Tobio was about to lead the way into the school's entrance, Loid paused as his gaze was locked onto the floor. He needed to ask Tobio a serious question.

"Did something happen with Chris?"

Tobio paused his movement and slowly turned his head to Loid. He started to sweat, unsure on what to do. There were two options he had to make: either lie to Loid, or tell him the truth. However, Tobio was the type of person to come up with answers quickly, so he made his decision on the spot.

"Nope!" Tobio replied.

Loid had doubt written in his face. To stop that doubt from showing, he covered his mouth withh a fist to clear his throat. "Alright, I-I was... just wondering."

The two continued to head inside the school, with Tobio leading the way, causing Loid to show concern the more he noticed his sudden change in tone.

***

That memory made Tobio wonder if it really was the best decision to leave Loid in the dark about Chris. After Mia, Loid was another one of his best friends. He even knew he was angry at the fact that his parents had never attended Chris' nineteenth birthday party and that fact that his parents had neglected him all along. He really didn't want Loid to worry about him and pace around his room, wondering what he could do to help. Tobio wanted to remain strong and make sure everything was settled by his own hands.

There were tasks that Tobio had to do that his parents couldn't. One of them was doing the laundry. As Tobio was heading downstairs, he saw his parents focusing on something on their computers. Of course he didn't interfere, he wanted to mind their business. The sound of silence was loud enough to hear the clicking keys on the keyboard, the wind howling outside, and the birds chirping. Tobio tiptoed his way to the laundry room so he wouldn't have to make any noise to distract his parents.

Tobio saw a mountain of his clothes stacked on top of each other. It did have a bit of a pungent smell because without Chris to wash clothes, the smell would end up being intense for Tobio to hande. They left Chris to do all the work when he was small, but now it's his own responsibility to take care of. Tobio took the pile of clothes and slowly set some into the washing machine so nothing falls onto the ground. After that, Tobio gently closed the door of the washing machine and put in detergent in one of the drawers above the washing machine door. He slowly poured some in to the fill line, then closed up the detergent area. Tobio turned on the washing machine and twisted the knob to put the setting to permanent press.