My Modern Kaidan: Meibatsu

Chapter 8

Hideo

When I got home, Auntie was sitting quietly at the table, her long black hair enveloping her entire form.

"I saw Sachi on the side of the road," I said, proud of how angry I sounded. "Are you going to tell me what happened?"

She didn't respond.

"Neesan," I said, my voice shaking with frustration. "Answer!"

But still, she continued to ignore me.

"Oi--" I gripped her shoulder and she finally turned to me, sucking the air from my lungs with the power of her stare.

Her eyes were red and raw as though she had been crying for hours. Eye lashes clung to her red cheeks where she had rubbed furiously. She rose out of her chair, her hands shaking at her sides in rage.

Without realizing it, I had begun to back away from her but she kept coming, her feet shuffling along the floor as though they were each a thousand pounds.

"Answer you?" she rasped. She began to shake uncontrollably just as my back hit the wall. She lunged towards me, her head ramming into my chest and knocking the air from my lungs. She began to cry then, wringing the collar of my shirt with her hands.

"Hideo-chan, I was so embarrassed!" Her words were muffled, so she tilted her chin slightly. "It's all your fault."

I shook my head. "What do you mean?"

She raised her head to look at me, glaring at me with wet eyes. I jumped as she slammed her palm into the wall behind my right ear. "The seat belt you haven't fixed," she said. "It was caught around Sachi's foot as she exited the car. I tried to apologize but she wouldn't let me!"

"Sachi said you had an argument," I said in an attempt to confront her with the truth.

Auntie turned away from me, crossing her arms. "We did," she confessed. "And this only made things worse now." She began to sniffle as her shoulders bounced up and down.

"I'll fix it," I said, heading back outside.

I must have spent hours with the car that night. Our parents had given it to us once they were able to purchase a new one for themselves, and although my sister had been driving it, I had been working on it continuously for nearly a year in hopes that on my eighteenth birthday it would become mine.

The whole time I worked, Auntie came in and out, checking on me. She became in a better mood but her presence proved to only be a distraction. Still, I tolerated her if only for the sake of Sachi.

But somehow I struggled with the seat belt. It was possible I was distracted by more than my sister's presence, but also by her lies. If there was one person who had been a witness to my sister's erratic behavior over the years, it was me, and I knew she was capable of what Sachi had claimed.

But I also felt sympathy for my sister, as I always did, because she almost always appeared remorseful after these. . .outbursts.

"It's not done yet," I told her at the end of the night. "I fixed the tension, so that's better, but the button will only work if you press into the upper left corner. It's mangled. Like someone slammed into it with something." I looked at her expectantly.

Auntie plopped down and pulled the passenger's side seat belt over her lap, avoiding my gaze. "I slammed my water bottle into it, okay?" She pressed her finger into the button but the seat belt didn't unlock. Sighing, she tried again. "It's not fixed," she whined.

"Upper left corner," I reminded her impatiently. I rubbed at my tired eyes. "I'll keep looking at it tomorrow."

Auntie unclicked the seat belt and smiled at me. "Thank you, Hideo-chan."