Rebellion

Old Home

Satoko stood at the door of her now old home. Granted, the word old meant five years of her life, but it was still old. 

The Setsuko household was very close to the forest, dangerously close the West Side of town. It was always grey and it never had much color. They had only four neighbors, although she distinctly remembered that one annoying kid who always tried to cause trouble. Ayase always told her it was because he liked her, but she never quite got it. She wondered where that kid was, oddly missing beating his ass every now and then when going to school. 

She looked at the old garden, a sad expression coming to her face. It used to be so lively and full of flowers. Ayase would always make flower crowns from the flowers. Well, except her mother's favorite ones. 

She remembered the woman. Her name was Hana, which resonated with her love for flowers. She had long brown wavy hair and dark green eyes. Just like every Setuko. She was tall and looked fragile. Her hands were small and skinny and her skin was always pale. She remembered always seeing her in her bed while she brought her tea. She liked the woman very dearly. It was really hard to get used to her death. She died in the hospital, at least that's what Hiroji said.

Satoko quit her trip in memory lane and just decided to do what she came here in the first place. She rang the old doorbell. Naoki looked quite unamused when he saw her. 

"Sorry I'm late again!" She said, kind of thinking she'd get used to it by now.

"Next time I'll close the door on you." Naoki grumbled as he let her inside.

"But I'm always late." Satoko argued again.

"I don't always work my ass off to figure out how cooking works." His green eyes looked like he was completely done with trying female stuff. 

"But you should get used to me being late." She continued as she sat at the table, looking at the pretty shitty looking lunch. 

"You should get used to cooking your own lunch." He retorted simply, starting to eat, but looking disgusted the moment he tried it.

"You're the one who's making me eat here so often!" Satoko continued, a huge smile on her face.

She missed him so much. She missed Ayase so much. But she couldn't go on living here. It was just worse when she was here. Hiroji would just keep comparing the two of him, making Ayase feel horrible. Satoko couldn't handle the guilt. 

"Because you can't eat junk food all the time. It's unhealthy." He continued, forcing the kale up his mouth without any hint of pleasure. 

"It's my life choice. I didn't see any bad consequences." Satoko crossed her arms, disliking this dish even less when it's cold. 

"... You haven't looked yourself in the mirror then." Naoki said, not looking at her.

Her cheeks got red, feeling very embarrassed by that comment. She didn't even know how to react like that.

"W-What do you mean!?" She squealed out.

"You gained weight. Just because you wear baggy clothes doesn't mean it isn't noticeable. Your cheeks are starting to look like they'll explode." Naoki poked her cheek, making it obvious what he meant.

She didn't know if he was teasing her or not, but she felt highly embarrassed by it either way. 

"Hello, Satoko!" Ayase walked in happily.

"Ayase, did I gain weight!?" Was the first question she asked her. 

Ayase looked confused by the conversation. She felt like she really missed something important here.

"Um, I mean, you look a bit chubbier." Ayase noticed. 

"B-But not a lot!" She immediately corrected herself.

Satoko didn't even care that she personally gained weight. She felt weird that Naoki even noticed it. 

"Maybe if you brushed your hair a bit and put on some make up, you'd look a bit better, you know." Ayase tried to give her advice, but Satoko only gave her a glare.

Ayase gulped. At least she tried.

"Do I come here just to get criticized?" Satoko questioned, feeling very self conscious all of a sudden.

"No, I'm just giving you tips! I'm sure if you got the right diet-" Ayase started but Naoki cut her off.

"Just eat properly. You'd probably have 30 kilos more if you didn't eat here every now and then. It's not criticism, it's care." Naoki stated bluntly. 

Satoko looked down, her cheeks even redder. Him treating her like that made her feel so weird. 

"Sorry we're all not buff and shit like you are." Satoko tried to make fun of him a bit, to lighten up the mood.

She really didn't like to be criticized. Well, at least not by him. 

"I need to be. And it isn't a problem." 

"Jeez, Naoki, you're so boring." Satoko stated, crossing her arms.

"Eat your lunch, little sister. Maybe if you came on time once in a while it wouldn't taste so bad..." Naoki's face grew into a little smile.

She smiled a bit at him.

"I'm sure it would be just as bad even if it were hot." She tried eating it, making disgusted faces every now and then.

"She's right on that one, Naoki." Ayase agreed.

"You're supposed to be the nice one in this family." Naoki deadpanned at her.

"There's so much I can be nice about too." 

Satoko started laughing at this. Even Ayase was roasting his bad cooking. 

She missed this. She missed it a lot. 

Satoko wondered if Hiroji ever thought about her leaving. If he got mad for never being here when he was around. She really disliked that man, she'd try to avoid him as much as possible. 

If it wasn't for him, this family would be different. Naoki and Ayase are both overly caring, different than Satoko who just lets people have space. Naoki is the serious one, Ayase is the nice one and Satoko is the snarky one. But they had fun like that. They had fun in those little roles. 

But they weren't in those roles anymore. They grew up. Grew up into something nobody should have even.

She sighed. How she wished this was just a normal family.