1.2 | The Prince of Thieves

Chapter 32

Hana crawled under her bed the next day to locate the source of the crack they had heard the night before. She thought it hadn't been much at first – just a creaking of the old bed frame – when her eyes widened at the sight of a broken beam, hanging on by its other un-cracked end. She withdrew from under her bed to glare daggers at him.

'I'll buy you a new bed,' he offered, his voice heavy with sleep as he stretched and yawned to wake himself up.

'No!' she snapped. They had spent the night on her tiny, single bed and it was evident that the bed frame had borne more than it could bear. The whole house would want to know why they were suddenly buying a new bed frame. This frame had been good and strong, a piece of furniture she had owned ever since she was ten. Besides, she didn't live here anymore; a new bed frame would serve no one.

He let out a long sigh, his eyes still fixed blankly on her ceiling.

'It's not going to collapse, darling. We can sleep in the guest room if you want.'

'No! That used to be grandfather's room,' she muttered. 'I can't...I can't do it with you in a room that my grandfather used!'

'I wasn't talking about that,' he murmured as he rolled onto his side and pulled the quilt back up to his chin. 'I was only talking about sleeping. But if you want to do more than just sleep, we could come back here.'

'Or we could just leave it be...' she suggested, her cheeks hot and red as she completely ignored him. 'And we can sleep on the tatami. There will be more space since someone doesn't want to sleep by himself.'

'I agree,' he said, grinning up at her. 'About the space.'

Hana rolled her eyes and threw her arms down by her sides in frustration. She was so adorable, fretting over this little thing.

'Darling, it's not going to collapse, alright?' he said as he struggled to sit up. His fringe flopped over his forehead and he blew at the errant strands in irritation. Without a word, Hana reached for a plastic hair clip on her desk and pinned his hair up for him. He sniffled and blinked groggily, then reached a tentative finger to the new headpiece.

'Come on,' she urged. 'Don't be late for breakfast.'

~

When Leon went down, washed up, changed and minus the bright pink hair clip, he had found her digging among the cupboards in the kitchen to emerge minutes later with a packet of cat food.

'We're making a visit later,' was all she would say before she helped her mother with breakfast.

Just like before, Leon helped to set the table, making small talk with Mr Yazumi who had situated himself at the kotatsu in the living room, poring over the newspapers. Kai was still tucked in bed – Hana had been sent up to wake him – and he made his appearance just as the family sat down to breakfast. He was stony faced throughout breakfast, yawning excessively between bites of his food and not bothering to make conversation unless he was spoken to.

'You look really tired,' Hana kindly observed partway through the meal. Earlier, Leon had placed a mug of coffee in front of his brother-in-law; it was empty now.

'Did you get home very late last night?' Mrs Yazumi asked. Kai turned slowly to her, as if in a stupor. The family had spent their Christmas eve's separately. Mr and Mrs Yazumi had a sumptuous ten-course dinner, followed by a play at the local theatre; a programme that was part of their Christmas present from their children. Kai had gone out with some friends, those who were still single, and Hana had shown Leon around Tokyo.

'I did,' he murmured, then he looked up to fix a stare on his younger sister. 'But even though I got home late, some people slept later than me.'

'Oh?' Mrs Yazumi turned to the direction of Kai's attention and inquired of her daughter, 'Did you sleep late too?'