" It's kinda lonely around here without Tsuyoshi playing his violin." Shingo sighes dully as he took a sip from his beer can.
" Is Takuya around? I haven't seen him for days!" Nakai suddenly recalls.
" I think so." Shingo replied uncertainly. " I heard a loud thump in his room last night."
Hearing keys jingling in the lock, they stop their conversation and turned towards the front door as it swings open. Goro enters carrying a plastic bag from a nearby grocer.
" Yo." He greets his room mates.
" What's that?" Nakai asks indicating the bag but Goro is already knocking firmly on Takuya's door except that no one is answering it.
" I know you are in there." Goro raised his voice so he can be heard through the wooden door.
" Open up!"
" Maybe he's not in." Shingo suggests.
" Open up!" Goro persists. A loud crash answered him instead.
" Open up!" Goro yelled angrily and yet more crashes can be heard from behind the door. " You can smash everything in your room but you will have to leave it one day!" Goro reasons. " It had better be now!"
Nakai and Shingo stare in silence. Then to their surprise, the door opened a slight crack and Goro slips in, closing the door behind him gently.
" What was that all about?" Shingo asks an equally confused Nakai who shrugged in frustration.
Goro stood still for a moment as he scrutinized the mess in the room he is standing in at the moment. Takuya's room is born out of necessity rather than comfort. Apart from the tumble of mattress that serve as his bed and a drop curtain that shields all his worldly possessions from his visitor's view, there's is only a low table where a laptop sat alone waiting. The few pots of flowers Goro had placed on the window sill are lying broken on the floor, soil and broken ceramics scattered in all possible directions.
" I need a favor from you." Goro said to the figure perched on the bed smoking bitterly. The smoke raising lazily from the tip of the cigerette is the only thing that moved in response. He had to walk to Takuya and shove the bag in his face. The latter flinched and glared angrily in return.
" I need a favor from you." Goro repeats ignoring the hatred look directed at him. He shoved the bag closer to press home his point.
" My sister is sick in bed with flu. She needs someone to cook her some porridge." Goro explains as the cold stare pinned on him melted into confusion. " I had asked the girls to leave the apartment so the two of you can be alone.
" Now go." Goro dropped the bag into Takuya's arms and drag him off the bed. Before he can react, Goro had dragged him to the front door and push him out of it, locking it behind him so he cannot re-enter. Left without a choice, he has to cross the corridor and enter the door opposite.
I mumbled grumpily as I wipe my running nose. What could be worse than being abandoned by your friends when you are too ill to leave bed? When Pam and ima came to announce that they are going shopping I felt like grabbing the tissue box and hurling it at them. How could they leave me like this and going shopping?!
" Owell, I'll live~" I mutter begrudgingly when a knock on my door startled me. I thought I was alone in the house! " W ~ who's there?" The door opened and a familiar face peers in timidly.
" It's you! What are you doing here?"
" I heard you are sick and thought you may like some company?" Takuya ventures uncertainly. I was about to reply him in my usual cruel way but a gut feeling made me clamp my mouth shut as I studied his mannerism in silence. " And ~ and I cooked you some porridge in case you are hungry."
" Porridge?!" I exclaimed in pleasant surprise as a feeling of warmth enters my chest cavity.
" Y ~ yes..."
" Well, come on in if you are not afraid of my virus." I invited, striving to sound as casual as I possibly can. He enters holding a steaming bowl in his hand. " Quick, put it down here!" I points at my bedside table as his face starts to twist in pain from the heat of the bowl. Silently he puts down the bowl carefully and looked around for a place to sit. FInally settling down in my dressing table chair, he looked straight at me. " Well, now that we are all comfy ~ tell me why."
" Why what?" He asks curiously.
" Why you made porridge for me and came to visit me and all that." I explain patiently to this really really dense-minded man.
" Like I said, heard you were sick and all that." He replied getting a tinge agitated. I know a liar when I see one.
" Well then, I have to thank you. The girls left me all alone and went shopping," I sighed. " They won't bother if I am dead or alive."
" I am sure they don't mean to ~" He replied. His discomfort is getting plain to see.
" Well, I guess so." I admit reluctantly. That's when his discomfort became a screaming pain.
" I think I should leave now. Eat up the porridge and take a nap. I'll drop by another day!" He says raising from his seat in a hurry.
" You are leaving already? Ok then, thanks for visiting!" I said with a slight pout and he is out of the door in a wink.
When Takuya dashed back into his room, he found Goro bending over his carpet sweeping up the last remnants of soil on it. Closing the door, he took a series of deep breaths as Goro stare at him with a mixture of amusement and surprise. He was taken by surprise when Takuya rushed at him and grabbed his collar to pull him onto his feet so they can look at each other eye to eye.
" Spill it, buster!" Takuya growled. Goro is glad to see that his friend has regained his sparkles.
" Spill what?" Goro squeaks breathlessly as Takuya tightens his stranglehold on his collar.
" One minute you treat me like you wish I don't exist and the next you send me straight to your sister's room. What are you up to?" Takuya presses on murderously while Goro struggles weakly like a fish caught in a net.
" Well?" Takuya questions brashly some time later after he finally let go of Goro and they sat down back to back on the floor.
" I never said I wish you don't exist." Goro said pointedly.
" You avoid me like plague after that day." Takuya reminds him. " It's not a coinicidence, I think?"
" Put yourself in my shoes for a minute. How would you react when the possiblility of your best friend turning into your family looms ahead?"
" I would be really happy I think."
" What if that's your only sister, some one you had all to yourself for nearly 30 years?"
" I guess I will be pretty upset ~" Takuya admits. " Not having to share for so many years and then having to share..."
" I wasn't mad at you, I was just feeling confused." Goro concludes. " And a trifle jealous." He admits ruefully.
" So what straightened you out today?" Takuya asks curiously.
" I figured that it will be easier for me to go after the guy who hurt my sis if I knew him personally." Goro smiles.
" You really are a man of convienence!" Takuya exclaims laughing. " Well, don't you worry, I am not going to hurt your sister in any way ~"
" Or you will have me to trifle with!"
" Yes sir!" Takuya gave a mock salute before they both end up rolling on the floor laughing like carefree children.
" The ball is in your court now." Goro reminds him after they stopped laughing. He nodded without answering although his face is adorned with a knowing grin.
" By the way ~" Takuya started shyly.
" Huh?"
" Sorry about breaking the pots."
Goro burst out laughing and he couldn't stop for some time. " You and my sister both!" He sputters. " At least you found your common point."
" You are right there!" Takuya broke into laughter too.
