"So how's Nagoya treating you?" Asked Aunt Hikari asked casually as she split a wooden chopstick in two.
"Its actually starting to feel like home already." Nakamine replied with a polite smile and opened his package. He was flooded with an overwhelming smell of spice that prickled his eyes from its sheer existence. He quickly glanced at Aunt Hikari who seemed to be handling her food fine. He really shouldn't have jinxed what's the worse that could happen.
"Only been a day and it feels like home? I hope its my apartment that made you feel that." She had a mouthful of food in her mouth and yet her grin was still positively beaming. He wasn't sure how she managed to do it but what he was sure was that he was right when he thought he didn't want to see it when he was eating. Immediately he choose the only course of action that could allow him to not respond and end the conversation. He awkwardly smiled back and shoved in his mouth a forkful a thai noodles.
It had been the wrong choice. His world exploded from his mouth. Every taste bud was on flames and he could even feel the heat coming out from his nose every time he took a breath. His eyes watered and darted around also for water. He wondered briefly if chewing off his tongue for blood would help ease the spiciness. He was seconds away from spitting out the food from his mouth when Aunt Hikari continued.
"But even if it feels like home, it can't really be Tokyo huh? I mean you must miss your family. Your mother seemed really concerned about this whole thing."
Everything suddenly felt distant with her words. As if his mind was away while his body still stayed in that small dirty kitchen. He gulped down the ball of fire in his mouth, he couldn't even tell whether it was spicy any more.
"Yes. It wasn't what she wanted. The whole mess was rough for her." He blurted out robotically. Even though the words came from his lips, it ringed far and foreign in his ears. Everything blurred after.
The next thing he knew was that he was standing alone outside in front of room 204 with his head leaning on the door.
It was all stupid. He didn't know why the subject still got to him. He should be feeling fine. He banged his forehead a once more before he reminded himself that he should get some rest for tomorrow. He creaked open the door and entered his empty flat. Boxes lied exactly where he had left them. He stumbled over them a few times but managed to crawl into his futon. It was so quiet in there, and with the lights out leaving his vision shrouded in darkness, it was as if he was all alone in the world.