When he woke he found himself on the floor in a dark room.
His heart raced.
The blue light that trickled in through the windows told him morning had arrived, when he saw the blonde tabby curled up on his bed he finally relaxed.
"So it was just a dream?"
The cat's ear flickered. It slowly opened its eyes.
"What's a dream? Don't think that even for a second it was, you coward."
A familiar voice spoke out of nowhere.
In this quiet room, it was as clear as day.
The cat's golden-green eyes were clearly directed at him.
"You....what the?"
Hotaka clutched his head. Was he losing it?
The cat continued as it stretched.
"Don't tell me you forgot me already, nya." The cat yawned. "Here perhaps this will jog your memory."
It jumped and slashed its claws at the air. A second passed when suddenly his bookshelf collapsed. Slices of the shelves spilled out onto the floor.
Hotaka screamed and fled. As he ran he heard small pitter-patting of paws following.
"Why are you running?" Hikaru asked curiously.
Hotaka headed towards the front door and flung it open only to run into the last person he had ever meant to see.
A Japanese woman held a baby girl while talking into a smartphone, her eyes widened at him. Both she and his Mother preferred to keep their hair short so for a second he nearly thought it was his Mom. The fear he felt seize his heart subsided a tiny bit.
"Ah, he IS here. He opened the door. Alright, then, Sakuya, I'll take it from here. Yes. I'll tell him, bye."
As the woman hung up Hotaka stood rooted to the spot as the fear in his heart's slot was overwritten by a new one.
"What's this about you leaving home without telling your Mother? Also if you're in the country you could have at least called you know, let us know where you are!" Yoko frowned at him.
Hotaka's Father was an Englishman of German descent, who traveled to Japan on various occasions for business, even after his divorce from Hotaka's mother his interest in Japanese women hadn't seen to change.
Or at least, Hotaka is just assuming things otherwise how else did she give birth to her second child so quickly? Each time he saw her and the kids such thoughts would flit to mind.
Hotaka closed the door behind him, his mind too cluttered to think. "...I told Mother I was leaving."
Yoko's gaze hardened. "Anything could have happened to you, you can't do things like this Hotaka!"
Hotaka scoffed. " ...I travel by myself every time I visit you and Dad. Since when is traveling by myself something bad?"
Yoko's gaze mouth opened and closed, having no rebuttal, her gaze narrowed. "E-easy there now, You may be a senior in high school now but you're still a child. And far away from becoming an adult!"
"The only thing separating me from being an adult is my high school diploma." Hotaka refrained from divulging that he's been working since middle school on his WhoTube channel and his Wriggle Streams and saving up his profits for years.
When Hotaka announced his intentions to his Mother she cancelled his card. However, when she saw him missing she freaked out. It was really laughable, that's what he thought at first at least. Who knew a search squad would be organized for him like this?
"Sakuya told me she cancelled your cards, how did you get here?" Yoko brought it up.
Hotaka blinked at her. "As I said, the only thing separating me from my independence is my high school diploma."
Yoko's disapproving frown morphed to an excited grin. "Did you start entering piano competitions again?" Her glittery eyes knocked him off guard.
"No." Why would she get so happy over that? It's not as if she ever came to his competitions, had she? Wait...once probably...he wouldn't know. The possibility of it timeline unsettled him.
She tilted her head, her excited gaze waning into suspicion. "Then how did you scrounge up the money to afford the plane ticket?"
"...I've been working."
Yoko frowned. "I do hope you're not doing anything illegal, Hotaka."
"I'm not."
She studied him for a while before finally smiling. She patted him on his head. Hotaka held in a sigh. Hotaka was a lot shorter than most boys his age so no matter what he did, he would be treated as a middle schooler. The only pro of this is that she would let him off easy like now, or at least that's what he told himself.
"This is great! Rina kept complaining about how much she missed you, now she can come to visit you."
Hotaka's face stiffened.
"It's okay right? You don't mind looking after her sometimes do you?"
"..."
"Have you checked your fridge yet? All the food in there must be cleaned out. We should go grocery shopping,!" Yoko clapped her hands together. "Ah, wait why don't you come over for breakfast?"
Hotaka was tempted to shut himself back inside until he remembered the reason he was out here. "Won't it be past breakfast time by the time we go to your house?" He was beginning to remember that they lived in Germany. Since when did they move back to Japan?
"Oh, we moved to this district didn't your Father tell you?"
"No." Hotaka tensed thinking about his Father's reaction.
Surprisingly, when Yoko drove him to their new apartment, Hotaka's Father showed no reaction to the news of what happened at the breakfast table, nor to his presence. It was as if he had lived there his whole life.
"Mothers are always so controlling of their firstborns." Walter glanced at Hotaka, the cold in his grey eyes were veiled by his tinted spectacles as he took a sip of coffee, sending shivers down Hotaka's spine.
Even though he strongly objected to that statement he kept silent and looked around in attempt to change the main topic. "Where did Rina and Tatsuya go?"
Yoko paused to recount. "She was in a rush to head back to school, and these days Tatsuya is on the soccer team so he always has morning practice…"
Walter, folded the newspaper back into a square. "Pity, Rina would have been so happy."
"Right? But she can always visit."
Hotaka stiffened.
It was as if Walter could see right through him because he added, "Of course if that's okay with Hotaka."
Yoko glanced back at him from the kitchen counter. "Of course it is! You don't mind do you Hotaka-kun?"
"Eh? No…" He blurted instinctively. He wished he could have bit his tongue earlier.
Suddenly Mia started to wail. As Yoko comforted her, Walter ejected himself from his chair.
"I'll drop you off."
As Yoko hushed her child she suddenly remembered. "Oh right, we were going to go grocery shopping!"
"Then I'll take him." Hotaka felt his Father had something to say to him once they left the building.
"Just because I never have to worry about you, don't go pulling a Katashi on me." Walter commented once they entered his car. The look he gave him was stern.
Hotaka opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. After buckling their seat belts, he finally found the words as he lowered his head.
"...That was not my intention. I'm sorry…"
Walter started the car, their drive was silent.
"I'm assuming you already registered for a school."
"Yes."
"Which one is it?"
"Chiyoko Hill High."
"...Katashi went to that school." Walter pointed this out immediately.
Hotaka pursed his lips, he didn't think anyone aside from his mother would know. His father glanced at him.
"...What are you trying to do here Hotaka?"
"I...just… want to feel close to him somehow."
"You were close, you are close, you live in his house for christ's sake."
"But no one knows where he is! They never found anything not even a body!"
"So what, you trying to play detective now? Or Housekeeper?"
"...Is that so wrong? The house was left to me anyway..."
Walter sighed. "Keep in mind what kind of person Katashi was Hotaka, a charismatic man like him is probably bound to have made some enemies… those enemies… he even left his own will behind. Whoever they were…" Walter glanced at Hotaka who had pursed his lips so tightly together, the expression reminded Walter of a much smaller and younger Hotaka, lips tightly pressed together, face pink while trying to hold back some tears. His little fists clung tightly to the leg of his trousers.
"Nuuuuuuuuu-aaaaah! Pweez, Daddy don't go!"
"..." Walter didn't finish his sentence. Instead, he pointed at the side of the road leading towards a market.
"This part of the town is famous for fresh produce, you'll always find the old people here in the morning. Should I drop you at the grocery store or…"
"...if there's a nearby supermarket then..."
Walter would have drove him home but he suddenly got a call from work and had to leave.
Hotaka did not mind. He was actually thankful.
As he walked down the street hands full of groceries he couldn't help recalling his Father's words.
The thought never even crossed his mind before but he could totally picture that being the case. As a kid, Hotaka always pictured his Grand Uncle in the italian mafia, since he smoked those fancy cigars all the time, where'd he find all the money to manage the estate? Suddenly the childish thought didn't feel so funny or cool anymore.
Maybe, just maybe. Grand Kat really is…
"Meow."
(Hey.)