Aito clenched his teeth as he looked up at the building in front of him. He'd only been here twice before and he hated it every time. It was an ugly, bland grey color with dozens of small windows and wilted trees on the sides of the path that lead to the front door. Even though it wasn't autumn yet the trees never kept their leaves for long and they stayed a brownish color all year round. The place had a gloomy air around it and Aito sighed quietly. He wanted to hurry up and get this visit over with.
Aito's father walked up next to him and offered a small smile which Aito ignored as he stuffed his hands in his navy uniform pants. "Let's get this over with already." He stated flatly.
His father nodded and they proceeded into the building. Once inside he made his way up to the desk and heard his father speaking to the receptionist.
"We're here to see Mrs. Shinji."
"Alright, sir one moment." The receptionist stood from her chair and walked around the corner over to a security guard, they exchanged a few words before she spoke again. "You can follow him, he will show you to her room, enjoy your visit." She smiled at them and returned to her desk.
"Thank you." Aito's father said before he and Aito went to follow the security guard. They walked down a little narrow hallway before turning to face an elevator. After a minute the elevator arrived and they stepped in, going to the 3rd floor and stepping off once again.
"She's down the hall, second door on the left." The security guard said, stepping off and leading them down to her room. "If you need anything let me know."
"Thank you." Aito's father replied as they came to the door. The security guard knocked before swiping his card. "Mrs. Shinji you have visitors." He said, pushing the door open for them.
There was a moment of silence as Aito stepped into the room. His heart felt tight in his chest as he looked at the small woman's figure sitting at a desk in the corner of the room. As she turned around her eyes met his and he suddenly felt choked up. The woman slowly stood, a sad smile on her thin lips. Her lilac eyes holding years of regret. "Aito..." She spoke, her voice sounding hoarse.
The boy took a step back but bumped into his father who placed his hands on his shoulders "It's okay Aito."
It wasn't okay, here was the woman who killed his brother right in front of him, with her own hands. Here she sat, calmly, able to live and walk around but his brother couldn't. Anger bubbled through Aito's body and he started to shake.
"You... You..." He said in a low voice. "How could you." He was suddenly reliving that day over and over in his head, tears beginning to well up in his eyes. "He was only 5... How could you."
Aito's mother stood there, unable to speak. Guilt washed over her in waves as she saw her son before her. "I..." She tried to speak but tears began to fall from her eyes and she collapsed with her hands over her face. "I don't know!" She sobbed.
Aito felt sick to his stomach seeing her cry. "You think crying will make it better? Do you think so? How dare you cry after you murdered your child with your hands!"
"Aito enough!" His father spoke, desperation in his voice as he went over to his wife. "Have mercy on her!"
"Mercy?" Aito scoffed and his lilac eyes glaring dangerously at his parents. "You both can rot together."
His father gasped but before he could say anything Aito left the room.
He couldn't stand how his father could just stick up for someone like her. Doesn't he care that she killed his child? Was he the only one that cared about his brother being dead?
He stormed out of the building and glanced over at their car. After a moment he turned and walked away, heading towards the bus stop nearby. He wasn't going to stick around any longer.
Back in his mother's room, she sat glumly on her bed. Her head down as tears silently rolled down her cheeks. She wished she hadn't done those things all those years ago. She still has nightmares where she's running in a black fog, trying desperately to stop herself from hurting her children, she tried screaming but nothing came out, she tried running faster but she was too slow.
She still didn't know what possessed her to do such a thing. She didn't know why she killed her son.
"Ino... It's okay, one day-"
"Ikari," She cut him off, looking up at him sadly "There's no need in trying to comfort me. What Aito feels isn't wrong, what I did was awful and we can't expect him to accept me even after all this time."
Ikari pulled her into a tight hug, tears in his eyes as he buried his head in her neck.
The incident affected everyone greatly. For Aito, it turned his heart cold, he distanced himself from others and rarely smiled unless it was with his only friend Fugaku.
After Ikari came home that day he found his family in disarray, Aito was unconscious, Daiki was dead, and his wife sat in between them curled up with her head between her knees, crying hysterically. All he could do was stare, it felt like the wind was knocked out of him. He called the paramedics and the cops but didn't press charges on his wife, he had noticed in the months prior that her mental health had been deteriorating as she had been getting angry, shouting, and throwing things often. He didn't think it would come to this. He had lost his family, his son was distant and didn't talk to him, and his wife was locked away in a mental health facility. He wished that somehow things would go back to the way they used to be.
****
Aito sat on a train, he didn't know where he was headed as he was lost in his thoughts, he started remembering the year before Daiki was born. During the new years festival, he made a prayer that he could have a little brother, and a few months later his mother told him he would have one. She used to be so happy, her eyes used to be full of life and she laughed often. When Daiki was born everyone was full of joy. He remembers seeing his mother kiss his little feet and she told him she loved him.
Who would've known that things would end up this way.
Just then his phone buzzed, as he took his phone out of his pocket he saw it was Fugaku.
He sighed as he answered "Yes?"
"Hey man! Where are you? Feeling up for a shopping spree?"
"Do I look like someone who would enjoy that?"
He heard Fugaku laugh. "Come on don't be so stiff, hey, Setsuya and I are going to head to Shibuya to do some shopping for Mei's birthday. You should come to, maybe we'll run into her."
Aito sighed. He should do something to take his mind off of everything. "Fine, I'll come."
"Awesome! We'll meet you at the train station."
After they got off the phone Aito turned to look around and see where he was, ironically this train was already headed in the direction of Shibuya.
A few minutes went by and the train pulled into the station, as he got off he could already hear Fugaku and Setsuya laughing about something. As he approached them they both turned, smiles plastered on their faces.
"Are you guys already drunk?"
Setsuya laughed "Of course not!"
Fugaku placed his arms around Aito and Setsuya "Our mission is to get Mei the perfect gift!"
Aito smirked "How can I get someone I barely know a gift?"
"That's where I come in," Setsuya stated proudly. "Mei is a major girly girl, she loves cute things but hates the color pink, she likes pastel colors, flowery smells, any sweet treats, plushies, and jewelry of course."
Aito sighed and scratched his head "Arent all girls that simple?"
Fugaku spoke up "Then it's decided! Let's go!" he said, practically dragging the two with him.
After a while they arrived at a shopping mall, Setsuya broke off from the two and went down in one direction and Fugaku dragged Aito along to one store. As he looked up at the window he blushed heavily and turned away. It was a lingerie store.
"You ass why would you come here!"
Fugaku laughed darkly "This is the perfect place to shop! One day when you get closer to her she'll invite you over and when you step into her room she'll remove her bathrobe and underneath..." His eyes lit up and he had a wide smile plastered on his face. Aito punched him hard in the shoulder.
"You're a pervert yknow that. Let's get out of here." He said, pulling Fugaku away.
Aito sighed, looking around at the different stores. 'I'll just get her something simple.' As he walked he noticed a jewelry store and on the front display, a beautiful diamond necklace caught his eye. He thought for a moment before shaking his head 'If I get her something like this it'll send the wrong message.'
Just then Fugaku called over to him, he stood near a store filled with cute plushies and other trinkets. As the two guys entered the store they were overwhelmed by the smell of strong perfume. Aito gagged for a second and Fugaku seemed like he was in a trance. He immediately went over and started flirting with some female customers that were on one side of the store and Aito shook his head. As he walked down the aisles he looked around, there were plush bunnies, cats, dogs, birds, every animal you could think of was turned into a cute plush version. They had large ones to use as body pillows and very small keychain-sized ones. He decided on getting a cream-colored cat plushie, it had a long body and brown mittens with a cute face.
At least it was supposed to be cute. Aito didn't find things like this cute, but then his thoughts wandered as he spotted a pair of cat ears on display, he blushed softly at the thought of Mei looking up at him with her long lashes and big round auburn colored eyes posing like a cat.
Suddenly Fugaku appeared next to him, a grin on his face "You wanna get her the cat ears don't you?"
Aito jumped slightly, not noticing the boy next to him, and cleared his throat "Stop being a pervert, let's get out of here."
Fugaku chuckled and snatched up the ears that were on display, once they got to the register they paid for their items, Fugaku slipped the cat ears into Aito's bag and they went on to look for Setsuya, once they found her she was chowing down on some free samples outside of a candy shop.
"Oi Setsu!" Fugaku called out to her, she waved back to them and held up a bag with a box of candy triumphantly.
"You guys found your gifts?"
"I still have to pick out a gift, maybe I should get her a bathing suit." As Fugaku started to imagine Mei in a bathing suit Aito glared daggers at him, causing him to snap out of his thoughts. "Or maybe I'll get her some perfume..." He once again started with his dirty thoughts. Aito sighed, this guy is hopeless.
After spending more time going in and out of various stores they decided it was time to head home. Just as they were about to walk towards the train station they spotted Mei walking out of a restaurant with her parents.
"Mei-chan!" Setsuya called out to the girl, handing her bag to Aito and running to catch up with her. Mei turned and smiled, hugging the girl once she caught up. As the two girls chatted happily with each other, Fugaku sighed "She's so pretty." He said quietly, his eyes fixed on Setsuya.
"Why don't you ask her out then?"
"We wouldn't be good as a couple, plus she likes girls more, I don't think I'd be able to make her happy. And my family isn't as rich as hers is, I don't feel like pissing Mr. Honda off." He said with a laugh.
Aito shrugged "Well maybe you should stop flirting with other girls and maybe she'll like you more."
Fugaku slumped over "I only flirt with other girls because I can't flirt with her!" He whined, "I can only make her laugh, I can't seriously flirt with her because I'm scared of being rejected by her."
Aito sighed, he didn't know what advice to give because he didn't care too much about this stuff. He believed if you liked someone you should just tell them, no point in hiding it. Before he could say anything Setsuya came back over to them, Mei and her parents stood near the entrance to a parking garage.
"Aito, Mr. Tetsuo asked if you wanted a ride home."
Fugaku perked up and nudged him "You should go!"
Aito rolled his eyes, it didn't matter if he went or not, the ride would be quiet whether he was on the train or in the car. "Fine. See you tomorrow." He said, walking away from the two.
He was glad that the cashier wrapped the gifts up in a way that you couldn't tell what they were so he didn't have to worry about her finding out about his gifts. After getting to the car, they drove off in the direction of their homes. Mei quietly sneaking glances at the bag Aito carried. After catching her looking he smirked "You wanna know what's in the bag that bad huh?"
Mei scoffed and turned her head away from him "I don't care about your stupid bag."
"You won't be saying that Saturday." He said, leaning his head against the window and closing his eyes. They sat in silence for a while before Mei glanced over at him again, it was nighttime and his shoulder-length black hair framed his face perfectly, some of it casting a curtain over part of his face. As she looked at him she noticed that he had fallen asleep, 'He must've had a long day.' She thought. His face looked less intimidating and more innocent while he was asleep. She sighed and turned to look back out of the window.
Once they arrived at Aito's house she looked over to find he was still fast asleep. 'What a dummy falling asleep in someone else's car.' She smirked at him before nudging him awake. "Aito wake up"
He stirred and sleepily opened his eyes, as they focused he stared at her for a moment. "What are you doing here?" He asked in a confused voice.
Mei laughed "You're in our car, we're dropping you off."
Aito sighed and rubbed his face before gathering his things and stepping out of the car "Thank you." He said quietly before heading to his front door.
'He's so strange.' Mei thought as they drove back home.
******
As Mei climbed into her bed she stared over at the rock that had now found its place on her desk across her room. She then closed her eyes and thought about how soft Aito looked while he slept, if only he had that same look while he was awake. She wouldn't always feel so shy or nervous around him then.
But those were thoughts for another day.