Hakuta headed down the stairs first. She was taking her time, so this left him with the responsibility of finishing up their dinner. The boy was fine with accepting it, seeing even he understood why she would hesitate on following him down the steps.
Why indeed would be so harsh to her on this matter. If anything, it was uncalled for seeing as she had done wrong to him this time around. And even then, what he said to her was too far. This idea was not lost to him as he peered over the stove heating their food.
As expected, she was no cook. When he wasn't the one cooking their meals. The pair would usually get take out from some cheap restaurant nearby. According to Shiuka, that was how she would spend her nights when not hanging out with friends, which was not often at all. So therefore she never gained any experience in the kitchen despite having one all to herself when her dad was gone.
Speaking of parents, that was one person Hakuta never imagined he'd miss so much. While his father was a huge knucklehead, at least that was a man who loved him. Being in this house with someone he'd barely call more than an acquaintance made him miss any semblance of connection.
Back to the food at hand, there were some instant ramen boiling away in a bigger pot. This would surely be more than enough for the pair, but also lacking. So he was glad she took some time to get some beef cut up and some vegetables out as well. The latter was a surprise, but judging from all the seasoning that drowned it, this girl appeared to have listened to his advice.
Finally, as he finished up cooking their food and setting the bowls out. Shiuka had made her way down the stairs to join him. The typical gyaru energy she possessed was missing. Instead, now replaced with empty eyes as the girl sat down at the kitchen counter besides him.
She seemed to be quite distraught from his words, certainly more than he expected. They had their spats from time-to-time, and she certainly had some choice words for him to back then. This time though, she just took what he said and rolled over without much of a fight. Oddly uncharacteristic coming from her, at least in his eyes. Maybe he did go further than he thought he did.
This made the first half of their meal a bit awkward after he set her bowl, topped to the brim with meat and some vegetables. Well, it was mostly the beef and a couple of ounces of bean sprouts. Still, that didn't brighten her mood as the girl slowly slurped up her noodles while chewing on the meat.
This was certainly more polite of eating than he was used to out of her. In fact, even though he was still clean, she was being a bit more proper compared to him. Something about that change made him uncomfortable, that somehow despite always complaining about her manner. Hakuta missed the old ways she would do things.
"I…" He broke the deafening silence between them after getting some bites in. There was no reason to continue this divide between them. Especially when it was his fault she was this way. "I want to apologize for what I said." She paused from eating to slowly turn her head towards him. A small noodle still hung from her lips as she stared at the boy. "I didn't mean what I said about how high school was going to be your peak." He was genuine in what he told her. The things that he said to her before were coming from a place he didn't want to admit openly about. That he wanted to hide away what he truly felt about seeing those pictures.
"Well…" Finally, she spoke for the first time since dinner started. "It's not the insult I cared about." While it was nice to see him apologize to her for once, it wasn't why she felt the way she did. "Those memories are important to me. I don't like how you can just throw them away so easily."
This was a conversation that was fairly touchy for this girl. Considering the circumstances, it made perfect sense. "My mama, she passed away when I was still little." Which meant she didn't get to spend that much of time with her. Especially given her age, where she didn't remember what the woman even looked like. "But, at least I still have this picture." Shiuka produced from her shirt pocket, an image of her mother standing out in a grassy field.
"I see…" Now he understood why his words were so hurtful for her. "I didn't mean to insult your mom or anything." The truth was, he didn't even dislike the picture book she kept of all of them. A part of him on the inside was truly happy to see this part of her private life. That this girl noticed and cared about those around her. Even those who barely talked to her. Or worse like him, where they argued multiple times with. "It's nice you keep that stuff around. Don't let me discourage you."
"Well, do you think my mama's pretty?" Shiuka asked, shoving the photo right into his face. Her mood returned back to the normal form that usually annoyed him. "Papa says I got her eyes." While the way she acted would irritate him, this time was slightly different as he looked at her smile.
"Sure." He replied, avoiding to describe deeply his own feelings.
Afterwards, their dinner was finished. With that, the pair got everything put into the dishwasher and that was all they needed to do for cleaning. Since the pair didn't have much in the way of homework, this left Hakuta with plenty of free time to get back to the game he downloaded earlier in the day. Yet again, she sat down on the couch with him to try and get a chance to play by his side.
"Come on." She spoke in a whiny voice. He attempted to ignore her as he only connected one controller and fired up the game. "I just want to try it once." The boy glared at her. How could this girl, who openly stated she didn't care for this console, wanted to play so badly with him? This was the same person who literally left the house just so she could buy another controller so they could both play at the same time. Though hers was not an official one, but rather one of the off-brand ones with a design that just streamed gyaru. The pink details and flowery pattern was proof of that.
"I still don't know why you're suddenly interested in playing with me." He responded.
"Isn't it obvious?" She replied as if he just asked a stupid question. "The characters are just so darn cute." Apparently the aesthetic choice for this game was the only thing motivating her. He sighed in response and finally relented. He plugged in the other controller so that they could play some split screen in match making.
"You know…" He spoke up as they got underway into their first level. "I was so happy to see you were the ones who got my old console." Though it was obvious to her from the way he acted.
"Are video games all you care about?" She asked, her eyes not leaving the screen for a second.
"Because it's all I have left of her." His statement caused her to pause her game. Well, not pause it since they were playing an online multiplayer title, but more so stop her character right where she was standing.
Of course, the person Hakuta referred to was his own mother, who had passed away just a few years ago. His family was never wealthy, so they didn't own that many things, let alone keep much of old family items from her. In fact, when his dad was forced to sell everything to pay off debt. It seemed that anything he could've held dear for his mom's sake was gone forever.
However, seeing his Toystation filled him with joy beyond simply getting his entertainment machine back. When he was a young boy, she had gotten it for him on his birthday. With their finances, she clearly had to have been saving up for it with a lot of work.
It was also the last thing she ever got for him.
"Aw, gee." She was surprised he would open up to her about something so personal. "It's okay you don't have to tell me about these things if you don't wanna."
"Well, it's only fair." After all, she told him about her mother. "And I guess you're right that our memories are important." In the end, she got him to convert to her side. Though perhaps, he always agreed with her, and only simply butted heads on this matter because it was her making the argument.
"There we go." Getting a bit too excited, Shiuka wrapped her arm around him and tightly pulled the boy in for a hug. It was a bit much for him as not only did she grab his neck, but also that he was getting pushed into her bosom. "How about we make tons of memories together this year?"
"All right, I get it." He pushed off of her as his face was covered in shades of red in embarrassment. "And sure, not like I have any other choice." After all, with the two of them living in the same house. Anything they did would inevitably be done with each other.
"Aww!" Getting back to the game, she realized that her character got killed due to her inaction. Meanwhile, he was just about to get to the finish line, though with him being at the tail end of things. It was either going to be him or some of the half dozen other competitors left. Though he was ahead of his opponents.
However, because he noticed she had been eliminated from the race. Hakuta did something he rarely ever did, if at all. The boy took his character and purposely threw them off the platforms, ending any chance of him winning. "Huh? Why'd you do that?" Shiuka was shocked to see him do that when he was clearly going to win.
"It's like you said." He responded as the boy took their game party back to the main menu and prepared to enter another match. "We should make memories… Together." She smiled, as Shiuka gave her response by taking her controller once again.
"You're right." She said as they got loaded in with the rest of the players. "We'll do this together… Hakuta."