It was a Friday night and fourteen-year-old Yuta Tamamori’s mother had arranged for him to stay the night with his younger cousin Yuya.
“But mom!” Yuta whined, having no avidity at all to spend the night with his shy little cousin, “There’s supposed to be an awesome party tonight that I want to go to!”
“Well,” she replied, “there will be more parties in the future, dear. And I’m sure that it’s not going to be that great anyway.” She shooed her son into the car and set off towards her sister’s house.
“Hey now! I’m fourteen already, don’t you think it’s time I get a girlfriend?” Yuta smiled coyly, flexing his incipient muscles.
His mother rolled her eyes. “Please. You hardly need to be thinking about girls right now, what with that C+ in math. Besides, your cousin is really shy and your aunt tells me he hasn’t been fitting in at school well. Maybe you could help him?”
Yuta’s silence was ephemeral. “That’s because he’s a loser! He’s too shy for anyone to like him.”
“Yuta! That’s very rude. Yuya is just a little scared of people; you know how his father was.”
Yuta’s mind was imbued with memories of the violent, drunken man. They were both still in grade school, and Yuta had wandered over to Yuya’s to play. When he approached the door, he could hear loud crashes, screams, and yelling. Stepping tentatively towards the noise, Yuta saw Yuya’s father, usually a salubrious, kind man, full of rage and venom. The man’s back was to him, and Yuta peeked around him to see Yuya cowering in the corner, his clothes full of rents and his skin full of bruises and scratches. His feet had moved on his own, and he went to comfort Yuya, but Yuta stepped on some broken glass, alerting Yuya’s father of his presence. The man whipped around and set his drunken sights on Yuta. Yuta’s eyes widened for a split second before turning around and running out towards the yard, the drunken man hot on his heels. Yuta’s young mind prognosticated that his life would not continue much longer, but when he reached the yard, he was met with the comforting sight of the police, who took the man away. It was the last Yuta had ever seen of him. As Yuta held his younger cousin in his arms, he comforted Yuya with promises to always protect him, making it his tenet.
The familiar ‘thump-thump’ of pulling into a driveway purloined Yuta’s thoughts from his past, and he looked up at the house in which Yuya and his mother now lived by themselves. His mother parked the car and the two got out, Yuta dragging his duffle bag behind him. He had barely set foot inside the house when his mother and Yuya’s mother said quick good-byes and set off to go shopping. Yuya shyly met Yuta’s eyes before staring at the ground again.
“Hi, Yuuyan,” Yuta said with a grin, hoping that using his cousin’s old nickname would remind the boy of their old friendship. All through elementary school, the two had been inseparable, but now as their middle school days neared an end, they hadn’t talked much at all.
“Hi… Yutaan,” Yuya replied with a small smile.
“So, what should we do?”
“We could play video games…if you want.”
Yuta was just as in love with video games as the next middle school boy, and excitedly accepted the offer. The two sat down in the living room, and Yuya ordered some pizza while Yuta set up the gaming system. The two boys ate, snacked, and played until they were satiated, and finally decided to go outside for some evening basketball. After two rounds Yuta plopped down on the grass and wiped his forehead.
“You always were better than me at this!”
“Well you know…” Yuya took on a declamatory air, “I am more athletic, smarter, better looking…”
It took Yuta a few minutes to realize he’d been insulted, responding with an indignant, “Hey!”
Yuya laughed airily as he sat down next to Yuta, spinning the basketball in his hands.
“Just kidding,” he said with a smile. After a few moments of comfortable silence, Yuya spoke again.
“Actually, I’ve always looked up to you. You’re so good with people, and have so many friends. Everybody seems to like you…”
“Well, I have to be good at something!” the two boys laughed for a moment and Yuta resumed speaking. “Yuya, you would have plenty of friends if you just opened up to some people.” Yuta placed a hand on his cousin’s shoulder. “I could always give you a push in the right direction though,” he added with a smile.
Yuya grinned back, “Thanks. I would actually really like that.”
I ♥ these two. x3
~Mayu♥
