JUNE 18TH 2015, THURSDAY
Afterschool Knock, knock. Sato stood outside Rokurou's home, clutching his school bag and a stack of papers. Some kid from 3-2 had asked him to deliver the school work Rokurou had missed in his absence. Truth be told, Sato didn't even know that Rokurou had been absent. He'd been too preoccupied with his own studies and the cult case to go to archery practice, or even notice. But here he was, since Sato was seen as "Ishihara's friend" at school, his name only known by association with Rokurou. Apparently, Rokurou wasn't particularly friendly with the crowd in 3-2, and escaped from conversations and events through detailing his plans with Sato or whoever else. Thus, Sato was known as Rokurou's escape plan.
Or, at least, that was what Rokurou told him. Realizing nobody was coming, Sato knocked again, this time peering through the window to see if anyone was even there. A few moments passed, and just as Sato was turning around to leave, the door opened and there stood one of Rokurou's snotty younger brothers. This time literally snotty as he appeared to be sick.
"Hey there." Sato started, shifted uncomfortably in his clothes. How do you talk to kids, let alone kids you don't know? "I'm a friend of Rokurou's. Do you happen to know where your brother is?"
The kid only sniffed, clutching a blanket and a bottle of water. Sato rolled his eyes, and was about to give the kid the papers when the kid pointed behind Sato. The teen turned around to see Rokurou appear from the street. He gave a wave, and with that, Rokurou's brother shuffled off back to bed.
"Here's your notes," Sato said, handing the stack off to the taller male as he walked past. Rokurou didn't even look at them before tossing them onto some table inside. He was almost gone down a hallway when he turned around to say something.
"What are you waiting for? Make yourself at home." And with that, Rokurou disappeared into some room. Sato looked around hesistantly, before inviting himself into the Ishihara residence. He'd been there plenty before of course, but it was... missing something. Paintings, or furniture, or something. Regardless, Sato found his way to the kitchen and stood by the sink. The sounds of a water boiler vibrated through the house, and it occured to Sato that Rokurou had been wearing work clothes, and was probably showering now. But why would he be skipping school to go work? Who would even let him do that, or even let him work?
It was as he contemplated this that he realized that Rokurou's family wasn't at home, except for one brother. A rummaging sound distracted Sato from his thoughts, and he turned to see Rokurou scanning the fridge for something. It was depressingly lacking. Eventually he decided on some kind of leftovers, which was thrown into the microwave for a minute. Rokurou leaned back against the counter and looked at Sato, who awkwardly hovered over the sink. The brawnier teen was wearing a blue shirt and presumably his boxer. His hair was still soaked, a towel wrapped around his neck. Did he even try to dry it?
On a different train of thought, it made Sato all the more conscious that he was wearing his uniform, fresh out of school. The microwave stopped, beeping instead. Was he out of school to take care of his brother, who was presumably sick? Where was his family? Rokurou put a disgusting amount of soy sauce on whatever it was he was planning on eating.
"The family's out in Hokkaido 'cuz some aunt died. I was planning on kicking it home alone, but then my asshole of a brother decided to get sick last minute and I had to take care of him for the week." Rokurou blurted out, stirring his food. "'Case you were wondering."
"I was." Sato admitted, looking up at Rokurou. "Don't you think it would've nice to go to your dead aunt's funeral? It's your family, after all."
"Fuck family," Rokurou replied through a mouthful of rice. He took a moment to swallow it before continuing. "My parents would'nt've wanted me to come anyway. I'm not too well recieved in my family, in case you didn't put that together. They're so in love with school that they've had it with my
delinquent behavior. You'd think they'd be mistaking me with those posers from school who try to act all tough all the time." He took a bite out of some kind of eggroll. It looked gross, fitting the copius amounts of soy put on it.
"I get it, actually. There are some people in my family I'd rather be without too. Not like I ever talk to them or anything, but it'd be better if they just... didn't exist, or something." Sato glanced down at the floor, eyes tracing the lines in the wood flooring. The look of slight surprise on Rokurou's face was too annoying to look at. Before the whole cult thing happened to him, Sato would've just disagreed with him, too ashamed to admit his true feelings that fell in line with Rokurou's. But now... He had made a promise to himself, then. And he was going to keep it.
Rokurou's voice broke him out of his thought. "Can ya help me decipher my homework? I'm too dumb to get caught up on time without help." A warm smile accompanied the request, and Sato just couldn't say no. Sato started towards the stack of papers to get started, but as he passed Rokurou, he ripped the towel from around Rokurou's neck and quickly dried the taller teen's dripping hair with it before he could get away.
"Don't walk around like that," Sato said, subtly imitating his own mother. "You'll get a cold."
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