01. The Siblings  

part a

Tuesday. Just another typical, boring Tuesday. Except that is not. I’m far away from home and I’m only getting further. Outside is warm, inside is pleasant, my seat is comfortable and the cable towers keep coming and going.

Takehiko paused his writing and pressed his unsharpened blue pencil against his lips. He looked outside. The train was moving incredibly fast. It was only about one and a half hours ago that it had left St. Pancras station and it was already about to go through the Channel and enter France.

He loved trains. What was there not to love? The smooth swaying of his body, the soporific clickety-clack of the wheels rolling over the rails, the marvellous scenery. Takehiko was exhilarated by everything his sparkling brown eyes were about to witness. Bits of England, France, Brussels and finally the land of dancing houses and hazy coffee shops, the Netherlands. So many different places, cultures and architecture. He wanted to capture it all. With notes, pictures or even quick sketches.

Back in the train opposite him, there was an old man sitting and reading The Times. Luckily no one else was at their table and perhaps that geezer would leave at the next stop and Takehiko would have the whole four-seater for himself, all the way to Amsterdam. That was, however, not the case for the adjacent table. A couple was resting against each other on one side and a young girl around her mid-twenties sleeping at the other. It was the first time throughout the whole journey so far that she was quiet. It seemed that she had a really bad cold and would go back and forth to the bathroom to unclog her stuffy nose. Now she had her eyes closed, the irritated skin around her nose all red and dry. Bless her soul, Takehiko thought with sympathy. It was not so long ago that he was in her shoes.

He went back to scribbling down his thoughts but soon realised he was way too excited to focus. As he was about to place his pencil and notebook on the table before him, a pair of delicate, gnarled hands with sparkly, red nails approached him. Takehiko looked up. A middle-aged woman, dressed in a dark-blue uniform and the tightest high-bun, was looking at him with a wide smile. She was moving her lips. 

Takehiko raised his hands up and slid his noise-cancelling headphones down and around his neck. He immediately realised that one thing he dreaded about trains, or any means of transportation for the matter: the people inside them and the horrid noise they were making. The chatter, the baby cries, the loud music leaking from cheap earphones or from electronics of people who didn’t care to use any. It all overwhelmed him like a sound wave, forcing him to squint his eyes and breath in sharply.

“Pardon?” he asked, wishing he had just ignored her and kept listening to his favourite music instead. After all, pausing Led Zeppelin’s ‘Black Dog’ for whatever reason should’ve been illegal.

“Monsieur Yamada?” the woman said with a hint of annoyance in her voice, her bright smile, however, never left her face.

“Y-yes.” 

“Bonjour. Here’s your breakfast,” she continued and placed in front of Takehiko a tray with a light meal. It was then when he finally noticed the food tray between them. His mouth watered instantly. “Tea? Coffee?”

“Coffee, please.”

The woman poured the dark liquid into a china cup and placed it on the table in front of Takehiko. “Sugar? Cream?”

“No, thank you.”

When the trolley lady left, Takehiko looked at all the goodies in the tray. A scone, a warm croissant, some marmalade and butter, a glass of orange juice and a few pieces of fruit. It wasn’t much but it was food. Food was always a great excuse to be interrupted. 

He was really glad he had paid an extra bit to have food served. Being this his very first time travelling alone, he was way too scared to leave his seat even for a bathroom break. With his precious handheld and tons of mouth-watering delicacies for his sister, Ayaka, in his knapsack, he didn’t want to risk it. He had even packed his favourite snacks, baked Cheddars and freshly baked oatmeal cookies from Sainsbury’s, in case he was feeling peckish, which, for a seventeen-year-old boy like him, was always the case.

He had planned this trip to his sister’s place in Leiden weeks ago when he first received his acceptance letter from the same university she was studying in. All of this in secret, of course. 

He hoped that this surprise visit would give her great joy. With this thought, a half-smile appeared on his lips as his gaze got lost in the wild flora. The English countryside always managed to fascinate him. The deep green leaves, the glistening grass, the blushing ivy. 

Soon everything was gone, replaced by grey concrete. They were finally in the dark and cold English Channel. Three more hours to go, or so. Takehiko put his headphones back on, closed his eyes and enjoyed the ride, with his favourite tunes blasting in his ears.

 

❦

 

It was quite early in the afternoon when Takehiko’s third and final train arrived at Leiden’s central station, surprisingly on time. He snatched his belongings and took a taxi. When he finally arrived at the address his phone was pointing at, he took a deep breath in and hoped everything would continue going smoothly. He rang the bell of the building's entrance and waited. Before long, he heard a deep voice through the buzzer.

"Hallo?"

This wasn't how his sister's voice would sound, as far as Takehiko remembered. Yes, it had gotten a bit deeper the last couple of years, but it was never that deep.

"I, uh-" Takehiko mumbled. He scratched his scarce beard nervously. He wondered whether he had rung the wrong flat or even the wrong house. His heart was racing so fast he could hear it, his face was flushed beetroot red. His plan was already falling apart. Even though he was proficient in Dutch, he was still not very confident speaking it. He gave it a go anyway. "I-Is dit Ayaka Yamada's plek?"

"Ja,” the voice confirmed.

Takehiko sighed with relief. It was his sister's flat after all. Maybe that's her boyfriend, he wondered. She had mentioned during their last phone call she had started seeing someone the last couple of weeks after all. He gathered all his strength and cleared his throat before continuing. He had not messed up. Yet.

"Is zij er?"

"No- Wie is dit?"

"I-Ik ben haar b-broer."

"Broer?! Oh, shite," the deep voice responded in clear English and a burst of loud laughter was heard, ending in a dry cough. "Second floor, I'm buzzing you in."

Takehiko, still in shock, entered and took the stairs up. After a very tiresome day, he had finally made it. Almost. The voice had said she wasn’t there. Maybe she was out shopping? She couldn’t possibly have any classes at this time of the day... He tried to recollect himself, gather any last bits of courage left in him and knocked on the wooden door. 

Not before long, it opened wide, its hinges shrieking in the process. A young lanky man was revealed, Takehiko estimated him roughly around 6’5’’, perhaps more. His bony white hands were barely visible underneath his black polo neck jumper. Thick, round, black-rimmed glasses were framing his fair face, while the foggy lenses were well hiding his eyes. His shaggy blond hair was pointing in every possible direction as if he had just woken up. Skinny legs in loose jeans. Feet in odd socks. 

"Brother, eh? Také-something?"

"Takehiko," the boy said and nodded.

"You don't look alike."

"I know."

"You're both very short, though."

"I know," Takehiko repeated, slowly becoming more and more irritated. He could already tell that this guy would be someone he would positively avoid. "Where's my sister?"

"You literally just missed her... Wait, let me guess. You're here to surprise her, yeah?"

"H- How do you know that?"

"Oh, that's gas!" The man laughed very loudly. "Are you two twins?”

“No. What does that even mean?”

“You decided on the exact same time to secretly visit each other! This is deadly! Give me a second, will ya?"

The tall blond took a phone out of his pocket and quickly swiped his thumb on the screen. He then placed the thin device next to his ear, waiting for his call to be answered. 

In the meantime, Takehiko was trying to understand where the man standing in front of him was from. Definitely not Dutch, he pondered, and definitely not English. Perhaps Scottish? Are they the ones who say shite? Even though his family had already been in Brighton, England, for three years now, he still had quite a lot of trouble distinguishing between the myriads of accents and dialects. His Polish mother for once, even though raised in the UK, still had her very strong accent and his Japanese father, well, he tried. So, Takehiko couldn’t know any better. It seemed to him, though, that this man’s accent was quite melodic with many ups and downs, though sharp, making it easy to speak fast and very difficult for Takehiko to understand the words clearly.

Suddenly, a very loud girly voice came from the man’s phone, so loud that even Takehiko could hear. The blond lowered the volume with the side button of his phone and, once the screeching stopped, began talking, his free hand moving around vividly.

"... Yes, 'tis I, your favourite gobshite and no, you didn't forget anything- Yes, I looked everywhere, even in your stinky kitchen, like. Ever heard of washing-up liquid? But c'mere, listen! You’ll never guess what happened! A package just came for ye. ... I reckon it’s from your parents. I shall drive over and deliver it, your highness. ... No, no, you should definitely have it before you leave, d’you know like? ... Well, alright, stop your yappin', Jesus, I am leaving right now! ... Yes, if you could just stop talkin' for a fekin' second, I'll be there in no time at all! ... Fine. Bye, bye, bye-"

He pressed his thumb on the lower part of the screen and with a loud groan pocketed his phone. He went inside the flat and after a couple of minutes, he was back, shoes and puffy jacket on, a set of keys in his hand. He continued walking fast towards the stairs after closing and locking the door. He gestured at Takehiko. "Come along then!"

Takehiko followed him closely and in a moment, the blond got near a black Mini and unlocked it.

"Put your bag in the boot and come join me in the front, will ya?"

Takehiko nodded and obediently did as he was told. When they were both in the car, the man started the engine. He got on the road and gradually gained speed.

"S-s-so... y-you are?" Takehiko timidly asked.

"Me?" the blond asked, startled by the question. "Aya has never mentioned me?"

"M-Maybe? I-I-I don't know, really. S-she talks too much..."

"She sure does,” the other chuckled. “Well then, you can call me Ocean."

"Ocean…” Takehiko paused, fully aware that his nervous stutter was already building up, and tried to dig through the name list in his mind. That name, however, was nowhere to be found, leaving him with a single conclusion. “A-Are you her boyfriend?" 

"Pardon?" the man named Ocean yelped in surprise, raising both of his eyebrows. He started laughing once again, revealing his white, well-shaped teeth. "No! Not even close! We're just very good neighbours, like! I live on the third floor. We're also going to the same uni, d’you know what I mean? Aya told me you might be joining us this year, yeah?"

"Might be?" Takehiko scoffed. "I am going to! Got my letter and everything."

"Oh, c’mere, well done, you! D’you know what-"

"Physics."

Listening to Takehiko's answer, Ocean couldn't help but smirk. 

"Excellent. Doing my grad studies myself at the department. Good craic but you’d better improve your speaking and soon, like. Will come handy and will make people less uncomfortable, so."

After their small talk, they both kept awkwardly silent while Takehiko stared at the road, avoiding any possible eye contact. That guy, he thought. On the one hand, he was grateful that he was offered a ride to go meet his sister, but on the other hand… Something wasn’t right with him. Why hadn’t she mentioned him before? He was absolutely certain about it, even though he lied, and boy does Aya like to talk about everything. Takehiko kept biting his nails with those thoughts. 

Soon, though, he couldn’t help but feel extremely sleepy. He had woken up way too early so he could enjoy his long journey and be with his sister before sunset. And all these sounds surrounding him, the soft music on the radio, the engine running, not to even mention the air-con softly caressing his face… So, before realising it, his heavy eyelids betrayed him and dropped down like a stage curtain.

 

❦