Chapter 17 - Clean Slate

Part 2/5

Like every other Monday, this one was very chaotic in the Nakamura household. But today, it wasn't his sister's mood swings or brother's lost tie causing the morning fuss. 

Yuki would have given anything for it to be that simple.

“You said so yourself, Dad. They were expelled and will be gone before my first class today. It will be fine,” Yuki repeated for what felt like the hundredth time, his tone very impatient. “There's no reason for me to stay home.”

“I still said no, Yuki!” his father spoke resolutely from the bathroom. “We’ve been through this—”

“Yes, we have,” Yuki huffed from the kitchen. 

He was forming onigiri for their lunches, and having a really hard time with it. The first few were fine, but as the house began to stir and the time to leave for school got closer, he started messing up the form. 

Having finally made it to his own lunch, he rolled one with too little rice and it wouldn't hold together. After adding more rice, it was too big and tore through the seaweed shell. Growling in frustration, he stuffed the whole thing in his mouth and began cleaning up instead. He was almost positive he wouldn't be hungry later anyway. 

“I don't even want you going back to that school. What happened to you begging to drop the study sessions?” His dad poked his head out of the bathroom. “I had to convince you to stay for a single term.”

“You were right, I learn better in class,” Yuki lied. “Besides, there's no reason to make a big deal out of this.”

“Yuki...”

“I just...” Yuki sighed. “Dad, nothing about my teen years has been normal. Now that Akuma is gone, maybe I can spend the next few weeks just being like any other student.” Maybe I can pretend none of that ever happened.

Eyebrows furrowed, his father glared at him. He was annoyed, but not mad. Because he knew Yuki had a point. Yuki always had the logic figured out. So his father could never disagree.

“Can’t you at least wait one day? I want to be sure you won't have any other problems. But I'm not able to go to your school till this afternoon,” his dad explained.

“I'm eighteen. Technically, I’m an adult,” Yuki pointed out.

“An adult under my roof,” his dad steamed back.

“Daddy, you said Yuki would be fine at school. He will be, right?” Daiki asked, suddenly at the bathroom door, looking close to tears.

“I’m going to be just fine,” Yuki assured him, very light-hearted, as he scooped up his brother from behind. “Like Dad said, it's all been taken care of.”

Yuki hated using Daiki against his father, but he had no plans on losing this argument. He wasn't in the right mindset to be home alone. If he said that, however, his dad would make sure he wasn't alone.

He didn't want his dad missing work. The girls had just started their club activities in middle school, and Daiki was finally settled into his new elementary school. Yuki wasn't going to derail everyone's day over a few scratches.

The weekend had been too overwhelming already. With very little sleep, Yuki had waded through the days. Texts had come in from Kai and Ren, to which he answered as vaguely as possible. He didn't know what was going on anyway. 

When they weren't dealing with the police, his school, or his injuries, Yuki's siblings had him distracted by anything and everything they could think of. All the while, he struggled to move past the incident.

He wasn't struggling with the fact that he had been targeted, stalked from the school grounds, cornered, shoved to the ground and nearly choked. No. What haunted Yuki when he closed his eyes was the look Akuma had worn just before Niko had shown up.

The sweet tone, thin smile, and sharp hungry eyes. ‘If that's what you need,’ Akuma's voice etched in his mind. Yuki shook, remembering the icy shock of Akuma reaching for his face. 

“You’re super pale,” Akari complained as she squeezed by the narrow corridor to get into the living room. “If you go to school and pass out, you have no one to blame but yourself.” 

“Thanks for the reminder,” Yuki groaned. 

“Yuki, I want you to invite your friends over,” his dad said with a smile as he took Daiki from Yuki's arms and put him down. 

“You mean Kai and Niko?” Yuki asked hesitantly. 

Daiki squirmed with a huge grin. “Kai’s coming over?” 

Yuki didn't want to face them just yet. It didn't matter that Kai had texted that he was sorry, or that Niko had actually called Yuki to discuss what had happened and how long his bullying and harassment issues had been going on. They were worried. And Yuki wasn't sure he could stop judging himself long enough to put them at ease.

“They are really busy with their school right now,” Yuki claimed, hoping the excuse would stick.

“Still, I want to thank them. And the other one, too. What was his name?” his father asked. 

“Watanabe,” Yuki answered, same as he had the night of the incident. His stomach did a weird somersault at the sound of the name coming out of his mouth.

Gaman nodded. “Yes, that one. I want to thank them all. I'm sure they can make some time.”

“Maybe next week or something. I still haven't really talked with them, so…”

“But I haven't seen Kai in forever!” Daiki cried, pouting dramatically. 

Yuki chuckled. “He has more important stuff to do than to hang out with you, little bug,” he teased, ruffling his little brother's dark hair.

“That's why you're supposed to date him!” Daiki stomped his foot with a huff.

“Poor Daiki,” Akari taunted. “Looks like your wish will never come true, given Yuki definitely likes someone else right now.”

The two continued to argue about Yuki's potential boyfriend. He had gotten pretty used to this behavior since Nikai came into his life. First, his family was oblivious to why Yuki thought there might be an issue with him liking a boy. Then, they started matching him with any guy they thought was half-decent. 

It's not that Yuki had declared he was bi or anything. But his family was open and honest about pretty much everything. So when he introduced Kai to them, the story about Niko just kind of slipped out. 

Their antics about it put him at ease. He was in no rush to define himself, and they were in no rush to make him. Yuki did wish Daiki would stop trying to pair him with someone for his own gain, though.

The thought of being paired reminded him of the fireworks, and how Ren had been his. Everything that happened came pouring back in. Shaking his head, he pulled out his phone and instinctively checked Ren's last text. 

Wannabe: You’re not going to school today, right?

Dad would love that. Yuki thought with a chuckle. But how would I even ask him to come over?

Yuki gasped at his realization. Was that what he wanted right now? Ren by his side, and nothing more?

“It's Watanabe Ren, isn't it?” Aimi whispered in Yuki's ear, scaring him half to death. 

“Don't sneak up on me like that!” Yuki yelled. Hiding his phone in his pocket, he moved to the kitchen and began divvying out the lunches he had made. “And don't go wasting your allowances on food now that you have spending money, either. We can always buy something else for—”

“You're avoiding my question again!” Aimi pouted. “Why can't you be honest?” 

That, unfortunately, caught Akari’s attention. She rushed to her sister's side and whispered. “Is it about you-know-who?”

Aimi nodded fervently. “Watanabe is a surname, right?”

“Okay, you two, out!” Yuki shouted, hurriedly ushering them towards the door. 

“Daddy said not to hide things, Yuki.” Daiki puffed out his cheeks, the cutest furrow forming on his face. “You promised you'd stop!” 

“This is different,” Yuki responded without thinking, causing his sisters to giggle wildly. “I'm just not sharing.”

“That's still hiding!” Daiki stomped his foot again, fists tight on his sides. 

“Dad, help me out!” Yuki begged. 

Gaman, who almost always stayed out of the squabbles his children had, simply smiled as he grabbed his and Daiki’s lunch off the counter. “Leave your brother alone, kids. He'll tell us about his love life when he's ready to.”

“Dad!”

After several more jabs at Yuki's expense, they left him home alone. 

The silence was deafening. 

Instantly going for his phone, he thought of people to call. Yumi would be in her college classes. Kai would nag him in a rushed manner since his classes were also starting soon. Niko might not answer. But if he did, it would be to bitch some more about being kept in the dark for so long. And Ren…

Staring at Ren's earlier message, he sighed. It was already over an hour old. Surely, he didn't normally get up that early. But would that mean he was up early just to text him? 

If that were true, he wouldn't have given up on bugging me so easily.

Stretching his arms and cracking his back, Yuki set to work, cleaning the house until it was time for him to leave for school.