Chapter 6: Hometown

It was still quite early in the morning when Kazuya and Jin arrived in Kame’s hometown. Even though at first the younger boy was shocked by the sudden trip, he was really overjoyed by the perspective of visiting his family. He hadn’t seen them for more than a year and he couldn’t wait to talk to them. Jin wasn’t as happy as Kazuya was. He was sleepy and tired but he appreciated the necklace that Yue had given him; he was able to finally rest peacefully.

It didn’t take them long to find the house. Kame smiled widely and started bouncing towards it, Jin following close behind him slightly smiling at the boy’s obvious happiness. The boy stopped in front of the door and rang a bell while Jin, didn’t know why, was nervously fidgeting next to him. A few seconds passed and the door opened revealing a middle aged woman.

“Hey mom, long time no see.” Kazuya smiled and the woman blinked confused but soon started to squeal happily and embraced her third son in a breathtaking hug.

“Kazuya! What are you doing here? And who’s your friend?” She asked when she finally released her child.

“Um, it’s a little complicated. Can we come in?”

“Oh! Of course, of course!”

The woman let them in. When they put down their suitcases, Kame’s mom took them to the kitchen. She was walking around, preparing fresh coffee and set out a plate full of cookies and sweets. Kazuya in a blink of an eye was stuffing his mouth with treats. Jin looked at him weirdly while the boy just looked innocently at him. When his cheeks were almost full his mom noticed her son’s behaviour in front of the guest and scolded him lightly slapping the back of his head.

“Kazuya! Behave, you should ask first if mister…” The woman looked at the older boy.

“Akanishi Jin.” The man bowed tensely, slightly uncomfortable in an unknown environment.

“Yes, of course. You should ask Akanishi-san if he wants some.” The boy pouted while Jin declined kindly.

“But I’m hungry~” Kazuya whined after he swallowed. “I couldn’t eat breakfast. Yue-chan kicked me out of bed at five in the morning.”

“Hm, it is early but you shouldn’t jump on food anyway. It’s rude.”

“Sorry, mom.” Jin chuckled quietly observing the scene in front of him.

“Forgive my son, he got quite spoiled over the years.”

“Oh, no Kamenashi-san, I don’t mind.” He smiled at the woman, she was really nice.

“Now… Tell me what brings you home after a year of not even calling us.” She asked and Kazuya was a little flustered by the question. It was true, he had never called; it was his parents who called him.

“Sorry for that mom, I was busy looking for a job.”

“Did you find one?” She sipped on her coffee.

“Not exactly… But I’m working on it. I’ve got an interview but had to postpone it.” He scratched his neck sheepishly. “Anyway, it’s not why I’m here, though it’s connected.” He played with his fingers looking away from his mother’s eyes.

“Kamenashi Kazuya, what did you do?” She narrowed her eyes dangerously glaring at the boy. Kazuya sighed and he became serious; Jin was surprised that Kame can change his mood in a mere second.

“About a week ago Akanishi-kun and I crashed into each other by pure accident. After that something weird happened – we exchanged our lucks. I wanted to apologize to him for giving him my misfortune so two days ago I went to the music studio. We discovered that the crash did it but we didn’t know how to reverse it. We tried to repeat the situation from before. It didn’t work. Then Yue-chan said that her grandma’s old book can help us but it’s in her house. That’s why we came here. I hope we can stay here for the time being?” Jin and Kazuya both bowed in respect. She looked at her boy in deep concentration.

“…Yes, of course. But I have one question… how a simple crash created this mess?” Jin was hoping that Kame will come up with some good excuse because he wasn’t sure the boy’s mother would be happy with her son kissing another guy, more than once on top of that. Unfortunately, Kame proved that he’s obviously bold, in a very innocent way, when it comes to intimate things.

“When I crashed into Akanishi-san we kissed. We kissed again later to see if we can cure ourselves but it was a failure.”

Kame just shrugged his shoulders staring at his parent and Jin looked at him with wide eyes. When he heard a soft clang of a cup being put down, he slowly turned his eyes to look at the woman. Her head was hanging down and she had her face hidden by the black hair. Jin gulped hard and waited for any sign of anger. Kazuya didn’t care much, just took another cookie from the plate and soaked it happily in his coffee.

The heavy silence stayed for a few more seconds before the woman lifted her head and sighed. She looked at Jin and smiled mysteriously but not evilly. She looked more like she was… relieved. Akanishi couldn’t really grasp what the younger’s mother was thinking about the whole ‘kissing’ problem but it didn’t seem to him that he will be skinned alive in the near future.

“Okay. I will give you another futon to your room Kazuya.” She said and stood up going upstairs.

“Thanks, mom. Come on, Akanishi-kun, we will leave our things in the bedroom and go to uncle’s house.”

Kame quickly took the last candy and popped it in his mouth before following his mother, bouncing lightly. Jin didn’t even have time to ask who this ‘uncle’ Kame was talking about is. Not having a choice, he grabbed his luggage and went after the slightly hyperactive boy. He wasn’t sure if he ever saw someone who got high so quickly from too much sugar in his blood.

The bedroom wasn’t especially big but there was enough space to accommodate both of them without worrying about kicking each other while sleeping. Kame threw his bag on the futon and made his way towards the bathroom. Jin used the time to look around the room. On one shelf he spotted a frame with a photo of Kame’s family. He was surprised seeing Kazuya, his mom, a man that supposedly was his dad and three other boys that, even though that they were slightly taller and bigger than Kame, were almost identical.

“That’s my father and brothers. It might be hard to believe but the one on my right is my four years younger brother, Yuya. The two on my left are two and four years older than me; Koji and Yuichiro” Kame stood next to Jin in an instance pointing at the people in the picture. The older man nodded and put the frame down turning towards the boy that was already rummaging through his bag.

“Can you tell me who’s that ‘uncle’ you mentioned downstairs? I thought we came here to look for that freaking spell book.”

“Huh? Oh, I meant Yue’s uncle. I’ve known him for as long as I know Yue so I started calling him uncle as well. We need to go to his house, Yue had lived there since she had moved here.”

“Hm, won’t he mind us ‘raiding’ his place?” Jin was quite skeptical; after all nobody likes when someone makes a mess on his premises.

“Don’t worry, Akanishi-kun. He’s a really cool man. Also Yue-chan called him yesterday, he knows we’re coming.” Kazuya smiled at him and they both left the room.

“Can you call me Jin? I feel weird when you talk to me by my surname.”

“Yeah, sure. No problem! Call me Kame then, ne?”

Somehow, Jin liked how Kazuya’s face lit up at the thought of a more familiar way of addressing the other. He couldn’t deny that the boy was interesting and he stopped minding that he was a source of their troubles. Also, he started to understand why the strictest and the coldest girl he had ever met had a soft spot for Kame – the boy was energetic and positive. Jin admired how Kazuya always seems not to care about his own problems in favour of helping other people; he was honest.

A few minutes later they were standing in uncle’s living room. The older man was nice and, just like Kame said, didn’t mind them being in his house. Actually, he was quite glad seeing Kame safe and sound. Well, he knew the boy’s life was hard.

“Sorry for such a sudden call, uncle.” Kazuya apologized smiling.

“No problem, Kame-chan. It’s good that you’re not in a hospital for once. Somehow this boy was able to end up with a broken leg every time I had seen him, haha!” The man laughed and ruffled the younger boy’s hair.

“Uncle!” Kazuya pouted trying to stop the man who only laughed harder.

“Anyway, you and Akanishi-kun can checked Yue’s room and the attic. I don’t think the book can be anywhere else. Only Yue was taking my mother’s stuff. It will probably take you a while, I will call you for dinner later.” He patted Kazuya’s arm and the boy nodded. When the man was passing by the bookcase not so far away from the kitchen door, he stopped and turned again towards the boys. “Oh, I almost forgot. Karen and the boys are somewhere around, don’t be surprised if you meet them.”

“Okay, thanks uncle.”

The man disappeared in the doorframe and Kame with Jin made their way towards Yue’s room. When Kazuya opened the door, Jin stopped dead in his track. The room was a mess! It was like a tornado, an earthquake and a flood went through it at the same time. What shocked Akanishi even more was Kame that wasn’t affected by the view even one bit.

The younger boy just looked around, sighed heavily and started sorting papers that were lying practically everywhere. Seeing that Jin can’t get over how dirty a girl’s room can be, he forcefully pushed the man towards a desk and ordered him to arrange the documents on it. Jin was not fully conscious when sorting the sheets. It took almost 10 minutes of automatic work for Jin to finally grasp the impossibility of their task.

“It’s… this room is a GARBAGE CAN!!!” He screamed.

“Heh… don’t yell. We don’t have a choice. I wish Yue could have come with us. It’s quite funny but she always knew where things are in her room.”

“You mean that she was always this messy?”

“Yeah. Actually, when I was in her Tokyo apartment for the first time, I couldn’t believe how tidy it is.” Kazuya said bringing out a weirdly looking stick from one of the huge piles of unidentified stuff. “It will take a whole day to clean the room so better be prepared mentally.” He added and smiled comfortingly at Jin.

“…Fine.” Akanishi sighed and started picking up items lying next to his feet. ”…By the way, who are these people the uncle told us about?” The younger man looked up from the pile.

“Oh, they’re Yue’s siblings. Yue-chan is a second child. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to meet Yukari-san, she lives overseas. She’s 23.”

“Just like me.”

“Really? Cool. Yue has also one younger sister, Karen-chan. She’s 19. Then there are Ryota-kun, Kaoru-kun and Takahiro-kun. Respectively, 20, 17 and 15 years old. Ryota-kun and Kaoru-kun are rather nice but they’re troublemakers.” Kame smiled remembering all the pranks the two boys had made to other people.

“And what about Karen-chan and Takahiro-kun?”

“Um… We didn’t get along much, I guess... Yue doesn’t like her younger sister. Karen-chan and Taka-kun were both growing up in Los Angeles. They’re slightly different from other Japanese kids.”

Kazuya winced slightly. Takahiro was more like an American kid but they talked rather normally but Karen… She was a princess dreaming about a handsome prince in shining armor. Her personality was also the one of a wealthy, self-important chick. Kazuya couldn’t really forget how she was treating him when they were younger. Thankfully, Yue’s mother took her back to United States when Kame and Yue were in their second year of high school.

The boys went back to their job. Jin had the impression that the mess was getting bigger with every passing minute. About two hours later of constant cleaning, they were finally able to see at least a small piece of the carpet. Kame was surprised to see that it’s actually blue and not, like he had thought through the years, black. Kame made his way towards Yue’s wardrobe. He knew what might be waiting for him inside but there was no other choice but to open it anyway. He just lightly pressed the handle and hundreds of clothes and other objects fell on him. Akanishi quickly came to help the boy who yelled surprised at the sudden ‘attack’.

Jin tried to get Kame out from the dangerous zone but it was pretty hard to find him under different boxes, books, magazines, t-shirts and stuffed toys. The last one really confused Jin; he wouldn’t think that the scary girl had so many cute plushies. Fortunately, Kame’s yell was also heard by one of residents of the house. A boy opened the door and looked at Jin who had found Kazuya’s hand and was trying to pull him out. The boy came inside, started digging in the pile and grabbed the other hand. Together they were able to free the songwriter.

“Thank you. I tried to make her get rid of some stuff but in the end it always ended in this place. ”Kame said still lying on the floor and pointing towards an opened wardrobe. When he caught a breath, he looked at his right to see the boy that helped him together with Akanishi. “Ah, Ryota-kun! How are you? I haven’t seen you for a whole year!” Kame stood up with a smile and brushed off the dirt.

“Everything’s good. Nothing changed that much.” He looked at Kame from head to toe and added. “Kazuya-nii-san hasn’t changed at all too, I see. Still getting in troubles easily.” Kame laughed at that and smiled widely.

“Jin, it’s Mitsui Ryota. Ryota-kun, Akanishi Jin, the leader of AT-TUN.” He introduced the two boys.

“Nice to meet you, Akanishi-san.” The teenager shook hands with Jin before turning again to Kame. “Kazuya-nii-san, what are you doing in here?”

“You said it yourself, I’m getting in troubles way too easily. We need to find your grandma’s old book.”

“Grandma’s spell book?” The boy raised an eyebrow. ”What for?”

“Kame gave me his misfortune by mistake. We search for a way to turn it back.” Jin explained quickly before Kazuya could tell everyone around the story about the kiss.

“Oh… I will help you then.”

“Really? Thank you, Ryota-chan. Okay, start with this pile and I’m going to bring some plastic bags and wet rags.”

Kame somehow exited the room and the two boys started to clear the mess left after the previous incident. The atmosphere wasn’t tense but Ryota and Jin were both tired just from looking at the mass of clothes.

“Are you sure you have time to help us?” The boy just shrugged his shoulders.

“Yeah. I have nothing better to do anyway. Also there might be something good in here, Yue-nee likes to stash strange but interesting objects in her room. Once she had a golf club signed by some famous sportsman, hidden in an old plastic tube. We still don’t know where she had found it.” He said and grabbed an old box shaking it lightly to see if there’s something inside it. “Besides, I like Kazuya-nii-san. He’s a great guy when you know him better; he’s really cheerful despite his bad luck. Thinking of him is like thinking about how much worse my life could be. It’s reassuring.”

He gave Jin a lopsided smile. Akanishi didn’t like that smile and even more despised the boy’s sparkling eyes. A pang of jealousy told him that he should be wary of the younger. Annoyed by the mischievous smirk, Jin thought it would be good to make the cleaning harder for the other. He started throwing magazines that he already read in Ryota’s direction, making the dust float in the room. He didn’t predict that it will make both of them sneeze and cough.

“Dude, stop doing it! What’s wrong with you?” The boy asked angrily closing his eyes to prevent them from getting teary.

“I wanted to ask you the same question.” Jin answered, finally being able to see the other that was looking at him weirdly.

“What do you mean?” He asked furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.

“You said you like Kazuya but yet you like when he’s hurt and in pain? What the hell?!” Jin screamed. Thankfully the door at the bottom of the stairs was closed and nobody heard his outburst.

“Huh? I never said that I like to see him in pain! I just said that his smiles, laughs and friendly personality make people feel better…” the boy exclaimed but it only made Jin’s mood worse.

“Oh? So you think that he’s too trusting, huh?! You want to have him only for yourself, right?! Admit it! You like him as something more than just a mere friend!”

“Wow, wow! Dude! Slow down, will you?” The boy tried to calm the man down. “Relax. Kazuya-nii-san is like an older brother to me. Nothing else. Okay? He never gets angry at me and Kaoru and doesn’t mind being pranked. Actually, our pranks mostly come back to us since Kazuya-nii-san’s bad luck works on us too at times. Also thanks to him Yue-nee-chan started to talk and spend time with us.” The boy smiled half-sadly.

“What?” Now Jin was confused.

“You see…” Ryota sat on one of the boxes that were still waiting for unpacking. “Yue-nee was distancing herself from us for a long time. She was never home, always with Kazuya-nii-san. I hated him, Kaoru too. We thought she’s really cool. She was strong and independent, and she was always protecting Kazuya-nii-san. We were jealous that she spends all her time with him and not with us, her family. Everything changed when Kazuya-nii-san scolded Yue-nee for it. We all talked and got closer over the time. I admire him for being able to go against our sister, she’s really scary.” He explained shivering lightly at the thought of Yue on her bad days.

“Oh, yeah, Yue can really be a source of your nightmares at times… Sorry then. I don’t know what came into me, haha...” Jin said sheepishly scratching the back of his head and neck. He was slightly abashed by his mistake but quickly became aware of Ryota’s playful smirk.

“I think I know what made you so…” He made a short pause trying to see Akanishi’s puzzled face. ”... jealous.” His smirk grew wider.

“What? I’m not jealous. Why should I be jealous? It’s not like I know Kazuya for long. We’ve met just three days ago.” Jin tried to justify his strange behaviour but with a paltry result, the boy knew better.

“Just admit it, Akanishi-kun. You like Kazuya-nii-san. And I mean like like him. That’s why you came here with him.” Ryota came closer. He could see Jin swallowing hard, looking at him with huge eyes.

“I don’t… I can’t, we don’t know each other. I’m here because I want my luck back. Nothing more.” Jin shook his head, trying to convince the other. The problem was that he felt like these words were meant more for him than for Yue’s brother.

“Whatever you say, Akanishi-kun but I know better~” The boy sang and ignored the man’s pitiful attempts to change his mind.

A few minutes later, Kame came back to the room. The work became faster and another two hours later they were able to see a pattern on the carpet - medium sized barely visible black flowers, colorful small squares or spots and thin white, grey and black short lines. It was a nice rug. Kazuya had to agree that it’s Yue’s style even though at first it didn’t seem so; the girl loved dark colored clothes and mysterious places.

At the end of Kame’s and Jin’s fifth hour spent on cleaning, the toxic room changed and into a lovable place to live in. They didn’t find the book but they were proud of their work. Ryota was sure that his older sister would become speechless at the sight of her bedroom. It was like a miracle; an unknown world appeared in front of their eyes.

When Kazuya put the last book on the shelf, the uncle came to call them for dinner. It was funny to see his eyes getting wide and mouth hanging open. Ryota and Kame took the man by his arms and helped him go downstairs, while Jin closed the door. He promised himself to never step inside this hellish room ever again.

When Akanishi made his way to the dining room he saw that Kame and Ryota were already sitting next to each other and chatting happily. It made him jealous again how the two boys seem to be close, even though Ryota said that they were just good friends thanks to bringing Yue closer to her family. He quite loudly took a place next to Kazuya. The boy looked at him puzzled but shrugged it off; anyone would be grumpy after cleaning somebody else’s mess.

The uncle brought the food a few minutes later with four other people tagging along behind him. One of them was an older woman, Yue’s aunt from her mother’s side. Kame explained to him that the uncle and the aunt aren’t married. They were best friends since junior high and since they’re both singles, they decided to live together. It also came in useful when taking care of all of the kids that their siblings ‘produced’.

Next, there were two boys, Kaoru and Takahiro. While Kaoru was rather a positive yet a polite boy who made a perfect comedy duo with Ryota, Takahiro seemed to be suspicious. He was eyeing Jin warily. He didn’t speak much and anyone could see that he would rather be somewhere else than spend time with his family.

The last one was a girl just a few years younger than Jin. He assumed that it must be Karen. Akanishi raised his eyebrow when the girl stopped suddenly after seeing him and Kame. Her eyes widened even more when she heard who their guests were. What he couldn’t understand was that she was surprised not only at the mention of him as a leader of a popular, and apparently known by her, band but also by the sight of Kazuya sitting next to him.

Kame on the other hand ignored Karen’s reaction in favour of mouthwatering food. The whole family with two additional boys started munching on rice and vegetables which delicious smell was hovering in the air in the dining room. It was hard to not just jump on the dishes; for Kazuya it was hard not to behave like a squirrel and stuff his cheeks with tasty pieces of chicken.

“Kamenashi-kun, how’s Yue? She rarely calls home these days.” The aunt started the conversation but Kame was currently unable to utter a single word; the piece of carrot was sticking out in the corner of his mouth.

“Um, she’s great. She does a great job as AT-TUN’s manager. Thanks to her and Kamenashi-kun we’re going to release a new single next week.”

“Oh, really? That’s good. I hope you don’t stress her too much, haha.” The woman laughed whole-heartedly and Jin smiled. Unfortunately he didn’t realize that Kame stopped chewing and already swallowed the carrot.

“Well… with this whole mess in exchanging lucks she doesn’t have much time for herself. But don’t worry auntie, I will make sure that she rests properly.”

The boy smiled reassuringly. Jin was afraid that Kame will start talking about the kiss again but it didn’t happen. Kazuya really could think only about one thing at the time and what was on his plate was more important than some stupid incident. In some way Jin felt annoyed that the younger boy prefers eating over kissing but it was better to stop complaining before something goes wrong.

After dinner Kame decided that it will be good to take a short break and renew their energy. Of course, for Kame, it meant to go seek for sweets. The whole way to the Kawasaki’s famous bakery, Kazuya was telling Jin the stories from his and Yue’s childhood. The older boy was quite interested in what someone like Yue would have in common with Kame and how they had spent their time. After a while he stopped focusing so much on Kame that was walking in front of him and started looking around to notice some strange signs. People around the town were quickly rushing to their houses and shutting down all the windows and doors. Even shops were getting closed. He asked Kame about that.

“Hm? Oh… It’s normal. They are scared that I may damage their property by accident. I’m forbidden from stepping inside.”

Kazuya explained and Jin couldn’t help but feel really sorry for the poor boy. It was like being marked by society as an unwanted disease. For him it was difficult to ignore hateful stares of townspeople but the younger boy was used to it and knew it’s better to let them be. Within a few minutes they could see a bakery with a big sign with a name of the shop; “Kawasaki’s Sweets”. It wasn’t the most sophisticated name but who cares when their products are Heaven.

The boys came inside. The old lady was standing behind the counter. When she saw Kame, Jin thought she would kick them out immediately but the lady smiled widely and hugged the younger boy. She was a nice woman; Kawasaki-san said that Kame and Yue used to come to her shop almost every day and she loved having both of them around.

Akanishi understood that. Kazuya’s wide smile and shining in anticipation eyes made others happy. The more he knew Kame, the more he wanted to be closer to the boy; he was like a puff of fresh air in the middle of big smoky city… it’s weird considering that the boy has terrible luck but whatever.

After a short conversation and Kazuya buying half of the store’s cakes, the boys went back to Yue’s house. There was still attic left but Kame assured Jin that the things there are arranged by its owners, they just need to check which part of the attic belonged to Yue’s grandma and go through her stuff. It was a simple task, a small chest on the right was signed with the woman’s name.

“Do you think the book might be inside?” Jin asked trying to look through a keyhole.

“Maybe, but knowing this family, the book might be under one of those piles.” Kazuya pointed to a big collection of different books and old newspapers. “Let’s start with the chest though.”

“Heh…” Jin sighed and let Kame open it. He crossed his arms and leaned on a window sill. “There’s something I was wondering about…”

“What’s is it?” Kazuya’s voice was muffled since the boy stick his head inside the piece of furniture.

“It’s about Karen. I know why she was surprised by me being here but why did she look at you as if she never saw you before?”

“I don’t know, maybe because the last time we saw each other was in my second year of high school. It’s been a while, don’t you think?”

Jin nodded slowly and started going through the stuff closest to him. At 8 PM they decided to call it a day. The attic had bad lights and searching for the spell book became uncomfortable. They both said goodbye to Mitsui family and went to Kazuya’s house. When they came inside and left their shoes in the genkan, they could hear noises coming from Kamenashi’s dining room. It looked that they were on time for supper. Hearing the door closing, Kazuya’s mom came out from the room.

“Oh, Kazuya, Akanishi-kun! Good that you’re back. Sit down, I will put rice in your bowls.”

“Thank you, mom. Come on, Jin! I’m hungry.”

Kame said and skipped to the door. When they came inside all eyes were on them. Jin bowed and got introduced to the men sitting there. He was hungry too so at first everything was okay but at some point he felt something weird. When he raised his head to look around, he saw three pair of eyes glaring at him. He swallowed and shrunk a little in his chair. The atmosphere started to be tense. Kamenashi-san seeing how his boys were behaving, tried to help Jin.

“Akanishi-kun, what are you doing for a living?”

“Huh? Oh, I’m a singer of the band AT-TUN. Your son is our songwriter.”

“You must be famous then. You probably had many girlfriends, ne?” Yuya asked, looking at Jin with a fake smile on his face.

“N-no, I had only one girlfriend. In high school.” Jin replied stuttering slightly.

“Really? Then you prefer a one night thing?”

“Yuya!!! You’re rude! And where did you learn this?! I forbid you from insulting our guest!” The mother scolded her son harshly.

“Sorry, mom.” The boy said and turned towards his plate, while Yuichiro cleared his throat bringing Jin’s attention to himself.

“Anyway, I hope that Kazuya doesn’t create any problems for you?”

“He can be a real pain in the , you know?” Koji added with a lopsided smile.

“Nii-chan! I’m not that bad~!” Kazuya whined.

“Well, actually… we’re here because Kamenashi-kun brought me troubles.” Jin said honestly.

“What troubles?” The father asked and the brothers looked really interested in the matter.

“We exchanged our lucks. Kamenashi-kun has my good luck, when I got his misfortune.”

“And how that happened?” The man furrowed his eyebrows while Koji tried to egg Kame on.

“No need to ask, dad. It’s Kazuya we’re talking about. He himself is a problem.” Kame puffed his cheeks at that and opposed without thinking.

“I’m not! It’s not my fault that I ran into him and our lips crashed. We tried to reverse it but it looks like kissing again didn’t help at all~!” He pouted and started playing with his food, completely missing his brothers’ and father’s astonished expressions. Akanishi wasn’t much better; a cold shiver ran down his spine.

“...Kissing you say…” Koji said and a devilish smirk appeared on his face. Jin looked at the other’s faces. The father looked stunned and, apparently, his and Yuichiro’s overprotective sides kicked in. Yuya was observing the scene in excitement. Something told Jin that the boy would enjoy seeing him in pain. ”Tell me, Akanishi-kun… Did you enjoy it?”

“...Huh?” Jin wasn’t sure where this conversation was heading but he surely didn’t want to go there.

“He asked if you enjoyed kissing Kazuya?” Yuichiro asked glaring at the man who was fidgeting nervously on his place.

“Ano… I-I…” he couldn’t look at the intimidating man.

“Yes or no?” Jin was even more scared and looked at Kame seeking for help but the boy seemed to be engrossed in his dish so much that he didn’t even realize a tense atmosphere around him.

“Y-yes...”

Jin answered quietly not knowing if Kame could hear him or if his honesty was actually a good thing in this situation. Obviously not. Kamenashi-san visibly tensed and Yuichiro was ready to strangle the poor man. On the other hand, Yuya was enjoying Jin’s scared face, while Koji seemed to have a great fun. He had this evil glint in his eyes that made Akanishi sweat.

“Hm... Is that so~? Then when can we expect an invitation to your wedding?” Koji asked smoothly.

“WHAT?!” Three voices echoed through the room equally shocked by the man’s question.

“I-I, w-we don’t…n-no… I-I mean…” Jin started stuttering and the father’s and the oldest brother’s eyes widened and their hands started shaking. “We haven’t thought… I mean, I don’t want to… No! Wait, it’s not like that!”

Akanishi waved desperately with his hands in front of him, trying to deny any weird assumptions that formed in both Kamenashi’s minds. The two men stood up quickly and went around the table. Jin seeing them approaching him, stood up as well and started running away with a short yell. Yuya and Koji couldn’t help but laugh at the men. The mother was observing the whole scene slightly annoyed by her husband's and son’s antics. Finally the two angry men caught Akanishi and pinned the boy to the carpet. Fortunately for Jin, the wife had enough of it when Kamenashi-san took a knife and wanted to shave the boy’s hair off in hope that his third son won’t fall for a fool like Akanishi.

“Both of you! Get off Akanishi-kun, now!” She ordered and took both Kamenashi by their ears. “Sit down! He’s our guest! It’s not nice to chase after guests with a knife in hands! Yuya, stop laughing! And Koji, stop egging others on! You might unintentionally hurt someone! I’m sorry for them, Akanishi-kun” She helped the boy to stand up.

“It’s nothing, Kamenashi-san. It’s my fault for confusing you.”

The rest of the supper was rather peaceful even though Jin was getting cold stares from the oldest men and mischievous smirks from the other two. Kazuya remained oblivious for the whole time; when he finally looked up from his plate after being content, he was surprised by the silence surrounding him. He couldn’t understand what had happened and Jin wasn’t brave enough to tell him. The older boy also wasn’t sure if it wouldn’t be like a suicide; Yuichiro and his father could kill him for trying to turn their precious baby against them.

The boys went upstairs to Kame’s room accompanied by suspicious glares. Akanishi was thankful that Kazuya had a lock on his door because he was quite afraid that the oldest brother may try to suffocate him in his sleep.

When they both were lying on their futons, Jin started thinking about this crazy day. It was a total failure, even Yue’s necklace didn’t help him much. Yeah, he didn’t get run over by anything nor was he bitten by a wild animal but they didn’t find the book and he was almost killed by Kazuya’s family.

Jin sighed deeply and turned towards Kame to ask the boy what were the chances to find the freaking thing but he was surprised to see the boy’s already sleeping face.

Suddenly Jin realized something. No matter how much this boy in front of him suffered over the years, he was still smiling and going forward. He didn’t mind his bad luck and was even willing to get it back from the other. Jin felt ashamed of himself; Kazuya was trying to help him and yet he was selfishly self-pitying himself.

The man looked at the boy again. He looked so peaceful; no worries, no troubles. A small smile was playing on his lips making his face angelic. He was beautiful. Jin stretched out his hand and touched the boy’s cheek caressing it lightly. He didn’t know what came into him; Kazuya looked like an innocent and fragile child. It was hard to believe that this small boy was so strong. It amazed Jin; he wanted to take care of the younger, make his life easier. He didn’t understand these feelings but at the moment he didn’t care.

Akanishi took his hand away but was still looking at Kame. Slowly he drifted off to sleep with Kazuya’s face being the last thing he saw before sinking into obliviousness.
 

The next day was rather normal. Kazuya’s brothers and his father were more civil with Jin thanks to the mother who threatened them with washing their own socks for a month. Kame and Jin ate breakfast and quickly made their way to Yue’s house. Not wasting time they went to the attic with Ryota who agreed to help them again. His knowing smirks were driving Jin crazy. Something was telling him that Kazuya wasn’t the only Kamenashi that Ryota was in contact with.

It took them another hour to organize the chest and piles on the right side. It was a heavy job considering that grandma Mitsui, just like her granddaughter, liked to collect strange items. They were able to find old clothes pins, various postcards and some small screws that didn’t fit anywhere.

“Damn, your grandma was a crazy woman, I tell you!” Jin exclaimed pulling out an old underwear with a small teddy bears on it and throwing it away with disgust.

“I know! Who the hell is collecting pens without ink in them?” Ryota added looking inside the box next to him.

“Guys! I found it! Yatta!” Kazuya yelled happily and bounced towards the two boys with a huge book in his hands. “Look! It’s the book Yue was talking about! “Two-thousands and one spells to complicate your life”, it’s it!”

“Yeah… Your grandma was more than just simply crazy and Yue is her less dangerous copy.” Ryota only nodded in agreement. His sister thankfully wasn’t as skilful with magic tricks as their late grandmother.

“I will call Yue and let her know that we’re coming home.” When they came down, Kame dialed a number and waited for a few seconds to hear a tired voice of his best friend on the other side of the line.

“Hello…?”

“Yue? We found it!” he said with a huge smile.

“Really? That’s good.”

“…Are you okay? You sound stressed.” He was concerned about her.

“I’m okay, don’t worry. My tight schedule is getting to me, I think.”

“Heh, okay. Anyway when can we come back?”

“As soon as possible would be the best. I know that you would like to spend more time with your family but maybe on another occasion. I need Bakanishi here, unfortunately. Besides, I don’t know how long the necklace will still work.”

“No problem. But promise me something.” He said, a plan forming in his head.

“What is it, Kazuya?” She asked suspiciously.

“Next time you will go with us.”

“…Fine. Now, get packed and come back.” Unconsciously, Kame included Jin in his plan. Thankfully only Yue caught it and decided that it would be better not to comment on it. After all the boy was as dense as a fog can be thick in the morning. “Bye, have a safe trip.”

“Bye.”

Kazuya hung up and both boys said their goodbyes to Ryota. The same went to Kame’s family. Jin and the younger packed their things and after getting some more or less friendly hugs, they headed towards a station. On their way Kame insisted on visiting Kawasaki-san’ bakery to buy some sweet treats for the rest of AT-TUN and Yue since the girl loved chocolate just as much as Kazuya loved cakes.

They were waiting for their transport, enjoying small candies that the lady gave them in the shop. Both were really happy at the thought of going home and finally getting their lives back to normal, especially Jin who already forgot of his night’s musings and concentrated on the book. He tried to read it but the words were really weird and didn’t tell him much.

“How the heck Yue is going to understand it? ‘...three bold pies, one enormous ladybird, eleven elephants…’? The one who wrote it had to be insane.”

“Really? Can I see?”

Kame looked above Jin’s shoulder trying to read. Both boys didn’t realize how close they were to each other; they just furrowed their eyebrows in confusion at the weird text. Also none of them saw a figure coming closer to them in a quick steps.

“Well, we have to hope that Yue knows this language.” Kame said and leaned back shrugging his shoulders.

“Oh, Yue-nee knows it for sure!” The sudden voice which could be heard behind them made them jump up in surprise. When they turned around they were shocked at seeing Karen standing a few meters away with a huge suitcase by her side.

“Ka- Karen-chan, what are you doing here?” Kazuya asked stuttering slightly in confusion.

“Hm? Oh, I’m going with you, silly! I want to see my precious older sister!”

Karen smiled sweetly at them but Kazuya gulped anyway. He knew the girl well enough to be aware of the reaction Yue was going to have at her sight. She would kill not only the younger girl but also make his life a living hell; and THAT surely wouldn’t be good...