Sunday morning arrived so quiet…SO quiet…
that Harumi, sprawled across the couch like a very stylish corpse, cracked one eye open suspiciously.
— Izumiii… — she whispered to the ceiling. — Did I die and nobody told me?
Nothing. Absolute silence.
Mei was asleep on the tatami, clinging to Kuma-chan.Takeru sat at the table, assembling some mysterious contraption he insisted was "important."
Harumi was convinced it was just trash rebranded as modern art.
And Izumi… was probably sleeping so deeply not even a magnitude 7 earthquake could wake her.
Harumi shuffled the work papers scattered across the table like she was decoding ancient runes.
— Okay… this goes to the left… this goes in the trash… this goes in another trash… this one I'll pretend doesn't exist… and this one… oh, this one's pretty, I'll put it under the vase.
She clapped once.
— Organization complete!
Takeru didn't even look up.
— It's still messy.
— Takeru, when you grow up, you'll understand: if it looks organized, it is organized.
— That's not how it works.
— That's EXACTLY how it works!
Mei yawned, stood up like a sleepy little gremlin, and shuffled toward the table.
— Haru… can you brush my hair?
Harumi lit up instantly.
— Right away! THIS I can do! Unlike soup! And rice! And eggs! And—
— OKAY! — Takeru cut her off before she listed twenty culinary disasters.
Harumi grabbed the brush and started gently combing Mei's hair with all the care in the world…
Until—
She froze.
The brush stopped mid-air.
The memory hit.
A flashback.A painful one.The kind that shows up like an unskippable ad in the middle of a good movie.
— Izumi… — Harumi said, her soul leaving her body. — I just remembered something deeply traumatic…
Izumi, who had just walked in with peak "I just woke up" face, sighed.
— What now?
Harumi clutched her chest dramatically.
— Friday… when Kei Kurosawa showed up at the gate…
— NO WAY, KEI?!
— DON'T CALL HIM THAT, HE'S MY BOSS NOW!!
— Impossible! You were definitely a mess—
— MY PAJAMAS had a stain I STILL don't know the origin of!!
— HARUMI, NO—
— AND I FROZE! Like a chicken staring at a truck!!
Izumi took a deep breath.
— Harumi, you're embarrassing. Good thing nobody cares.
— I CARE! Society cares! The entire universe cares!
Mei blinked, confused.
— Who's Kei?
— A TRAUMA, Mei. — Harumi held her forehead. — A deeply embarrassing chapter of my life.
Takeru, as blunt as ever:
— You always look messy. He'd see you like that in any situation.
— TAKERU! Are you especially motivated to destroy me today?!
— I'm just telling the truth.
— I DON'T WANT TRUTH, I WANT EMOTIONAL SUPPORT!
Izumi laughed.
— Go on, explain this story properly. They deserve context.
Harumi inhaled like she was about to give a serious lecture.
— Alright, kids. FIRST OF ALL. There are THREE cities here. They're super close. Like… you take two steps—boom, new city. Three more—boom, another one. You don't even notice.
— Got it… — Mei nodded, pretending she understood everything.
— My job is in the next city… and Kei Kurosawa also lives there.
— Is he your boyfriend? — Mei asked casually.
Takeru immediately turned to listen.
Harumi's eyes went wide.
— NOOOOOOO, NOOO! ABSOLUTELY NOT! NO WAY! GOD FORBID! I— I— I don't— NO!
— Wow, relax. — Izumi laughed. — You sound like you like him.
— I DO NOT!! NEVER!! He's… he's my boss… he… lives far away…
— One city over.
— FAR ENOUGH! — Harumi shot back, victorious.
Takeru went back to his project, slightly annoyed for reasons he refused to analyze.
Mei finished her hair, smiling proudly.
Harumi stretched, looked around…
And noticed it again.
The silence.
Perfect silence.
— Weird… — she murmured. — It's too quiet. Is something about to explode? Is fate planning something? Is this—
Izumi covered her mouth.
— Haru. It's Sunday. People rest.
— I don't trust it. — Harumi narrowed her eyes. — The universe does NOT give me quiet days. This is a trap.
— Relax. — Izumi laughed.
And for a brief moment…
The house really was like that:
Calm.Soft.Warm.
Smelling like tea and fresh bread.
Harumi sat at the table.Mei colored with crayons.Takeru pretended he wasn't enjoying being there.Izumi made coffee.
And for a few seconds…
It really felt like a family.
Harumi smiled quietly.
— …Wow. This… feels really nice…
Takeru glanced at her from the corner of his eye, without her noticing.
And that's where it starts.
Tiny.Invisible.
But it starts.
His fear.
The quiet fear that something this good…won't last.
But that…
That's a problem for Wednesday.
For now…
It was just a simple Sunday.
And that was more than enough.