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“The sky is so blue!”
Sakuma Sakuya let out a contented sigh as he looked at the faraway sky on top of Hanasaki High. He was sitting with his classmate Settsu Banri and a junior they were close with, Usui Masumi. It was such a sunny day, but it wasn't too hot since it was in autumn. That was why having this sun shining was kind of rare, so Banri told them to have lunch there.
“Hmm, let's see.” Banri examined both of their bento boxes before commenting, “Your bento looks nice, Masumi. Hatsue-san must be so good at cooking.”
Masumi, who was rare at expressing his emotion, nodded, seemingly proud of his grandma. “Her back was feeling good today so she decided to make me a bento.”
“Hee.”
“That's nice!” Sakuya commented, but then he looked at Banri's barely sufficient store-bought breads. “Will your lunches be enough, Banri-kun? It doesn't seem like it's your usual portion. Do you want to try mine?”
Peering at Sakuya's messy bento made Banri yelp, “Eep. No offense, I trust Tarusan with my life in game but I don't trust Tarusan with food in real life yet.”
“Are you sure?” Sakuya looked intrigued, “It's a bit burnt here and there and when you thought it was sweet but it was actually salty and vice versa, but the overall taste is good though.”
“Sakuya, I think you should define here and there a bit more. I saw a whole ordeal of burns! Also, doesn't that mean he mixed salt and sugar!?” Banri slowly dreaded the feeling, “Living with those two... Now I'm worried about your taste buds.”
Masumi nodded wisely in the background.
Sakuya grumbled, “Eehh…it's not that bad......”
“Anyway, I'm going to have a bigger meal after school since my sister apparently got into Tokyo University.” Banri whistled, “I'm saving myself for that.”
“Wow! Congratulations Banri-kun!”
“Congrats, Banri's sister.”
“Thanks guys. It's been her goal to go to Tokyo, so yeah.” Banri admitted sheepishly, “Guess I should get to one too, if you think about it. I wonder if there is anything interesting there.” He munched his melon pan in one sitting, “Though, it's still very early for us to think that deeply.”
“It's not.” Masumi said dreamily, “I wish I could be an adult already.”
“Hoo are you still hitting that caretaker lady, Masumi?” Banri chuckled as he leaned to him enthusiastically, “Talk about a big dream!”
“Shut up, Banri!” Masumi scowled annoyedly, “You say it because you haven't seen her. She's a goddess! If it’s her I can eat curry 24/7! She has nice smile and-”
“Stop right there! Listening to you talking about her will not end until the end of lunchtime so you'd better stop!” Banri protested, before he felt like Sakuya had been quiet in the whole ordeal. Usually, he was much more animated. So he shifted the topic to him. “Sakuya, how about you? Are you interested in going to Tokyo too?”
“Ah, no.” Sakuya shook his head, “I…I haven't thought about it much. But……Tokyo's overwhelming to me.”
“Oh right, I forgot you've gone there.”
In fact, Sakuya was just moving to their school in the outskirts of Kanagawa Prefecture to stay with his very, very far relative who was also Banri's gaming buddies, Chigasaki Itaru. Before staying with Itaru, he has been moving here and there since his parents died when he was young. At some point, he must have stayed in Tokyo.
“...If you think about it.” Banri leaned his cheek on his left hand, “You had a rough childhood, but you're pretty normal.”
Masumi immediately scolded him, “Oi, Banri!”
“Just think about it!” Banri retaliated quickly, “If I was you, I'd be a complete mess!”
Sakuya suddenly burst out laughing at this.
“Don't laugh, Sakuya! I'm being serious!”
“Ahahah, sorry, Banri-kun.” Sakuya wiped his tears from laughing, “You're right. You see, I was afraid, back then. That if I ever acted rebellious, I would get thrown out. So I’m always on my best behavior.” He scratched his cheek, “Even so, I think my uneasiness made them somewhat uncomfortable one way or another.”
To his credit, Banri muttered. “Well, I don't think Tarusan or Chikage-san would mind you if you acted a bit.”
“No way!” Sakuya shook his head, “I don't want to make them worried too much.” He then nudged them to imagine it, “I mean, think about it! If I suddenly went back home and acted like Banri-kun…”
“Two Banris.” Masumi supplied, before looking disgusted. “Meh.”
“What's that supposed to mean!?”
“What's this, so Banri decided to rope Sakuya into acting rebellious?” Another voice joined in, it was their upperclassmen, Minagi Tsuzuru, bringing his bento wrapped in green white checkered furisode. “Just so you know that Itaru-san and Chikage-san would be angry if this sweet Sakuya suddenly got your attitude!” Then, he went quiet before mumbling seriously. “...But that does sound interesting as a plot for a school play.”
“Tsuzuru-kun~!” Sakuya protested weakly, but then he realized Tsuzuru brought another bag. “Oh, what's that?”
“This is actually for your family, Sakuya.” Tsuzuru rummaged through his paper bag, “My brother just came back from his trip and he wanted me to give you this to Chikage-san.” Tsuzuru gave him three boxes of weirdly named spices. “He said to say his regards to him.”
“Okay!” Sakuya nodded as he carefully put it on the ground next to him, “I'll bring them to him."
“Also, these are for you guys.” Tsuzuru handed three weird shaped keyholders, “He was from the Zahra Empire, you see.”
“This is…certainly unique.”
“...Thanks.”
“Thank you!” Unlike those two, Sakuya enthusiastically replied, “I'll take good care of this!”
“You don't have to,” Tsuzuru smiled sheepishly at this, “but you're welcome.” Then he looked at Masumi's interesting bento, “Oh fancy bento you're eating, Masumi!”
“I won't give it to you.”
“Stingy! I didn't say anything!?” ” Tsuzuru retorted but he looked intrigued anyway, “But it does look tasty.”
“My grandma learned it from her cooking teacher, you know, that Fushimi Omi.”
“Eehhhh, he's good, good!!” Banri exclaimed now, “Talking about food makes me hungry. Give me one!”
“Eh, it's troublesome.” Masumi looked irked, but he relented. “Only one each. Sakuya too.”
“Let’s eat~!!”
“I'm home!’
“Oh, welcome back, Sakuya.” Itaru greeted him immediately after pausing from his game. Apparently, he was gaming in the living room instead of his usual office room that he built by himself. “How's school?”
“It’s the usual." Sakuya shyly added, "Though I might need your help to review some of them......if you're available?"
Itaru nodded with a slight smile, "Of course, what subject?"
"English...?"
"If it's that, then Chikage-san is much more advanced than me." Itaru offered, "Do you want me or him to teach you?"
"Uh! Um. I'm okay with either of you...only if you're available......and that I'm not bothering you with your work, of course!"
"Nonsense." Itaru scoffed kindly, "If it's you, we always have time, Sakuya."
"Thank you. I'll trouble you then." Sakuya suddenly remembered something, "Oh right. Chikage-san got these spices from Tsuzuru-kun's brother, Tadoru-san. He said he was from Zahra.” Sakuya added with a smile, “Also he said to send his regards to him.”
“That's quite a lot.” Itaru replied with a hum, “Is he staying?”
“Well, Tsuzuru-kun said he had left already this morning…”
“Always swift with his feet, eh.” Itaru remarked, “Though, it's very on brand of him.” He put them on one of their kitchen's selves, separated from the usual spot he often used. “I'll send our regards by email, then. Thank you for delivering these. It must be heavy for you.”
“Oh, no. It's okay. Uh, thank you for the bento.” Sakuya shyly returned his bento box, before he turned to see the paused game, “...Are you okay pausing your game?”
“Nah, don't worry about it. I'm not streaming, just casual playing.” Itaru remarked as he opened his bento, “Wait, you finished everything?! Chikage-san said that it didn't taste good because I mixed salt and sugar? The burned parts too! I thought if you scrape it off, the taste would still be okay. I guess it was still NG.”
Sakuya acknowledged that cooking was never Itaru's best skill. Yet, Sakuya also knew that Itaru woke himself first thing in the morning because he wanted Sakuya to experience bringing a bento to his school, after hearing that he never did. Besides, it wasn't as awful as he sounded it be, since Itaru took a cooking class with Masumi's grandma recently.
“It's okay! I like sweet tamagoyaki!” Sakuya immediately reassured him, “It doesn't taste as bad as Chikage-san said. Please trust me!”
Itaru ruffled his hair, “I'm glad, but if it doesn't taste good, you don't have to force yourself to eat it, okay?” He put his hands on Sakuya's shoulders, “I don't want you to get sick. Not that I have a say about it, though.”
“But-”
“Don't worry. Just like the heroine in love, I'll try again tomorrow and see my comeback after getting bullied by villainess!” Itaru claimed bravely, giving punchlines here and there, but the joke fell short on Sakuya, who didn't play any games nor read any manga at all. He smiled at dumbfounded Sakuya, “Haha, it just means that I'll have to go to the supermarket and prepare for dinner to redeem myself.”
“Ah, do you want me to help you with the groceries, then?”
“That's a good idea!” Itaru chuckled, “Let's buy some shrimps too for Citron.”
“He'll be delighted to, thank you, Itaru-san!” Sakuya exclaimed happily, “When are you planning to go?”
“Hmm, let's see, maybe in another hour or so.” Itaru checked the clock behind Sakuya, “I'll need to finish this stage soon, then. Oh right, I made some pudding for you.” He gestured to the refrigerator, “It's not that sweet because it's coffee based, but the taste is okay. I think. I hope.”
“Hehe. Thank you, I’ll eat it!”
“Citron-san!” When Sakuya called for their weirdly shaped dog pet called Citron at his room, the poodle was nowhere to be found. “Ah, did he go on patrolling somewhere? That's too bad, I wanted to share this pudding…”
The room was a standard 4.5 tatami mats japanese style room with a window to the main street and two sliding doors to keep his futon and two boxes containing miscellaneous things. There was also a desk that he used for studying with a study desk lamp that Chikage generously bought for him. On the wall there were some photos of him with the others, slowly started to adorned his wall. He used to keep them in his boxes, but when Itaru found out about it, he suggested plastering them to his wall so he could see them anytime. Looking at them would always make him smile.
Knock, knock
When two knocks were heard just right as he was changing his clothes, Sakuya thought that it was coming from the door. But apparently, it was coming from the window, where suddenly, a youkai with only one eye appeared on the wall.
“O-Oh! You scared me!” Sakuya stammered at this, almost falling to his knees, but recovered soon after. He asked gently, “What's wrong? Do you want me to return your name?”
“I found you…Sakuma!”
“Eh?” Sakuya suddenly felt chill, this wasn’t the usual youkai, moreover this one is…! “Don't come in!” He immediately went to the window and tried to close it, but his strength apparently lost to the youkai's as it just dragged it open easily.
“I finally found you……Sakuma!”
“N-No!” Sakuya retaliated back as he was about to be engulfed by the youkai, but the bloodlust was too suffocating and its immense size was overwhelming to him. “Go back! Please!”
“Now, you can't flee…! You'll come with me!”
“I am home~~~”
The cheery familiar youkai voice was very much a contrast; it was Citron, his guardian being, who apparently just went back from strolling around the neighborhood. The cute white poodle, who was supposed to be an alpaca god but requested to be pet-friendly so that Sakuya could bring him anywhere, immediately went alarmed.
“Who are you!?” Citron shouted, “Get away from him!” Without warning, a symbol shone out from his head, dispersing the youkai right away. “Tsk, that one's quick to his feet!”
With things getting cleared, Sakuya suddenly lost his strength as he fell to the floor.
“What happened? Sakuya!” Citron looked panicked, “I'm calling Ita-”
“Sakuya! I heard loud thumps…?!”
“His temperature has spiked again.” Itaru commented with a worried sigh as he examined the temperature, then he looked at Citron who was sitting faithfully next to him. “I'll go buy some ingredients for porridge and medicines.” He petted Citron's head fondly, “Citron, please accompany him here, okay? I'll be back soon!”
“Citron-san? Itaru-san?”
When Sakuya opened his eyes, it was already dark. He was sleeping on his usual futon, but doubled, since he felt feverish. No wonder that Itaru was worried about him, because he was prone to sickness. That youkai took away his strength and instantly, he was out cold. But the way that the house now…it was too quiet.
Citron was supposed to be staying with him, judging by the clock that was already hitting at 10 PM. It was uncharacteristically for him to not be around Sakuya in times like this, since he should be on guard. He was supposed to be disguising as a pet cat, but Chikage was allergic to cats, so a dog was chosen instead…even though his real form was a majestic, well groomed alpaca.
Itaru was usually still gaming below with the sound from his game heard from upstairs. He would also occasionally go to his room to check his condition. When his condition was at his worst, Itaru was willingly staying close to him and even as far as canceling his streaming schedule, something that Sakuya was very indebted for.
Yet it was so quiet now, it made Sakuya shudder. Calming his heart, he began rising from his bed and slowly walking downstairs. The house was Itaru's, coming from a long line of his late Chigasaki family, so the style was very much Japanese with only few modern modifications.
“....Citron-san? Itaru-san?” Sakuya called weakly, but he realized something wasn't right. The house’s lights weren't turned on. In fact, it was too quiet and dark to see anything. Then he called again after he opened the sliding door to the kitchen, “Chikage-san?”
There was no one. It shouldn't be like this. He was supposed to be able to find at least Chikage around the kitchen which had its own private dedicated space for spices, because he loved mixing around spices. He would then ask why Sakuya wasn't sleeping already and offered to make warm milk so that Sakuya could sleep peacefully…but he wasn't here.
“What are you looking for?”
A voice coming from behind startled Sakuya, it was that youkai! The youkai with a single eye and a mouth so big it could eat Sakuya taunted, “There's no one else in this house, Sakuma. Everyone in this house, I ate them all!!!”
“NOOO!!!”
“Uwaaagh!”
Suddenly the scene changed and Sakuya was still in his room, with the weird-faced poodle, Citron, startled. Citron was changing his warm compress on his forehead when Sakuya jostled from his futon. Realizing that it was a dream, Sakuya dropped his body back to his futon, relieved.
“Citron-san.” Sakuya called, his voice was rasped as he held the poodle close. “You're here. I'm glad. Where's Itaru-san?”
“He's cooking you a porridge downstairs. You worried him a lot.” Citron reassured him softly as he nudged his cheek, “Just go to sleep again, you look exhausted.”
“Citron-san.”
“Yes?” Citron patiently replied, “What's wrong, Sakuya?”
“...Truthfully, I remember that youkai.”
“Oh?” Citron asked him slowly, “You know that youkai?”
“Yes, before I met you.” Sakuya looked at Citron, but he was recalling back through his memories. “I really didn't know much about youkai back then.” He softly muttered, slowly losing his will to stay awake, “Not that I understand them much now, but still…”
“You're straining yourself.” Citron chided him, “Just go to sleep. I'll be here. Itaru and Chikage will be too.”
“No, I don't want to sleep.” Sakuya pleaded, but his strength was failing him. “Please, I don't want to dream about it……”
Sakuma Sakuya (14)
Third Year of Middle School
As long as Sakuya could remember, Sakuya could always see things that people couldn't see.
They were sometimes disguising themselves as humans or even other lifeforms, known as youkai(s).
Sakuya, who had lost my parents ever since he was four, had been living from relatives to relatives.
This was a story before Sakuya met the Chigasaki family.
“Hey, aren't Sakuma weird?”
“Right, right! It was scary to be near him.”
“You mean, the way he suddenly shouted or looked very scared at something behind you?”
“Eek, that's worse!”
“I'm sorry, I think our orphanage couldn't take him in. Sakuma-kun was… Other children were very scared of him, because he kept saying things that weren't there.”
“Sometimes he talked to no one and suddenly went back home with injuries. We have small children at home, it'll be troublesome if they get his bad influence.”
“Isn't he mentally unstable because he grew up without parents?”
“Because you're such a scary child, no one wanted to take you in. What a troublesome child!”
To Sakuya at that age, life was so miserable.
No one could see things that he could. As such, a liar, an attention-seeker, a creepy child were some of the things he had to be branded with.
No one could understand him. Even if he could tell them about it, they told him it was illusions and not taking him seriously.
At fourteen, he had closed his heart to other humans.
All he wanted was to grow older quickly so he could get responsible for himself, instead of relying on his relatives. Living his life by trying his best to avoid youkais and humans alike, drifting in the current. Smiling politely and not getting ahead of himself. Knowing his boundaries that he wouldn't ever be someone else's family member. Just someone living in their home, munching their fortunes away.
Yes, it was the motto he had to live by.
Until that day.
“Do you want me to take away your sadness?”
“...Huh?”
Sakuya was startled when someone…no, something was speaking with him. It was a youkai who stayed near the park of his current house with the Yoshinagas. He had avoided his eyes whenever he would visit the place, but apparently this youkai knew better. He had no choice to visit this park either, because his uncle once asked him to only to go back in the evening, because they all have work.
“I've been watching you these days, you see. You’re the type of human that I love the best. Someone with such a sad heart.” The youkai with one eye and one mouth sneered, showing off its teeth . “You don't look like you can live with humans.”
Sakuya kept his eyesight down, trying to ignore its taunting. He made the swing sway a bit instead. “I wonder if Aunt has gone back…”
“She has.” The youkai told him, “All of them have gone back home, but they didn't want you to stay in that house, so they told you otherwise. That's how much discontent they have towards you.”
“.........”
“See, deep down, you also know about it, don't you, Sakuma?” The youkai spinned around with a scary smile, “They don't want to stay near you, because you're such a creepy child!”
“That's not true!!” Sakuya shouted back, fiercely. “This time…they're kind people!”
His action made the other visitors of the park jolted and started whispering. He had forgotten about them!
This park was also very close to the Yoshinaga family's house, so if it got attached to Sakuya, it would be dangerous for them too. He was too reckless!
So Sakuya ran away to the hill area, struggling by himself to go through all those branches and roots that were protruding his way. But alas, his luck ran out in the end. He fell to the ground after his feet got tangled with a tree.
“Why are you resisting, Sakuma?” The youkai asked haughtily, “Those humans are terrible to you, right? One hit you when he was drunk. One would pretend they forgot to feed you. And when the kids got together, they would be so cruel to you. I heard about it from your uncle and aunt.”
“No! Everyone was kind to me, at first!” Sakuya shook his head vehemently, “They were always good people!”
“Good people? That's so strange. Why aren't you loved, then?” The youkai continued as its hand started to reach out to him, “Such a lonely, pitiful child of a human. You want someone to understand you, right?”
“Stop it!!!” Sakuya launched himself at the youkai, emotionally drained. “That's because I'm not normal! Of course no one would want me to be their family!”
“If that's so, then you should come with me. I can understand you.” The youkai lightly asked, “Are you going back to somewhere no one is waiting for you?”
“You might not understand since you're a youkai…” Sakuya gritted his teeth, “But if a human child disappears, it will cause trouble!” He went to the ground, “It'll cause a lot of trouble for them.”
“How troublesome.” The youkai squinted its eye and smiled cruelly, “Or I could just eat all of them and get this over with.”
“No, please! Anything but that!” Sakuya held the youkai's white yukata tightly, “I beg of you, please!!”
“Well then, I'll let you go home first.” The youkai swatted his hands away, “Say your goodbyes and come to me. I'll be waiting.”
“I'm home.”
Sakuya let out a weak voice when he entered the house. It was a bit early for him to come home, but the youkai was right. The Yoshinagas had indeed come back earlier, but they didn't tell him because apparently, they got visitors. There were two additional fancy leather shoes, the type of shoes that Sakuya couldn't afford at all. Not wanting to make himself known, Sakuya tiptoed faster to his room.
Deep down, Sakuya knew that he had to do something to that youkai, otherwise the Yoshinagas would be in danger. Unbeknownst to that youkai, Sakuya didn't feel any animosity towards any of the Yoshinagas. It was true that they didn't accept him as a family member, but Sakuya thought that it couldn't be helped. At least they didn't hit nor poorly treated him. That alone was enough.
“But let me be frank here,” His uncle's voice from the living room was heard just when Sakuya was walking slowly to his bedroom, “It's weird of you to even come from Kaisei to Musashino just for this matter.”
Those guests came from Kaisei? It was indeed strange. Musashino is the city where Sakuya and the Yoshinaga family resided, located in Tokyo prefecture. While the Kaisei city is where the guests apparently came from, located in the furthermost southwest of Kanagawa district. It was a very far away city.
“...This is because we think that this is important.” A suave voice replying clearly. His voice was nice like a timbre, like a professional office worker. “We want to show that we have a serious intention to both of you in taking Sakuma Sakuya in to our household.”
All of a sudden, Sakuya stopped functioning. His heart was beating so loud it felt like he was riding the roller-coaster that he went once. Or even encountering a powerful youkai that was clearly out for his blood. He had a hard time even gulping.
“Alright, I at least acknowledged your intention. However, why is such a distant relative trying to take him in?” His uncle apparently had a lot of secondary thoughts about sending him away. “Are you going to ask for child support later on?”
“No, of course not.” The other voice came up. This voice was much deeper but the pronunciation was clear without any accent apparent. “Rest assured that we're both functioning members of society, thus our finances are mostly better than your average household. We can support him just fine without affecting our finances too badly.”
The other voice spoke again, trying to convince both Yoshinagas. “Kaisei city is far from the busy city life that Tokyo has. I'm sure that the environment will be far more beneficial to Sakuya-kun.”
Unfortunately Sakuya once stayed in a rural area when he was younger, though it wasn't as rural as Kaisei city, and he was still swarmed by several youkais. However, it was to be noted that the animosity was much easier to contain than youkais in Tokyo. The youkai auras were much stronger and malicious.
“Honestly, it's a weight off our shoulders.” His aunt commented truthfully, “However, we can only give you an approval if the person himself is alright with the arrangement.”
“...Apologize if this is out of the line, however I was under the impression that both of you are, for the lack of word, reluctant upon letting him stay here.”
“It’s okay. We are indeed reluctant to take him in, even now. But that doesn't mean we would do something to harm him.” His aunt let out a sigh, “As long as he could stay out of trouble and his marks weren't falling, then we could tolerate him staying with us until he’s an adult.”
“...That's-...” The suave man trailed off, before he kept it by himself. “...By the way, is Sakuya-kun available now? If possible, we'd like to ask his opinion regarding this matter.”
“No.” His uncle said, “He hasn't come back yet. The curfew was 10 PM, he's free to come back here whenever before curfew.”
“...I see.” The other man asked, “Did he get a supplementary class or club activities? Or he has close friends that he's reluctant to be apart from?”
“We don't know about that.” His aunt said, “Since tomorrow is Saturday, why don't we continue our conversation tomorrow? You can ask him by yourself.”
Another family wanted him to be a part of their family!
Sakuya's heart soared as far as the night sky went on. It was the first time somebody had willingly taken him in. Truthfully Sakuya wanted to stay at the house much longer to hear everything they talked about, but he had much more priorities than that. He had to do something about that youkai and fast!
Think about it! Something about how to seal a youkai!
Sakuya was at a loss because he had never tried to seal a youkai before. All he had was knowledge that a youkai told him before; about the children like him who had a power to see them must have also a power to seal them. That was why he was sought after by youkais alike.
But how!?
“Hey, have you heard about that hole?”
Just like a prayer, a voice came up from the other side of the trees.
“Which one?”
“Have you forgotten about it?!” The other youkai shrieked in disbelief, “You know, that sealing hole that can seal us!! It was placed there several decades ago, but somehow it was recovered a week ago because the humans started building something around that place!”
“Oh, that hole!” The youkai finally remembered, “It’s strange if you think about it, that it left open just like that. It will be dangerous for us weak youkais to fall there. We must let the other knows about it!”
“Hey!” Sakuya came up to the bushes and swiftly caught one of them who was as big as Thumbelina. “That place! Please tell me where I can find them!!”
“As if you could seal an ayakashi all by yourself!”
“You need to be taught a lesson!”
But the one eyed youkai fell into the trap that Sakuya had been so tirelessly set up to cover the hole with. Sakuya quickly put the hole with a lid where several ofudas were placed neatly around the cover. Now as if they had some kind of unseen power, the ofudas started to stick so tightly to the ground as the youkai was starting to get frantic.
“Curses!”
“Curse you, Sakuma!!!”
“I did it!!!” Sakuya exclaimed, but it was too soon. The ofudas let out a more powerful surge that made him expelled away strongly. “Uwaaaahhh!!!”
That was as far as he remembered, because he lost consciousness not long after his back hit a tree.
Oh no, I've caused trouble again.
“We are done sheltering you.” His aunt said once he had regained consciousness at the hospital, “After you've recuperated, please pack your things away from our home.”
“.........I understand. I'm sorry for troubling you.”
I can't go back to their home again.
“Oh, he's still sleeping.”
A voice was heard from his left side of the hospital bed. It was weird because it sounded like neither his aunt nor his uncle. He had trouble connecting with his school friends, because he shouted so loud when he had a weird daydream one day, so it must likely not them. He was also not sure if his relatives had nice-to-hear voices like these.
Wait......? I've heard these voices before!
“Shh!” That deep voice of a man warned the other person, "If you don't stay quiet, you'll wake him.”
“Oops, you're right.”
Mustering all of his strength, Sakuya slowly opened his eyes to see two unfamiliar faces. They were very handsome and the type you would blink twice if encountered. “.........Who?”
“See, he's awake now.” The one with a deep baritone voice and a glasses man scolded the other man, “I'm sorry that he's too loud.”
The other handsome man, who wore stylish clothes and had a clear voice pouted instead, “But it's not like you weren't talking too, Chikage-san!”
“Not as loud as you-”
“Hehe.” Sakuya found himself chuckling at this banter instead, “Oh, I'm sorry for laughing.”
“It's okay, Sakuya-kun. We're sorry to wake you up with our voices.” The handsome stylish man smiled as he slowly spoke, “Let’s introduce ourselves properly. My name is Chigasaki Itaru. I'm your distant relative from your father. It's very distant, so I don't know if you know about us beforehand.” He regarded the other man, “And this person is Chikage-san. He was the first one to see you. I was out because of a cold when he substituted for me to visit the funeral of our other relative.” He immediately went into panic when Sakuya was slowly rising from the hospital bed to sit, “No, please don’t get up! You're injured!”
“I-It's okay. I'm alright! See?” Sakuya smiled slightly as he held the pain from his back, “My name is Sakuma Sakuya. Just Sakuya is alright.” Then, he shyly looked at both of them before muttering, “............To tell you the truth, I……heard about the conversation…you made with my uncle and aunt...before.”
“Then Sakuya.” Chikage called him kindly, waiting patiently until their eyes met before smiling. “You can always go somewhere else, if you don't like our home. But right now, I feel like you need a place that's calm and quiet to relax. And our home is as quiet as you can get. It's just the two of us in that big house.” He turned to see Itaru who nodded surely, “If you can't think of anywhere else, we would be happy...No, please come to our home.”
Itaru also slowly added, “I'm also hoping that...you're willing to come to our house.”
“.........This is the first time I've heard of it.”
“......Sakuya?”
“I-...” Sakuya choked in his tears that he didn't know had fallen from his eyes, “I…I want to go. I want to……live with you both.” He started to kowtow as deeply as he could, but a strong hand stopped him from doing so. It was Chikage who shook his head. He began crying uncontrollably as Itaru held his hands and Chikage held his back so tenderly, “......Please…Please allow me to be a part of your family!”
“Go away, that human is mine!”
The youkai who was after Sakuya appeared inside his bedroom. Sakuya himself was still sleeping, with occasional crying. Most likely he was affected by lingering memories that youkai was carrying. Those humans with the power to see youkais sometimes got some kind of glances or nuances from them, but in Sakuya's case, he got to experience the youkai's memories when he slept. The stronger he was, the stronger the backlash was. That was why he was prone to get unconscious, diagnosed as mere anemic.
“Too bad, he's mine now!” Citron, who was still on guard, looked at it in one eye. In terms of power, it was pretty clear that Citron was much more powerful. “My last warning to you. Just give up and go home.” He scoffed away, “As of now, this human has become very uninteresting to you.”
“If that's the case then I'll bring him grief again!” The youkai with one eye and big mouth looked very adamant to attack Sakuya, “That pitiful human defied me! I'll never forgive him! Curses to him!!!!!!”
“I've warned you.”
Crunch
“Citron-san?” Sakuya immediately woke up and sat on his futon, startled at that sound. “What…?”
There he was, Citron in his real, regal form of some sort of alpaca deity. His form was almost covering Sakuya's bedroom. His eyes were as big as Sakuya's head by itself. The engulfing white furs were so warm and comfortable as Sakuya petted his cheek tenderly. There was something like a lamp that you could always see placed in the park, but it was already breaking on top of Sakuya's futon and slowly dissipating into thin air. It must likely be the youkai's true form.
“The hole that you sealed that youkai with must have been dug up. Though for it to be sealed up by you who hadn't been trained in exorcism means it was easy for me to drive it away.”
“......I see.” Sakuya held one of the shards as it disappeared, “Thank you, Citron-san.”
“Of course! Sakuya just needs to go to bed, okay?” Citron snuggled to Sakuya's cheek fondly, “Otherwise Itaru and Chikage will be angry!”
“Are you going home?”
“To where no one is waiting for you?”
“No,” Sakuya said surely with a sad smile, “Now I have a place to return to.”
“Good bye.”