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Iguro slammed an envelop down on Sanemi's desk. "Happy birthday," he hissed, as if he wished his friend had never been born.
Sanemi returned his glare as he looked up. "What the hell is this? A card?"
Iguro narrowed his eyes. "It's your birthday. I got you a card. Deal with it."
Sanemi was about to shout back at him that he didn't want a card, he didn't want anything for his birthday except for Iguro to shut up and mind his own damn business. He never got to it, though, because a sweet, flowery scent approaching instantly commanded both of their attention.
Kanae walked right up to Sanemi's desk, stopping next to Iguro. They couldn't push each other around while she was there, or she would roast them both so hard they'd never recover.
She smiled wide. "Happy birthday, Sanemi!" she said as she set a gift bag stuffed with tissue on his desk.
"Thanks," Sanemi grunted as he reached for it. He wasn't all that into his birthday, but he didn’t mind getting gifts. He opened it up and pulled out a strange bunch of plastic dogs with hollow bellies. "Uh..."
"It's a boiled egg holder," Kanae explained. "Each of the dogs holds an egg, and you put it in boiling water."
"Oh! Thank you." Sanemi tried to be polite so she wouldn't scold him. He didn't cook eggs, though. He lived at home, and his mom made all his food. Maybe she would use the egg cooker.
Iguro scooted the card closer. "Open mine," he insisted.
Sanemi slid the envelope off the desk and tore it open. It was a store bought card with a generic happy birthday message. Iguro hadn't written any more than his name on the inside. He'd also stuffed in a few small slips of paper, which it took Sanemi a second to recognize. "Lottery tickets?"
"I hope you win," Iguro wished in the same tone he might say, "I hope you die."
"Thanks," Sanemi muttered, and stuffed them back in the envelope.
He wished Iguro had just given him cash, or at the very least a gift card. Lottery tickets, as much as they sometimes tempted him, reminded him too much of his dad's bad habits. The idea of winning millions was amazing, but the idea of being anything like his father was repulsive. Plus, he could really use the couple yen Iguro had paid for those tickets to win nothing.
The rest of the day went pretty normally. The only student who somehow knew it was Sanemi's birthday was Tanjiro, who gave him a red bean mochi. Sanemi gave him detention in return. He shouted at stupid Giyu, who gave him the same thing.
At home that evening, Shizu made homemade dumplings for her son's birthday, plus some homemade red bean mochi that was actually good. It was Sanemi's birthday meal, the only thing he really wanted to get each year. He enjoyed his food with his family, then went to bed and fell asleep full.
Sanemi had a meeting after work the next day, so he got home late after school. "I'm back," he called, expecting his siblings to greet him.
Only Genya called back. "Ma took the kids to Grandma's house."
"Why didn't you go?" Sanemi called back. Their mom usually took them there when she got tired of looking after them.
"I have homework."
Sanemi set down his work bag, which was packed with math worksheets. He would have to grade them all this evening. First, he wanted to procrastinate a bit. He wandered through their tiny apartment, not for the first time noticing that the baseboards were starting to separate from the floor. Their mom cleaned the entire house tirelessly, but no matter how clean she kept it or how often their siblings picked up their stuff, the things maintenance refused to fix always made it feel dumpy. Sanemi tried not to mind. He told himself they were lucky to be able to afford a place so close to the school big enough for eight people, even if the balcony door let in a draft, the window screens were ripped, and there was an old mold stain under every sink.
When he found Genya in their shared bedroom, his little brother was definitely not doing homework.
"That's not studying," Sanemi observed.
Genya didn't even look up. He was lying on his bed with Sanemi's laptop, clicking away. Sanemi noticed his lottery tickets from yesterday were resting on the keyboard.
"What the hell are you doing?" he muttered, walking around so he could see Genya's screen.
"Checking to see if you won, idiot." Genya was on the lottery website, typing in the numbers. He entered one, saw it won nothing, then moved the ticket to the side and entered the next one.
Sanemi just walked away. "The statistical likelihood of winning the lottery is—"
"Worse than getting struck by lightning. I know." Genya typed anyway. "Buying lottery tickets is stupid, I know. But you already have these."
He had a point, but Sanemi wasn't going to admit it. Part of him wanted to toss the almost certainly worthless tickets. The other part of him whispered that they might get him some money. Even just a few yen would help their family a lot. Sanemi didn't even entertain the idea of getting some spending money.
"You got something," Genya reported. "Three thousand yen. Not bad."
"Yeah, not bad," Sanemi agreed. Probably about what Iguro had paid for the tickets.
"The last one's the national lottery." Genya set the ticket aside. "So that's probably all you'll get."
That was fine. Sanemi was satisfied with that.
"Hang on," Genya muttered. "It won't load."
Sanemi turned to his desk, ready to start grading, when he remembered he left his bag in the kitchen. He went out to grab it, grunting at the weight. When he got back to their bedroom, he instantly dropped it.
Genya was sitting up, both hands clasped over his mouth, eyes wide and fixed on the computer screen.
"What?" Sanemi demanded. Had he won something?
Instead of speaking, Genya just flipped the laptop screen so his brother could see it.
Jackpot. Sanemi felt his stomach do a little flip. Was this real?
"You won," Genya said, in disbelief. Then, he jumped up. "Sanemi, you won!"
Sanemi just stared at the screen. One billion yen, it said. One billion yen for doing nothing. His whole life would be different because his stupid friend had gotten him something he hated for his birthday. "This isn't real," he breathed.
"It is!" Genya grabbed the ticket, holding it with reverence. "Come on, let's go get the money!"
He grabbed Sanemi's wrist and dragged him to the front door, stuffing the ticket in his pocket before pulling on his boots. Sanemi hesitated, then shook himself out of his shock. This was real. This was actually happening. Against all odds, he had somehow ended up with the winning ticket.
He grabbed his car keys and slipped on his shoes, then remembered he probably needed his ID. Once he had everything, he followed Genya down to his dusty old sedan, which he'd bought about a year ago for him and his mom to share.
"What are you going to buy first?" Genya asked as soon as they were on the road.
Sanemi grunted. "Let's not think about having all that money before it's actually in our hands." He didn't want to get ahead of himself, just in case it didn't work out. Maybe Genya had put the numbers in wrong. Maybe the ticket was expired. Maybe it was a glitch on the computer. Any number of things were more likely than them actually winning.
Genya rolled his eyes. "Fine. In the hypothetical scenario that you won the lottery, what's the first thing you would buy?"
The car's engine lurched, and Sanemi worried they would even make it to the lottery office. "A new damn car," he grumbled. Seriously, though, he said, "half of it will go to taxes."
"Okay," Genya chuckled. "So you have half a billion yen. What would you do with that?"
He had a point. The amount was so astronomical, Sanemi could get pretty much whatever he wanted. There was an upper limit, but it was high. Just for the drive, he decided to let himself dream.
"A house," he decided. "No more paying rent."
"We could all have our own bedrooms!" Genya contributed, sounding way too excited.
"And yeah, a new car. One for Ma, too." Sanemi thought about it. "I'd pay all the damn debts Dad left us, obviously."
"Well, yeah." Genya would know to expect that.
"College funds for you and all the kids," Sanemi added. "In case you don't get scholarships." He knew they were all trying, especially Genya, but he didn't expect every one of them to get a full ride.
"Boring," Genya told him. "Even with all that, you have money left over. So what then?"
Honestly?
Sanemi didn't like the idea of making lots of money, because he knew he'd spend too much. He saw the kinds of things Kanae and Iguro bought— they were both independently wealthy, thanks to their families, and taught for fun— and shut down the feeling inside of him that wanted that. He preferred to control his budget tightly, counting every last cent into its place. The moment he had extra was the moment he let in that feeling of wanting stuff.
Because he did. He wanted a nice car, fancy shirts, an expensive watch. He wanted to buy his siblings lavish gifts, promise his mom an early retirement, save up to take fantastic trips across the world together. Maybe he could have lived that life if he'd gone into accounting or finance. Instead, he'd become a teacher.
A lot of people asked Sanemi why he'd chosen to teach when he clearly hated it, and there were so many more lucrative careers he could get with a math degree. The truth was, Sanemi didn't hate teaching. Sure, the kids annoyed him, but the work was enjoyable and fulfilling. He got to work with his two best friends, and with lots of other interesting people, and give back to his old school. He could also live at home and help out his mom, since the school was so close. They'd talked a lot about it when Sanemi was applying places, and his mom had agreed that having Sanemi home was more helpful than having him send more money.
They arrived, snapping Sanemi out of his thoughts. He parked the car and got out, almost having to run to keep up with Genya. His little brother hurried ahead into the office, grinning wildly.
"We have a lottery ticket!" he told the receptionist before Sanemi was even inside.
The receptionist had a look at the ticket, then asked for the receipt. Thankfully, Genya had remembered to grab it out of Iguro's card. Sanemi waited anxiously as she confirmed that, yes, he was the jackpot winner. She asked them to wait there as she went to get the coordinator in charge of distributing winnings.
She came back with the coordinator, and together, they started asking Sanemi lots of questions. As he gave them his routing number and ATM card, it hit him: this was real. He was a billionaire. Well, a half billionaire, once they took out the money for taxes. He should set that aside now so he wasn't in trouble later. The rest, he should save. No, he should spend it. At the very least, he should invest it. That much money just sitting in an account was dangerous, whether because it tempted him to spend on whatever he felt like or because people who won the lottery often ended up losing their winnings to requests from friends and family or poor choices. If Sanemi was going to have this much money, he wanted to be responsible with it.
The secretary asked Sanemi if he would be willing to be in a short video for the news. It was exciting, she explained, for someone to actually win. Most of the time, no one ever came and claimed their prize before the tickets expired. At that, Genya looked very smug, so Sanemi pushed him over.
"Okay," he agreed with a laugh. "Yeah, I'll be on the news."
Once the camera crew was set up, Sanemi was sat down with an interviewer. He grinned broadly as he asked Sanemi about winning.
"So. One billion yen. How does it feel?" he began simply.
Sanemi nodded. "Good."
"Good?" the man prompted. "Worth buying the ticket?"
"I didn't buy it," Sanemi chuckled. He wanted to be on the news, not in a lottery ad. He knew what they wanted him to say, but that didn't mean he had to say it. "My friend gave it to me as a birthday gift."
"A billion yen birthday gift," the interviewer chuckled right back. "That's fantastic. Will you play again?"
Sanemi snorted. "I'm a math teacher. I know better than to waste money on something with such a slim chance of winning."
"A math teacher, huh?" The interviewer ignored him. "So, what do you calculate you'll buy first?"
Sanemi felt his eye twitch. He tried to think of his answer, and his gaze landed on Genya. "I'm gonna buy my little brother a damn watermelon."
The interviewer just laughed, and that was the end.
"Seriously?" Genya punched Sanemi. "You should have said something cool, like a yacht!"
"I'm not buying a yacht," Sanemi grumbled.
"You don't actually have to get it," Genya argued. "It's tv, it's okay to lie."
"Nope. I'm keeping it real. Now come on, we have a damn watermelon to buy."
Genya didn't argue with that.
They went down to the grocery store and bought a watermelon. Sanemi didn't even check the price, even though it was winter and they were surely expensive. He and Genya smashed it open in the parking lot and ate the middle out with their hands.
"What now?" Genya asked, wiping the juice on a stack of paper napkins he'd found in the glove box.
Sanemi stole one of the napkins. It shredded between his sticky fingers. "Guess we should go to the bank before it closes," he decided.
"Sure," Genya agreed. Then, he suggested, "you should tell Ma."
"Yeah. I should."
On the way to the bank, Sanemi handed Genya his phone and had him call their mom. Genya clicked it onto speaker and set it in the cupholder between them.
"Hello?" she answered, sounding confused. "Sanemi?"
"Hi Ma, it's Genya." Genya grinned. "I'm with Sanemi. He has something to tell you."
"Sanemi?" she repeated. "Is everything alright?"
"Yeah, Ma." Sanemi couldn't help but smile. "For my birthday yesterday, one of my friends gave me something really nice."
"The egg cooker?" She still sounded confused.
"No, Ma. My friend Iguro gave me a couple lottery tickets."
Genya couldn't take the suspense anymore. "Sanemi won the lottery, Ma! One billion yen!"
She was quiet for a moment. Then, she said, "really?"
"Yeah, Ma," Sanemi confirmed. "Check my account. It's there."
She was quiet again. Sanemi thought he heard her sniffing. Was she crying?
"Genya and I went to turn in the ticket," Sanemi continued. "We're headed to the bank now. We can talk about the details later, but I wanted to tell you now."
"Sanemi," she sniffed. Yeah, she was definitely crying. "Okay. I'm going to tell your siblings."
"Okay," Sanemi agreed. Seeing them happy would cheer her up. "Okay. See you at home."
"Okay. I love you, my boys."
"Love you too, Ma," Genya said.
"Love you, Ma," Sanemi echoed before his brother ended the call. Then, he sighed. "Better call Iguro too."
Genya scrolled through Sanemi's contacts, then dropped the phone back in the cupholder.
Iguro answered on the second ring. "What?" he snapped.
"Hey, idiot," Sanemi greeted. "Guess who won the damn lottery."
Iguro was silent for a minute. "You did not."
Sanemi laughed. "I did!"
"Hi, Mr. Iguro," Genya greeted. "It's true, Sanemi won! With one of the tickets you gave him."
Iguro snorted. "Who's stupid now, Sanemi?"
"You are, Obanai. You got a one in several million ticket, and gave it away."
"I don't need lottery money. I'm not broke, like you," Iguro sneered. Then, he hung up.
"I don't know why I expected him to be nice to you," Genya muttered to himself.
They got to the bank, and Sanemi had an argument with the teller because the funds hadn't dispersed. He eventually got to talk to a financial advisor, who set it up so that, when they did go through, everything would end up in the right accounts: one for each of Sanemi's siblings, for college, one to pay the taxes on his winnings, and one large rainy day fund. His dad's debt would also be paid automatically on the next deposit.
The rest, Sanemi wasn't sure about. He'd have to talk to his mom.
"What are you gonna get?" Genya asked on the way home.
"What do you mean?"
"You got me a watermelon," Genya explained. "So what are you gonna get yourself?"
Sanemi snorted. "I'm gonna buy you a lot more than a watermelon, Genya." Then, he thought about the question seriously. "I dunno."
"A car," Genya suggested. "Get a car that won't break down."
"Maybe." Sanemi probably would. That sounded like a good decision. "Yeah, I will."
"Right now!"
"What?" No, he should go home and research. He should be responsible.
"You won the lottery! Go buy a car!" Genya bounced up and down, shaking the tiny sedan back and forth.
"Genya, Genya, stop." Sanemi braked at a red light. He glanced back and forth. "Oh, what the hell," he decided, and turned toward a car dealership.
The old car sold for dirt. Sanemi was very careful to act skeptical, so he wouldn't get overcharged. Genya bouncing around and suggesting literally every car wasn't helping.
"I should get a van," Sanemi thought, while he and Genya were conferring out of the salesman's earshot. "Something all of us would fit in."
"Get Ma a van," Genya argued. "You should get yourself whatever kind of car you want. Or get three cars, a nice one for Ma too!"
Sanemi shook his head. "We're not buying more cars than we have drivers."
"Then just get yourself one now. Sanemi, you have so much money," Genya reminded him. "You already put away all of the money you've been trying to save for years. Now it's time to have fun! You don't want to go home and tell Ma you didn't spend any of the money on yourself, do you?"
Sanemi wanted to argue, but he literally could not think of a way to protest. Even if he bought the truck he was eying, he would have enough left for anything he could ever want. Within reason.
Did he want to live the life of private jets and yachts and galas and island resorts and whatever else rich people got up to? Yeah, of course he did. He wanted to fly his mother to Fiji on the weekends, buy his siblings cars before they could drive, own five mansions and skip between whichever one met his fancy in the moment. He wanted to show up to parties and have beautiful women brush by the arms of his silk shirts, handsome men desperately try to catch his eye, offer to buy him a drink because he was the guy everyone wanted to know. But that wasn't reality. That Sanemi stayed stuffed down inside, because the real Sanemi knew it was only the stupid dream of a young man who'd grown up with nothing.
Now, though, Sanemi didn't have nothing. He had a degree and a job, and a stable paycheck. He had the amazing luck of winning the lottery, fulfilling all of his saving goals. And, Genya was right. He could spend a bit, just for fun. Buying a nice, practical but stylish car with his little brother, eating a watermelon in a parking lot, was way more fun than that rich person life anyway.
"The truck."
Genya's face lit up.
Sanemi glanced out into the lot, spotting the car he wanted. His new car. "I'm getting that damn truck."
It was huge. Genya had to grab the handle and pull himself up, despite how tall he was. It was long, too, with the truck bed and the back row of seats. Did Sanemi have any use for a truck? No. He might in a few days, if he was successful in moving his family to a nicer home. Other than that, there was no purpose, other than that he liked it.
"You know it's bright green," Genya laughed as they drove it around the lot for a test.
"Tch." Sanemi was colorblind. "Looks gray to me."
The dealer seemed very pleased they decided to buy it, and said several times what a good choice Sanemi was making. Sanemi still pushed the price down, just because he didn't think dealers should charge more than cars were worth. The truck was used, anyway. It shouldn't be that expensive.
They got the garbage out of Sanemi's back seat, including the watermelon remains, and loaded it into the new car. Then, Sanemi and Genya climbed back in, and drove home.
That evening, Sanemi and his mom had a long discussion about how to best use the money. Shizu smiled, more than Sanemi had seen her smile in a long time. Money had been a weight on her shoulders her entire life. Even if Sanemi could relieve that for only a night, he was glad. His wonderful mother deserved so much more.
They settled on buying a house. Sanemi started looking right away, and found one with eight bedrooms near the school. It was absolutely perfect, like it had been built for them. Shizu approved of his saving choices so far, and encouraged him to also drop some money into retirement. They decided to buy her a new car, too, plus a van like Genya had suggested.
"Spend the rest," Shizu ordered.
Sanemi frowned. "But Ma," he started to protest.
"My dear son." She brushed his bangs out of his face. "You've been so responsible. Now it's time to enjoy this, hm? Buy yourself some nice things. Buy your siblings something fun. Take us on a trip, or go with your friends. For once, Sanemi, please. Enjoy yourself."
Strangely, Sanemi found himself smiling. "Okay, Ma," he agreed.
Kanae stopped over Sanemi's desk in the teacher lounge, her flowery scent descending like a cloud. "Why are you still here?"
"What do you mean?" Sanemi frowned. "I work here."
"The students say you're quitting." Kanae tilted her head. "Since you're rich now."
"Those kids shouldn't get their damn hopes up," Sanemi laughed. It had been a few weeks since he'd turned in his lottery ticket, and his video had played on the news. Now everyone in the school knew their math teacher had won the jackpot. "I'm not quitting. Half the money's going to taxes, and the rest is already divided up in savings. It doesn't go as far as you'd think."
"Hm." Kanae shook her head. "You're too practical."
"Practical?" Sanemi laughed. "I bought three damn cars. I got every one of my little siblings a bike, and my mom diamond earrings. I bought a house, and I'm flying eight freaking people to Paris over break. How is that practical?"
She rolled her eyes. "You did math on the money, didn't you? That takes the whimsey out of being rich."
Sanemi stared at her. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"Obanai," she called. "Sanemi is boring."
Iguro looked up from his own desk, where he was busy failing kids on their chemistry midterms. "This is news to you?"
"He's doing math on his lottery money," she complained.
"Of course he is," Iguro snorted. "Because he's stupid, and doesn't know how to waste it like a damn normal person."
"You don't waste your money," Sanemi argued. He knew they were just teasing him, but seriously. These two did not live in the real world.
Iguro confirmed that when he rolled his eyes and called back, "of course I do. I spend everything my financial advisor puts in my checking account."
Kanae just nodded like she did the same thing.
"I should have worked at a damn public school," Sanemi grumbled.
"Let's go out this evening," Kanae suggested, "and Sanemi can pay for once."
"Are you serious?" Sanemi complained. When they "went out," Kanae and Iguro got wasted, while Sanemi sipped a mocktail (alcohol reminded him of his dad) and wished he was home. He didn't want to pay for that.
"Oh, fine, we'll pay for our own drinks," Kanae sighed. "But we're going out."
"Fine." The bell rang, and Sanemi stood up sharply. "Fine, whatever. But if either of you throw up in my damn truck, I'll kill you."
They just laughed at him like he was the stupid one.
After school, Sanemi drove Genya home in his truck. The students were calling it the Shinazugawa-mobile, but he didn't let that bother him. He didn't complain one bit, especially not when he and his brother headed home to their family, who were all safe, happy, and healthy. Not when he pulled up to their new house, which Sumi had begged to paint yellow and their mom had agreed. Not when he went inside and sat down on a couch that didn't threaten to collapse, and Koto asked for help with his math homework. Not when their mom started cooking dinner with groceries that would never run out, thanks to savings Sanemi had scheduled to boost their income with each month for the next ten years— plenty of time for most of the kids to get incomes of their own. And, when they all sat down together and talked about how their days were, everything that had happened, good and bad, Sanemi was thankful.