Andromeda

The town was busy with activity crowding the streets and sidewalks leaving the noise to plow through everything around. Near to the neighborhood of Yuki and many of his classmates was a shopping district within walking distance that provided much of the after school entertainment. It left the sidewalks filled with students just off from classes.

For Yumi, she had to make it to her part-time job that she kept. Since their mother worked so hard to make enough money for them, Yumi took it upon herself to help in any way that she could to make things a little easier for them. She had decided when she entered high school that she would get a job. It was not uncommon for high school students, but still was something difficult to do. However, the school knew about her family situation and she was allowed to work.

She arrived out front of the local bookstore that she had found through the school. They had helped her in locating a respectable business that was near to school. She helped them with whatever was needed in the store filling in where there were gaps. It was a simple job, but Yumi enjoyed the people that worked there and the friendly atmosphere.

Yumi smiled and nodded to the owner at the front desk as she walked through to the back. Since she came straight from school she was still wearing her uniform. It meant that she had to change out to what was worn for the store, which was simple slacks and a pink polo with the store’s logo embroidered on the left side. As she put her bag away her mind began to wonder through memories and thoughts.

Chapter 31 – Unbroken Bonds

The back room gave her the moments to think back with her mind still spinning in uncertainty from her brother’s words. It made her think back when she was younger, when their family was still whole. ‘When I was younger, father was still with us and mother didn’t have to work. She stayed home most of time taking care of us. During that time Yori was a little distant from me.’

Yori, age eight, was standing next to the table in the adjoining room to the kitchen where their mother was still looking at a paper. She returned the paper back to him smiling to him rubbing his head. “That’s amazing, Yori! You’re so smart!”

Outside of the kitchen looking in through the doorway was Yumi, age seven, watching with curiosity. When Yori caught the eye of Yumi his gaze shifted for a moment narrowing at her and then changing back as he looked at their mother. The look made Yumi recoil around the corner of the door frame barely allowing her eyes to peek around. Their mother quickly picked up on Yumi’s presence and turned making Yumi go into complete hiding. “Oh Yumi! It’s alright you don’t have to hide, dear!”

She pulled herself back a little catching the warm comforting smile from her mother that made her feel some courage pouring through her to get her out from hiding. Yumi stood in the threshold of the doorway hanging her head down trying to hold back her tears. “…Mom…” Her entire body was shaking ready to run away.

Her mother stood up from the chair walking over to Yumi kneeling down to her a little confused for why she was getting so upset. “What’s the matter, Yumi? Why are you crying, dear?” She raised up Yumi’s head to look at her seeing the tears that hung in her eyes. Then she looked down catching a paper in Yumi’s tiny hands wrinkled from her tight hold on it. She gently took the paper from Yumi to look at it and then set it aside. “Is this what’s got you upset? Don’t worry, Yumi. You’re still my precious daughter. Your grades won’t change how I feel!” Yumi jumped into her mother’s arms held out for her unable to stop the crying.

“…Hrmph…” Yori said turning his head away walking out of the room leaving them behind.

‘Yori and me, we got along well enough for siblings, but there always seemed to be a hint of competition between us. Much of that didn’t change for a while, but it soon became clear to Yori what our father had been doing. While I was only a year younger than him, much of it still was beyond my understanding.’

Their father came into the house late as he always seemed to be these days. There was a masking glow about him that made it clear he was hiding something while feeling contrary to his outward emotions. He sighed like he was tired and loosened his tie as he dropped his coat on the rack.

“Your dinner is warmed for you in the kitchen,” their mother said as she came out of the kitchen helping him with his things.

“I had something at work. I’m just going to sleep.” He walked around her going up the stairs to their room.

She hung her head down with a sense of knowing. “…I see…”

‘I was asleep then, but had woken up seeing Yori looking out into the hall.’ Yumi, age nine, looked up from her bed across her room and through the door that looked into Yori’s room. She could see the light of the hall shining on his eyes. Then the door completely opened and he walked out disappearing into the hall out of view. “…Yori?” She could not hold back her curiosity and stepped out of her bed walking to the edge of her door.

‘There was not much I could see, but I knew he had gone into our parent’s bedroom. All I could do was listen from a distant.’

“…doing here…” a muffled voice of her father said.

“I know… …playing around…”

“…just a child…”

“NO! I… …mother knows… …waits for you each…”

The voices suddenly became raised and much clearer to understand. “You don’t have any right to talk to your father like that!”

“And what right do you have to make mother cry every night when you don’t come home and knows what you’re doing!”

“Don’t you talk back to me, child! This doesn’t concern you!”

“It does when my own father doesn’t seem to care about his own family!”

“Watch your mouth! I—“ Yumi pulled herself back into her room seeing that their mother had been alerted to the noise and came running to see what was going on. There was further yelling, but Yumi had hid herself under the covers of her bed trying to keep the noise away from her.

‘It was not long after that our father left and then a year later it became official. Yori seemed glad, but it weighed on mother. When father left, she had to start working. It was then that I realized how much we depended on her. I had become so used to arriving back from school to have a warm smile to greet me and a snack to eat. But none of that happened anymore. The house was empty when I came home.’ While at school she kept a pleasant smile on her face even in front of those that knew what had happened. She continued on not letting to slow her down or get to her.

“Welcome home, Mom!” Yumi said greeting her tired mother at the door coming home late.

She had pat Yumi on the head working up a smile for her. “Thank you, dear.”

“Is there anything you need?” Yumi smiled keeping a happy pleasant face hoping to cheer up her mother.

“No, I’ll start working on dinner for you two immediately. You go do your homework.”

“Alright!”

‘It was always empty when I came home. There was never anyone to greet me.’ Yumi, age ten, was sitting at a chair in the dining room, alone in the house, next to the kitchen with her school bag dropped at her feet. She held her head down on the table with her hair covering up her face hiding her feelings.

Unnoticed by her, Yori had returned home from school and walked into the room seeing that the light was on. He walked around her to her side trying to see what was wrong with her. When he called out to her she did not answer back remaining in silence. He placed his hand on her shoulder hoping that he could get her attention. “Yumi?” However, he was not expecting what happened.

Yumi jumped up from her chair grabbing Yori by the waist and plunging her face into his shirt crying. He was taken aback by her reaction and collapsed to the floor not certain what to do next as his sister could not stop crying. “She’s not here! She’s not here! I want to see mom!”

“…Yumi…I-I…” Yori held Yumi in his arms as she kept crying feeling at a loss.

“…I want…” Yumi could not control herself anymore at that point. She had been feeling the sadness weighing on her for so long and tried to keep it bottled up so that she did not make anyone worry. She understood why their mother was always gone, but accepting it and understanding were not the same. ‘I thought that I had to be the good girl and so I tried to be strong. I didn’t want them to worry about me, but I just couldn’t take it. Everything that I had been holding in came pouring out.’

“I didn’t know…I…won’t let you be alone, Yumi!” Yori said looking down at Yumi trying to reach her.

She paused in her tears for a moment pulling herself away to look at Yori. The words had given her a little strength to be able to break through the emotions. “Yori? You…”

“I promise you, Yumi! So you don’t have to cry anymore. I’m here.”

“I’m not alone?”

Yori helped her get back on to her feet and clear up her tears. It was obvious to him how upset she still was about the matter. “Let’s make something to eat. You’ll feel better!” He started to walk her over to the kitchen looking back at Yumi, he was holding on to her hand to give her something stable.

“Can you cook?”

“Sure! And you can help me!”

“But I-I don’t know…”

“It’ll be fine. We can make something for mom as well.”

Yumi was still uncertain about the idea, but doing something with her brother made her a little excited. She had not known him to do much of anything with her. They went into the kitchen looking confused and lost, but Yori trying to play it like he knew what he was doing directing Yumi around. ‘Neither of us knew how to make anything to eat. She had always done everything for us. Even when she was working she left something for us. But Yori was determined to cheer me up. It was the first time that we had been so close. In the end the kitchen was a mess and we got scolded by her, but Yori stood up for me.’

The time passed on slowly for them. Their mother got more work and hours to keep her children in school and the house that they lived in. She was in the house less and less leaving it up to Yumi and Yori to pick up the duties that their mother used to do. They would clean the house and do the laundry. Both of them took turns in the kitchen and when their mother was free she tried to help teach them. ‘Eventually, we were able to cook just as well as her. We became closer and closer as time went on and I was able to be happy again spending time with Yori.’

They continued out elementary school together becoming almost inseparable at school or home. It was pretty clear to the students how close they were as siblings with some even knowing what happened in their family. Their close nature made them targets of teasing some times, but Yori stood up for Yumi every time it happened. But being a year behind Yori, eventually he went to middle school leaving Yumi alone in school.

She became distant again during her last year of elementary school shying away from most people. Yumi was simply holding out until she was near her brother once more. She had been through it before so it was not as painful for her. ‘When I arrived middle school, Yori had already developed a name for himself. He was smart and popular with the girls. It was typical that he would try to ignore the attention, but it made it difficult when everyone heard we were related. They expected me to be just like him, but I could only end up disappointing them.’

“Hey, you’re Mizuno’s little sister!”

“It’s Mizuno’s sister.”

“What’s her name?”

“He must be so embarrassed with having a sister like her.”

“Yeah, he’s mature, intelligent and good looking.”

“She’s nothing like him, it’s surprising.”

“Hey! There’s nothing wrong with Yumi!” a girl said breaking up the crowd.

Yumi looked up from passing through the halls quietly a little surprised to hear that there was someone that was not talking down to her or making fun of her. She came to a stop seeing that there was a group of students in her way. “…umm…excuse me…” she said weakly barely able to speak. The commotion that was being created only made her want to leave sooner.

“Who do you think you are?!”

“I should be saying that to you! You think it’s fun teasing people?”

“What?!”

“Hey! Why you stopping her?!” The girl had suddenly realized that Yumi was trying to leave, but a mob of students was preventing her. She came running over to Yumi glaring at the students, who were confused and a little scared by the reaction. “Come on!” The girl grabbed her hand pulling Yumi through the student wailing in surprise not wanting to cause trouble for everyone.

Once they had broken through and found a quiet place to rest Yumi collapsed to the ground panting heavily for air. She looked over at the other girl that was trying to recover her breathing as well. “I’m sorry to cause you trouble.”

“Huh? Why you apologizing to me? They should be apologizing to you for harassing you like that!”

“But I don’t want to cause any trouble!” Yumi did not know why the girl was supporting her. She did not even know who the girl was aside from being about her age. It was a foreign notion to her that there was someone that would want to stand up for her. She was so used to being with her brother that she had isolated herself from the rest.

The girl stepped forward holding out a finger over Yumi’s lips when she was about to say something more. “I don’t want to hear you blaming yourself! You did nothing wrong. So cheer up! You always look so sad.”

“But I-I…”

“No ‘buts’ alright? I’m Kaede!” Kaede pulled her hand back letting Yumi speak again.

Yumi was left without words to say. She was not used to someone being so open and straight with their words. It felt like she had a harsh tongue, but Yumi could feel that she also seemed to care about her too. ‘That was the first time I met Kaede. I soon became friends with her and later Katsumi as well. They helped to fill the void that I felt when my brother was not around. They are both a lot more open about saying what’s on their mind then me.’

Yumi pulled her focus back to her work in the store. Her mind had been absent for long enough leaving the books that she was supposed to stock still resting in the box. When she realized how far behind she was on her work she panicked and flailed her arms punishing herself.

The books were eventually finished and she was about to take the box back when she was called forward. It was the woman that was the only other full time worker at the store apart from the family that owned the store. Yumi would see her in almost every day working behind the counter most days. “Yes, Miss Momoko?”

“Hey, Yumi! Could you take this to the back for me?”

“Sure!” said Yumi as she approached the counter. There was someone else there with his back turned to her handing over a bag to Momoko.

“You can just give it to her, Yuki.”

“Alright,” Yuki said slowly as he turned to face Yumi coming up to him.

Yumi froze instantly seeing Yuki standing before her. Her words began to stutter and her face turned red almost immediately. ‘What’s he doing here? Why is…’ There were countless questions that ran through her mind in the moments as she stared unable to say anything. Yuki stepped forward to her holding out the bag for her to take as she stepped back. “…Yuki…”

To be continued…