gardenias; saiki k.

006; anemones

WHAT KUSUO LEAST ANTICIPATED to
see once he arrived home was a random woman trying to get over his house's gate.

The woman had a lean and slightly muscular silhouette. She wore a navy business suit and kept her hair loose and unkempt. If Kusuo didn't know better, he'd think that the Yakuza was after his father, but based on her thoughts ─ she didn't have any murderous intent, thankfully.

She was climbing over the gate in broad daylight, struggling to get herself to the other side. Passerbys shot strange looks at her, and parents covered their children's eyes. What was this woman trying to achieve? Was she one of his dad's wrathful bosses or just a really bad robber?

Whatever the case, she had to leave. No way in hell would Kusuo let her break into their house.

But before he could make a plan to exterminate her, the front door suddenly opened, and Kurumi welcomed this mystery girl inside.

Concerned for the safety of his mother, he teleported to the front door in no time.

He rushed in, his magenta eyes wide open, expecting the worst.

As soon as he was about to yell at the presumed intruder, he was met with an unforeseen predicament. The unknown woman and his mother... were hugging??? His dad was also inside, beside the two women, smiling and mindlessly talking about whatnot as he had his hands clasped together.

Kurumi saw Kusuo and her eyes sparkled, and she broke free from the hug to approach him.

"Ku! Welcome back, we have a special guest visiting - go say hi to her!" excitingly, she dragged him by the hand and prompted him to greet the unfamiliar face.

Kusuo finally got a closer look at the woman's appearance. Her brown ochre hair was parted in the middle and she wore glasses that fitted nicely. She had skin that was unblemished and fair, but the slight wrinkles pointed to the assumption that she was most likely around in her late 30s.

'Who is this woman? Why was she even trying to climb over the gate earlier?'

He took a few seconds strangely standing in silence before saying a simple hello. To further his confusion, she gave him an even more confused look.

She pouted, "You don't remember who I am?"

"No, " He bluntly replied, focusing on the more important question, "why were you trying to climb over the fence?"

"To get in your house." She gave a blank stare to him as if what she said didn't sound like a crime. Kuniharu repeated what she said, "Yeah, to get in our house!" as if what she was doing wasn't a crime.

Kusuo squinted his eyes, "But why?"

Kurumi interrupted their small conversation, "You don't remember who this is?" she asked, placing a hand on the other woman's shoulder.

Kusuo shook his head. Who the hell is this woman?

"It's your aunt Naomi!"

"Who?"

The woman ─ now known as Naomi, gasped dramatically as if she was offended by Kusuo's lack of memory.

The raven-haired woman nodded, "Naomi used to be our close friend! You forgot about her?"

'Is breaking into your friend's house a normal thing these days?'

Kusuo searched frantically through his brain to try to see if he had any knowledge or little memory of this woman. Kusuo remembers all the things that happened in his life ─ so why did he forget such an important person?