KOF School

Back Home

Yashiro took off his hood and rang the doorbell of his home since he intentionally left his keys behind before leaving his home. It was really cold too, making him curl his icy fingers into the pockets of his coat for warmth.
The sound of footsteps came from the other side, followed by the door swinging open. Yashira opened the door, her eyes puffy both from lack of sleep and tears. Her sorrowful look, however, lit up in surprise as quick as soon as her eyes landed on the caller in front of her.
"Ya...Yashiro?" Yashira murmured, unable to believe her eyes. She reached up and touched his face, to which he didn't even flinch, as if to see if he was really standing in front of her. "It is you. You finally came home!"
"Hi, Mom," Yashiro greeted.
Yashira let out a sob and threw her arms around him. Yashiro stood as still as a statue while she cried in his shoulder, unable to do anything else. When she pulled away, Yashiro simply made his way up the stairs and went up to his room, without uttering another word.
The first thing he did was put his phone to charge. Then he started working on the painting he wanted to give his mother. At first, he didn't know what to paint, but soon found the inspiration he needed. It was evident that he still longed for the good times he used to have with her, which he dearly wished he could revive. Picturing it in the form of the painting brought a smile to his face, a sad smile that even made his eyes water.
A knock sounded on his door. Yashiro carefully pushed the painting behind a stack of books and got up to answer the door. It was his mother, obviously, and she was holding something.
"I... I just made a batch of cookies, would you like some?" Yashira asked, holding out a tray of freshly frosted cookies.
Yashiro nodded and took one. "Thanks."
"Where have you been all this while, Yashiro?" Yashira turned concerned. "How have you been?"
"I've been good," Yashiro nodded again as he took a bite off his cookie. "In a safe place."
"Honey, I'm sorry for breaking your trophy, I didn't realise how... how exhausted you must've been that day. I didn't realise how harsh I've been, how much of a toll it would take on you."
Yashiro looked at her indifferently. "Mothers aren't supposed to apologise to their children."
Yashira shook her head. "No, Yashiro. I've been wrong. Being your mother doesn't give me the excuse to not apologise after treating you so bad."
"Thanks," Yashiro finally said. "I... I have some work to do. I'll meet you later downstairs to make the Wagashi."
"Darn! I forgot all about the nerikiri!" Yashira panicked, nearly dropping the tray of cookies. "Oh no! I haven't even gotten the ingredients yet!"
"We... we can go get them now, if you want," Yashiro ended up saying.
Yashira stopped short and looked at him. "You want to come?"
"Sure, why not," Yashiro shrugged. "There must be a lot of things you need to get, how are you gonna bring them in all by yourself?"
"Oh... yes, thanks," Yashira nodded. "There's a lot that I still haven't gotten yet. I'll go get dressed."
With that, she ran down the stairs with the cookie tray. Yashiro didn't know how to feel, confused, surprised, happy, or sorry for his mother. This was the first time she had actually admitted that she needed help to carry the groceries in. Usually, she'd just go alone and complain about it later.
Though offered help a million times before.
Now, Yashiro didn't really have much of a choice besides turning everything off, retrieving his phone, and making his way downstairs to wait for his mother.
Yashira soon came down rather hastily and made a beeline for the garage where their minivan was parked. The two of them got in and went straight to the nearby department store.

Iori was actually surprised to watch the news and find out that the 'missing' Yashiro was finally found. There was no reason given on why he had run away, and how he was doing now, but he knew full well why Yashiro ran away and how he was doing.
"So he returned, that boy," Kazuhiro remarked, pointing the remote at the TV as he spoke. "Well... I hope he learned his lesson for bullying you."
Iori groaned. "Uncle! I did more damage than he did. I went wild again and almost hit him with a music stand and even tried to strangle him. Isn't that way worse than what he did?"
"You weren't yourself when you did all of that, what's his excuse?" Masaomi pointed out, coming over with a bowl of buttered popcorn. "And he was the one who triggered you in the first place so you're not the one to blame. Also, I have a bone to pick with you."
"As long as the bone has meat on it, I'm fine," Iori shrugged, smirking slight. "What's up?"
"I spoke to Yashiro's mother last night when she came to the cafe and she told me that you two went to check on her," Masaomi stated. "And why's that?"
"Me?" Kazuhiro pointed to himself in surprise. "But I didn't do anything!"
Masaomi rolled his eyes. "Hiro, I'm not talking to you. I was referring to Iori and Aiko."
Aiko stopped midway while bringing in the bottles of soda. "It was Niisan's idea!" She quickly said, much to Iori's dismay.
"How did you even find her address in the first place?" Kazuhiro asked, confused. "Did you guys stalk her or something?"
Iori sighed. "I saw the address in Yashiro's profile for the band."
It was half true, he did see the Nanakases' address on Yashiro's profile earlier but just didn't pay much attention to it then. Iori didn't want to reveal the fact that he and Aiko were some of the few who actually knew of his whereabouts while the whole country didn't.
Masaomi and Kazuhiro seemed convinced by his story and ended up asking about what Yashira had said to them during the visit, to which they gladly answered.

Yashiro helped his mother to make the nerikiri, carefully moulding the sweet dough with the traditional tools that his mother always insisted on using. It was a relaxing process that required precision and patience. He had somehow successfully moulded the dough into pretty red plum blossoms.
"How many have you done?" Yashira asked, placing a white and blue snowflake down on the tray beside her.
"Seven," Yashiro answered, adding the seventh flower to the batch. "Now moving on to eight."
"They're really pretty," Yashira stated, making the more complicated snowflake-shaped ones.
"Thanks..." Yashiro smiled slightly. "Those snowflakes are really pretty too."
Yashira smiled. "Your father will be coming in tomorrow, we have to go to the train station early to pick him up."
"Sure, what time?" Yashiro asked, shaping the dough into more plum blossoms.
"Kinda early, around seven, maybe?" Yashira said. "You don't mind waking up early, right?"
Yashiro simply shrugged. "I'm okay with waking up early."
Yashira nodded and looked at her son, her lips forming a small smile. "I'm so glad that you're finally home. I... I thought you'd never come home after... after everything."
"Just... forget it," Yashiro quietly remarked. "We can't even change what happened."
"How I wish I could..."