The Disappearance of Osomatsu-san

Chapter 48: The Negative Ion

Ichi lived in Flag Corporation's building, just a floor below his little brother's office. It was natural he lived there, seeing as how his little brother lived there too. But after the death of his father and after giving the mansion staff better jobs and making sure they were no longer bound to serving the Suuji Family, Ichi had thought it would be best to leave the past behind. So he grabbed a few things and his little brother, and had Dekapan and Hatabou fix the extra floors of the building into his and Jyushi's respective bedrooms. Jyushi had the highest floor, since his little brother deserved to be on the very top of the world, where no one could reach him. But before anyone could reach Jyushi, they had to go through Ichi's floor too.

Big brother knows best after all. If they want to go to Jyushi, they have to go through me.

His room was interesting to look at, since there was a higher platform which contained his bed, a TV, his drawers and closets, a desk full of papers and elementary school books, as well as personal trinkets, while his katana was beside his bed just in case someone tried to attack him while he was sleeping. The higher platform was connected to the lower platform by stairs, and as expected, the lower platform was his office. There were shelves filled with files and books, but the furniture was arranged nicely, and sitting on Ichi's desk was an untouched chessboard. On the other side of the room was a piano, the same piano he lets Jyushi practice on.

He remembered he had to put Jyushi's tutors on hold when they get Jyushi back from Lonely, who was apparently going to use him as bait, while at the same time, protecting him from someone who happens to be very dangerous. He can't instantly teach his little brother basic math and history when Jyushi could possibly suffer from some sort of trauma. Even if Lonely agreed to never lay a finger on him, the kidnapping alone must have scared Jyushi even the slightest bit.

He still couldn't understand what Lonely meant by Jyushi thinking no one loved him, but considering they were meeting up with Lonely later, he could whack the shit out of him so he could spit out whatever he meant. Of course Jyushi was loved! What made his little brother think he wasn't? Was it because of their dad? Fuck that guy, he had died years ago and his opinions didn't matter. Plus, he didn't even acknowledge Jyushi's existence when he was still alive. Jyushi shouldn't either.

Speaking of which.. he glanced at the small purple bottle on top of his desk, just beside the expensive vase of wilted flowers Jyushi had picked with Fuyu and Yuki last autumn. Those flowers used to be a nice blend of reds, yellows, and oranges, but now, they were all gray and dead, dull and lifeless. As much as he wanted to dispose of the flowers because they looked and were probably dead, he couldn't do so until spring came and Jyushi had new flowers to the small purple bottle sitting on his desk? It was just a little reminder of how he got in this position, how he became the president to this company.

He couldn't say he rightfully earned the position, seeing as how he murdered the previous president with the liquid he emptied from the bottle, but oh well. Life's life. The police hadn't had the nerve to investigate this matter years ago, so everyone just assumed a staff member had poisoned the previous president for mistreating the staff, his own son, and even his own lovely wife. If someone else besides Ichi did it, he wouldn't even question why. His dad was a monster that everyone hated and feared, end of story. He was the reason Jyushi couldn't even walk.

Ichi bit his lip as he remembered that day. He never wanted to see Jyushi in pain ever again. He didn't want anyone to hurt his little brother in that way again. He already lost his mother, his mother who had done nothing wrong and only wanted for her husband to be kinder to his sons. He couldn't bare to lose his little brother too, not when he was the only one Ichi had left to live in this trashy world.