Five.
That's a number they had to get used to.
They've always said they were sextuplets, they always did everything as sextuplets, if not then in pairs or triplets.
All six would go the bathhouse, all six would go to same Oden stand of their childhood friend, all six would do crazy antics or try to get jobs together, all six went to Totoko's concerts, all six.
But now, the third oldest wasn't allowed out the house. So things turned into five, an uneven number that maybe that said brother left out would've thought was perfect. They have a center now.
The adjustment was hard on everyone, even their parents, but it seemed even more so to the one who's affected by it, Choromatsu.
He's done his best and tried to act like things were normal, hanging out with all the brothers if they were home, but Choromatsu wasn't the only one who changed. His immediate older brother and the younger three couldn't stop worrying, stop looking out, stop being so cautious.
So when it was obvious how hard Choromatsu tried to make and keep things as normal as they could, the remaining brothers couldn't help but just stare at him, sneak glances, do something yet nothing, which inevitable ended in the third oldest to put down whatever he was doing and leave.
Now and days after Osomatsu closed the hole in the wall, they hardly saw the third. He wouldn't put any effort in being the same room as them, it'd be a miracle if they saw him, but even then they didn't say anything.
At first they wouldn't speak to him or be in a room alone with him in fear he'd snap, which in reality, they didn't want to feel the guilt of keeping him in here with little to no freedom and created excuses for themselves like "its to help" or "its not part of the rules". Excuses they knew were wrong. They just couldn't see what this was doing the third oldest nor did they know how to deal with it, so like all problems they'd have, they avoided it.
Maybe. They've been avoiding it for too long.
No. They should've never avoided it from the start.
They were never there for Choromatsu. Never told him things will be okay, reassuring him, being there for him.
It seemed too late at this point, but they had to do something about this. Choromatsu wasn't the same, he was changing and slipping away from them even more, and all they did was act normal as if nothing was wrong when he wasn't in the room.
They were all there, save for the green Matsu, doing what they do. Osomatsu read manga, Karamatsu looked in his mirror, Ichimatsu was laying down the couch and seemed to stare off at nothing, Jyushimatsu and Todomatsu played a game together.
Everything was normal, as if the missing brother wouldn't have changed anything.
But it was a lie. None of them could focus on what they were doing, their minds busy of the missing brother. They all want to talk about it, say something, but no one did. No one knew how to. That was until.
"Because none of us pieces of shit will say it I will," Ichimatsu spoke out clearly, everyone froze, "This isn't helping Choromatsu and we're doing absolute shit about it."
No one knew who would mention it, and Ichimatsu was the last one they would've thought of. The middle brothers didn't interact much at all so it showed even he noticed and knew this was wrong. But what could they do about it?
"It's not like we can do anything" the eldest spoke, "You know we can't change his situation or give him what he wants, he just has to get used to it."
