A Place Where We Belong

Chapter 2: Adjusting

Koji woke up with his bones aching; it was warmer in the living room than he could handle. He was never fond of the heat, or the cold for that matter. He rolled over but fell off the small couch, wincing in pain. He wasn't that far from the ground to begin with, but the fall put extra pressure on his joints than he wanted.

"Oh, careful! I hope that didn't hurt as much as it looked." Koji heard a quiet voice from across the room.

"Where are you off to?" Koji asked his twin, ignoring his comment. He had a backpack on his shoulders and looked fairly decent with a plain, navy blue, baseball cap and cream colored skinny jeans.

"I told you last night, Koji. Yesterday was the last day of spring break, and starting today is a new term." Kouichi responded.

"I forgot."

"I have some stuff I have to do right after school, but it should only take a couple of hours. I'll try to be home by 5 o'clock."

"Fine. Have fun at that prison."

"Hey, going to school is kind of fun. You should try it sometime."

"No thanks, I'll stick with being homeschooled."

"Alright, whatever you say, Koji. I'll be off now, so don't get too lonely until 5."

"Whatever, just leave, you idiot." Koji chuckled.

"Haha. Ok, ok, bye!" Kouichi said, closing the front door behind him.

Finally, Koji was left all alone. He felt more content that way. It had been a few days since he had moved in with his twin brother, but he still wasn't used to the happy atmosphere that surrounded him every second of the day, even when he was there alone.

He saw a couple of pictures on the wall with his mom and brother, smiling like they didn't have a care in the world. On the coffee table in front of him, there was a maroon photo album laying neatly on a small layer of dust. Koji watched the book for a couple of minutes as if he was waiting for it to grow legs and walk out the door. He hesitated to look at the pictures in the book but pushed himself to do so. Opening to a random page, he found Kouichi, smiling at the camera with his arm around a girl's shoulder. Koji could feel the joy radiating from the picture. He quickly slammed the book shut and furrowed his brow.

"Disgusting!" he said to the photo album and wandered into the kitchen to find some food.

Koji has never been the type of person to find joy in the little things or to pretend that he was happy.

"Koji, can't you at least pretend that you're happy?" his father had asked him on his wedding day.

"Why would I do that? I mean, showing people that I'm 'happy' when I'm actually not is the same thing as lying. You might be fine with lying to people's faces 24/7, but I'm not," Koji replied.

This sad boy has only felt joy a handful of times in his life. The first few times he won a Kendo Championship he felt joy, but now, each time he wins, he feels accomplished, not happy. He felt joy when he met his real mom, and everytime his uncle would visit him. He has also felt joy each time he came up with a new training exercise, but that's it.

Koji opened one of the cupboards and found some cashews he brought from his old house. He also grabbed a jug of water from the fridge and sat cross-legged in front of the coffee table, glaring at the front door. This was a habit he picked up whenever his dad and stepmom went out. He'd find himself glaring for hours, just so he could make them feel uncomfortable as they walked in the front room. Koji had always found their reaction amusing.

Before he knew it, six hours had gone by that consisted of Koji stretching, exercising, meditating, and updating his social media. He had been doing push-ups when his phone lit up from a text message from his brother:

I'll be coming home right after school cause there's someone I want you to meet. I hope that's ok. Actually, you don't have a choice, sorry; she's being too pushy... I'll see you in a few hours. :D

"Whatever," Koji said to himself, somewhat annoyed.

_____________________________________

That morning, Kouichi had walked to school alone and didn't like the open space. He would always walk with someone, but lately, he's been avoiding them. As he walked onto the school grounds, he heard a familiar voice and almost turned around, but realized that his friend did not sound happy.

"Kouichi Kimura! Where the heck have you been?" An angry, young, girl came dashing to the older twins' side and smacked the back of his head.

He whimpered his reply, saying, "Ow! Jay, that hurt! What is wrong with you?"

"It was supposed to!" she growled. "And it's nice to see you too, friend."

"Sorry, sorry! Lately, everything has been... complicated."

"So, are you going to tell me? Or am I going to have to kick you in the balls, again?"

"Ok, please no!" Kouichi quickly replied, absentmindedly shielding his crotch with his hands.

"Geeze, calm yourself, dude!" She teasingly rolled her eyes. "I was kidding."

"You weren't kidding the first time!"

"Oh my gosh, this again? How many times do I have to tell you? It was an accident!"

"How would you feel if I accidentally kicked you in the chest?"

"Mh, you'd like that, wouldn't you?" Jay said, jokingly, wiggling her eyebrows.

"Ew, Jay that's gross, stop."

They both burst out laughing and held on to each other's shoulders for stability. When the two friends were finally able to stand on their own, they hugged each other tightly.

"Crap! I really missed you, man!"

"Haha, I missed you too, Jay."

"Kouichi," Jay started, gently pulling herself away from his grasp. "Please, I'm worried about you. What happened after Granny died?"

There was a long pause as Jay watched Kouichi nervously scratch the back of his neck. She waited for his reply, he didn't answer.

"Kouichi, are you sick?"

"No."

"Are you depressed?"

"I don't think so."

"Kouichi!" she said more sternly.

As he was about to answer her, the warning bell rang, signaling the students to head to their first class of the day. Kouichi let out a sigh and started to walk away, but his friend grabbed his arm before he could get any further.

"I-" he started to say, but hesitated. "I'll tell you at lunch. There's a lot that I need to talk to you about, but I don't know how to say it. If you can wait until lunch, then I promise, I will tell you everything. Deal?"

Jay reluctantly obliged and let him be. All through their classes, he looked like he was mentally beating himself up. With his eyebrows knitted and a frown on his face, Jay could tell that, whatever made her best friend distance himself from her, it was serious.

Thank my Discount Tire friend for the awesome drawing! Show her your appreciation by commenting and liking the chapter!

BTW, I don't know how I came up with the part after the line break, but it happened! I hope I made you guys laugh, and let me know what you think!

I need love to have motivation to post more often! ; )

It's almost 1 AM here, so goodnight, Peeps! <3