Chapter Text
—In the year granddad died, we had the worst flood since 1998
Ryuji got trapped on top of a dog house
the power was out for two days
Goro Akechi came by in his dad's boat
and I laughed when I saw him
Granddad left me an apple crate of books
he loved ghost stories
and quoted them to himself in the hospital bed
“They went looking for the gods, and died in lonely places.”
On his last day
he sat up suddenly
and stared bug-eyed through the window
at the old trains
rattling to somewhere else
from somewhere else
he turned to my dad
eyes still wide
“This house is haunted.”
he said
and died.
稲羽市
Something tells Akira that someone may be missing at the train station. He's been back in town for maybe five minutes, and it's not like he expected a whole-ass welcome party, but he thought at least someone would be here to pick him up.
Maybe Sojiro forgot, and Futaba forgot to remind him. Or, they're both outside with big smiles on their faces, grateful that Akira is finally back after two years of doing nothing.
Or, as some people called it, college.
Maybe dropping out wasn't the best choice for most people, but for Akira, dropping out might've just stopped him from eating pizza for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and accidentally dying in the process. Maybe it stopped another kid from getting smashed by a baseball bat by him. And wasn't that a good thing? Really, the way he thought about it—it told others the wonders of dropping out. He could create an ad for it with his dumpster of a laptop:
Sick of pizza? Sick of accidentally dying? Sick of all the looks on their faces? Drop out of college, now! Perhaps even your loved ones will come pick you up! (The disappointed look on their faces is an added bonus, believe me!)
Either way, if Sojiro and Futaba are waiting outside or not, Akira couldn't possibly tell, because of the damn janitor currently working on the door he desperately needed to get outside and see their happy faces.
He needed to approach the guy if he wanted to get home tonight. Though, that's when he noticed some kind of billboard of Inaba right next to him, and he turned to look at that first, in hopes of the janitor going away on his own. It was better than standing around awkwardly anyway. Maybe he'll seem smart to the guy if he looks at the picture in an interesting manner. But, then again, maybe the janitor wasn't that smart himself, since Akira has been standing there for many minutes and not even he was realizing that he's blocking the stupid door to get outside.
Well, the billboard was somewhat interesting. It displayed Inaba, the Tatsuhime Shrine right in the middle of the picture like it was some sort of founding father. In reality, Inaba never looked more...
...falsely advertised.
Of course, many people loved it there. It was a quiet, rural town that most found a relaxing place to settle down, but to someone like Akira, who's lived here all his life, it couldn't get more unexciting. The shops were nothing special, although Akira was grateful for the Shiroku Store last time he was here.
Two years are a long time. Perhaps he even missed it—but he missed his friends even more. Admittedly, he was afraid of them having changed too much while he was gone. They got older, sure, and a lot must've changed in their lives. Maybe, while he was sulking in his college dorm, they were doing something worthwhile.
He could never be too sure, judging by their messages, when he got them. Back when he first went out of town, their messages were a regular thing—Ryuji would text him with a Hey, dude and asked him what he's doing. Sometimes, Akira got pictures of him and Yusuke, and sometimes, even Goro texted him, if he wasn't too busy.
Futaba was the one who regularly kept contact with him, which was a given. But that only made it hurt more when her string of daily messages became sparse, or when she missed whole days.
When everything got too bad, and he was only eating pizza or nothing at all, no messages would come in. Either way, he didn't want them to realize anything.
And he would keep it that way.
At least he's back, now. Despite its flaws, Inaba's rivers and diners were worth missing. It was a good thing Akira liked rainy days, too, since Inaba got a lot of those. He shouldn't complain.
What he was gonna complain about, though, was that stupid janitor still working on the stupid door he had to go through. He supposed if Sojiro and Futaba were outside, they would've broken the door in by now. At least, his sister would. Actually, no, Sojiro would too.
So, perhaps they weren't waiting outside. What a shame. It's not like Akira didn't want to explore the woods and climb some trees to get where he wanted to tonight, but if he was honest, that might've been on tomorrow's to-do list.
Tonight's to-do list, however, contained a lot of sleeping, sleeping, and oh! Sleeping.
It was better than nothing. While he was tired, he still was able to stand on his own two feet without tumbling. And passing out on the ground. Maybe that would alarm the janitor and got him to acknowledge that someone was, in fact, in the building with him? That someone being Akira, the college drop-out who very much wanted to go home? Please? Just notice me, sir.
In the end, he decided to finally approach the guy.
“Excuse me,” He started, and quickly coughed into his hand to clear his throat. His voice had gotten rough from not talking at all in at least four hours, and shaky from the added anxiety of having to ask someone to kindly move. “But where is everybody?”
The guy's voice was raspy, but Akira could make out what the hell he said. “It's 10:45. It's closed. No one's here, kid. Not a lot of folks getting off the last train to Inaba these days,” He replied. “Just you.”
Well, that was awfully rude. Akira knew this place contained some mean-spirited people, but he wasn't aware they were so common he'd run into one on his first day back. “Isn't there supposed to be someone at the desk? You know, like how a station is supposed to run?”
“Closed.”
This was going nowhere. “Why are the lights on, then? Why is the TV on?” Which was loudly playing in the background, by the way, and Akira was trying his damn best to ignore it and not get a sensory overload from the drilling sounds coming from the janitor's drill and the pre-recorded sitcom laugh-tracks from the TV.
The janitor's next line was just as unnecessary as the rest of them. “I get spooked when I'm here by my lonesome.”
“Oh.”
And so, the conversation was over.
The janitor didn't reply. Akira didn't reply. They were back to mutual silence, both going unnoticed by the other. Except, Akira very much noticed him, but said him couldn't catch a damn hint. “So, uh, can I squeeze past you?”
“Nope,” The guy answered. “Just broke the damn thing.” Well, that wasn't very helpful, but thank you for the information about the door I very much would like to use right now.
“When do you think it might be done?”
“Right after you go grab me a Dr. Salt from the machine over there.” Oh, as Ryuji would say now, eff off. Is he really gonna spent money on this guy's salty soda?
“...Am I paying for this?”
“I always rig it when I'm here after hours.” The guy makes it seem like he's here everyday. Does he live here? Is he the one who stole the payphone from the wall next to the vending machine he pointed at? Was he the reason Akira couldn't even consider calling Sojiro? So many questions, so many left unanswered by this jerkhole.
Well, at least his last response was helpful. Akira wasn't even sure if he had money on him. “Nice. So, its free as in free?”
“Free as in no one's here to say otherwise.”
What a kind old man. Akira really hoped he would never have to see him again.
He made his way over to the vending machine, taking one last look at the billboard and smiling. Soon, he would be out of here, and yeah, maybe the way home through the woods was long and convoluted, but hey, he had fun there as a kid; so maybe climbing through it hasn't lost all its charm.
One last muttered eff you for the janitor when looking at the ripped-off payphone (Akira knew he was making assumptions, but the guy made his night so much worse, so he probably deserved it) and he was at the vending machine, noticing—
What the hell? This thing has Starvicks and the guy wants a Dr. Salt? That's just a waste. Maybe the coffee didn't taste as good as the one Sojiro would make for him and Futaba every morning, but it was better than salty soda. Who thought of creating that? Famous Dr. Salt the 3rd? He hoped his ancestors were disappointed. Even Nastea tastes great, despite its name.
Either way, he grabbed the cold drink and made his way back to the front, holding his hand out so the janitor could take it. “I'm just going to pretend I'm not questioning your choice of drink, so here you go.”
The guy took it without a word, and used his godamn drill to open it. Akira had to admit, it was a little cool. “Yummers,” He exclaimed after taking a big sip. “So, what are you doing here?”
Well, I was about to leave— “I live here. Well, lived here.”
“Huh. Strange.” You're strange.
“When do you think that door is gonna be finished?” Akira asked, pretending to be patient. It was silent for a moment.
The moment was only about three seconds long, before the janitor finally said what Akira wanted to hear all evening. “Now,” He deadpanned. “Goodbye.” Without another word, he left, and the lights turned off with him going. Huh. Strange. It made the current static state of the TV even creepier, but now Akira was finally free.
“Uh. Bye.” He said to no one.
Making his way outside, fresh cold air hit his face. He was thankful for the hoodie he was wearing, but being inside that stuffy station all the time with an even stuffier, rude janitor was killing him slowly.
But, as he expected, Sojiro and Futaba were nowhere to be found. He's right outside town, and it's dark and cold. Guess he's walking.
It was more quiet than he thought it would be. Its Autumn now, so its a surprise it isn't pouring down on him yet. A few quiet bugs can be heard if you listen closely, but also nothing major. He walked past some empty benches and tall trees that were already losing some of their leaves when he heard the train in the distance. The sound was more clear now than ever.
He missed the sound of that train. He used to hear it in his bed at night, and could see its lights from his attic window. Everything seemed so far away whenever he looked, especially as a child, but now he realized it really wasn't.
The woods outside of Inaba weren't that big, at least on this side of town. Past Yasogami was a much bigger forest, but he never went there. During school, he would sometimes eavesdrop on the older kids talking about having parties there, as dangerous as that sounds. Perhaps they weren't scared of any wild animals or jumping on fallen tree trunks so hard they fell on other people and squashed them under their weight.
Which is exactly what just happened to him—minus the other people and squashing them part. Old shopping bags were hanging from the branches like ghosts in the night. He had to get out of this dump somehow, so making the already-fallen tree trunk end up exactly where he needed it to was his best option.
He could've died and it was awesome and very adrenaline-inducing, but he wasn't going to die in this hole. And after the rush was over, he was left even more tired than before. Oh well. He got up.
At least the tree trunk was in the perfect position to climb now. He made his way up there, probably getting a few splinters in his hands, but who cares. He was on his way home.
In the near distance, he could see the old ship-shaped playground.
It looked way more broken than he remembered from the last time he was here, which might've been years ago. He saw it from afar when Sojiro drove him to the train station two years ago, but it didn't look as run-down as this. A lot of the wood from the ship was broken off, the steering wheel that Goro used to love to play with had lost a few handles made out of wood too, and Akira could even see a huge fence in the back too, like the whole playground was closed off.
Parents probably didn't want their kids to come home with a bunch of splinters in their hands. Akira hoped Sojiro was different.
So, climbing another tree it was. In no-time he was up on the observation tower of the playground, praying to whatever cat-god that it wouldn't break down under the added pressure. It didn't.
Using the tower for what it was built for, observing, he saw the few lights of Inaba. Back when he was little, he would try to find his house with Ryuji up there, and they made it a challenge with chips as a reward. Goro would call them dumb down from the ship, and Akira could hear his mother chuckle at them all from the bench on the playground. Goro would pout everytime.
That's when he remembered something—back when he was still in Inaba, Dr. Maruki had given him a little notebook for coping reasons. He took it out of the backpack he was carrying along with a pen and scribbled something on the first page.
Rip
Granddad
♡
Good. So, that was that. And also, his dad and sister forgot him. He writes that down as well, and puts the book back into his bag, remembering to keep journaling in order to...sort out his issues, as Dr. Maruki stated ages ago. Maybe, if he was still in town, Akira could tell him that he did finally pick that up, and he could cheer him on or whatever. Dr. Maruki didn't have particularly good advice, but he would listen to Akira ramble whenever he needed to. It was awkward at first, since he was one of Akira's old teachers as well, yet it worked now.
He shook his head. He could think about all of that and talking to Dr. Maruki tomorrow, what was important now, was getting the fuck home. Akira looked at the telephone lines in front of him and began calculating inside his head if he would actually be able to do this, and—
Eh, who cares. He already almost died once tonight, he could do this.
Balancing on them turned out to not really be a challenge, as Akira did it as a kid a bunch. Sojiro would tell him not to, and Futaba would call him an idiot whenever he did almost fall, but he always balanced himself out at the right time. When Goro was feeling particularly rebellious, he would even join him up there, but only when his mother wasn't around.
He could see the end of the line not very far away and Akira was beginning to question how he would actually get down from here. The pole on which the telephone line was attached was thick enough that maybe Akira could slide down there, so he was kind of aiming for that, but in the end he literally just fell.
And landed on his face. This would definitely result in a nasty black eye later. Perhaps he really was more tired than he thought, because he just continued to lay on the ground for a few seconds before a sudden, bright light shined onto his face.
“Good evening, Kurusu. Been awhile.”
Of-fucking-course.
He was very much out of breath. “Hey, Sae. What are you doing out here? Nothing better to do?”
Sae Niijima, sister of Makoto Niijima who Akira really did not want to think about, stood in front of him. Her police uniform was very much visible and for a second he wondered why they'd need cops in a small town like Inaba. What, are too many wild opossums sneaking into your houses?
He already knew Sae wasn't very fond of him the first time she saw Akira climbing on those telephone lines. “I was out here doing my rounds when I saw you in the very off-limits playground. And also, on those telephone lines. Those are always off-limits, Kurusu.”
“So?”
“Get in the car, Kurusu.”
“No.”
“Do you want to spend your first night back in jail, Kurusu?”
Akira was proud to announce he contemplated the thought for a second. “No.”
稲羽市
The drive to his house felt long and was very silent, though maybe he preferred that to Sae telling him not to talk back to officers. Or climb on off-limits places.
Anyways, with Sae quickly leaving right after he literally just stepped out of her stupid cop car, he was left alone with a view on his house. All in all, Akira was glad to live here. When Sojiro opened up his own café before he was even born he never would've realized how many adventures come with having a parent who owns such a place. It wasn't very popular, but that was only because many didn't know the coffee was to die for.
Leblanc was closed now, but Akira still had a key. If Sojiro and Futaba really did forget about him, he hoped they wouldn't think of him as a burglar and sneak up on him with chairs in their hands. But then again, which burglar could say they actually own the key to the place they want to rob?
Unlocking the front door, he first took the smell in. Of course, Leblanc being the café it is, it smelled like coffee beans, but also like curry, Sojiro's speciality and Akira's favourite.
He missed it. A lot. Because while Akira could cook, he was never able to make curry like Sojiro did it.
Akira quickly locked the door he came in again and made his way upstairs. The house had three main parts; the café downstairs, where costumers would wine and dine (its a fun way of saying only old people and Akira's friends came here.) Then, the second floor, with Futaba's bedroom, along with Sojiro's, and the tiny living room space they created in the hall. It was big enough. Futaba's room had a huge gaming setup last time he saw it, and he could only hope she since expanded on it.
And lastly, his attic. It was a small space, sure, but it was Akira's small space. There were a bunch of cool posters on the wall, and glow-in-the-dark stars were adorning the wood on the ceiling. Yusuke gave them to him once in hopes of making the place livelier during sleepovers, and Futaba loved them so much she also got him a bunch of alien-themed things and hung them up on his wall, or put them on his shelves.
That all was a long time ago. Now, Akira was a 20 year old college dropout. Maybe it was too late to go to jail now.
When he went up the stairs he could hear the same TV show playing in the hall that was also playing back at the train station, which meant at least someone was still awake.
He was met with Sojiro's old face. He missed it. But he was also fed up with being forgotten, and Sojiro didn't seem to have noticed him yet, so—
“Hey! Remember me?”
And, well, maybe Sojiro didn't take Akira's sudden yelling too well, because he started yelling too, probably alerting Futaba in the process. (Or, actually, probably not, since she sleeps like a rock and it was not fun waking her up whenever he needed her help.)
“GOD—AKIRA! You gave me a heart attack!”
“Good!”
“What are you doing—” Sojiro yelled again, in that old gruffy voice of his, but he quickly chose to end his just-starting sentence. Akira could very clearly see the cogs working their outmost capacity and strength inside his head. “Ohhhhhhh.” He said, standing up from his seat on the couch. “Akira, son, we thought you were coming home tomorrow night!”
Akira stretched out his arms again to point out that he is, in fact, very upset he had to walk through the cold and lonely woods and almost get arrested by Sae. “You thought wrong!”
Sojiro threw him a pity look, but he smiled nonetheless. “How did you get here?”
“I walked until I got arrested by Sae Niijima.”
“Oh, did you say hello to that Niijima lady for me? She often comes around to drink coffee.”
Akira frowned even harder, but kept his arms down this time. “No!” He loudly exclaimed, causing Sojiro to laugh. “I say hi to no one! Eff the cops! I'm going to bed!” Sojiro chuckled again, and Akira hoped it wasn't for the reason that suddenly dawned on him. “Is my bed still here? Or are we waiting for tomorrow night for that too?”
“Ah, Akira, so good to have you back again.” Sojiro laughed.
“Goodnight!”
稲羽市
Akira's attic hasn't changed one bit. And even his bed was there, thank god. It might seem like a uncomfortable bed for most, with it only standing because of some milk crates and a mattress on top, but it was everything Akira knew and loved. Along with it came his crappy laptop on his crappy desk, and the green sofa that literally everyone who has ever been up there hated.
You win some, you lose some. At least Akira was proud to own a sofa. Not everyone could say that about themselves!
He was so tired he didn't even put on his sleep shirt or took off his uncomfortable pants. Just fell down onto his bed, hoping it wouldn't break the very second before the impact, and wanting to cry happy tears when it didn't.
Nothing had changed, just the way he wanted to. Letting his arm swing past the edge of the bed and grabbing his notebook and the pen he had used earlier, he scribbled something down on the page where it said that his family forgot him:
Update: I'm home again.