80 Chapter one, 2016, crescendo: 8 (1/2)
Ryu threw open the door to the café, scanned the room with his eyes and ran for his sister behind the counter. Her part time job. Not because she needed the money, but because she wanted the experience.
”He's in there, with James,” she said and glanced up at him. Noriko threw a look at the door to the inner room. ”I think they're drinking alcohol,” she said quietly so the rest of the members wouldn't hear.
”Kuri?” Ryu asked. He gave the door a look as well. Opening it and going inside smelled of trouble.
”She's away. Something about a window of opportunity. If she doesn't do whatever she's doing this week she'll never get the chance again.”
'When he needed you the most. What were you thinking?' It opened up an opportunity for himself, but by now Ryu liked them both too much to want their relationship to end this way. 'I'll steal you away from him one day, but not like this.'
”Ryu, she's in there as well. His guardian. You can't tell anyone. She's a police,” his sister said.
Ryu stared back at her in shock. Sato-san here? Then the absence of more close friends nudged at him. 'Why is half the club core gone?' ”Yukio?”
”Club room Skyping with Kyoko.”
”Kyoko?” 'Where is everyone?'
Noriko looked at him with something akin to disgust in her eyes. ”You really should know, but you never listen idiot bro. She's in Kansai somewhere with her family.” She tapped her head with two fingers and wrinkled her eyebrows. What she thought about his mental capacity was only too obvious.
Ryu winced. Noriko had told him when and where each of them would be spending their summer break. Planning the beach trip with the club would be impossible otherwise. ”So, Kyoko's gone, but why the hell isn't Yukio here? It's his best friend after all.”
Noriko just shook her head. ”Idiot!” she said loud enough for some of the members to turn their heads and look at them. A low murmur of amused agreement lingered in the café afterwards.
'I hate it when she calls me 'idiot' without telling me why.' Ryu stared at his sister to make her talk. For a moment he harboured an idea of trying to stare down the other club members in the café, but a quick look at their faces told him the likely result.
Behind him a wall mounted AC sputtered and coughed. The very café agreed with that assessment.
Noriko sighed, but she spoke nonetheless. ”Bro, you only ever listen to dad. His grand vocabulary, epic ideals and righteousness, huh?”
Ryu nodded. Dad was more interesting than mom, even though she was a better listener.
”I'm not going to say it's only big words,” his sister continued, ”because it's not. It's the way we are, all four of us. We stand at the front. Urufu and Kuri even more so.”
He went through the motion of buying some tea to make their conversation by the counter a little less obvious. ”And?” Ryu asked, because it was clear Noriko hadn't finished yet. She was just reloading.
A one thousand yen bill from his wallet transformed into a handful of coins and a cup of tea. He fingered the porcelain and waited for his sister to continue. Now wasn't the time to interrupt or she'd chew his face off.
”Ryu, you really should talk with mom more. She would make you understand. You of anyone should.” Noriko wiped the counter clean and sighed. ”To shine as bright as Urufu and Kuri you need a Yukio or Kyoko at your back. A wingman.” Then she looked up at him. ”You'll need one as well one day.”
”And you?” Ryu quickly asked. Being praised by his sister felt strange.
”Me too, one day,” she admitted. Then she busied herself with an order from one of the tables. ”But that's not what's important,” she said when she returned with a tray of dirty plates. ”Yukio and Kyoko have always stood back, and now for the first time they have someone they treasure, someone for whom they're the hero. Get it?”
He didn't. ”Not really. I still think Yukio's an awful friend for sitting at school when Urufu's breaking down here.”