How Far Chapter 18: Crippling curiosity

“You know, if I didn’t know better, I’d think we were cursed.” Hisao grumbles, the heavy rain against the windows perfectly framing his chagrin. It’d be poetic if it wasn’t so sad.

“Perhaps there is some truth to that. I’d hoped that we would be able to use the track today and maybe go down to the beach.” I say, trying to keep the patient smile on my face.

“Oof,” Hisao says, and I hear a thump as he pats his chest, “don’t run the imagery of you in a bathing suit through my head, I’m not sure I could stand it.”

The patient grin tugs into a teasing one as I place one hand on my hip and the other to my cheek. “It’s a bikini too, the sunlight feels so good on my body.”

Hisao’s hands wrap around me and pull me towards him with a gasp of surprise at his strong grip and our mouths meet. The moment stretches out as we melt into one another, and then it ends far too soon as he gently pushes my hips away.

“I need to take my meds. Then could we go for a walk around the house?”

I nod to him, hiding my disappointment at the ended kiss. I wish to do more with him… perhaps more to him, but we’ve seldom had the opportunity and after a long day yesterday we’d simply fallen asleep cuddling one another, holding tight to what seems to be the only reason that we’re here.

I listen as Hisao goes about taking his medication, drinking every couple of seconds from a large glass of water I’d instructed Arthur to bring us the previous night. “You know,” he says with a mouth full of water. He swallows. “You don’t have to look so worried. I’m used to the pills.”

I hadn’t even realized that I had been, but now that he points it out I realize how uncomfortable I’d felt listening to just how much daily preparation he needed for his heart. I nod my head once, feeling a bit resolved that what we were doing was indeed the right thing.

“Will we be doing laps throughout the house, or will one walk around suit your needs?” I ask.

“Ehh, I’d like to do it a few times to be honest. Can’t be too careful, and it’s early after all.”

I shake my head. “If you will, then so will I. I could do with memorizing the house so I may be able to navigate it normally.”

He agrees, before taking my hand in his. I step closer, taking his arm, and the two of us leave the room.

More and more I’m lamenting my decision to return home to my family. Of course, Akira is here, but so much has been happening that I could count the times where we’ve been together on one finger, and honestly I simply don’t believe there’s a way around how things are. Hisao is here. Hisao needs my help. And if he’d never have come… It’s a life I don’t ever want to imagine.

“So,” Hisao says, “work.”

I nod my head as the two of us round the corner at the end of the hall. “Yes?”

“If all I have to do is sort folders again today, I’ll lose my mind.”

I squeeze his arm as a reply. “I still don’t understand the purpose of simply sorting the folders by color. I can understand that the folders may contain profits and figures, as well as trials and such, but I have to wonder what she meant by local issues.”

I feel Hisao shrug his shoulders. “The green ones, there’s a ton of those, are filled with numbers that are sort of like bills. I’ve seen into a few yellow, though there’s a lot less of those. The words in them seem much more complicated, so I figure they’re medical and might be the trials she talked about yesterday.”

We turn to the side to move around the pillar in the middle of the hall, and I hear some noises from the security office nearby. I try to imprint the location into my memory while keeping up the conversation. “Yes, I can understand that, but then that leaves the red folders. Do you think perhaps these are the issues she was talking about?” I ask.

Hisao pauses for a moment. “No, I don’t think so. I only saw into one of them briefly, and it sort of looked like a profile of a person.”

“Oh my, how do you mean?” My brow furrows.

We come to the stairs that head down to the first floor, and Hisao elects to follow them down. “Like it had her name and a picture of her, a Japanese woman with twin tailed hair.” He explains. “Emi Ibarazaki wears her hair like that, but this girl had more and it was darker.”

I tilt my head in thought. “So you think they’re employee profiles then?”

“Maybe.” he sounds unconvinced. “But then what would these have to do with the other reports of billings and testings?”

We walk down the long hallway towards my family’s sitting room, his question unanswered. The television is loud enough that I could hear it by the stairs, and it only increases in volume until we turn to enter the loud room. Dramatical music played over what sounded like a vase braking.

As we enter the room, the sound stops with an odd popping sound. “[Oh, good morning my dears.]” Says the soft voice of my Mother. She speaks English in a fine a learned way, her accent making her speech light and yet it dripped with flavor.

“[Good morning, Mother.]” I reply. She must have hit the pause button, as all I can hear from the television is the high whine of the speakers.

“[Good morning, Mrs. Satou.]” A beam of pride fills me as Hisao bows to my mother, his pronunciation perfect.

“[Will the two of you be joining me?]” She asked. I can hear her patting the couch. I try to remember what material it was from my last visit. “[I’m watching one of my stories right now. I can explain it to you, if you’d like.]”

I smile at her graciously, and try covering the disapproval in my voice. “[No, but thank you. Have you been up long? I’d have thought you’d be watching the News.]”

Mother lets out an un-lady like noise as she scoffs harshly. “[News. Nothing that anybody reports anymore is truth. I sometimes wonder if things would be different had I not retired. If I’d continued on. Surely I’d be making a rather large effect.”] She speaks in a wondering tone.

My brain cycles, trying to think of a reply. “[But then you wouldn’t have met Father.]”

Mother laughs harshly. “[No, we’d met when I was still a reporter. I left afterwards, but sometimes I wonder how things would have played out.]” I can’t think of anything to say, so I stay put. Hisao doesn’t tug away, but I can feel the discomfort in the room increasing. “[But what am I saying,]” Mother goes on, “[Without having let I’d have missed out on my darling children.]” The couch squeaks as she stands from it, reaffirming it as leather in my mind. I hear the clicking of heels on the hard wood floor of the sitting room as she walks over. I reach down to take Hisao’s hand, and find it’s oddly a little bit sweaty.

‘She’s intimidating him.’ I thought to myself.

Mother’s hand abruptly is on my cheek, and I jump a bit in fright as she brushes her hand over it. Her finger nearly pokes me in the eye, but instead just pushes against my cheekbone. “[My beautiful darling child. Almost a woman, now.”] She says.

“[Mother, I’m 18…]” I say, my face feeling flushed. “[I am fully grown.]”

“[Not yet, child.]” She whispers encouragingly. “[You’re lucky though, having such a young strapping man as Hisao here.]” Her hand moves from my cheek and I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding until then. And then I realized that the only reason she’d have stopped touching me. “[You have the eyes of a dreamer, young man. They’re filled with thought, I see. Though you’re far too tense. Would you like for me to give you a massage?]” Her tone sounds like a cat purring, and Hisao’s hand tightens on mine.

“[Mother,”] I interject, “[that is quite enough. Hisao and I will be getting breakfast in the kitchen. Good morning.]”

Without giving her a chance to respond, I tug on Hisao’s arm so hard he makes a gasp of pain before following along quickly behind me. I hear Mother giggling to herself. “[Au revoir.]” She calls after us. My cheeks burn hotter, and before long I can hear the television start up again. I close my eyes, trying to picture the makeup of the house. It helps me calm down a bit, and we pass by the dining room and down towards the kitchen.

I can hear the sounds of cooking from the other side.

“Jesus,” Hisao whispers under his breath. “I didn’t know they made night gowns that short…”

I stop suddenly, feeling for a moment very faint. “Pardon?!” I say loudly, blinking rapidly towards him.

Hisao stammers. “S-she’s wearing some sort of silk night gown that… well, it doesn’t leave a lot to the imagination.”

I swallow. “You… you can’t be serious. She can’t be wearing something like that in so public a place.”

“Lilly,” he pauses, “it’s a red and black night gown. I think. When she stood up, it came up to just beneath her hips. I swear it.”

“What in Heaven’s name is wrong with her?” I ask. I stop after a moment, my hand grasping out for his. He took it. “You have my deepest apologies. I’m so very embarrassed you had to see that. Goodness how scandalous.”

The door to the kitchen opens and a flurry of sound overtakes us as the loud noises of cooking floods out into the hall. It sounds as if a horde of chefs were inside the kitchen. The one who opens the door, I recognize her voice as the servant that helped me with Hisao and Akira’s lunches, shouts back into the room “[Johnny if ya burn me potatoes I’ll have your skull as a beer mug! Oh,]” she says with surprise. “[Hello Lady and Sir.]”

The woman’s Irish accent vanishes as she addresses us. “[I was just taking the Mrs. her pre-party breakfast. Would you like something?]”

“That’s a breakfast? It’s so small…” Hisao says

“[Uh, my mother’s apparently not really suited for people to be visiting her.]” I say, still feeling flushed.

“[Ahh, the lady is wearing her pre-party Camisole. She has a ritual, and she won’t get dressed fully until precisely an hour and a half before the party’s starting time.]” Says the servant. “[I really must go, she’ll be cranky if she doesn’t eat anything soon. Go on in and someone can fix you whatever you like.]”

The women hurried off then, leaving us to stand in the hall outside the bustling kitchen. “Your mom’s weird.” Hisao says.

I force a little smile, but I can tell it doesn’t reach the rest of me. “So it appears. Shall we? I could use a nice breakfast.”

The two of us entered the kitchen… only to immediately be turned away to the dining room, a servant insisting he’d make and deliver us the food. I’d intended on cooking our meals myself, but I suppose it couldn’t be helped given the current situation of the kitchen. Not long after we sat down do the scent of fried bacon and cooked eggs catch my sense, and a servant enters with two plates of the dish as well as some hash browns. The servant leaves and I wait for Hisao to take the first bite… only the sound of eating doesn’t come.

“Is everything alright?” I ask.

“Well…” he didn’t go on for a moment, I let him gather his thoughts. “I guess? I dunno, I’m wondering what this party is. And… honestly, I’d been sorta hoping for some rice and fish for breakfast. I’ve never had this before… I don’t know. That sounds so ungrateful.” He chides himself.

I bite my lower lip in thought. “We haven’t had a normal breakfast in quite some time, have we?” I ask.

He reaches out his hand and squeezes my fingers. “Don’t worry about it, this’ll be fine.”

He lets go of my hand and I hear the crunch of bacon being eaten. “I could really go with a bowl of Miso soup right now.” I say.

He chuckles. “Me too.”

And then the two of us ate breakfast in silence.

Once we finished our meal we returned upstairs to our room. On the way back, Hisao told me more about the red folder’s he’d seen.

“Each of them had a word on them, in English.” He was telling me. “[Con-Conf-fid]” He growls, I can’t remember it.

“[Confidential?]” I ask.

He snap his fingers. “Yeah. Yeah! That was it!” He excitedly says. “[Confidental]”

I giggle at him, squeezing his arm. “Close enough.”

“What does it mean?” He asked.

“Well, given Akira’s reactions and how few they all seem, what do you think it means?” I ask.

He pokes my side, making me jump with a laugh. “Sure sure, Ms. Teacher.” He says with a hearty laugh. “Secret?”

“That’s correct.” I reply. “A gold star for the bright young man.” I turn and kiss him on the cheek.

He laughs, but I can tell he’s blushing. It makes me so very happy.

******************************************************************************

After breakfast, Lilly and I separate so that I can join Akira at ‘the office.’ Luckily I managed to keep from spilling breakfast all over my clothes, so I felt I looked presentable enough to be executive color coordinator, and headed inside.

As with the first day, I had to walk through Akira’s room to reach the working area. The room had another pair of pants and tie added to its floor, but not much else had changed since I’d last been in here. I went through to find Akira sitting at her desk, drinking from a clear mug that had been filled with something that looked straight out of a biohazard container. The smell hit me a moment later, and I felt bile in my throat.

I coughed. “What the heck *Cough Cough* Akira what is that?”

Akira stared at me with heavy lidded eyes. “Quiet. I’m hung over. This is a tonic that’ll fix that.”

I wave my hand in front of my face. “At the cost of drinking acid? I’ll take the hang over.”

Akira smiled at me dangerously. “Keep it up, and I’ll make you drink this without the hang over.”

I raise my hands without raising my mouth, an act that my brain congratulates me for, and I walk over to the spot I’d sat yesterday and silently, with a silent groan, flop to the floor and begin sorting folders.

I try to make a game out of it, seeing how many greens I can grab with one hand to unload and then reload. The game sucks, and I’m getting border by the second. More bored? Border. “Bored border boreds.”

“Hmmm?” Akira questions.

“Nothing.” I grumble.

It isn’t long before I begin to feel myself beginning to blink tiredly. As I’m sorting my eighth box though, I realize that I just broke my record for the most green folders in one scoop. The brief excitement causes me to realize I was sorting a box of already sorted files.

I curse to myself under my breath.

A few minutes later, the terrible odor has begun to fade, and Akira stands up. “Need food. Be right back.”

She gets up from her desk and walks out of the room, closing the door behind her. I hear the room to her bedroom close on the other side, sigh, and let myself fall onto my back spread eagle.

“What the hell am I doing here?” I ask.

I lay like that for a few minutes before grunting as I sit up. I open up one of the green folders and began leafing through the paperwork. It was sales, alright. I could only recognize some of the words, but you didn’t need to understand the words to get the formulas. Money is generally an easy concept, and given that I’d been studying to go to college and become a science teacher….

“Fuuuuck,” I groan, hating life.

I get up from my seat and stretch my back and neck. I can’t stand this stupid feeling of being cooped up. Why do they have so many damn folders, it’s like they shut the entire district down! Maybe that’s what they did, maybe that’s why Akira had to come.

I bend over and pick up a yellow folder. It’s all gibberish, but I get the idea. ‘Doctor so and so from Angelo Pharmaceuticals in Okinawa reports blah blah blah blah blaaaaahhh.’ I roll my neck again.

And slowly, out of the corner of my eye, I see red and I feel my body freeze. I let my eyes gaze to Akira’s desk, falling on the stack of red folders.

‘This is so stupid,’ I think to myself as I walk over to the desk. ‘What the hell are you even doing? It’s paperwork, just more paperwork is all it is.’

She’d had one out when she’d left, apparently taking notes or categorizing it. Maybe she wouldn’t get mad if I’d… helped. Just a little. Already I’m thinking of excuses, but the close I get to the stack the more uncomfortable I start to feel. Something is wrong, this is dishonest of me.

My fingers do not head my mind and continued dipping to the stack when I heard noises on the other side of the door. My brow furrowed, and I rapidly withdrew my hand. I realized then that my pulse had at one point decided to start hammering away, and place a worried hand over my chest.

Lub-dub. Lub-dub.

The heartbeat is steady, and relief floods through me. Until I find my vision straying back towards the pile, almost desperate to see.

‘Another time,’ I decide. I could hear something plainly from the other side, but I couldn’t make out the sound.

I went to the door to see what was making the noise. I opened the door quietly, turning the knob and peaking though the crack.

I’d nearly earned a knock on the head for my troubles. I had to leap back to avoid Lilly’s fist as it descended on the spot where my face had been mere moments before.

“Lilly!” I shouted in surprise and relief.

She jumped, the tray she carried with her shaking slightly as she did. “My, Hisao, you frightened me.” She said, placing her free hand to her chest.

“I’m sorry, I thought I heard a noise. Come in, here let me help you with that.” I exited the office, going to her with a longing look back at the red folders. Temptation fights within me, the unsettling feeling that they’d begun to give off shaking me deeply.

I took the tray from her and glanced down at its contents. My heart skipped a beat.

“You didn’t.” I simply said.

Lilly’s pleasant smile showed teeth, and she placed both her hands to her chest. “The staff was very helpful with my desires, but I wanted to cook it myself. And this time, I brought a lid.”

She giggled as I picked up the lidded container of miso soup that sat between the two bowls “Oh Lilly, this is wonderful.” I say, feeling gratitude swelling up inside of me.

Lilly lowered her hands in front of her and swayed her hips happily.

“I love you.” I said. She opens her eyes and stares at me in the way only she could.

“I love you too.” She replies

“God you two make me sick,” Akira says, entering the open door of her bed room. She carries a sandwich in one hand and a partial loaf of brown pretzel bread in the other.

The three of us sit down to eat again, and after that Akira dismisses us, sitting down at her desk and picking up the red folder she’d had out.

The one that I nearly had looked into.

“You’re free for the night, per mother’s special request. She wishes tonight’s special guests,” her voice takes on a high pitched mocking tone that is the ugly imitation of her mother’s low sultry voice, “‘to be wearing matching colors, to be freshly clean, and for god’s sake somebody get that man a comb.’” Akira produced a comb out of her pocket, offering it to me. “Go on, get ready. The party is in two hours.”

I reach forwards, and feel my eyes straining to look to the folder, but I don’t dare do it with Akira so near.

“What do you mean special guests?” I ask.

“Duh,” Akira says, “this party is about the two of you.”

******************************************************************************

“Isn’t white supposed to be exclusively for weddings?” Lilly asked, pouting as she ran her fingers over her sparkling dress. She stands in her underwear in our room, both of us freshly showered as we get dressed for the upcoming party, and holds a dress that had apparently been chosen specifically for her by her mother. I, on the other hand, am gripping long bowtie as I look worriedly at my own set of clothing.

“I don’t really know…” I reply honestly. “Most of the times I’ve been dressed up have been for school or festivals. I have no idea how to wear a tuxedo…”

“From what Akira has told me, the tuxedo is supposed to wear you.” She replies.

“I hope that’s true. Then all the other tuxedos can make fun of its silly looking human instead of the others making fun of my silly looking tux.”

“You are not silly looking.” Lilly chastised with a smile.

I made a face at her with a childish noise to emphasize.

“I hope yours will fit. I fear they may have gotten my measurements wrong…” Lilly pulls the dress over her head, the white fabric clinging to her every curve and ending at mere inches below her hips, her long porcelain legs for all the world to see. She bit her lip, her fingers running over her spaghetti straps and down to her chest looked like it was straining the fabric to show her cleavage. “This doesn’t fit at all, does it?” she asked.

“Not… really.” I admitted.

“Despite what mother seems to think, I am a bit larger than Akira in some areas. Goodness, I can’t wear this.” She seems to think for a moment. “Well, I can’t wear this in front of everyone else. What do you think?”

She places her hands behind her back awaiting my comment, which causes my eyes to be drawn very much to her breasts.

I close my eyes. “Ahh, hey no fair.”

Lilly giggles and sways before her face turns thoughtful. “How far along are you?” She asks.

“Well, I’ve figured out the pants go on my legs.”

“An accurate a first step as anyone could hope for.” She replies and claps her hands. “Right.”

With a fluid and harsh motion, Lilly places either hand beneath the straps on her dress, and snaps them. The tight straps go flying over her shoulders and out of sight.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

“Improvising.” She says simply. She grabs the dress near her breasts and tugs it upwards, hiding her cleavage beneath the glimmering dress at the expense of revealing the bottom of her butt. She notices this, grabbing it. “You’re watching me, aren’t you?” She asks teasingly.

“I am not.” I lied.

“I heard your breath catch and you haven’t moved in almost a full minute.” She grins a tooth filled smile at me.

“Stupid wonder senses.” I mumble, turning back to my own clothing and pulling the pants on. Lilly laughs merrily, her voice as light as wind chimes as she saunters to the closet at the end of the room.

I pull the dress shirt on and begin buttoning it shut, my eyes returning to her as she opens a drawer and begins running fingers over clothes. “You’re bending over on purpose!” I call.

Her humming increases in tune as she ignores my callout, though she begins waggling her hips and I feel myself bite my cheek as I can’t look away. After a moment she stands up with two black garments. One looks to be a lacy skirt, and the other looks sort of like a sweater that would only cover half her torso.

“Covering up so soon?” I ask.

“Would you rather I go about showing myself to everyone?” She shot back.

“Hmmm, nah. I like being the only one that’s ever seen you like this.”

Lilly hums amusedly in lieu of reply. “You’re mine, and I am yours. Nobody else deserves what we give one another.” She says as she fastens the skirt over her waist. It flows to beneath her knees, and she skates her fingers around herself again before letting out a short gasp of surprise. “Oh, Hisao, do you know where my cross is?” She asks.

I fasten the pants over my tucked in shirt and scoop it off from the dresser. Lilly smiles before turning, holding up her hair so I can get behind her and fasten the cross around her neck. She melts backwards into me, and I find myself lightly kissing her neck.

A knock on the door interrupts us and Lilly moans in disapproval. “One of these days, you’re not going to be able to escape me.” She whispers as she heads for the door, face filled with mischief.

“Who is it?” She calls.

“Alfred, miss.” Calls the voice on the other side of the door.

She opens the door and Alfred stands before her, bowing his head.

“Is there something you need?” She asks the young man pointedly.

“I was sent to help the two of you be ready. I see you’ve decided not to wear your mother’s chosen garment.” He responds evenly, looking her over.

“I’m wearing it, though in a much more reasonable styling.” Lilly spoke back, her voice slightly heated.

Alfred bowed his head before looking to me. “Your shirt needs to be re-buttoned. May I?” He asks.

“Uh… sure…” I say, uncomfortably. I don’t know how to do this, and to be honest I’m a bit relieved that he’s here or else I’d have to ask Lilly if she even knew what a bowtie looked like.

Alfred steps past Lilly and approaches me. “Unclasp your pants.” He instructs.

I feel a twinge of heat rush to my face but I do so. Alfred then unbuttons my shirt, his hands moving in calm and practiced manner of the man who’s had to do this same task before, and then buttons them back in from the bottom up. I raise my arms to the side as he tucks in my pants, and then I clasp them shut.

“Hand me your tie.”

I do so, and he wraps it around the back of my neck and begins tying the front.

And then something happens, something I hadn’t realized I’d not done since I’d come to the Satou estate.

Alfred and I met one another’s eyes. I felt time slow around me. Frost crept up my spine, and my jaw slackened.

I could not tear my gaze away as the suddenly tall, blonde young man held me under a blood red gaze.

“Is it too tight?” He asked pointedly.

I blinked at him. “W-what?”

“You look as if you are having difficulty breathing.” His crimson eyes studies me, and intelligence seemed to spark behind very twitch.

“S-sorry.” I manage. I blink again, and cough. “Sorry, no, no it’s fine.”

Alfred looked at me. Not in the way you glance as a stranger on the street or at school, he really looked at me. An intimate moment of questioning, and I closed my hands to steady them as I realized how much stronger than me he suddenly seemed.

“I’m okay, really.” I held up a hand, and walked past him to Lilly, whose face was filled with obvious questioning and concern.

“Come on, we should see if your mom wants anything else from us.” I say taking her arm and pulling her into step behind me as we hurry out of the room and towards the hall. A last second thought and I twist to grab my phone and wallet off of the side table. My eyes turned back and I could see Arthur’s jaw set as his expression darkened upon me.