Fiction: Three (part one, chapter two)

Chapter two: New discoveries

It took about two days before Kenji was so bored that he didn’t know what to do with himself. For the past ten years, all of his energy had gone into working and raising Jun, who had been only five years old when their parents died – the age gap between the brothers was so large that at times, Jun was taken for Kenij’s son. Jun had just turned fifteen now, while Arai was twenty-three and supposedly an adult. Kenji with his twenty-seven years felt like he was positively ancient. Like his life had passed him by when he hadn’t been looking.

Arai just shook his head and told Kenji to get out and get himself a life, but the fact was that Kenji wasn’t sure how he was supposed to do that. Usually when he had a bit of time off, he would take Jun to see a movie, or if Jun was at school, he would go see a play by himself, or he would simply read.

The first day home from work he read and listened to music. The second he took a long walk around the neighborhood and read some more. The third he wandered aimlessly around the apartment, unable to focus on the pages of the novel for more than two minutes. He was used to working, not this, and he couldn’t for the life of him understand how Arai managed to live like this, not doing anything at all.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, man, you need to go get laid,” Arai remarked as he came back around noon after having been all night. As usual he had his long hair in what looked like a million tiny braids, and he looked unusually satisfied. Or well, it wasn’t all that unusual, not since Arai had started seeing someone new a few weeks back. Kenji had no idea who she or he or they were, and quite frankly he didn’t want to know either.

“I don’t need to get laid,” he hissed back from where he was sat on the floor, re-arranging his portion of their vast CD collection. Arai’s portion was mostly rock, Jun’s mostly pop, and his own consisted of various classical albums and some movie soundtracks – though several times he had been casting almost longing glances over to Arai’s collection.

“Of course you do. You’ve needed to get laid for years. Why else do you think you’re so uptight? What happened to that cute girl? What was her name, Paige?” Arai came over and hoisted Kenji onto his feet, his eyes glittering with amusement as Kenji merely glared at him in response. That didn’t deter Arai; it never had.

“Arai, have you lost the little part that was left of your brain? She was Sinclair and Nanette’s daughter. She’s Jun’s age, not mine, you moron,” Kenji snapped back, hitting Arai over the head, though his rebel of a brother merely laughed.

“So? Still could have been fun to flirt, couldn’t it? Or have you completely forgotten how to flirt? Or maybe you’ve just become too much of a woman,” Arai teased, earning himself another hit over the head, and Kenji knew that he was probably the only one who was allowed to treat Arai like this. Anyone else would have gotten punched in the face a long time ago – outside of their home, Arai was tough.

“I’m not a woman. If any of us are, it’s you. At least I don’t dress up in skirts and high-heeled boots and whatnot. And I’m not going to flirt with a girl who goes to Jun’s school. And no, I don’t need you to set me up, either. I wouldn’t even want to look at the girls you hang out with,” Kenji said with an air of finality that made even Arai shut up – for all of three seconds.

“Okay, fine, but I’m taking you out to a party. And don’t even think about protesting. You don’t have any say in the matter. Shoo, go make yourself look… Less like a damn businessman. If you’re actually capable of that. You can borrow some of my clothes.”

Kenji nearly sputtered at the idea, both of going to one of Arai’s parties and borrowing his clothes. So he shook his head and sat down in the living room almost demonstratively, though he knew his brother well enough to know that he wouldn’t give up before Kenji had given in. It was the way it had worked all throughout their lives, even as kids when it had been just the two of them, before Jun was born.

And of course, this was no different. An hour later Kenji found himself in a private club filled with people he had never seen and music he had never listened to, and it didn’t take Arai more than two minutes to flutter off in his corset-like top and low-riding leather pants. Typical Arai style, and Kenji sighed, feeling lonely. This hadn’t been his world in so long, he didn’t like it here anymore, and he didn’t know how to act and what to say. Instead of following his younger brother around like an idiot, he found the bar and sat down, getting himself a drink, because hell, he could use it right now.

Arai had dressed him up, and Kenji felt utterly uncomfortable, even though there was nothing wrong with the black, stylish pants and even more stylish shirt he was wearing. It just wasn’t him anymore. And honestly, looking like this had never been his style.

He had no idea how long he had been sitting there, sipping his drink and absentmindedly listening to the heavy rhythm of the music, but suddenly he was almost yanked off his chair by an Arai who looked considerably less calm than he had in years.

“What on earth are you---“

“C’mon, we have to get out of here. Hurry up, for fuck’s sake!”

Kenji didn’t have a chance of protesting as Arai dragged him outside, and just as they turned the corner to a side alley, Kenji turned back to see what looked suspiciously like police officers coming out of the club, though they didn’t see where the young men disappeared off to. On the hectic walk home Kenji was quiet, though once they were back inside their apartment; he grabbed Arai and shoved him up against the wall in the hallway, glaring at him.

“Now it’s about time you tell me what’s going on with you. It’s obvious that you’re in trouble, and you’re not helping either of us by trying to hide it,” he said calmly, but with that big-brother tone that he’d use every now and then, when he was really serious. It worked. Arai looked down, the fight going out of him, and he looked almost saddened, something which worried Kenji more than anything. With a slight sigh he marched Arai into the living room and sat him down on the big, comfortable couch, sitting down next to him, prepared to hear whatever Arai had to say. “So, what have you done wrong this time?”

“That’s just it! I haven’t done anything!” Arai replied, giving Kenji an almost frustrated look. “I know that you probably don’t believe me, but I swear, it’s the truth. I haven’t done any of the shit they’re accusing me for, and even you should know that’s true – I’ve made mistakes in the past, but that’s always what it’s been. Mistakes.”

Kenji frowned slightly, because he knew that yeah, Arai hadn’t exactly been an exemplary kid. He had quit high school in his second year; or rather, he had been kicked out because he stirred up way too much trouble. He had been involved in some minor theft incidents, he had been arrested for disorderly conduct more times than Kenji could count, he had been at every party the police had broken up in the past few years, he had been pulled over for driving while drunk, and so on, and so on. It was rather difficult to believe that this time was different.

“Okay, so what are they accusing you of?” he asked tiredly, expecting to hear something about robberies or cars that had been vandalized or something similar. Something small. Or at least small by their standards.

“They’re saying that I’ the one organizing the drug ring selling shit to kids in high school,” Arai said quietly, and Kenji could do nothing but stare at him for so long that the silence became highly uncomfortable. “Kenji! Niisan, you know I couldn’t do something like that, right? It’d be like… Like I was selling drugs to Jun! I’d never do that, I never put anyone else in danger. And I… I…”

Arai went silent again, drawing up his legs into the couch and leaning his head against his knees, the very picture of someone small, tired and scared. It had been years since Kenji had seen Arai like this, and it automatically made him shift close and wrap his arm around Arai, pulling him into a reassuring half hug.

“Don’t worry. I know that you’re innocent. For once,” Kenji said with a very faint smile, and Arai glanced at him, almost but not quite hopefully. As if he didn’t dare to think that Kenji actually believed in him. “You’re right. The stuff you’ve done, it has always involved just yourself, and you’ve never harmed anyone. Besides, you’re way too dumb to manage to organize something that big,” he finished dryly, finally getting a slight grin from Arai.

It surprised him how much it bothered him to see Arai worried.

“How on earth did you manage to get those kinds of accusations against you? I mean, they have to have a reason for it, right?” He was almost afraid to ask the questions. For years Kenji had deliberately stayed as much out of Arai’s life as he could, seeing as he had no control over it anyway. Arai was over eighteen, he could do whatever he wanted, and quite honestly, Kenji had never understood why Arai insisted on staying here, in their apartment. Most likely it was either because of lack of money or because of Jun, who Arai too loved more than words could express.

“Well… You know my reputation, I guess I’m pretty easy to pick if they needed someone to blame. Besides, I sort of know a few of the people who really do run the drug rings in town,” Arai replied, almost sheepishly, knowing Kenji well enough to expect a strong reaction to that. Which he got.

“You know them?! Are you insane? What on earth are you running around with drug dealers for? You could have put us all in jeopardy; you could have put Jun in danger. With everything that’s going on, don’t you think that it’d be a good idea to stay out of trouble, at least for a few weeks? Is that too much to ask?? ” There was no denying that Kenji was angry, though honestly, he was more scared than anything else. If the police kept going and arrested Arai and got him convicted, what would then happen to him and Jun?

Arai, on the other hand, merely shook his head, trying to calm Kenji down again. “I’ve cut the ties with those guys now, I swear. I’m getting my act together, Kenji, and I have been for the past months, which is why this doesn’t make any sense. I haven’t gotten into trouble at all for a long time. You’d think that the police went after me just because they haven’t seen me in a while. I don’t know… I thought it’d blow over, but they’re insistent, especially this chick that apparently hates me.”

There was a slight pause as the oh, so different brothers both sank back in the couch, thinking about what was going on. Arai seemed worried for about ten seconds before he looked as carefree as ever, but it wasn’t as easy for Kenji. He still considered Arai to be his responsibility, but this was way out of his league. Quite simply, there was nothing he could do; he had to trust Arai’s ability to get out of pretty much everything.

“Try to stay out of trouble and get this fixed, would you?” He noted that his voice was nearly pleading, but hell, he almost felt like begging. To his surprise he found that he couldn’t bear the thought of Arai going to prison, and especially not the Saitama prison. The one everyone called The Cage; where nobody ever saw the light of day again.

“I will,” Arai replied calmly and reached over, ruffling Kenji’s hair as if he was the elder one comforting the young and scared brother. Funny how that worked at times. “I’ve been trying to figure out if there’s anyone who could have framed me, and I’m trying to talk to a few of the cops I know that doesn’t have anything against me. I’m going to figure this out, Kenji, I promise. You don’t have to worry about it. Focus on getting your job back and sorting out the other thing instead.”

Kenji nodded. There wasn’t really any other response he could give, seeing as this wasn’t something he could help Arai with. He only hoped that Arai would be able to fix this, otherwise they were in deep trouble.

Of course he didn’t mention that even if Arai was cleared, he was still a part of the problem. The one, huge problem that overshadowed everything else right now. Compared to that, him being suspended from his job and Arai being hunted by the police felt like a walk in the park. Possibly because those problems involved just him and Arai, and no matter what, they both knew that they’d be okay, they’d come out of it okay.

A few days before Jun returned to boarding school, Kenji had had a visit at the office. By a lady who told him that she was from the social services, and that she had gotten several reports about the state of their home – and about Jun’s life in general. Not one for small talk she had told him right out that they would be closely investigated in the following months, and if she and her colleagues weren’t completely satisfied, Jun would be taken out of his care.

It had taken Kenji hours to comprehend the news, and he still didn’t quite understand it.

To him it just didn’t make sense. The social services had never made any enquiries into their life – not even when he had been seventeen and left in charge of a thirteen-year-old and a five-year-old. Nobody had checked up on them, nobody had said a word back then. So why now? What kind of reports could they possibly have gotten? And from whom?

Kenji glanced over at Arai and knew without having to ask that he was thinking about the same thing. He hadn’t told Jun about the visit, didn’t want to worry him, but he had told Arai every detail, and if possible Arai had taken the news even harder, become even more scared. Kenji knew that at times, it had been Jun and nobody else who had kept Arai from really going bad, and that there was an unbreakable bond between them. If Jun got taken away, Kenji feared what would happen to Arai. That fear was enough for him to reach out and tug Arai closer, making him lie down with his head in Kenji’s lap – like he had done back when their parents had just died and there was nothing else that could comfort him. If Arai found it silly, he didn’t say anything about it and meekly lay down.

“It’ll be okay,” Kenji said quietly, almost whispering. “It has to be okay. I’ll fix things with work, you’ll sort out the police business, and nobody is taking Jun away. It will be alright. It will be.”

He felt that his words lacked conviction.


~tbc~