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I've just come back from going shopping. It was pretty rough.. They suddenly decided to announce a surprise sale, and that took a lot longer than I expected, but I had to! I'm pretty proud of myself for saving $6. Every small saving is one that can possibly help me out in the future.
As I walk in through the door, I set down my bags and take off my shoes. Wouldn't want to ruin Ren-kun's honest effort at cleaning, huh? He's improving quickly. I'm proud. I take my bags with me to the kitchen and spend the next few minutes putting away everything. No one else seems to be home right now. I wonder what I'll use my time on until everyone else comes back. It's a little lonely, isn't it? Back at home, there'd always be at least one of my younger siblings home, and I'd spend time with them since I would be given the opportunity. But then everyone else would find out, and it'd soon turn into me hanging out with everyone else, too, haha.. Argonavis can be like that a little. Maybe I could do a little better at dividing my time between everyone during our days off.
Ah, everything's been put away. That's good. Welp, might as well get changed into something else now that I'm home. I make my way over to the stairs. The more steps I take, I swear, the more faint of a sound I begin to hear. Was I wrong about being home alone? My footsteps become louder as I rush up. It's at that moment I realize: it's sobbing, and it's coming from Wataru-kun's room. I tense up, debating on whether I should interfere or not. Rio-kun would've definitely decided to check on him, but I'm a little different. Though.. none of the times we were struggling would've been solved if one of us hadn't forced ourselves in. Yuuto-kun wouldn't have opened up about all of his problems with his family if it weren't for Wataru-kun openly showing his anger. You know, Wataru-kun does a lot for us just by showing his emotions. We can do the same back. While lost in my thoughts, I hear an object thrown. Yeah, I should really head in there.
Rushing, I throw open Wataru-kun's door.
“Wataru-kun!”
It seems like all time stops when I open that door. I find a Wataru-kun with tears all over his face. His notebook is sprawled out on the floor across from him, along with his pencil. I assume those were the objects he threw. His eyes stare at me, wide open. None of us exchange any words. I assume he needs some time to process things. I would, too.
“..P-Please leave, Banri-kun. I'm sorry.”
Wataru-kun barely mutters out. His voice is really struggling. This wouldn't do.
“..Wataru-kun, you should be cared for, too.”
I approach Wataru-kun and get down on my knees near him.
“What happened? I've dealt with a lot of things, this shouldn't be any different of a situation for me, alright? You can tell me.”
It feels like I'm talking to one of my younger siblings right now. This is the kind of voice I use for them. Wataru-kun luckily appears to be calming down, but that could simply be him being too shy to continue around me. That would make sense.
Wataru-kun's mouth opens. I think he's trying.
“..I don't know. I have days where my emotions get heavy. Nothing necessarily needs to happen, they just.. come over me, and they're hard to control. When no one else is around, I have less of a reason to hold back. But.. I didn't realize you were here. I'm sorry, it's really embarrassing. I couldn't even focus on writing lyrics, that wasn't enough. I-I don't know what could be enough-”
On instinct, I wrap my arms around Wataru-kun. I couldn't take hearing that anymore without doing something about it. One arm is around his waist, the other is rubbing his head in a calm repetitive motion. This would always calm down my siblings. They'd even come up to me for it in a normal state. It's a little difficult doing it with someone taller than you, but that shouldn't change anything.
All I can hear are Wataru-kun's sniffles. He won't stop staring at me, but it's a gentler look. I give him a smile to tell him it'll all be okay.
“Nii-san..”
Wataru-kun mutters something under his breath that I can't make out and lays his head against my chest. He hugs onto me, a cute little smile on his face. It makes him look like a cat warming up to me, haha.
As much as I'd like to continue the conversation, I think Wataru-kun wants to stay here. Just what goes through that mind of his? I'll have to check on him more often. I would like to see this side of Wataru-kun more.
Guess this is what I'll be spending my afternoon doing, and that's fine by me.