The ceramic mug warms his palms. Dark roast coffee steams in the quiet bedroom, filling the confined space with a bitter, earthy scent. Renjiro takes a slow, measured sip.
Silence wraps around his head like a thick protective blanket. Exactly one week remains before he leaves for Advanced Nurturing High School. He sinks deeper into his desk chair, letting his arms and legs go completely limp against the cushions.
I want to enjoy a peaceful week before I enter the isolated elite school.
He takes another small sip. The hot liquid burns just a little on the way down, leaving a pleasant warmth in his chest.
Peace. I love this kind of life.
Dust motes float lazily in the morning light streaming through the window. The house is completely empty since his parents left for work hours ago. It is a perfect, undisturbed pocket of time.
But I know the truth.
The math in his head calculates a vastly different reality. This silence is just a fragile illusion.
Any moment now, someone will barge through that door and shatter the my peace into a million pieces.
Then...
Right on cue, the bedroom door slams open.
Wood smacks violently against the drywall.
I knew it. She always arrives at the exact moment of peak enjoyment.
Amikura Mako steps right into the room. She wears a bright yellow windbreaker and holding a huge canvas shopping bag. Her blue eyes lock onto him with terrifying focus.
"Renji! Put the coffee down, we have to go out!"
"No."
"You can't bring your stuff in old cardboard boxes," she says as she marches forward to grab the back of his chair. She spins him entirely away from the desk. "Ayaka told me her sister had to buy a proper rolling suitcase when she went to a boarding school. We have to be prepared because we will be leaving alone without our parents. We need to buy luggage and school supplies as well."
"I'll use a black trash bag."
"You're disgusting. Put your shoes on."
"I don't wear shoes inside the house, Mako."
"You know what I mean! Let's go!"
The next six days blur into a chaotic, exhausting marathon of noise. Mako drags him through crowded shopping centers, loud cafes, and packed train stations without a single ounce of mercy.
On Thursday, she forces him into a local barber shop.
"You look like a stray dog," Mako tells him while shoving his shoulders down into the cracked leather barber chair. "Cut his bangs because he needs to look respectable for the entrance ceremony."
"Leave the length," Renjiro tells the old man holding the scissors. "It blocks out the sun."
"Cut it short!" Mako orders.
They compromise. The barber trims just enough so Renjiro can actually see the world, which he considers a huge downgrade. Seeing the world means acknowledging the world. Acknowledging the world requires effort.
"Look at this one," Mako says on Friday afternoon, shoving a dark blue bath towel directly into his face inside a busy department store. "It matches your eyes. Dead and gloomy."
"Towels don't have emotions."
"Just put it in the basket, Renji."
"My arms are full. I'm already carrying three baskets."
"Then balance it on your head."
On Saturday, she forces him to sit in a cramped booth at a family restaurant while she meets with her middle school track team friends for a farewell lunch.
"Are you really leaving us, Mako?" a girl with short brown hair whines, practically crying into her tall strawberry parfait.
"It's an elite school!" Mako beams, patting the crying girl on the shoulder. "But I'll message you guys via the LINE app every single day! Wait, do they take our phones? I heard a rumor that they restrict our internet. I'll write letters if I have to!"
Mako does not know writing letters will not be allowed. Renjiro hypothesizes this in his head but he keep silent because correcting Mako in front of her group of friends requires energy to burn.