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Third Fold: "Cleaning Duty"

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"Ryuusuke, can you take my cleaning duties this afternoon?" Seriko asked unexpectedly one day as the sensei walked out after the last bell.

"What, why tell me now?" Ryuusuke asked sullenly.

"I...I have another...appointment with Fukoka-sensei, and just remembered; okasan's picking me up from school."

His demeanor instantly changed from long-sufferance to overly-helpful. "Sure," he said without further comment.

"Sorry to have you do this, Ryuusuke," she said, bowing briefly, clasping her hands in front of her head.

Ryuusuke just waved her off.

"Go on."

"Umm...okay. I'll see you at home." Seriko said, running off, clearly embarrassed for some reason. As soon as she had left, the ribbing commenced; their exchange had not gone unnoticed by the rest of the class.

"Clean up for us too, next time, Ryuusuke-kun!" One of the boys called in a girlish voice.

"No."

"Ugh…so cold."

"You do it for Kajika-san, why not us?" another boy, named Honda Kaneda, demanded.

"She's different. We have an understanding," Ryuusuke said, not paying attention to his words.

"An understanding? Oh…like an illicit love affair. A kekkon-mushikomi? She caught you doing something perverted, and is threatening to reveal it to the world unless you do her every bidding. Oh, how tragic," Kaneda ticked off various scenarios with his hand.

Several girls nearby snickered.

"Baka," Ryuuske said, rapping him with the mop handle. "Where do you get these perverse fantasies from, anyway?"

"So cruel," Kaneda replied, rubbing his shoulder. "Still, you do take over her cleaning duties an awful lot, and hardly ever for anyone else."

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Then the girls joined in. "What gives?"

"If it's Seriko, it's okay?"

"Only Seriko gets special treatment?"

Soon, Ryuusuke was facing a mob of students encircling him like an advancing tide of ants upon a fallen cupcake.

"It's bad enough sorting out all of Seriko's stuff on a daily basis," Ryuusuke retorted. "I don't need anyone else's messes to clean up."

"I bet he even picks up her underwear at home!" one of the girls said in a high-pitched voice, and the other boys blushed.

Ryuuske remained stoic, puffing out a sigh of suffering fools.

"Eh! Seriously?" Another boy asked, shocked.

Ryuuske stared him down.

"Don't you pick up after your sister Kensuke?"

"Eh, but that's different! Neesan is such a klutz, and always leaves her beer cans all over the floor, not to mention the way she strews her clothing ...Anyway, Najika-san's not even related to you."

"Ma ma...leave him alone," Sakimoto-iinchosan said, untimely coming to his rescue. "Go on, Ryuusuke, I'm sure if Seriko has to go out, then Kajika-obachan has things for you to do when you get home."

"Great," Ryuusuke sighed in resignation. "Just what I need, more work when I get home."

"Cheer up, Ryuusuke, it's for Seriko, after all."

"Now I'm even more worried. I'd rather stay here and do clean-up."

Sakimoto placed her hands on her hips. "Absolutely not. Now get ye gone. I'll see to this," she said pointing with her chin to the cleaning still to be done. "Otherwise, you'll be buying treats from Odachi Sweets for a week!"

"All right, all right," Ryuusuke said as he left the classroom. "I'll leave it to you then."

#

Sure enough, there was a note attached to Seriko's door from obasama with a list of errands for him to do.

"I should have stayed to do clean-up," he sighed as he looked over the list.

"Ehh? Dinner for three? Save a place for myself?" he read the last in astonishment. "Are they serious?"

He fumed for a moment, before the post-script caught his eye. "Oh, but they won't be home until late -after eight, so I guess it's all right."

He called and confirmed everything with his mother who - surprise, surprise- was already aware of the arrangement.

"Now don't burn the rice, Ryu," his mother reminded him.

"As if I would," he grumbled.

#

That evening he had a tempting dinner of grilled fish laid out on the table when Seriko and her mother came through the door.

"I'm sorry to have you do all this, Ryu-kun," Kajika-san said upon her return.

"Think nothing of it, obasama," Ryuusuke said.

"Thank you for going to the trouble of preparing dinner for us. I'm sorry my husband was unable to eat with us, but he's in the midst of some very important projects at work that keep him late. And thank you for staying for dinner. It does feel good to relax with friends after a long day out."

"Hai," he agreed. He went so far as to wash up after supper, leaving a plate out for Seriko's father.

"Ah, Ryuu-kun, you'd make a wonderful wife," Seriko's mom sighed dramatically.

From the living room, Seriko screeched.

"Okasaaan!"

Her mother just chuckled.

Ryuusuke let himself out after a few more minutes, and a small package of tea to take home to his mother. He wasn't sure if he was that eager to leave however, being over at Seriko's house was quite different than his own house, it felt more like home than home did. He caught himself thinking that, and shook his head to clear it. He latched the gate behind him and walked the two doors down to his own home, cursing quietly as his mother had forgotten to leave the front light on and he tripped over the third flag-stone, again.