That night, Ippei had a dream.

It was not a lurid or a grandiose one, Ippei had never been much of a fantasy dreamer, his dreams are usually grounded even if they weren't accurate to the real events.

This dream was very normal also, it was a normal summer day with a clear blue sky. Ippei was preparing a picnic mat with Sachiko in a park, some sort of generic park you see in big cities.

They were with the whole family, and by whole, it was both their families. The one Ippei had memories of anyway. Mizuho was there, so were Sachiko's parents and brother. Weirdly enough his grandparents were there as well, at least on his father's side.

There was also a vague image of a person that made Ippei feel a pang of nostalgia, and quite a lot of sadness. The reason was mostly because this image was left to a mere approximation of what he imagined his mother would've looked like today.

In the dream, his mother sat with his father, and they were cuddling with much affection and happiness.

Ippei was thinking that the mat was rather small for a group of nearly 10 people when he woke up on the sofa in the living room. It was around 4.30 AM. He was crying when he woke up.

"Ah, sorry, Ippei-san." Soji said to him, as it seemed he was sneaking to get something but disturbed Ippei's sleep.

"Good morning, Soji-san." Ippei greeted Sachiko's brother as he wiped the tears.

Soji looked at him a bit funny, he felt weird having Ippei call him that.

"You can call me Soji if you want. I don't mind you thinking of me as a little brother." Soji said with a smile, and Ippei appreciated that.

"Right, sorry, Soji." Ippei replied, paused, and something made him wonder, "Are you always up this early?"

"Ah, I haven't gone to bed yet, I'm a night owl, I've been playing Apex Legends." Soji answered.

"Huh."

Soji walked over and sat on the sofa with Ippei.

"Onee-chan is the same, you know? She always sleeps in till noon on the weekends." Soji told Ippei, but it made him curious.

"But she's always up early when she's meeting..." Ippei was going to say on a date, but stopped himself because of the embarrassment, "she's never late to any early meetings?"

"Ippei-san, she's only been doing that since she's dating you."

Ippei didn't realize that at all, he thought it was natural for her. Still, Soji being forthright tickled Ippei a bit in an annoying, but kind of affectionate way.

"I'm going back now so you can go back to sleep." Soji was going to get up, but Ippei pulled him back.

"Can I ask for your honest opinion?" Ippei said, which made Soji a bit curious.

"Yeah, sure. As long as it's something I'm comfortable telling," Soji laughed, but without noise, almost like he was considerate for people who were sleeping. "definitely not about onee-chan's private life before she met you."

"Yeah, no, I'm not asking about that... I just want to know if your family will think I'm problematic?"

Soji laughed again, but no noise came out, which Ippei felt was weird.

"No, Ippei-san, you're cool..." Soji replied with a smile, "Mom and dad are worried exactly like when my sister and I get into any sort of trouble. I can guarantee you that they like you a lot."

"That's reassuring." Ippei was relieved.

"It's fine if you don't want to tell me," Soji asked calmly, "where do you live?"

"Eh? I live in Takita." Ippei wondered what Soji wanted from asking that.

"That's the lakeside town, right? Where most well-off people dock their boats and old men come to fish."

"That's about right, yeah."

"You must absolutely love the view, right? Living in an area like that." Soji said enthusiastically, "Unlike here. Most people I know online think I live in Aichi, and that equally sucks."

Ippei wondered, was there an Okazaki in Aichi or something?

"I don't think it's special or anything, it's just a home." Ippei dismissed Soji.

"A home is where you belong, right? Even if you're desensitized to how special it is because you've always been there."

Soji looked at Ippei, and saw that he had an unsure expression right now. It seemed that he indeed missed being home, not being a burden to the family of the one he loved, but at the same time there's still a discontent that was not solved.

"Ippei-san, do you mind if I call you Onii-san?" Soji changed subject, trying to make it seem he was friendly, Ippei was receptive.

"Yeah, why not," Ippei chuckled slightly, "I never had a younger brother."

"Ah! Are you an only child? Do you have older siblings?"

Ippei shook his head.

"I'm an only child." Ippei replied, confirming what Soji guessed first, but he thought there was a possibility Ippei felt left out somehow, it's something that can happen to a middle child, less likely the youngest.

"That's nice, isn't it? No squabble with siblings, all the love from your parents..." Soji mused.

That comment irked Ippei slightly, but he had the time to calm down so he was not so agitated anymore.

"Hey, Soji, you're already in high school, right? I have never seen you at the school so you must attend somewhere else, right?" Ippei asked, and Soji nodded to confirm.

"Onee-chan stopped me, I don't know why. She's probably embarrassed..." Soji shrugged, "I attend Tsuchini."

That's the nickname of Ibaraki Prefectural Tsuchiura Second High School. Ippei thought it was slightly ironic, because Tsuchiichi used to be boys only, while Tsuchini used to be girls only. Yet, the daughter of the Kinoshita household attended Tsuchiichi, while the son attended Tsuchini.

"Is it true it's mostly girls?" Ippei asked out of curiosity, but it made Soji look at him with suspicious eyes.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Yes, Onii-chan, there's very few boys here. Are you jealous?" Soji asked, half jokingly. It made Ippei scoff.

"Don't be silly." Ippei replied without hesitation, even if it was an obvious trap.

Ippei and Soji sat there quietly for a while, the night was always the right time for contemplation.

"Have you ever had a serious altercation with your sister, Soji?" Ippei suddenly brought this topic up, which surprised Soji.

"Eh? All the time, Ippei-Oniisan." Soji replied, calling Ippei with silly honorific.

"No, I mean, really serious." Ippei clarified, as he thought Soji didn't understand.

"I mean, I once stole her chocolate cake that... a close friend bought her. She was pissed off!" Soji nearly revealed it was her ex-boyfriend, but managed to not blurt it out.

"How did you... you know... reconcile?"

Soji looked at Ippei and realized why he asked this, it was pretty obvious.

"A sincere sorry is usually enough," Soji replied after a short pause, "...if you're in the wrong, that is."

"But what if it's not, you know, your fault?" Ippei didn't say it directly that he still blamed his father for this situation.

"Then there's nothing you can do until there's an understanding. At the same time it's also a good thing to show empathy, to understand why they did it. If you're willing to listen, they will listen to you back."

Ippei couldn't help but think Soji sounded way like an adult with much experience, somehow more than he himself or Sachiko was.

Soji had a point though, there's no way Mizuho was going to say sorry if Ippei wasn't going to accept it. Still, Ippei really couldn't wrap his head around what Mizuho did and why he did it.

"I'm going to bed, Ippei-Oniisan. It's almost dawn now." Soji said while he stood up, Ippei didn't stop him this time.

"Thanks, Soji." Ippei said gratefully.

"Hey, I've done nothing, no need for the thanks."

"Just listening to me is enough, Soji. Thank you for that."

Soji just nodded in acknowledgement, before he disappeared to his bedroom.

Ippei was left there, and in the quietness, his thoughts went back to the life he lived. There must've been a breaking point, long before any of this happened. The moment that made him stop trusting his father.

It was clear even to Ippei that a lot of the troubles he had recently, he never once went to his dad.

It was always his friends, Akira and Ryoji. That was until he met Sachiko, and then she became someone he confided with the most. At least in his mind, she never judged him for any of it, but why couldn't he go to his father for any of it?

Why was there this dividing line in their life? What happened? Perhaps it was not a single event that did it, perhaps it was an accumulation of things that happened.

—

Summer 2013, something had been very wrong in the Noda household for a few months now. Even the young Ippei knew something was going on, even if he didn't understand any of it.

For some reason, his mother started working more late as of recently. She'd been taking part-time work somewhere before, but was now working more and more.

Unbeknownst to him, it was merely an excuse to not return home to Mizuho.

Ippei was 7, and not exactly quite understanding of adult matters, he only knew by sense that the troubles had been brewing for a while.

In this sort of situation, even tiny little things could be the straw that broke the camel's back.

Weirdly enough, even though the image of his own mother had faded to the point where he was unsure, Ippei still remembered one detail about her pretty clearly, even if it wasn't really something he was interested in all that much.

It was the car she drove when she was still around. A red Mitsubishi Evo. At least, that's what his father told him what it was. Because it was a distinctive car, while it was a rare occasion that his mother would pick him up from school, every time it happened, it was always a bit of an occasion.

Ippei remembered that Kanoko had that car for a long time. It was a gift from her father.

Ippei was standing there, right outside the elementary school he attended, as Kanoko told him she'd be picking him up today, unlike the usual where it was Mizuho.

The red Evo eventually turned up, and it did catch some attention from the passerby. It's not like it's a really unusual car, but the driver being a young lady made it pretty distinctive.

Ippei got in it, and his mom was there, smiling.

"How was school today?" Kanoko asked as soon as Ippei sat in the passenger seat.

"It was great, mom! Yuki let me borrow his Yotsuba&! manga home!" Ippei replied excitedly.

"Why is the first thing on your mind from that question is a manga!?"

"I learn a lot of things too, mom..."

Kanoko chuckled.

"So... dad is working late tonight." Kanoko continued, and Ippei sounded disappointed.

"Ehhh? But he said we'll be going to a Yakiniku restaurant?" It was indeed a promise Mizuho made.

"Sorry about that, but we can still go if you want to."

Ippei was at least okay with that.

Ippei couldn't remember where the restaurant was, only the vague idea of what happened there, and now that he was grown up and had time to reflect, what happened was really weird.

The red Evo parked outside a chain Yakiniku restaurant near their home, the one that his parents liked to visit. Kanoko and Ippei stepped out of the car after it was parked.

Kanoko didn't notice there was a young guy who sat in a purple Nissan 300ZX which was already in the car park. The young guy immediately took notice of the red Evo as soon as it got into the lot.

That man, probably just older than 20, immediately approached them, and it made Kanoko quite nervous as he looked like a delinquent. Although she didn't react in an obvious way.

"Hey, onee-san, do you remember me?!" That man immediately asked with an excited expression, and Kanoko didn't recognize him at all, so she was even more nervous.

"Who are you?" Kanoko asked, befuddled and clearly defensive sounding.

"Eh? You don't remember me? I drive the purple 300ZX!"

"Seriously. Who are you?" Kanoko repeated the question.

The young man seemed quite miffed, he didn't look all that dangerous, but his questions certainly were creepy to a person like Kanoko, who had Ippei with her. She instinctively pulled him closer.

"It was you! A red Evo 10! Number plate saying 10. I met you on the Tsukuba Fruits Line a few weeks back. You drove like a madman! You got skills, onee-san." The young man recalled, and the way he described it suddenly made sense to Kanoko.

At this point, Kanoko was relieved that it was merely a misunderstanding, but she was still annoyed about another matter.

"Ah, you must've been mistaken, there are a lot of Evos around here." Kanoko tried to brush him off, but he wasn't having it.

"There's no doubt about it. Same wheels, same number plate, even the sticker on the back window is the same." The man insisted.

Kanoko's Evo had a Team Lightning Mitsubishi sticker on the back window, and it somehow made the car really distinctive.

"Must've been my husband driving, sorry." Kanoko told the truth, and the 300ZX man got the message.

"Oh. Right. That makes sense. Sorry for bothering you."

The young man bowed once, and finally left Kanoko and Ippei alone.

Even though the young man was polite, in spite of his appearance, it still made Kanoko extremely angry about it.

Mizuho had been borrowing the Evo sometimes, and while Kanoko never cared what he did with it, considering she wasn't exactly a considerate driver, the fact that he clearly raced people with it in such a way that it clearly was 'talk of the town', rubbed her the wrong way.

That night, after Mizuho got home at almost 10 PM, the atmosphere was immediately tense.

"I don't have any problem with you borrowing my car, but don't race other people on the mountains with it!" Kanoko shouted quite angrily at Mizuho.

"What? Why now all of the sudden?! It's not like you've had issues before? I don't even drive your car that often!" Mizuho retorted, it was true, but only because Kanoko turned a blind eye.

"That's not the issue here! I don't give a shit about you driving it, just don't race others with it!"

"LANGUAGE!"

"So what?! It's not like you ever cared!"

Ippei was sitting there, in the living room, while his parents were arguing, and he couldn't help but be sad about it because neither one seemed to care.

By all means, it wasn't the most intense of altercation these two ever had, but it was unusual because normally they kept it away from their son. Kanoko was at her limit, and Mizuho was not willing to admit fault either.

It was perhaps the fact that they'd been together for a decade by this point, and at that point, the love they had for each other was gone.

Ippei didn't understand it then.

"Where are you going?!" Mizuho shouted as he followed Kanoko from upstairs, she was hoisting a small bag.

"Gunma." Kanoko answered.

"Gunma?!"

At that point, Kanoko threw her hand up at Mizuho, and the message was clear.

"Reflect on your actions, Mizuho. You've been getting on my nerves for months."

Kanoko continued to walk, and then noticed Ippei sitting there at the table still.

"Come with me, Ippei."

Kanoko was about to pull Ippei from the table, who then started crying.

"What do you think you're doing!? He has school tomorrow." Mizuho stated, which in the heat of the moment, Kanoko simply forgot.

Kanoko was reluctant, she didn't want to leave Ippei there, especially as he was distressed, but she was not going to stick around for the night. She crouched down, while holding Ippei's face, trying to comfort him.

"I'll come back, don't you worry."

Kanoko did come back a few days later, but it was not a permanent return. In fact, Mizuho and Kanoko never stayed together anymore after that night.

10 years later. Ippei never really thought about it all that much, and a lot of the details were now a blur. Only what happened made it all come back to him, and it did make him cry once again.