Chapter 18: Chapter 15: The Father of the Household
POV Katsura
"Kyoske.." I don't know how to react to that name. He looks kinda young, a bit shabby but still quite handsome. Was he some secret brother I did not know about?
"Yoriko isn't home. Kyoko, please feed daddy something" he says in a nonchalant tone.
Was he really her father? I never actually asked Hori san what actually happened to him, but I never expected him to be…. Well... like this.
We step inside. "Ehhh… I feel tired already, I don't feel like making anything" Hori san says. Her voice filled with an unwilling laziness.
I don't know what to do. Should I say anything right here? I decide against that, and stick to Hori san, almost trying to hide behind her, but the fact that she was quite a few inches shorter than me did nothing in my favour.
He finally seems to notice me at last much to my dismay.
"Huh, who is this guy, is he your boyfriend or something?" Kyoske says with a feigned toughness in his voice.
"Yeah he is, what does it matter to you?" Hori san replies with toughness a degree more than her father
"You can't have my daughter" Kyoske says looking at me. His voice was nonchalant yet tough. I don't know what to say.
"I… but…" I stammer
"Just kidding, always wanted to say that out loud" he says, laughing out loud.
Uhh… was this guy for real?! I couldn't get a read on him. He was so confusing.
We step inside the kitchen where I put down the groceries on the table and Hori san is off to preparing something. Even though she said she didn't feel like it, she was probably going to whip something up real fast.
"Hori san, you need some help?" I ask, hoping to get out of the clutches of this guy
Kyoske was a pro. He grabs me by my shoulder and says "She can manage by herself, why don't we sit together" He walks me to the sofa and sits really close to me. Our shoulders touching. I could smell cigarettes in his breath.
He takes out one from his pocket and lights it up. "Do you want one?" he asks.
I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. A grown man offering a high schooler to smoke. Who was this guy!!
I try to inch away from him. I never liked the smell of cigarettes, I never know why anyone would want to put that in their mouth. Added to all that, my lungs are severely weakened after "That Incident" so its probably best for me to not contaminate them any farther.
"HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU, NO SMOKING INSIDE THE HOUSE!!" Hori san shouts angrily kicking him on his head.
Kyoske grabs his head in pain, dropping his cigarette, which is wiped by Hori san who puts it out quickly.
"Kyoko, big girls do not axe kick their dads on their head" he says in a amused tone to her as if nothing ever happened.
Hori san ignores him and goes back to do whatever she was doing.
I am confused as hell. I didn't know what to make about the dynamic. Hori san seemed an altogether different person around him, I didn't sense any malice from them, but somehow they all were relaxed and excited at the same time.
Kyoske gets back up and sits beside me again. "So, I take it you don't smoke?" he asks
I shake my head. I am too dumfounded to reply verbally.
"So, you go to the same school with Kyoko?" he asks again
"Yeah, I go to Katagiri High too" I say.
"My name is Katsura. Katsura Takada." I add, bowing politely.
"You don't need to be so formal with me" he says, waving his hand.
"Why does Hori-san call you by your first name?" I ask, unable to hold my curiosity any longer.
"Katsura kun, I am a Hori san too" he says, flashing a smile at me, and tactfully avoiding my question.
"You should try calling my daughter by her first name" he adds
"Kyo-" I try to call out Hori san's first name. I don't know why, but I feel embarrassed all of a sudden, I feel like blushing. It was just a name, but…. Kyoske interrupts my tain of thought
"Ahahaha.. I am kidding, calling her by her first name must be weird for you" he says, laughing at is own wit.
I feel more and more at unease, What should I do? I don't understand him one bit. Harry Freeman was strangely silent. Was he enjoying this too?
"So, what made you like my daughter?" he asks all of a sudden.
His barrage of questions was overwhelming me, I don't know whether to tell him the truth or lie. I didn't want to lie again, not especially to this family, but then again, I cant seem to get a grip on his position in the family.
"Well…I…." I stammer again
"Coming through coming through" Hori san crashes a bowl of the fruit salad she was carrying into Kyoske's head. She genuinely did that, saving me from an embarrassing reply.
"Kyoko, just put it on the table next time" he says rubbing his head.
"Well, both of them share the same qualities" he says looking at me.
I look back him confused. Both of who?
He seemed to understand my visible confusion "Kyoko and Yoriko I mean. They are both great don't get me wrong, but they both have this violent streak in them" he says
"But Hori san is not…" I was about to say violent, but I remembered how easily she got angry, and sometimes physical too, Ishikawa kun, Sengoku kun, even me, we all experiences the ice queen's wrath at some point or the other
"I am right here you know" Hori san clears her throat in a menacing tone.
"Kyoko, daddy doesn't like boys with long hair" he says in his ridiculous nonchalant tone again
"Have you taken a look in the mirror lately" Hori san replies, irritated.
"I will cut it. However you like " I blurt out. I meant it.
"Nah, its probably better to tie it back" he says examining me again. He probably meant it as a joke, and by blurting my reply out, I probably made him uncomfortable too. Yay me. Always reading the room wrong.
"Kyoko do you have some hair clips" he asks her
"Ehh… I have to check" Hori san went back to her passive droning robotic voice as if it would physically hurt her to go look for them. She goes nonetheless
Kyoske grabbed a hair brush and started brushing my hair. Strange. In all my life, I have never brushed my hair. Never, not a single time, the thought has crossed my mind. I use a comb, I am not an animal, but never have I thought about brushing it.
Strange. I enjoy this feeling. Him brushing my hair. It feels so familial, We don't know each other, but still, he is brushing my hair as if I am his own son.
"Here you go the pins" Hori san says, stabbing them in his back.
"Could you be a little less violent" Kyoske complains.
I don't know if she hates him or loves him. She was so casual around him, but also passive aggressive, never in my life have I seen this duality before.
"Your hair is a bit too short for a ponytail, how about…" Kyoske thinks out aloud, while doing something to my hair.
"No, no not like that. Like this…." Hori san joins in on the fun with him.
For a moment, father and daughter work hand in hand on my hair. I didn't trust them one bit with my hair. They were upto no good, but I am in no position to complain, I was completely at their mercy.
After a while they are done. "Nice look Zura" Hori san says. Her voice sounded strange, as if she was muffling her voice. I know that tone. She was holding her laugh.
I look at both their faces, they have that 'holding a smile' look. What have they done?!
I quickly rush to the mirror and to my horror, I see my hair in pigtails. They didn't look bad per se, but the look definitely did not agree with me.
"Looking good Zura" Hori san bursts out laughing, clutching her stomach.
"Yeah, you look prettier than most girls in this look" Kyoske adds. Not being helpful at all.
I don't know whether to laugh or cry at this. I just stand there dumbstruck.
"Yeah, Zura, you should probably try my school uniform, the others wont even recognise you" Hori san adds, trying to control her laughter.
"Please set it back to normal" I beg them
"No way man! I am gonna take a pic" Kyoske says, snapping a photo of mine.
"Hey! Not fair" I make a lunge at his phone, and he moves away from my reach. Within a few minutes we are all around the place, laughing. I almost lose my sense of self, all the voices gone, no other thoughts but pure joy.
Suddenly the door to the living room opens "We are back…." I hear Yoriko san's voice, and I turn to see her and Souta
She didn't complete her sentence, because she was stunned. She looked at all three of us. Kyoske in particular. "Ah Kyoske…." She trails off again.
The moment got awkward real fast. Kyoske puts up his hand in a wave "Yo" he says.
Seriously, if I thought I was dense, this guy would probably be my master.
"Oh, what a bad luck, now we wont have enough stuff for tonight's dinner" Yoriko san says with a sarcastic sad tone in her voice.
Was she serious?! That was her concern!!
"Huh, I come here after so long, and you say we wont have enough for dinner?" Kyoske says. He was surprised too.
"I mean, we have enough for Kyoko, Souta, me and Katsura kun, at least that's what I told Kyoko to buy, what would you eat?" she says, ignoring him.
"I will leave. It's no problem" I say. It was getting too awkward for me.
"Oh, you don't need to do that! Please stay for dinner I insist" Yoriko san says, looking at me. Her voice had this edge, that sent a shiver down my spine.
"Yes Ma'am" I say. I couldn't refute her.
"Well, we will manage somehow" Yoriko san says, going to the kitchen, leaving all of us baffled.
A few hours later
Kyoske and Souta are playing on the couch while me and Hori san sit at the table set up on the floor. Hori san is helping me understand a new chapter in Math, which I, as you guessed it, know by heart, but I can't make a head or tail of it.
"So, go over this part again, why does this slope cut this point?" She asks me patiently. I have been doing this part wrong for three times now.
"Well, from the equation, we can say that…" I trail off.
"Seriously Zura, just because, the book says from the equation, you cant say that too. Why from this equation only? Why not from something else?" Hori san says annoyed.
"Man! I cant make any head or tails of this" I groan, clutching my head. Graphs definitely weren't my forte. Sure, memorizing them is easy, but understanding them was a thing beyond my grasp.
"You can just put that value here and see that point clearly" Kyoske interrupts us.
I do as he says and voila, I see why that happened.
I look at him surprised
"Are you a genius?" I ask astonished
"No, no, it's just that, I faced the same problems in my time too, so I do this by this method" he explains.
This man seriously surprises me every second I spend with him.
"Then that explains, why Hori san is so good at this stuff" I say
"Shut up dummy. Move on to the next problem" she says. Blushing.
"Dinner's ready" I hear Yoriko san call from the kitchen.
"May I ask, why chopsticks are the cheap use and throw ones, while Katsura kun has his own pair" Kyoske asks loudly, like a jealous child. There was no malice in his voice, just complaint.
Uhhh… I feel more awkward at every moment.
"He is more present that you are, so it's quite natural for him to have a pair" Yoriko san says in a matter of fact sweet way.
Kyoske looks like he was shot through the chest "Stop it, you are going to make me cry" he says.
"Zura, you gonna stay over tonight?" Hori san asks me
"No, I think I should head back, probably, give you guys some family time." I say, smiling a little awkwardly.
"No, way you are staying tonight" Yoriko san says. The same dangerous edge in her voice. I cant seem to refuse. I just hang my head down. Why did this have to be soooo awkward!!
"Can Nii san sleep with me?" Souta asks excitedly.
"No way, Katsura kun is sleeping with Daddy tonight" Kyoske interjects
"Ehhhh…." Both Hori san and Souta groan, but they don't argue.
"Well, are you planning to sleep on the floor then? Because there is only one bed in your room" Yoriko san points out
"How harsh" Kyoske says, feigning a tear.
"Me and Katsura kun would sleep on the floor on mattresses, you got any problem with that?" he asks me.
"No, it's fine" I say. I could sleep soundly on the hard floor too. That wasn't the problem.
"Well its settled then. He sleeps with me" Kyoske says with finality in his tone.
Yoriko san gives a nonchalant shrug, but do I see a smile in the corners of her lips?
After Dinner
"You would rather sleep in my daughter's room than with this old man, right?" Kyoske asks me. We were both lying on the mattress, the lights were out, everyone was asleep in the house.
"No, no, I would definitely not do anything like that" I say hurriedly. He says the weirdest things sometimes.
"So….. what do you like about my daughter Katsura kun?" he asks. His tone more sombre. There was no teasing, no joke, a serious, normal question.
I don't reply for a moment. I think my answer.
"She accepts me for who I am, she helps me every day, gives me a reason to keep on with my life, honestly speaking, I cant imagine a day where I don't see her or Souta. Without realising it, they have become an integral part of me…." I say. I didn't expect him to understand me, at least without knowing the full story, but I expected him to understand my emotions.
"Zzz…." I hear him snoring beside me. So much for an honest answer. He slept right through it.
I sigh, and smile for no apparent reason.
That night I dream. Not a nightmare, but a real. Actual dream.
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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