gardenias; saiki k.

007; daylily

HERE THE TWO BOYS WERE - inside [name]'s house, awkwardly in the midst of their parents' conversations. It was as if they were both forced to be there (which they were) and were pushed to sit at the kids table at a family reunion.

"I didn't know that [name] was in P.K., much less Ku's classmate!" Kurumi gasped.

"You never asked, mom."

"Even so! It would've been lovely to see him, Naomi, and Hana again."

[name]-with all the strength in the
world-tried his hardest to avoid any eye contact with Kusuo, which the psychic noticed. He's really good at it, skilled enough to probably win a world record.

The taller or shorter boy's eyes were stuck to his lap, and his body was as stiff as a rock.

Aside from the eye contact issue, [name] was panicking internally over his horrid outfit. 'Why didn't mom tell me that there were people coming over?! She could've at least told me to change my clothes.'

Kusuo caught wind of his thoughts and inspected [name]. He was wearing horrendous green plaid pajamas and a white tank top that hung too loose, revealing his [complexion] skin underneath. To [name], this was the equivalent of wearing minion pajamas in front of house guests.

It was one of those clothes he'd only ever wear under two conditions: The first condition is that no one he knows will witness him wearing it, and the second is that he's only wearing it to do something trivial, say, throwing out the garbage or going out for a quick smoke in the dead of night.

Dinner with a family friend is a situation that does not fit within the conditions [name] created for himself.

Unknowingly, he let out a low but audible sigh.

"Hm? Are you alright, [name]?" Hana asked, nudging his shoulder.

"Oh, uh, yeah! I'm okay. I just sort of spaced out."

His mom raised an eyebrow and said, "You haven't taken a bite of your food yet; are you sure you're fine?"

He nodded and started eating with everyone else.

As he half-listened to the adults' conversations, he unexpectedly heard his name mentioned.

"Hey [name], it's been a long time since you've seen us, hasn't it? The last time I remember, you were still so small!" Kuniharu said, turning to look at [name].

[Name] is a little bit, if not very, startled by the man's question. He dug into all his childhood memories-aaaaaand well, nothing! He found absolutely no memory of this man, nor did he have any recollections of Kurumi either!

He found it strange. When attempting to reminisce about certain periods in his life, there's only a blank space. It's as if he artificially picked out and removed those specific memories from his brain.

Ever since, it's always been that way. Perhaps he has cursed genetics.

"I didn't recognize you at the grocery store that one time, you've grown up so much!" Kurumi cooed.

"Yeah, I don't even remember how long it's been," [name] laughed sheepishly, playing along.

Naomi began to talk on and on about how cute [name] was back in kindergarten, shifting the topic.