JSWGAS Chapter 9

Chapter 9 9.

When Kokonoe Taka returned home, Kokonoe Sumiko hurriedly came out of the study to greet him.

“Taka, did you have a good time today?”

Kokonoe Taka bent down to arrange his shoes neatly and smiled shyly, “I did.”

He remembered how Oikawa had devoured two bowls of ramen at the ramen shop, resulting in him being too full, and how he could only watch with a sad face as Iwaizumi and he divided up the fried chicken bought at the convenience store next door. He couldn’t help but laugh.

“Mom, did you eat well tonight?” he asked as he stood up straight.

“Mm… I made tofu soup tonight. Oh, right, Ayako sent some milk cookies this afternoon, do you want some?”

“Yes.”

Kokonoe Sumiko went to the kitchen and brought out a plate of delicate cookies, watching with a smile as her son wolfed them down, “If you like them, should I make them for you next time?”

“I’m not picky, I can eat anything.” Kokonoe Taka mumbled.

“Really? Kokonoe-kun who likes sweets?”

“Mom!”

Kokonoe Taka had to correct her in a low voice, “Well… I’d have more motivation if there were more sweets, it would be best if every meal was a sweet paradise–”

“No, you’ll get cavities.” Kokonoe Sumiko flatly refused, “Or can my handsome son stand going to the dentist?”

“…”

Kokonoe Sumiko sat opposite him, the light pouring down from the chandelier above her, hitting her gentle brown eyes, making them appear like clear glass. She suddenly said, “I talked to Grandma on the phone today, she said she wanted to come and see you with Grandpa.”

“Hmm,” Kokonoe Taka thought for a moment, “I can go with Mom on the weekend… Didn’t Grandpa fall before? It shouldn’t be convenient for him to come.”

Kokonoe Sumiko sighed slightly, “But, Hikohito… he made you go to the competition again, didn’t he?”

…The timing clashed.

He forgot that weekends often had various competitions, and if not, his father would arrange practice matches for him. It was impossible for him to go to his grandparents’ home in Hyōgo Prefecture.

Kokonoe Taka was stunned.

Kokonoe Sumiko noticed her son’s pause and smiled bitterly, “I’m sorry, Taka, I’m not a good mother.”

“No, please don’t think that way.” He immediately interrupted, “You’re a very good mother.”

“But I can’t even protect my son. He’s not happy, but I can’t do anything about it.”

Kokonoe Taka: “…I’m not unhappy.”

“How many of the lies you’ve told since you were little haven’t been seen through by me?” Kokonoe Sumiko laughed.

Kokonoe Taka stubbornly repeated again, “I’m not unhappy.”

He glared at his mother, the light from the crystal chandelier also falling on his hair and in the middle of his pupils, seeming to dye him with a hint of broken vulnerability.

Kokonoe Sumiko looked at her son’s still-immature face: he’s not like me. She thought, in terms of appearance, Taka is neither like Hikohito nor like herself.

Kokonoe Sumiko’s features were gentle, her eyebrows and eyes were soft, her hair was yellowish, and her eyes were ordinary light brown; Kokonoe Hikohito had light brown hair, his pupils were rich, deep red like gemstones, with single eyelids, and handsome and imposing features.

Compared with his parents, Kokonoe Taka’s hair was thick and black, and his eyes were a rare gray. Double eyelids, a high nose bridge, and slightly protruding brow bones, when he kept a cold face, he looked fierce, but when he smiled, he had a flamboyant and intense handsomeness.

During the worst period of her illness, Kokonoe Sumiko suspiciously wondered if her son, who was growing stranger and stranger, was a child who had been mistakenly swapped in the hospital. She ran back to her parents’ home in a panic, pouring out her heart to her mother in tears.

Tsurumi-fujin had to bring out the family album, pointing to her father’s black and white photos and saying, isn’t he very similar? Kokonoe Sumiko looked through the mist of tears. It was a photo of her grandfather when he was young, with black hair and gray eyes, and when he wasn’t smiling, he had a strange similarity to the still-young Kokonoe Taka.

Tsurumi-fujin said, when I saw that child, I felt like I saw my father’s youth.

Kokonoe Sumiko returned home and began to feel guilty for having such thoughts. That child was extremely sensible, never causing her trouble, and always helping her with chores.

After putting all her love on her son, Kokonoe Sumiko easily discovered that Kokonoe Taka was not happy.

He didn’t like the things his father arranged, and he would always be depressed about it every time he came home. Kokonoe Hikohito used all kinds of trinkets as rewards to make him obedient. Kokonoe Taka found it difficult to refuse sweets, and he also found that his mother would be happy when he went home with his father, so he half-heartedly became an obedient child.

From candies wrapped in shiny, cheap candy wrappers to beautifully packaged chocolates, he quickly got cavities, and when he was taken to the dentist, he howled like a ghost, able to form a tragic duet with the girl next door who was also having a tooth extracted.

After returning home, Kokonoe Sumiko asked her husband to reduce their son’s burden. She argued why should a child be so tired? Her husband rejected her, saying that the foundation for the child’s development depends on whether it is laid well during this period.

Kokonoe Sumiko couldn’t believe it, shouting that he was still a child! Kokonoe Hikohito retorted that he would only not be surpassed if he worked harder.

She said ‘he won’t be happy’.

He said ‘he will be grateful when he grows up’.

The Kokonoe family broke out into the most intense argument in years, and Kokonoe Sumiko was extremely angry. She seemed to have endless courage, mixed with disappointment in her husband and guilt for her son, making her brave like a fighter.

In the end, Kokonoe Hikohito compromised, no longer personally preparing training plans, and letting another Takeuchi coach take over from him. At the same time, he refused to give in again, resisting his wife’s demands by not returning home at night.

The young child was not clear about the disputes between his parents. But he sensitively noticed the different air than usual and silently accepted all their arrangements.

–This should have been his choice.

Kokonoe Sumiko avoided the topic.

She forced a smile, “Let’s not talk about this. Taka, Mom told Grandpa and Grandma that she’ll take you back to see them when you have time…”

Kokonoe Taka was silent for a moment, “Okay, I understand.”

He paused, “Won’t it be boring at home every day?”

“Well… it will be a little.” She smiled, “I’m wondering if I should try playing the violin again… I even found the violin again today.”

“That’s great!”

Kokonoe Sumiko said embarrassedly, “But I found that I can’t really play the violin anymore.”

“You’ll get better with practice, right?” Kokonoe Taka comforted her, “Mom is very good, you definitely can.”

Kokonoe Sumiko excitedly ran to the study and took out the violin, playing a simple “Little Star Variations” for her son’s sake.

After his mother took her medicine and went back to her room to rest, Kokonoe Taka went upstairs and walked back to his room. He didn’t turn on the light, relying only on his simple night vision ability to lean the two tennis bags against the desk.

He had a cabinet specially for storing sports equipment, inside which he kept all the things Kokonoe Hikohito had given him, arranged according to time.

He silently opened the new tennis bag, inside were a custom-made racket, tennis balls, and a brand-new pair of tennis shoes. He placed them on the far right of the cabinet and closed the cabinet door with a frown.

Then he fell onto the bed, shielding his eyes with his arm.

He said to himself, “Ah… so annoying.”

He hated the things his father gave him. If he could, he would have loved to punch his sanctimonious face a time or two.

“–Since you disappeared, don’t show up again.”

The Native Language (Chinese) teacher sometimes talked about articles that weren’t in the textbook. Kokonoe Taka forgot the name of the article he talked about, only remembering that it was a story about the breakdown of a man and woman’s relationship.

The two people loved each other, knew each other, but couldn’t continue to stay together after marriage. The busyness of work, the cat they raised ruining the furniture, dinner getting cold because one of them came home late, the lights breaking down. Countless trivial things wore away the love between the man and woman. They married in a hurry and divorced in a hurry. Tragic and funny.

What does divorce mean?

The teacher said slowly, marriage is a contract between two people, it is a guarantee, it is life; and divorce is two people separating and each being happy, from then on you take your broad road, and I cross my single-plank bridge.

That day when he got home, his mother was hiding in the bedroom crying again. She wouldn’t show weakness in front of her son, but when she was alone at home, she would always be defeated by loneliness. Kokonoe Taka stood at the door and asked her, why don’t you divorce Dad?

Who told you that?

His mother asked, wiping away her tears.

Kokonoe Taka obediently answered his mother.

His mother said, I can’t let him go.

I’m afraid of returning to society, I’m used to being a housewife.

Without money, without a job, how am I supposed to survive?

Also, if we divorce, your custody is likely to be with him.

I can’t lose you too.

But you’re not happy.

This is life.

At least he still cares about you, Taka. He never mistreats you.

…He’s just angry with me.

So, she can continue to deceive herself.

“But I’m not free, I’m not happy.”

I am a bird with bound wings.

Kokonoe Taka was hesitating.

He knew that his grandparents loved his mother very much, but he didn’t know if they would become her support. She never actively contacted them, she didn’t want her parents to know about her situation.

…And, would they believe what a child said?

I don’t know. I’m not sure.

Unable to decide, unable to trust.

In the dark room, he quietly opened his eyes.

Gray eyes gleamed with a faint light.