After dropping Luna off, Yu and I continued our walk to my house in a comfortable, heavy silence. Yu would throw out a stupid joke every few blocks, and I'd give him a courtesy laugh, but we never talked about anything important.
If there was something he wanted to ask, he kept it in the entire time we walked home. As I was leaving, his smile never wavered. He sent me off with the same expression he always wore, and so did I.
The moment I stepped foot in the house, the smile I had shown to Yu faded away, replaced by my default, cold, aloof expression that felt like a weighted blanket for my face.
I slid my shoes off as quietly as possible, but in this house, silence was just another frequency she could hear.
"Welcome home." The voice was soothing, almost angelic, resonating from the kitchen.
"Yeah, I'm back," I said coldly. I didn't turn around, and I didn't say anything else. I just headed straight for the stairs.
As I climbed the stairs, I tracked Mom in the kitchen from the corner of my eye. Similarly to me, she didn't turn to face me, either. Yet, I could vividly make out the gentle smile she had just from the way she stood.
"When did you leave the house?" she asked, though it felt more like a probe. "I thought you were in your room the whole time."
"Well, you were wrong. I left the house when you were still sleeping."
"Oh? Is that so?" she said, her voice laced with that familiar, soft worry. "You've been getting better at leaving without being noticed recently. What's going to happen if something happens to you and I don't know where you are?"
I let out a sharp sigh. "That's a stupid question. You have my location. You always know where I am."
She let out a melodic giggle. "Oh yeah, how could I forget? Sorry about that."
I didn't need to reply as I had finally arrived at the top of the stairs, abruptly ending the conversation.
The first thing I did was grab a change of clothes and head to the shower. I was covered in dried sweat, and I was just itching to get it off me. I hated being dirty.
I turned on the showerhead, set it to a cool temperature, and began washing myself. I closed my eyes and soaked in the feeling of the cool water running across my body.
For the first time today, I was finally able to relax. But in the Hoshino household, peace had a very short-lived life.
*BAM* *BAM* *BAM*
Someone violently slammed their fists onto the door, and with it, an annoyingly familiar high-pitched sound pierced through the serenity of my shower and into my ears.
"Goddammit, Hoshino! You've been in the washroom for 30 minutes already! I need to get my headband in there!"
Of course, it couldn't have belonged to anyone else but my stupid sister.
Even though she couldn't hear me, I clicked my tongue. "Yes, yes, I'll be out in a bit."
With that, I was sadly forced to hurry up my peaceful shower. I quickly washed my hair and my body, dried myself off with a towel, changed into my clothes, and stepped out into the hallway.
Lily was leaning against the wall, arms crossed, her forehead knotted into an ugly, jagged wrinkle. "It took you long enough!"
It wasn't the best thing I could've done, but I decided to probe her just a bit. "Well, maybe you shouldn't have left your things in the washroom."
Lily snapped. She lunged off the wall and jammed her index finger into my sternum. "Excuse me?! Maybe you shouldn't be taking forty damn minutes in the shower! What are you, a girl? No! You're a guy! What are you even doing for that long anyway?!"
"Standing and enjoying the water?"
"Why are you even doing that?! You're just wasting water!"
I let out a loud, indignant sigh. Of all the people in this house, she was the only one who had absolutely no right to criticize my shower habits.
"Says the one who turns on the shower just to end up watching dance videos and practicing your routines."
Lily flinched and took a few retreating steps back. The finger she had jabbed into me fell limp at her sides, and her once ugly scowl receded into an embarrassed grimace. "H-how did you…"
Seeing this, a smug smirk crossed my face. "Lily, I hope you know, everyone in the house can hear your stomping in the washroom. You always have music on, so it's either you're taking a really intense trip to the toilet—or you're dancing."
Lily tried putting on an intimidating frown, but it failed to hide her bright red cheeks. "W-what… Y-you… l-l-lies…"
I tried to save my laughter until she finished speaking. But it continuously drummed against my chest until it finally burst out of me. "HAHAHAHAHHA!"
Lily clenched her jaw tightly, her teeth grinding against each other. "You… d-do you think this is funny?!"
Seeing her try to be serious only made me laugh even harder.
Lily's eyes began to well up with frustrated, embarrassed tears. "T-this isn't funny anymore! Just leave me alone!"
Without waiting for my laughter to die down, she spun around and ran into her room, slamming the door shut behind her. She didn't even get the headband she rushed me for.
The hallway fell quiet again—like nothing had happened.
God… you are so stupid.
After calming down a bit, I retreated into my room, closed the door, and collapsed onto the bed. The mattress dipped beneath me, soft and familiar.
The weight that I had been carrying up until now seemed to simply… vanish—like it was never there to begin with.
It was still early in the evening, yet I began to feel unusually drowsy.
You know what… a quick nap wouldn't hurt.
I closed my heavy eyelids. As soon as I did, I drifted off to sleep.