The twins

The Twins
By Lara Yokoshima
Edition by Wingless Demon
V. Something Rotten

Interrupting his soft and harmonious breathing, the silver-haired youth slowly
rolled his lazy body over the bed, changing from his right side to his left. He could
feel the warm sun on his face, trying to attack his weak pupils through his half-
opened eyelids. He stayed motionless for a few more minutes, until he finally
decided to wake up. To his surprise, he wasn’t sleeping alone.
“!?”
Seeing the short haired blonde in front of him, almost touching his own nose,
shocked Yamah, who was beginning to blush a little.
Koji?! What the…?? The confused and frightened youth was beginning to lose
control when he remembered. Oh, yeah… we arrived late last night. Koji was
tired and so very drunk. Right, he asked me to stay. I had too… I was really
worried he could do something crazy, Yamah could still remember that scene in
his mind, where Koji was hanging himself from the other boy’s arm, mumbling
something like: “please don’t go… I don’t want to be alone tonight… pleaseeee!!”

But why me? I mean, there is also… oh, right… Touga had to leave today. I
guess he had still to retrieve some important belongings from his home. Although
he left Brayden here so Koji would take care of him in his absence… the funny
thing is that I believe Brayden is taking care of him right now. How convenient.
Yamah rolled again over the bed, and saw Brayden sitting near and staring at the
youth somewhat worried, producing really soft wails. Yamah extended his arm
and just patted the dog’s head with a soft smile, as if telling the animal not worry.
Still, Yamah wondered why Koji was sleeping in the same bed as he. There were
two beds in the room, and he remembered taking that one and leaving Koji in the
other one. Maybe Koji was feeling cold and moved near me when I was
sleeping?… people act real strange when drunk.
Raising his body from the bed, Yamah sat on the edge, scratching his head while
he let a yawn escape his mouth. Fortunately, being as cautious as usual, he was
wearing his pants and underwear shirt when he went to sleep. He turned his
head just enough to watch Koji, who was still sleeping profoundly on the other
side of the bed. I bet he won’t wake up in a few more hours, Yamah thought. He
stared at the clock over the nightstand, noticing it was almost 11:00 AM. Too bad
it is Wednesday, but I don’t think I, or Koji for that matter, will go to school today.

The young man took his socks that were lying on the floor and put them on
before taking his boots and pulling them onto his feet, tying them patiently. He let
out a soft sigh and stood up, taking his black shirt that was resting on the desk’s chair. He walked towards the door, grabbing the knob and turning it around softly so he won’t wake up his friend. “Leaving already?” a husky voice asked from behind, and Yamah turned his head immediately. “K-Koji… I thought you were still sleeping” the silver haired boy replied, “I’m sorry if I woke you up” “It’s ok… but I don’t think I will leave bed soon” the blonde answered, placing his left hand over his pounding temple. “Oh man, my head feels so dizzy…” Koji said in a low voice. Yamah couldn’t stop himself from smiling. He had never seen his friend in this actual state, and he found it somewhat entertaining. “Do you have any medicine?” the young man asked. “Err… no….” Koji answered ashamed. “I’ll go to my room and bring back some aspirins” Yamah said and he opened the door so he could finally leave. “Oi…” “Hmm?” “Thanks for staying”, the blonde said to his friend with a soft smirk. “No problem” Yamah replied. “Be right back” he finally said, walking outside and closing the door. Just after, Yamah leaned his body over the door, letting out a huge sigh. Gee… that Koji. I hope he learned his lesson about drinking too much when you are not used to it. A few seconds later, he walked to his room with slow steps. The corridor was really calm since most of the students where already in class, and Yamah felt so comfortable when he was away from the crowd. Reaching the door to his room, he pulled his keys from his pants and introduced one in the door knob, turning it softly. He didn’t expect to see Eiji, but when he opened the door, he saw the brunette still under the covers of the bed, leaving Yamah a little puzzled. Is he still here? Why isn’t he at school right now? Then, a thought struck his mind. Could it be possible that he was at the Moore’s party?! No… no way, because I didn’t see him there, the young man immediately rejected that idea. He would have loved to wake Eiji up and interrogate him in that instant. But of course, that wouldn’t have been prudent, nor polite. Instead he went to the bathroom and opened the mirror cabinet, taking out some aspirins for Koji. He closed the mirror door, but before turning back, he stared at his reflection for a while. Yamah let out another sigh, still thinking about Eiji. It was strange how his own reflection reminded him about his roommate. He dismissed that thought, and looked around with his platinum eyes, not wanting to look at himself anymore. Yamah’s eyes then spotted the toilet. And he felt the urge. I guess it will be ok if I just take a pee before leaving. So he immediately pulled his zipper down and alleviated his need, feeling a terrible goose bump run through his back. He was minding his own business when he noticed Eiji’s creamy yellow shirt between a pile of clothes near the bath tub. Yamah felt curious, so he tilted his head a little to stare at the piece of clothing better. What… is that? The young man could distinguish a cylindrical object inside the pocket of the shirt. He pulled his zipper up and flushed the toilet. He crouched near the shirt, touching the full pocket with his fingers. I just hope there aren’t a bunch of condoms inside, he thought with mockery, and he pulled out the object inside. To his surprise, they were not condoms… but when Yamah noticed what they really were, he was left astounded. With eyes wide open, he saw that what he was holding with his fingers was a huge amount of bills, all rolled up with a rubber band. Oh. My. God. Yamah quickly untied the money and passed his thumbnail over the bills as if they were a book, trying to calculate how much it was. Most of them were 5,000* yen bills, and counting them all, it was an almost ridiculous sum of 80 thousand yen! *5,000 yen = 50 American dollars aprox. Absolutely amazed, and scared in a way, he took the rubber band and rolled the bills again. Just when he stood up from the floor ready to leave, he saw Eiji’s body in front of him, wearing only dark underwear. Yamah stared at Eiji’s eyes, gasping a little. “I thought you said you weren’t going out last night” the brunette questioned Yamah about yesterday. “I arrived and didn’t find you here”. “Oh, really?” Yamah was now becoming more and more upset. How dared he talk to him like that? He remembered later the bunch of bills still in his hand. He showed it to Eiji who had a serious look. “You wouldn’t mind telling me where the fuck did you get all this money, would you?” Eiji’s golden eyes showed consternation, and he quickly grabbed the money from Yamah’s hand. “Aren’t you going to tell me where did you get that from? Or should I say… from who?” Yamah now had the brunette cornered, hopefully this time it will work and Eiji would tell him what what’s going on. “Is none of your damn business!” Eiji replied so loud he left Yamah really surprised, turning his back on him and protecting his money. It looked like if Eiji was afraid of Yamah. But the white haired boy was still waiting for answers. “Don’t turn your back on me!” he followed the brunette, and was about to grab him from his shoulder, but he decided better not to. Eiji also stopped, and just stood there motionless, without saying anything else. His silence told Yamah that he wanted him to go away. “I’m sorry… I don’t have the right to question your ways” Yamah finally said with a frown. He reluctantly opened the door of the room and left, closing it loudly. Furious, he began walking away as fast as he could and towards Koji’s room. I can’t believe him! and I can’t truly believe I apologized like that! I’m not sorry! I need to know what is going on!! The young man stopped in front of Koji’s room and knocked several times, as if he was desperate. Brayden began barking at Yamah’s persistent knocks, and a few moments later Koji opened the door and stared at a rather upset Yamah, who had his cheeks colored red. Yamah immediately entered Koji’s room, while the blonde looked at him really worried. “W-what…?” “That son of a bitch!” the white haired youth interrupted his friend’s question before he could ask it. Yamah was truly mad, and that’s something Koji was not used to see in his friend. “What? Who??” Koji was trying to understand what was happening, why was Yamah so mad about. Brayden was also interested, and constantly pulled Koji’s pants with his teeth, only receiving a scold from the blonde youngster. “Eiji… that asshole” Yamah was now more tranquil when he pronounced those words, and he stared at a pretty confused Koji. “He thinks he can keep hiding it from me!” “But what? What happened when you returned to your room? Did you see him there?” Koji had now more and more questions, and it seemed that Yamah had a hard time trying to organize his thoughts and answering Koji’s inquiries. “Do you know what I found at the bathroom between a pile of his clothing?” Yamah asked his blonde friend who had still a concerned face. “Almost 80,000 yen rolled up inside his shirt’s pocket!!” Koji’s eyes opened widely when hearing this. “What? But… how?” “Who knows! I don’t think that any part time job pays THAT good! I was sure there was something rotten and smelly when he didn’t want to tell me what kind of job it was”, Yamah said really disturbed about it. He came up with several conclusions, many of them too surrealistic to be considered as possible choices. “Yamah… please don’t worry anymore, it will just make you feel uneasy all day” Koji was trying to help. He didn’t want his friend to have any kind of worries, but of course he couldn’t deny he was also interested about Eiji’s secret work. “I… I guess you are right. Is none of my damn business” Yamah repeated the words the brunette said to him before leaving. They just knew each other for only two days and Yamah was already worrying too much. So what if he has 80,000 yen inside his pocket? he could also have stolen it from someone… let’s just hope that’s not true and he is not some kind of criminal. Yamah sighed, and dumped his body over the bed near him, trying to forget everything. “Just another question…” Koji sat beside him, “did you bring the aspirin? My head is killing me, especially after hearing such news from you…” “Shit… I forgot them in the bathroom” Yamah poked his head, later leaning his body over his legs and lowering his head even more. “Ne… don’t worry, I can ask for some at the infirmary” the blonde youth said, while placing his arm around Yamah, trying to give him some comfort. In that instant, Yamah suddenly stood up and prepared to leave. “I have to go…” “To confront Eiji again?!” Koji now sounded very upset. “So what’s the big deal if he can have that amount of money? Just forget it!” Yamah was receiving to many surprises that day. Was now Koji reproaching him? He couldn’t believe it, but he had to admit that his friend was right. There was no use in trying to dwell in the subject anymore. Yamah opened the door and left. The blonde boy just sighed, while the black dog approached him and placed his head over Koji’s leg. “I guess you now see how stubborn my friend is, Brayden” Koji murmured to the dog while caressing his soft hair. “I just hope he won’t do anything stupid”. After closing the door, Yamah turned his body to the left so he could return to his room. But he stopped right away when he saw a now dressed Eiji standing a few steps away from him. Yamah lowered his head, feeling ashamed of his previous behavior with the brunette, not wanting to face him. “I’m sorry too…” the other boy spoke. “Huh?” Yamah couldn’t understand Eiji’s apologize. “I’m sorry I can’t tell you” the brunette repeated again, his golden stare fixated in Yamah’s platinum eyes. “I really don’t want us to be enemies or something because of this” “Eiji…?” “Let’s just forget this happened, ok?” Eiji’s arm stretched expecting the other young man to shake it in a mutual agreement. Yamah looked for a while at the brunette’s hand, but after a moment he also raised his, taking Eiji’s. They shook their hands for a while, staring at each other. Eiji then let Yamah’s hand go, and forced a smile on his lips. Yamah tried to smile too, but he couldn’t. He was still too shocked about Eiji’s response to his idiotic actions from before. How could he forgive him that easily after insulting him like that? The brunette then began walking down the corridor to the elevator. Yamah stared at him, wanting to ask him where he was going. But of course, Eiji’s answer was already obvious; Just somewhere. Yamah felt how a smile was beginning to form in his lips, but he tried to stop it, trying to stay cool. He wasn’t still happy about what happened between him and Eiji that morning. He felt strangely relieved though. He entered his room once again, staring at the wall’s clock. 10 minutes to 1 PM, and his stomach was beginning to make small shrieks of protest. He placed his right hand over it and decided to go to the cafeteria for something to eat. Since it was Wednesday and there weren’t still any sport clubs opened yet, it was normal that school would end exactly at 12 PM. They usually had half an hour to lunch and then they could go to their respective clubs to practice or whatever they decided to do. Wednesdays and Fridays where the days they had to follow this routine. Yamah arrived to the cafeteria, and rapidly took a tray so he could get some food. It was a little late for lunch already, but they still had some leftovers. He asked for some roast beef and mashed potatoes, and took some soda. It was one of his favorite meals. He sat on one of the nearest tables and began eating his lunch. There weren’t many people at the building in that moment, which again made him feel comfortable, concentrating on his meal. But Eiji’s behavior still haunted his thoughts. Why did he apologize? What I did has no forgiveness… if I were Eiji, I would have punched myself in the face once. He could feel a presence near him, but didn’t pay it much attention, and continued eating. Then a hand landed on his right shoulder, making the silver haired youth stop eating for a moment. “Yamah! What a surprise! And I don’t mean finding you here…” a joyous voice said from his side, immediately recognizing it was from Shiro Matsujirou. The young man turned his head with a questioning stare in his eyes. The short haired brunette sat down in front of him, along with Alexander. Did those two never get separated? “Hey, dude… I saw you there” Shiro said with a big smile. Yamah just drank a bit of his soda. “Saw me where?” Yamah wanted to confuse the other youth, but he knew already what was Shiro talking about. “Hah hah hah! You are fun, dude! Right Alex?” the boy asked his European friend, who just nodded with a smirk. “You know… at the Moore’s. I never thought I would see you there, of all the possible places!” “Would you keep it down?” Yamah was feeling somewhat embarrassed. He was afraid some of the few students inside the cafeteria could listen to their conversation. “Sure man” Shiro calmed down a bit, but Yamah could still distinguish his excitement. “So… did you have fun?” “No” Yamah replied laconically. “Hmm… maybe not you… but I believe Koji had a hell of a time.” The green eyed boy affirmed while staring at Yamah. The white haired young man was beginning to lose his patience by this moment, he didn’t like to be interrupted when he was eating, especially by some buffoon like Shiro. He didn’t try to answer this time, ignoring the other boys seated at the same table. “Did you get laid?” Shiro mockingly asked one last question to a now angry Yamah. That’s it, this jackass won’t shut up! That was what triggered Yamah to stand up with his food, throwing it in the trash and leaving the other two youths behind. “Aww, c’mon! don’t tell me you didn’t?” Shiro stood up, being followed by Alexander. “No I didn’t! Can’t you just leave me alone?!” “Well, you should have!” were the last words Shiro managed to shout at Yamah before he crossed the doors of the cafeteria. Yamah felt how a raging river of anger was flowing through the narrow streets of his patience. He turned his back on them once again and left the building. But that last question still resonated in his mind. Shiro is right… why didn’t I have fun at the party? I should have gotten laid as he said… maybe then I could’ve been able to forget… The rest of the week, Eiji and I acted like if nothing had occurred between us. We returned to our usual selves, Eiji being as quiet and uninterested as always, and I… well, I was just being myself. Touga had already returned from his home, making Brayden truly happy. Koji was now a little more popular since that night of the party. I guess that now he will have more friends from the elite student society. Not that I complain, but I just don’t want to loose him… as a friend. I feel Eiji and I are becoming closer with time. On Saturday he asked me if I could help him with his homework… what a joke. As if he isn’t intelligent enough to solve it by himself. But I guess he is just trying to be more friendly. Which is ok. No, it’s not ok. I should be the one who must be amending my mistakes with him. I’ve been worrying too much about the things he does in secret, especially that damn job he has that annoys me so much. It’s none of my business, he said. It’s none of my business. What am I supposed to do? Why the hell do I worry to much about him? It’s like he is someone I knew for a long time ago and I only want to protect him. But why? Again I’m diverting too much. Maybe I should concentrate only on my studies. And the basketball team. This Monday the practices begin. I wonder if Eiji registered at the karate team though. Dammit! Again thinking about him… it’s like I’m becoming obsessed or something. Lately, he has been going out more and more, especially after classes. He always used to arrive with me at our room, but now he just disappears. Two hours later he reappears in the room, takes a quick shower and begins doing his homework. I’m usually watching some TV after doing my homework, and I just watch him arrive, casually greeting me. I want to ask him. But I know I shouldn’t. It’s none of my business. It’s none of my business. “Yamah…” “Hm?” the white haired youth turned his head to the right, closing his notebook where he was writing. He was resting over his bed, but he sat down to look at the brunette who was standing next to the door. “I’m going out with Shiro, Koji and some other guys to see a movie at the mall. Don’t you want to come?” Eiji asked the other young man. Upon hearing Shiro’s name, Yamah nodded in denial. He just couldn’t stand the guy anymore. “Ok. Then see you in a while” Eiji opened the door and left. A few moments later, he returned, opening the door a little just to let his face show. “You know, its Sunday… you should go out a little” “Right. Have fun” Yamah returned to his notebook, opening it and beginning to write his thoughts once again. The brunette let out a sigh, since his invitation didn’t work this time. He closed the door again and left in silence. Maybe I should have gone with them. I don’t want Eiji to think I’m some kind of hermit… although maybe I’m becoming one little by little. But… if I had to go to the movies with someone, I would only go with… Yamah closed his notebook in a sudden move, not wanting to finish that sentence. He was kind of scared of what he could write in that moment. He could regret it later. He felt a slight blush in his cheeks, placing his hand over his face quickly and closing his eyes. This can’t be happening to me. He is just my roommate. He is just my friend. Oh God, stop it already! The young man threw his notebook at the nearest wall, making a great ruckus and not caring if somebody heard it. He watched how the notebook flew through the air, crashing against the wall and falling on the floor, opened in one page. Yamah raised from the bed and when he was about to recover it, he then read the first sentence of that single page: “Today I met a boy named Eiji Yokoshima.” The silver haired youth closed the notebook again, trying not to give anymore importance to it. He left the notebook in his desk and he dropped his body over the bed. It’s none of my business. It’s none of my business! He repeated constantly in his mind. After a few minutes, he fell asleep. That was Yamah’s way to disconnect from the world and forget about his problems. It always worked. But this time, he couldn’t stop it. He was truly obsessed, and he knew it.

Source: http://yokoshima.com.mx/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/the-twins-part5.pdf