Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The day that Mai Nakahara found out about Chuuya was when she was 9 years old. Kōki, her younger brother, and her had been up in her room, looking through displays of old family photos, kept in boxes, for a project her school had set for homework. Kōki had been sent up to help her so as not to disturb their mother, Aimi, when she was cooking and to give the excitable 7 year old something to do.

They had been looking through some of the newer boxes when she discovered a small box buried under a mountain of photos of them on a holiday of theirs from a few years ago. The box looked to be untouched, only disturbed by the movement of pictures from their searching, and written in a smudged sharpie pen at the opening of it was a single word. Chuuya.

Having a curious nature ,as children do, Mai decided to open the box, not questioning why there was an unfamiliar name written on it. The box revealed to be holding few but clearly precious items. Clothes had been folded neatly as if expecting the owner to get changed into them again. There were a few toys, with a well loved slug teddy nestled in the corner. Its eyes flat and slightly discoloured from drool and being held tightly.

Underneath the slug was a neatly folded photograph, showing a pregnant Aimi with a wide smile on her face. Eyes creased from happiness. Her left hand was hidden, folded on the other side of the photo, and the reflection of Kato , Mai and Kōki's father was reflected in Aimi's glasses.

Unfolding the remainder of the photo revealed a young boy holding Aimi's hand. The boy was short, with slightly rosy cheeks, and a light dusting of freckles covered them and his nose. He was wearing a blue raincoat and the trousers from dark denim dungarees peaked through from below. He was holding the slug teddy in his left hand, his right hand was clutching onto that of his mothers and a smile graced his face.

However that wasn't what had first caught Mai's attention. Looking at the boy, she felt her gaze being brought to his bright hair, the same colour of her own and her mothers, next was his eyes. He had two different coloured eyes , heterochromia as she later learned, with one eye matching the brown of her eyes and the other bright blue like that of Kōki’s and their fathers.

Turning the photo over , written in a light pencil in their father's handwriting were the words ‘Chuuya age 2’. Snatching the photo out of her hands, Kōki ,after being reprimanded by his sister to “be more careful, or you might rip it”, pointed out the fact that the name on the back of the photo was the same as the one on the box.

Curiosity of the ‘Chuuya’ boy and why he was holding their mothers hand, caused her to grab the photo back and run down the stairs and into the kitchen to question her mum about him. Kōki, annoyed that she had snatched the photo back from him, ran down the stairs after her. He too , like his sister, wanted answers of who the boy was, and why he looked so much like his family. But even someone as young as him wasn't stupid, he had an idea of who the boy could be, but he was desperate to know, just to confirm his suspicions.

◆◆◆

Aimi Nakahara is a short woman with red hair that was streaked with grey from age. And she was known for being kind to her family yet having a short temper. So it was with great fortune that the loud noise of feet running downstairs hasn't put her in a mood.

She was cutting up carrots to place in the pan for cooking when her children burst into the room. Sighing slightly, as she had found joy in the rhythmic sensation of cutting, one she had picked up after the disappearance of her son, she turned round to face her kids.

Their cheeks were pink as if they had run or been discovered doing something they weren't meant to be doing, so her suspicions were immediately aroused.

She looked at Mai expectantly as to query why she wasn't doing her homework and what she could possibly be wondering to disturb her for when she was busy, causing the girl to look away in embarrassment.

However it was Kōki who had broken the silence by asking a question. “Mama, me and Mai were looking through the boxes you gave us when we found one labeled Chuuya. And we wanted to know if you know who he is because he was holding your hand in the picture!”

She had not heard the name Chuuya said aloud in such a long time that it was quite a shock to be hearing it from her own son's mouth so she took a second to register what he was saying.

Once she had finally processed what had been asked she felt a pang of grief flood through her, one she thought she had buried a long time ago. Hearing her baby's name was too much of a shock and tears started welling in the corner of her eyes. She took a deep breath, attempting to calm her nerves before opening her mouth to reply.

BEEP BEEP BEEP

The timer she had set for the oven had gone off, interrupting her before she could even begin speaking. The sudden noise had disturbed her from her thoughts and the unyielding pressure; the strength of gravity people pushed down on her, had lifted.

She turned around to turn the timer off before finally beginning what she was going to say. “There's a reason this was hidden. A long time ago, before you ,Kōki, were born and when you were too young to remember Mai, you had an older brother. He was always full of energy and so protective of me and your father you could've thought he was the parent not us. His name was Chuuya.” Aimi had paused in speaking, and a sudden silence covered the room.

From the mention of a brother, the siblings could work out they the boy, Chuuya, in the photograph would be him, yet it was still a surprise to hear their mother confirm it.

After a few seconds of continued silence, Aimi started to speak again. Her voice slightly raw; trying not to cry. “He went missing when he was 5, you would've been 3 at the time Mai, and after a year of searching for him with no sign, your father and I agreed we wouldn't tell you so as to not bring false hope of the chance of meeting a long lost brother. However,” she chuckled, “I seem to have told you anyway. I don't think I should be doing this on my own. I'm sorry for dropping a bombshell like this on you two but I would rather talk more about it later when your father is back from work. Would that be alright?”

The children both nodded their heads. Their imagination running wild as to what could have happened to Chuuya. ‘Maybe he fell through a magical door and ended up in a Narnia world’ was one idea, ‘Perhaps he found a treasure map and ran away with pirates’ was another. However neither of the children truly believed this but it was easier to tell yourself a fantasy than to face the harsh reality of the truth. That they had a brother and he was missing. More than likely dead.

★★★

An hour and a hundred crazy stories later, dinner was ready and Kato had returned home from work.

Despite them being in a good mood, there was a tense environment surrounded them and dinner was paired with the awkward sound of cutlery scraping plates and small talk. When finally the dreaded question of the night was asked. “Will you tell us more about Chuuya now?”

Kato wasn't surprised but the question as Aimi had told him about it when he arrived, but he was experiencing almost exactly the same emotions as she had earlier when she had heard the name.

“Well that depends on what you want to know about him.” He replied to Mai who had been the one to ask the question.
“Can you tell us what he was like?” This was Kōki.
“Well he was always a brave child. Always fighting back with adults, but that was part of his charm. One of my favourite memories of his anger at others coming out was when he fought a student older than him when he disrespected me and your mother. Sadly it resulted in him getting stabbed by a pencil in the wrist, but he was so brave about it too. He didn't even shed one tea.” Kato went on wistfully. A few away look in his eye as if he was reliving the day through his eyes. “I took him out for ice cream after that, much to the horror of the head teacher when she found out after Chuuya had almost bragged about it to the whole class! Let me tell you kids, it is even worse to be told off by the head teacher as a grown up than it ever was as a child!” He had laughed under his breath after the last sentence, “It is a shame however we don't know what happened to him, so don't ask as we don't know, but we hope that wherever he is he is happy and is surely in a better place”

The rest of the night carried on with stories being shared about Chuuya, and with Mai and Kōki listening to every word as if it were sacred and not some badly put together ramble of stories from grieving parents. The stories ranged from the time Chuuya and his friends got told off for not going to class after morning break to Chuuya bragging about a smiley face sticker he got after getting full marks on a spelling test.

When it grew late, and the stars in the sky were shining bright and twinkly, and the children could barely keep their eyes open, they knew it was time for bed. So with sleepy bids of “Goodnight, Sweet dreams I'll see you in the morning, I love you” and threats of getting bit by bed bugs, sleep came easy and quickly to a happy Nakahara household.

★♥︎★

Elsewhere, in a completely different part of Japan,a place more dangerous than the city the Nakaharas lived in, and a place full of orphans and young children from bad households, a group of children were staring up at the night sky, trying to search for patterns in the stars. And within that group was a small ginger boy, with one brown and one blue eye and no memories of a family he once had and had loved as dearly as they loved him back. And that boy was no older than 12. And this boy felt a strong sense of love for the group he was lying with. For even though Chuuya may not remember his family, he had created a new one in the time he had been missing, and lying underneath the stars, beside his family, with some of the younger members of their gang having already fallen asleep Chuuya was happy, and he had drifted off to his dreamless sleep that night with a smile and his face, and with the knowledge that he was loved.

Chapter Text

5 years after she had known about Chuuya, Mai was now 14 and had been to the cinema with her friends. They had been to watch a new movie called ‘The Phantom Public’ , a take on the main character's lack of belief in the democratic system and of how the public only appears as an illusion. The movie had been slow, but it was littered with jokes and fight scenes to appeal to a larger audience. Mai had only gone for one of her friends, who was obsessed with the actor playing the main character.

Following the flow of people out of the cinema, Aiko ,who is Mai's best friend and the reason they had gone to see the movie in the first place, chattered on about it. “Oh my gosh! He was so cool in this! And the way he delivered the last line! Ugh, it brought tears to my eyes. Tears!” She fangirled.
Mai laughed at her friend. “I dread to think of what would happen if you ever met Lippman. I'm sure you'd kill him, just by him hearing you shriek. He'd drop dead to the floor and you'll get arrested for manslaughter!”
“They'd have to get a restraining order on her or something.” Hana, another one of Mai's friends, contributed, causing Aiko to groan.
“As if!” She sighed giddily, “I'm sure if we ever met we'd be the bestest of friends, no offence guys.”
“Offence taken” Both Mai and Hana said together, before bursting out laughing and trying to ‘jinx' the other.
“Anyway,” Aiko said changing the subject, “I'm starving, let's get something to eat!”

●●●

They had roamed the streets for a few minutes arguing about where they were going to eat and what they would have, when they decided on going to a fast food chain as it was cheaper,easier, and quicker than anywhere else they could find or agree on.

Hana had ordered fried chicken with fries, Aiko had chicken tenders, and Mai had ordered a cheese burger with fries. Their order number was called and when Mai collected it from the counter the scent of fried food attacked her senses and caused her stomach to growl.

They ate the food quickly, and left the building. Getting the bus times on their phones to find the quickest bus route home. Seeing that it was in 3 minutes and the next one if they were to miss it would be in 55 minutes they set a fast walking pace.

The journey back to where they lived was around 30 minutes but unlike the others Mai had to be back home by a deadline so she could babysit Kōki ,even though he was adamant it was useless, whilst her parents were working before they came home. Normally her parents would have let her hang out later with her friends but the last time she was allowed to, Kōki managed to somehow knock over a plant pot, destroying the pot and killing the plant.

After having bid goodbyes to her friends and discussing plans for a future meet up, Mai had arrived home. The house they lived in was quite large, with enough rooms for all members to have a bedroom to themselves and having alternative sleeping places if they had guests. The outside of the house was white with the walls on the inside matching, yet decorated and full of proof of a family's life, that it didn't seem quite so plain.

She entered the living room, sound radiated from the tv and Kōki was sitting in front of it, watching a badly dubbed American TV show about police and what adventures they get up to. The introduction theme tune was playing and the characters were being introduced with the actors name next to them. Mai wasn't interested in the show, but Kōki had taken a liking to it after seeing edits of the main character online.

Her sudden arrival startled Kōki, who whipped his head round to the door so fast, she was half afraid he would get wind lash. Calming down from his fright at seeing her, he invited her to sit down next to him and they spent the next hour mindlessly chatting as the tv played on in the background.

A quiet rumble interrupted the sentence Mai was saying and Kōki's face flushed red, embarrassed. Maj decided then it would be a good time to start cooking then, as their parents would be home in around 5 minutes. She set to work making dinner, with Kōki attempting to help when he could and when their dad arrived home 3 minutes later he took over and started preparing dinner.

Once they were all seated (Aimi had arrived home not long after Kato) they started eating and talking about their day.

●●●

Mai and her parents were watching TV whilst Kōki did his homework, when Kato turned up the volume on the news, the story interested him.
“News just in about a plane crash in a forest surrounded by villages. Thankfully the plane didn't have many passengers aboard but for those who died the families of the victims would get paid back in full.” The news reporter stated. “Miraculously, there was one survivor of the crash whose details have been withheld for his privacy. This survivor saved the life of a boy from the local villages who came to help search for survivors.”
“Wow he's lucky.” Aimi said half heartedly, drifting off to sleep as the reporter talked about potential risk of forest fires the engine could have caused.

A big yawn left her mouth, and she stepped into her mother role l. “OK kids, bedtime now, you both have school tomorrow and I'm not dealing with the complaints of tired children.”
Her statement was greeted with small groans but eventually sleep settled over the Nakahara household and all was calm and well.

★★★

Chuuya Nakahara didn't dream. For him, waking up was like a bubble emerging from within mud.
He had been in the mafia for a year, he worked in jewel smuggling.

Chuuya Nakahara didn't dream.

Today was his one year anniversary since joining the mafia.

Chuuya Nakahara didn't dream.