久慈目 明海

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bzzzt…

A video camera is turned on, its lens facing upward toward the shadowy corners of a ceiling. Muffled voices can be heard from what is expected to be the next room over and the occasional irritated grunt can be heard from who ever is behind the camera.

“Hey, Minoru, can you come figure this thing out before I break it? I think I hit the wrong button…”

The lens swiftly turns down a wall and at the carpeted floor, then shuts off. A moment later, it is turned back on, facing a boy in his late teens with dark black hair and green eyes. The camera tilts and wobbles, clearly presenting that it is not settled by a tripod, but is being held. The boy clears his throat.

“Uhm… Minoru wanted to make some kind of documentary about the apartment complex he owns and lives in.” He pauses, looking over to his right as if seeing if what he said was right. Receiving an affirmation off-camera, he resumes. “My name’s Akemi. Kujime Akemi. And my relationship with Minoru…” he looks away again, his face tinted the faintest of pinks. “…is complicated. We won’t be getting into that.” Somewhere off camera, an indistinct voice is heard, immediately catching Akemi’s attention. He nods once, and as the voice continues, his expression becomes incensed. “Really. Well if she wants to do it, then damnit, I’m not going to stop her. I didn’t sign up for—“

The camera shakes and shuts off once again, and snow envelopes the screen only to disappear when the camera faces another person, a girl about the same age as Akemi with blonde hair and sweet blue eyes. She smiles and dances with the camera, humming a tune she made up herself as she shakes her head to a beat only she can hear. “Hiya!” she chirps. “I’m Akane, but everyone here calls me Kane because Akemi and Akane is too close sounding.” She moves with the camera to the next room, where Akemi and another male with brown hair and a female with pink hair all are seated at a low rising table. “And this is my family; Akemi,” she points to akemi who looks up at Kane, grateful for the distracted. “Minoru,” she points to the brunette male, who grins widely and waves. “And Noriko, but we all just call her Nori.” the pink-ette looks up as well. “If you’re looking for teppy, she’s over at the park with her friend Akito.” Nori informs Kane, who nods the camera.

“Okay!” She chirps again, then points the lens to herself. “Teppy’s real name is Tepin—she’s pretty much our little sister. Our, meaning me and Akemi and Nori and Minoru and me. She used to be our newest addition, but ever since Akemi’s boyfriend started coming over everyday—”

“He’s not my boyfriend!”

Kane frowns, her attention automatically shifting to akemi’s voice. “Oh yeah? So why is it that whenever you go down to his apartment, you two always end up making out—ack!”

The camera falls from Kane’s hands and to the floor with a muffled thud, the lens pointing to what is assumed to be Kane’s bare feet. She screams playfully and runs away as Akemi jumps to his feet and gives chase. Nori and Minoru are seen at an angle, shaking her head and laughing respectively. Nori then gets up and retrieves the fallen camera, pointing the lens at herself as she walks back to the table and sits once again. She sighs as she give the camera a once over, making sure nothing is cracked or broken.

“Honestly, she could be a little more careful with this… it probably isn’t too cheap…” Exhaling deeply once again, she trains the lens to herself and tries to keep a straight face, but fails and begins laughing with a hand over her mouth. “I can’t be serious with this thing,” she says to minoru, who laughs as well off camera. “Uhm… so I’m Noriko, or just Nori, like Kane just explained. I’m Akemi’s real older sister, and pretty much a mother figure to everyone else… well, everyone except Minoru.”

“Hey, you could totally be my mom,” Minoru says, and Nori gives him a look. “Don’t be silly. Anyway, our family isn’t an actual family, but we love each other as a family should, and since we all didn’t come from home where out families loved each other… well, we found each other. Like Kane said, Teppy, the youngest, used to be our newest addition, but since Minoru came into our lives, he’s pretty much the older brother here. Older than Akemi, at least.”

She looks away. “Minoru, do you want to add anything?”

There’s a pause, then, “no, not right now.”

Nori nods. “Okay. Can you show me how to turn this off? I don’t want to waste the battery…”

“Yeah, sure. You see the red button right there on the side? That one turns it off.”

“So I just press—”

The camera dies and the screen is black for a second before it turns on again, the lens filled with Kane’s face close up. She then pulls back and puts a finger to her smiling lips to motion for quiet, then whirls the camera around again and zooms into a room through a crack in a door. Akemi is seen in plain sight with a girl much younger then himself with blonde hair much longer than kane’s curled up next to him, her attention focused on the picture book akemi’s obviously reading to her. “That girl is Teppy, the little ‘sister’,” Kane whispers. “She and akemi are, like, super close, and they always do this before Teppy goes to bed. In a few minutes, she’ll be out like a light.” The sincere smile is evident on kane’s hushed voice, and then she’s quiet as the camera is trained on them for a few more moments before it’s suddenly turned off.

Again, the screen is black for a second before the camera is switched on again, this time with Nori and Teppy sitting together, smiling. “Hey, come on, say hi, Teppy-chan; this is gonna be our memoir or something, and I want to be sure that you’re in it,” Kane says from behind the camera. Teppy looks away for a second, then turns to the camera full on and gives the biggest smile she can possibly muster. “Hi, camera!” She says, her voice as sweet as mochi, and Nori and Kane laugh and move in to hug her before the camera shuts off.

The screen turns black for a second, then two, then ten, then snow fills the screen and the tape is thought to be finished, but then the video resumes once again, and a door with a faux-gold plate that says ‘204B’ fills the lens. The door is opened to reveal a dark abyss, only to be recognized as another apartment with a light is flipped on. The camera is walked in, only to stop a few feet after entering. “Akemi, come on, come on,” Minoru, who is apparently behind the camera, says impatiently. The camera swings to Akemi, who is just walking in behind minoru. Impatient with the boy’s pace, Minoru grabs Akemi’s hand and pulls him inside, kicking the door closed with his foot. “This is the last one, okay?”

Akemi nods, and the camera is raised so that both Akemi and Minoru are in plain view, then Minoru turns and kisses Akemi on the cheek. When Akemi turns around, Minoru plants a second kiss on Akemi’s lips, which Akemi doesn’t refuse, despite his obvious bad mood. When they part, Akemi frowns. “…that’s going to be on the video?” He asks to Minoru, whose forehead is pressed against his, their lips no more than a few centimeter apart. Minoru says nothing but grins, raises an eyebrow and nods slowly, as if daring Akemi to tell him to delete it. The younger male sighs. “Fine, fine.” He starts to head farther into the apartment. “I’m hungry, so I’m going to make some onigiri. You want one?”

“If you’re making them, then yeah.”

Akemi blushes slightly at the remark, but shakes his head and smiles before walking off camera. Minoru then turns toward the camera and flashes the peace sign before the screen turns black for the final time.