Chapter Nineteen: Long Night with You:

December 14th, 2010.

Kyosuke spend another night in April’s apartment. He stared at his mug of tea with a gloomy expression on his face. April tilted her head.

“What’s the matter, Kyosuke-san?” she asked. The other shinigami sighed and shrugged.

“I went to watch over my family again,” he said. His mind began to wander off.

“They’re still grieving?” April asked. He lifted his head.

“What?” Kyosuke asked.

“Are they still grieving their loss?” she repeated.

Kyosuke shook his head. “It’s not that. They…” He put his hand to his forehead. “They are pretty messed up.” He lowered his hand. “I knew they had their problems, but…”

“You never knew how bad?”

“Yes.” Kyosuke looked up at the ceiling. How did I not see it before? He happened to notice April staring at him intrigued. Kyosuke gave her an odd look.

“What?” he asked.

“This is the first time you mentioned your family,” she said. “What are they like?” Her crush smiled.

“I have two brothers and two sisters,” he began. “Sosuke is the oldest. We don’t know where he went. He just up and disappeared one day. Sosuke hasn’t even tried to contact us.”

“You think he’s still alive?” April asked.

“He has to be. I didn’t find him anywhere in Meifu.”

“Well, Meifu is pretty big.”

Kyosuke nodded. “That’s true.”

“What about your other siblings?”

He perked up at her question. “Mitsuko is my oldest sister. She was like my second-in-command. When she was born, the bones in her right leg didn’t grow and develop properly. Because of that, Mitsuko walks with a limp and can’t run.” He smiled and shook his head.

“It didn’t bother her. Mitsuko kept a positive deposition when she ran the shop.”

"Your family runs shop?"

“Yeah.”

“What kind?”

Kyosuke took a drink of his tea. “We sell old-fashioned Japanese candies. Botan Rice is our top seller. My other brother wanted to add foreign and newer treats, but Mitsuko wouldn’t hear of it.” He began to laugh.

“They would fight about that for days and days,” he said.

“What’s your other brother like?” April asked. The intrigue in her eyes pushed him to keep talking. Something about this actually felt great. Kyosuke pushed up his black-framed glass.

“His name’s Mamoru,” he said. “He’s in college now and plays tennis. He also likes girls, a lot.”

“So he’s the sports boy and you were the nerdy one?” April asked. Kyosuke chuckled with a sweat drop on his head.

“You could say that…” he muttered. I’m still nerdy to her?

“What would that make Sosuke?” she asked.

“Huh? Oh, uh…” Kyosuke thought about it for a minute. “A mix of both, but mostly a cool guy. He could get a girlfriend easily.”

“And you and Mamoru?”

“Mamoru, yeah. Me…” He chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. “Not so much.”

“Aww…”

Somehow that makes it worse…

“You said you had another sister. What is she like?”

Kyosuke perked back up. “Kimi’s still in high school. She’s pretty much spoiled and bossy. But we all love her to bits.” He felt himself starting to become sad. “I can’t remember what our last argument was about.”

“I hate you, brother! I wish you would just die!” Those words still rung in his mind.

“I left Kimi a phone message before I died,” he said. “I said that I loved her and wished her a good day.” Kyosuke looked down into his half-empty cup. “I hope she got it.”

“What about your parents?” April asked. Kyosuke looked up with a sad smile.

“Dead,” he said. “Mom died when Kimi was five. Dad died two years ago.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“What about you? What’s your family like? Do you have any brothers and sisters?”

April sat back as the glow died from her face. “I’m an only child. My mum died of cancer when I was four. My dad’s been in a coma in a hospital in London since I was eighteen.”

“Oh.” Kyosuke looked down into his cup. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

The British shinigami shook her head. “No, it’s fine. I was working in a research lab in London in pay for dad’s medical bills when I was alive.”

“Who’s paying them now?”

“Me.”

“Huh?”

April set her cup down on the coffee table. “I am working double shifts here in Japan and some cases in England via Skype. I have been saving up my paychecks and sending them to the hospital.”

Kyosuke tilted his head. “You can do that?”

“Of course. My manager in London showed me how.”

“Could you show me how to send money?”

April perked up again. “Sure.”

Kyosuke put his hands behind his head. “I guess death can’t stop us from caring about our families.”

“Yeah. Why is that?”

The Japanese shinigami shrugged. “Love, I guess.” He happened to look over at the clock against the back wall in the kitchen. “Oh.”

“What’s the matter?”

“It’s about one in the morning.”

“Huh?” April looked at the clock herself. “Oh, you’re right.”

“You know, I actually like this.”

“It’s not bad.”

Kyosuke put his cup on the coffee table. “Want to talk some more?”

“Talk about what?”

He shrugged, smiling. “I don’t know. Anything, really.”

April pushed her dark brown hair behind her right ear. “Actually, that sounds rather delightful.”