"Why are you so late?" He growls his question in a low tone.

Shit.

I understood where he was coming from. It was well past 9pm and it's only natural for him to be the slightest bit angry with me for not letting him know where I was going to be. He probably had some chore for me to do earlier that I should have been here for. Don't get me wrong, I feel pretty bad.

The likelihood of him being worried about me wasn't gonna be so high, especially because he thinks I'm a boy.

"Um, well, I was out with one of my friends, and time just flew by... before knew it, it was already dark.." I answer honestly, and I can't believe I wasted my whole day with Kaede. Karaoke was too fun though, we sang all the themes from One Piece like nerds.

Oh wait, we are.

I couldn't possibly tell him what I was doing this whole time, karaoke for 5+ hours wouldn't be believable.

He stares at me for a moment before sighing out loud. "It can't be helped." His eyes soften up and he opens the sliding door fully and stands aside, inviting me in. I stare at him for a moment before hesitantly stepping up into the entrance of the house.

When I finish removing my shoes, I step out of the foyer. Akiyoshi follows and greets me in.

"Welcome home."

I glance at him and a feeling of ironically unfamiliar nostalgia washes over me. I answer.

"I'm home,"
-----------------------------------------------
"Makoto, sit down and have your meal. We have to have you practice for tomorrow's concert right after this."

"What?" I look over to the source of the voice that I knew far too well. There he was.

His face was surprisingly still fresh in my mind. Of course, it was, I've been drawing his portrait over the years.

Everytime I get these dreams of my memories, I take the chance to get a good look at him, because for some reason I can never recall the details of his face in my conscious state.

But in these dreams, I can.

"Makoto, how was school today? I heard your choir had a performance at the rally." My mother smiled.

"It was great." I hear myself answer from my seat across from my parents. I'm my dreams
I can hear myself, talking and answering to everyone that speaks to me. Even though I'm in my "past self" body.

It's hard to explain, but I basically relive my memories.
----------------------------
I wake up, startled after I realize I still had my father's image still fresh in my mind from the dream. So I quickly grab the started canvass and continue sketching on it.

I glance at the clock and it reads 4 am, I sigh, reminding myself that I need to fix my sleeping pattern.

A few hours into my drawing, there's a knock at the door.

"Hey, are you awake?" Akiyoshi's voice resounds through the door.

"Yeah, you can come in."

"I saw light coming from your door, but I wasn't sure if you were awake, or just left your lamp on all night." He was in a suit, I tilt my head in confusion, because my mind was still in 4am.

I guess Akiyoshi sensed my confusion because he throws me the same look, and asks me if I'm going to school soon. After I shrug, he invites me to breakfast.

"I made breakfast, wanna eat together?"

"Sure." I nodded, putting down the big canvass. "I'll be down in a bit."

"Sure."

I got up after he left and headed to the bathroom to wash up, after that I headed down, trotting down in my dark blue pajama pants and a t-shirt. The table was already set when I got down. It made me feel bad, but I decided to make up for not helping by washing dishes afterward.

"Sorry I didn't help you out. I'll wash the dishes?" I say as I take a seat, looking over all the spread of a full meal.

"Thanks, I appreciate it." He smiles as he brings over two bowls of rice. He sits across from me and we have a little conversation.

"Can you cook at all Makoto?" Akiyoshi asks.

"Hmm. I can't really cook...but I can bake." I admit. "There's not much difference but I've baked more than I will ever cook."

"If you're interested I'll be more than glad to teach you." He nods. "You're gonna want to know how to cook for when you're older."

"Sure. Sounds great, thanks." Learning how to cook huh? I wish I could reply like a bratty little teenage boy and say, 'I'll just get myself a wife that can cook!' but that's not the case at all.

The more I talk to this guy the guiltier I feel about being trash. Where has my pride gone?

Akiyoshi stares at me, seeing my expression seem as if I was deep in thought, he bursts out laughing, "You're probably thinking 'I'll find myself a wife who can cook' right?".

My eyes widen a bit and I almost choke on my white rice, "H-how did you know...?".

Man, my new brother is responsible, he has a good job, he cooks, and now it turns out he can read minds too?

Akiyoshi continues laughing before he proceeds to answering my question. "It's written all over your face. Your one obvious kid, Makoto."

I smile at his comment fully embracing it, not knowing whether to take it as an insult or compliment. Happy, at the simplicity of our conversation.

Akiyoshi checks his watch before standing from his seat and preparing to take off. I quickly take our dishes to the sink and began washing them before I get lazy and leave it for later.

"See you later! Don't stay out too late and don't be late to school, alright?" He calls from the entrance.

"Okay! Thanks for breakfast!"

The door shuts behind him, the lock making a clicking noise as it was being turned. I finish washing the dishes in the now almost silent house.

Man, it really is great to have someone to chill with at home that isn't a parent. We can actually have conversations instead of having someone just nag me all the time about not having a job.

I dry my hands and head upstairs back to my room. Immediately I crack open my laptop and get to doodling requests I get on tumblr. I was getting more followers, and they were starting to pile up, and that's really dangerous, because then I get lazy just from seeing the number of messages I get.

A few hours into my work, I get a text from Yori.

'Your art it too cheap. Come to the address I'm about to send you. I'll teach you how to become rich, you nerd.'

What the fuck.

I get up, go shower and dress to go out. I speed to the place that she sent me to go to. It was a little cafe near my station.

There she was. When I enter she was seated in the back of the modern looking cafe. She signaled me to come to her. I trotted over and sat on the wooden chair.

"This cafe is really cool and chic huh." Yori begins. "Do you want something to drink?"

"Sure. Get me whatever you're getting."

The waitress comes over and Yori orders two coffees. When they arrive, Yori prepares both of them with milk and sugar.

"Here you go.", She slides it over to me. "Trash queen."

"Thank you, peasant trash. Now tell me, the secrets of the wealthy."

Her long strands of curled hair fall forward as she she reaches into her bag. "I did as you asked, I consulted with my brother whom is a genius at math. He calculated all the new prices for you."

The small pale grey notebook has a bunch of cute animal tabs sticking out of it. One of them read "MAKO". She turned to the page, and it was flooded with numbers on a table. Listed one by one beside each one of my items I sold.

"You'll make a fortune- err...at least more than
you used to make..." She reassures, handing me the notebook for me to see.

I take it and look over the prices that looked more reasonable than before. They didn't raise too much, but I should be able to make more of a living with this.

"Oh damn, thanks bro. Tell Yuichiro I said thanks, and that I'll draw him some One Piece art later as payment." I make a peace sign as I turn the page of the notebook.

"Kay'- wait don't read what's on that page-..." She trails off. But it's too late...I've seen it all...

"Y-Yori what the hell is this?" I feel the color drain from my face.

"Oh no! Makoto! I'm sorry! I forgot to tell you this is where I jot down my ideas for stories!" She scrambled out of her seat and grabs me by the shoulder and begins to shake me. "Are you okay?"

"Barely....that stuff is so...."

"So?"

My hand drops down and let's go of the notebook. It falls to the ground open on the page I read.

"...cheesy." I mutter before I slam my head down on the table.