--BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP --
Went the very loud alarm clock and its backing chorus of the several other very loud alarm clock sirens that soon joined its call.
To say that Toshiya nearly had a heart attack from fright would be putting it lightly. He looked frantically at Kyo, who mumbled something and snored on.
"Waaah! Kyo wake up! I think the room is going to explode!" He shook the little man as hard as he dared and was rewarded by a vaguely conscious Kyo.
"Hrm? What?" he looked at Toshiya with an air of confusion.
"The noise! Turn off the noise Kyo!"
"Oh THAT." Kyo reached around, flicking the switches on at least five different alarm clocks. The room was silent once more.
"What the hell was that?" Toshiya rubbed his eyes, his ears still ringing.
"Um� just the alarm clocks."
"JUST the alarm clocks? How many?"
"Seven. I have trouble waking up, okay?"
"Trouble? You sound like you have five parades and a bomb siren going off. And you were still asleep." Toshiya giggled. How the hell could anyone sleep through that?
"Yeah well� we�d better be getting up now anyway. I'll go get some breakfast. You can use the bathroom." Kyo squirmed uncomfortably off the bed and stumbled off to the kitchen. Stretching, Toshiya smiled and wandered into the bathroom. He took a piss and sighed despairingly at the sight of his hair in the mirror. After washing his hands and face and admiring his newly pierced ear briefly, he walked back out into he main room and sat on the sofa. Kyo's place was very strange.
From somewhere, a phone went off. Toshiya looked round suspiciously, trying to find the source of the noise, but to little avail.
"Toshiya, can you possibly get that?" a strained call came from the kitchen.
"Um� where is the phone?"
"Under the second pile from the right. Thanks." Toshiya found the pile and subsequently, the phone.
"Niimura residence." He didn't know what else to say.
"Good morning. Is there a Niimura Tooru-san that I can talk to?"
"Uhm�" Tooru? Who was Tooru? Toshiya scratched his head in a decidedly Kyo type manner. Then it hit him. Hadn't Kyo said that that was just a nickname? "You mean Kyo?"
"Well we have here listed, a Niimura Tooru-san."
"Well, there's only one Niimura-san living here. I'll get him for you." Toshiya cupped his hand over the mouthpiece. "KYO! There's some guy who wants to talk to a Niimura Tooru. You want to speak to him?"
Kyo appeared from the kitchen doorway with a puzzled look on his face.
"Sure." He pottered over and took the phone from Toshiya's hand. "Hello?"
"Oh good morning. Is that a Niimura Tooru-san?"
"Yes. Can I help you? I'm not interested in buying anything."
"No, it's nothing like that. Niimura-san, I feel I should introduce myself. I'm Dr Yamamoto."
"Yes?"
"Well� You may have seen on the news about the earthquake that happened just outside Kyoto the other week?"
"Yeah."
"Well son, I'm sorry it took so long� It took us a while to trace you all the way back here. We IDed the body a few days ago. I'm very sorry to have to break it to you� your mother is dead. She was one of ten fatalities."
"...Oh."
"I'm very sorry for your loss."
"Yes."
"Her body is being kept at the mortuary, but there will be a funeral for all the earthquake victims in two days time. I can send you a formal letter�"
"Yes, thank you."
"You have my greatest sympathies. I wish you a good day."
"Thank you. Goodbye." Kyo hung up the phone, his hand shaking all the while. She was dead� What the hell did that mean?
"Kyo?" Toshiya had no idea what had just happened. All he had heard was Kyo saying yes an awful lot... and then� Kyo's face had changed.
"Toshiya� I think it's best if you left. I� Something has come up. I have to deal with it. I�" His face screwed up, emotion filled for only a second. "I'm sorry. But you have to leave." He trudged to the door. Toshiya, confused and a little scared, gathered his things and left, glancing uneasily behind him. Kyo had already shut the door. So he walked on, his thoughts musing along the lines of "What the fuck?"
Kyo stood inside, staring into space. His mother was dead. His mother was� dead. The repercussions were mixed. He bent double to throw up, but had not eaten so the hurl was dry and burnt the back of his throat. Numbly, he picked up the phone, and pressed the auto-dial.
*
Die pushed Shinya off his lap as his mobile started to ring, pulling it out of his pocket and answering in a suave movement he had practised to perfection.
"Hello?"
"Die�"
"Yeah?"
"She's dead." The phone rang off. Die's eyes widened. Kyo had sounded so� emotionless.
Shinya tugged on Die's sleeve. "Hey, Die? What happened?"
"Kyo's mother� she died." Die massaged his temples. "I don't know what this is going to mean."
"God. Kyo must feel terrible!" he drew Die close into an embrace. You never think you are going to lose someone. He didn't want to lose Die.
"I don't know. Kyo didn't exactly have the best relationship with his mother."
"So? My mother disowned me when I was seventeen. I'd still be shattered if she died. You only have one mother, you know?"
"Yes but� Well I shouldn't really be talking about it� it's Kyo's business. I'm just worried about how he might take it." Die stroked Shinya's hair absentmindedly and pursed his lips. "He's taken things badly before is all."
*
How was Kyo taking things? He was wondering the same himself. In a way, he wasn't feeling anything. There was no sadness, no joy, and no anger. Perhaps this was a good thing. And as for the funeral� did he really need to attend? And if he did, would he be there alone? Would it be him, forced to take his mother's ashes home? He didn't know if his mother had any ties to the world� but why should he? It was nearly ten years ago�
He turned over in his bed, for the first time in many years, unable to sleep. He was not hungry, and so, just watched the clock hands moving, as if they were some abstracted thing, his focus slipping from the world.
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