Day 1 : Kyoshii Tatsuke

Megami Tatsuke groaned. She'd come to find his youngest son in his bedroom only to be almost buried under his more than a thousand book collections. Thank goodness she managed to avoid the assault from the  thick volumes of books in the nick of time, or her soul might be flying right about now. Really, she wondered how in just five years did her son managed to collect these mountains of books and without her knowing too! She thought she had already reprimanded her youngest son to only buy one book per week.

"Mama, are you alright?" A quiet, boyish voice asked monotonously. Megami's bluish-green eyes met the young boy's dark violet pupils. Kyoshii Tatsuke heard a loud thump in front of his room, the door leading to his room stood ajar and his mother's short shriek. Then he saw his mother buried beneath tons of his thick volumes. He wasn't surprised, though. That's what you get for not knocking the door first before boldly opening his bedroom's door.

Megami moaned painfully. She thought she just got a bump on the back of her head. "You wouldn't mind helping your mother get up, would you?" She tried to form a smile, albeit a weak one. Kyoshii shook his head, offering his mother his hand, and pulled the woman up easily. Despite his thin body, Kyoshii was quite strong. Megami rubbed the back of her head and sighed with relief. Thank goodness there's no bump, else she had to sleep facing the pillows tonight.

After some moments of mutters and mumbles, Megami turned her face towards her son only to found him buried deep into his book in his room. Even when she walked toward him, Kyoshii didn't took much notice of her. "Shii-chan, hey!" Megami patted her son's small shoulder, calling him back to earth. She wanted to be angry, but she knew she shouldn't. At times like this she needed to be cool-headed enough so her son would listen to her.

Kyoshii stopped his reading. In between his want to continue his reading and his obligation to listen to his Mama's scolding, he thought of doing an exasperated sigh. But his gaze said nothing and his face frozen like a doll's. Megami smiled an ominous smile, making his son frown. "Shii-*chan, care to explain all of these?" She gestured to the mountains of books in his room. If only she'd known that half of the playroom he shared with his elder brother were also filled with his books, she'd be raging right now.

"...Books," he answered slowly, doing his usual quiet ways. "Yes, I know that already, sweetheart. But what I wanted to know was how did it ended up like this?" She gave him the warmest smile she could muster, before proceeding to uplift her tone into a stern voice. "I thought I already said that you can only buy one book per week starting from five years ago? That rule still apply until I said it's not. So how in the world it became mountains of books already?"

Unmoved, Kyoshii answered calmly, "You only said it to me, not to *Ani, or Papa." Megami groaned. Of course, the two traitors. She'd make sure to list them in her mental 'To be punished later' note. Both of them were too doting a person not to shower the youngest boy in the family with his most favourite thing; Books. So that's why his room has became this sort of mess. "You wicked boy. You used them to buy you your books, eh?" She ruffled the young boy's hair, pulling him closer to her. Finally the boy couldn't help but formed a little smile, feeling his mother's soft laughter in the air.

Then suddenly Megami's laughter stopped. "Don't laugh, don't smile, young boy. Now what should we do with your 'Book Mountains'?" She said seriously, and Kyoshii could feel his mother's fingers tugging at his left ear, ready to pull at any moment. His face immediately darkened. As much as he'd preferred to have his ear pulled just to avoid having his precious books being apart from him, the impending doom of not being able to read more books than he wanted scared him much more; especially when the cat was out of the bag that his elder brother and his father were supplying him with his thirst for literature.

Kyoshii left a heavy breath. He had no choice, then. "...Do whatever you want, Mama. Sell them, burn them, donate them. It's fine since I've already read and finished each and every books I have in this room." He looked at his mother, straight to her eyes. "Well, you can take everything but this one," He patted the book in his hands lovingly. It was an old book, but Kyoshii took so much care on the book it still looked as though it's brand new. Seeing that, Megami couldn't help but smiled tenderly at her son. "You really love that book. Is that the one Lumiere gave you before?"

The boy nodded, and Megami saw a glint of smile underneath his icy expression. He doesn't just love the book, it seems. She tousled his hair, making a mess from the already messy bedhead of his. "Hurm, maybe I should reward you for being able to let go of your collections." Kyoshii's ears easily perked up at the mention of 'reward'. He hoped it would be another bundle of new books, but her mother was known to be a tease a times like this, so he just silently hoped. Megami grinned. "I won't buy you new books," She said bluntly, and Kyoshii was glad he didn't voiced his hope or he would be disappointed quite easily.

"I won't buy you new books, Shii-chan. Instead, I'll ask your father to set up a place to sell your second-hand books. I'll give half the money from the sales to you for you to buy books you wanted, so no more asking your brother and father to buy them for you. Go it?" Megami raised an eyebrow, asking for his understanding. Kyoshii felt that his world suddenly gleamed brightly in front of him. He gave her a big smile, nodding happily. "Oh, and the next time you buy a new book, the one you didn't want will immediately go to that store. Is that okay with you?" Kyoshii was too happy to even care. He hugged his mother. "Yeah," he said as he kissed her cheek childishly.

Megami wanted to blush. The ever expressionless child surprised her today far more than he had these past 12 years of his life. First the books, then his rarely seen smile, and finally his hug and clumsy kiss...! Almost grinning, Kyoshii thanked his mother. In truth, he just roped his mother into further divulging him with his hobbies. And now he'd even have a place to put his books if he was ever tire of any of it, with some side money to buy more books too. He'd keep it a secret from his mother, though.

** End **

Day 2 ->

Note:

*(__)-chan - a sort of endearment(?) for someone, usually girls or young child. e.g : Shin-chan, Usa-chan, etc.
*Ani - what Kyoshii called his big brother. From the word (Aniue/Aniki) which means "elder brother".