Fandom: .hack//G.U.

Rating: K/G (mild language, otherwise safe)

Characters: Endrance (Kaoru Ichinose) & family, Haseo (Ryou Misaki)

Author's Notes: I'm… really not a writer anymore. I'm so out of practice. The exact setting of this oneshot in comparison to G.U.'s timeline and the nature of Endrance and Haseo's relationship are up for the reader's interpretation.

Hikikomori: "A Japanese term to refer to the phenomenon of reclusive adolescents and young adults who have chosen to withdraw from social life, often seeking extreme degrees of isolation and confinement due to various personal and social factors in their lives." (from the Hikikomori page on Wikipedia)

"The Same Thing"

The phone rang when she was cooking. Of course, it always rang whenever she was too busy to pick it up. She didn't have a choice but to put down her cutting knife and pick up the call, as much as it annoyed her. Her husband was out working, and her son was doing the same thing he always did. She always had to answer the phone.

"Ichinose residence."

She didn't recognize the number on the caller ID, nor did she recognize the voice of the boy on the other end of the line. "Hi, is En- Kaoru there?"

She frowned slightly, not answering right away. The last time someone called her son (and the time before that, and the time before that) it was a prank call. That was years ago.

"…Uh, hello?"

"Pardon me?" Weren't people done with bothering her son?

There's a brief pause, the boy put off by her curtness. "Can I talk to Kaoru?"

She sighed and relented; he didn't sound suspicious. "All right. One moment please."

Kaoru was doing the same thing he always did when she opened his door. "Kaoru, phone." Her son continued to ignore her, staring blankly ahead with that headset pulled over his eyes. She sighed again, then brought the phone up to her ear. "Who is this?" There was another pause before she held the phone out to her son, even though she knew he'd end up refusing it.

"It's Haseo."

Kaoru's hands suddenly grew still, and she's never heard the room so quiet without all the typing and clicking, save for those few hours when he actually slept. He takes the phone from her hesitantly and just holds it, staring down into the receiver with his covered eyes and a perplexed expression on the part of his face that she could see.

Her son looked about as dumbfounded as she was.

She closed Kaoru's door behind her as she returned to the kitchen. Kaoru was back to playing his computer game when she brought him dinner an hour later, the cordless phone resting on the corner of his desk. He didn't say a thing to her, as he always did. Maybe it really was just another prank call, she thought as she placed his meal on the desk, taking the phone with her as she left.

-----

Her terse tone of voice must have scared the boy off, because no one ever called her son after that day. The phone was generally quiet, save for her husband's rare calls of, "Sorry dear, I'll be coming home late tonight. Office needs me." He doesn't ask how Kaoru is doing that day. He knows his son is doing the same thing he always does.

Two weeks later, she sees that same caller ID she didn't recognize, and heard the voice of the boy she didn't know. "Hi, is Kaoru there?"

She was surprised the boy called a second time. Kaoru was, too.

He was still talking on the phone when she brought in his dinner this time. Kaoru stopped talking in the middle of a hushed sentence when he heard his bedroom door open and turned to look at his mother, computer headset still worn over his eyes. He sat quietly with the phone pressed against the ear not covered by his headset, not saying a word until she would leave; she knew this. She could hear a faint "Kaoru…?" from the other end of the line as she set the plate of food on his desk.

She had to get the phone back the next morning when she brought in her son's breakfast. Kaoru was up early, doing the same thing he always did while the phone rested on the edge of his desk. She brought it out and shut Kaoru's door behind her. There was a surprised look on her face as she stared down at the cordless phone; its battery was…dead. How long had they been talking?

-----

The calls from the boy, Ryou, gradually became more frequent. (Didn't he first introduce himself as Haseo? She couldn't remember; maybe she heard wrong.) He now greeted her with a, "Hello, Mrs. Ichinose," before asking for Kaoru. He usually called at the same time of day, between four and five; he must have been a high school student. She'd see his caller ID once a week, then twice – he called Kaoru every day now. Sometimes they'd talk for hours, sometimes just under a half hour. She knew it must be because Ryou was a busy boy; still had homework to do, exams to study for, and friends to see other than her Kaoru. He was busy while her Kaoru was not (Kaoru did the same thing he always did on that computer of his), yet he still managed to make one phone call a day for her son. Ryou always made time for him.

Every day, Kaoru did the same thing: it was either playing on that cursed computer (Wasn't that online game of his on the news recently?), or talking on the telephone with Ryou. Even before her son shut himself up in his room years ago, he had never talked to any of his friends this much. Was that because Ryou was his only friend now?

…That statement itself bewildered her. Kaoru…had a friend now.

-----

Kaoru's mother was having a bad day today. She had another argument with her husband that morning ("He's consorting with another hikikomori! If he wants friends, he can make them at university or a goddamn job!") and it stressed her out. She had a bad headache now and couldn't concentrate.

The phone was ringing again, but she couldn't bring herself to pick it up that time. The food was on the burner, and her hands were full, and the ringing was hurting her head and oh shoot it's spilling over the pot –

"Hello…?"

The faint, airy voice made her look over her shoulder. It was then she caught a brief glimpse of Kaoru's face, sans headset and out of his room, as he turned around, the phone clutched with two hands against the side of his head. He looked so tall as he walked back into his room, listening quietly to Ryou on the other end of the line, even with the slight slouch in his posture. She had forgotten how tall he was, with the way he always sat in his chair, crouched over the computer. Was he over six feet now? His father would be surprised to hear that.

Now that Kaoru picked up the phone himself (sometimes he was the one to call Ryou first), she could cook and clean in peace, but she didn't hear that boy's voice anymore. It was all right though, because whenever she brought in Kaoru's dinner, he would put his hand over the receiver and turn to her. "Ryou says hello, Mother."

-----

The phone rang unusually early one Saturday morning. She needed to call her husband at work and ask what he'd like for dinner when he came back home late, but Kaoru had the phone again. She expected to wait for a long time, but the call was oddly short, and Kaoru slipped out of his bedroom soon afterward.

"Kaoru?"

"…Yes, Mother?" Kaoru was standing at the entryway, staring down at the small line of shoes by the door.

"What are you doing…?"

"I… can't find my shoes…"

…Cleaning the kitchen could wait. She hurried over and pulled her son's old shoes down from the top shelf of the closet, a look of astonishment on her face. "…Why, dear?" She had a faint idea, but she had to hear it from her son in order to believe it.

"Ryou called..." She already knew that. "…I'm going out."

"To meet Ryou?"

"…Yes." And she could have sworn she saw a ghost of a smile.

There was a long pause before she could bring herself to respond. There was so much she wanted to say to Kaoru, but he looked... eager to go outside. She didn't want to keep him, so she just said, "…Be back before dark." Be careful, sweetie. The main road is busier now than it used to be. Do you remember which bus comes back home? They changed the schedule two years ago. If you stay out long, don't forget to buy yourself some lunch, please eat something –

Kaoru gave a slow nod before slipping out the front door. She noted from the small look of discomfort on his face that Kaoru's shoes were too old, a size too small. She could buy him a new pair while he was gone.

-----

"Out again?" Her husband scratched his head at the pair of shoes missing by the front door. "Every Saturday…" he grumbled tiredly as he made his way into the kitchen for a cup of coffee.

She smiled to herself at the window as she watched her son walk down the street. Kaoru was doing the same thing he always did.