Despite what others thought, I honestly didn't like rainy weather.
If others knew this, they would clearly be shocked. I mean, I'm known for being depressed and droopy, but I honestly enjoyed warm, sunny weather over dreary and sad, rainy weather.
Tears were never ok with me, whether they came from me or someone else. Watching tears fall was too dreary for me. And quite honestly, the tears kinda scared me. They didn't happen often. It was usually sunny, warm, and happy, so to see it rain would be quite a shock and cause not only me, but others discomfort.
We would do anything to make the rain stop falling.
Anything at all.
To not see the warm sunshine in his eyes and replaced with rainy tears was always unsettling and left us in absolute worry and concern.
Of course, the occasional tantrum of us denying to play baseball with him were inevitable and petty, but to actually see him upset was always enough to put us all in big brother mode, including Todomatsu.
After Homura rejecting him may have been one of the worst things he had ever been through. I could speak for all of us when I tell you how heartwrenching it was to watch the most kindhearted Matsuno lower his head in defeat along with his umbrella when Homura turned him down. It rained from both the sky and his eyes that night. He had stayed on that bridge in the pouring rain for the better half of twenty minutes after she had rejected him. Once he started to move back home, all of us began to book it back home so he didn't know that we had eavesdropping on the entire exchange.
Once he had entered the house that night, neither of us could move.
His eyes were terribly red, even more red after he would get drunk at Chibita's oden shop. Snot dribbled down from his nostrils in non thick streams. His hair was more disheveled than my own and some of his stray hair was stuck to his face due to his warm and salty tears.
He took a step that was too small to even be considered a baby step into the house. He was blocking the doorway so the door could not be shut. His hair was drenched as if he had been standing underneath a shower head. He continued to stare down at the floor. Without a sound, he flung himself at Osomatsu and buried his face into the eldest's chest before letting out heartbreaking sobs. A small hint of jealousy had lurched its way up in my chest at the idea that Jyushimatsu had gone to Osomatsu and not me since we were closer, but I ignored it.
After all, I wouldn't have been able to comfort him anyway. And I suppose Osomatsu was the best out of all of us at comfort, having done it for twenty plus years now. The only other brother who came close to comfort was Karamatsu followed by Jyushimatsu, himself.
The rest of us were forced to watch helplessly as Osomatsu gently stroked Jyushimatsu's hair as well as hum gentle lullabies that our mother had used to sing to us as children. It wasn't oblivious to us that Osomatsu had given a brotherly kiss on top of the fifth brother's head in efforts to calm him down.
Jyushimatsu always was more of a touchy person than the rest of us. We all knew that he was always down to cuddle. However, Karamatsu would always be the one to cuddle with him the most due to him being the next one to Jyushimatsu as far as being touchy.
Cuddles between us were seldom, but always felt good and comforting when we did have them, though I'd never admit to that.
But watching as the sun was clouded with a rainfall of tears broke my heart. Watching as he gripped onto Osomatsu's jacket in complete pain and sorrow was something that all of us hated seeing.
Not to mention memories from our high school ages.
Jyushimatsu was always bullied the most out of our group of brothers, due to his ADHD like personality.
I remember watching him run from a group of kids our age, 13, and I running after him, followed by Choromatsu.
Karamatsu, Osomatsu, and Todomatsu hadn't the same free period as we did.
I remember the rain falling heavily from the sky, water mixing with dirt creating gigantic mud puddles.
Kids with switchblades, rocks, and slingshots ran after our brother, Choromatsu and I running after them, screaming at them to stop, to pick on us instead if they absolutely had to take their rage out on someone.
Like hell if I would have let them mess with Choromatsu, however. They weren't touching a single hair of any of my brothers.
They ran so fast, and Choromatsu and I weren't nearly as fast as them. I booked it as hard as I could, horrified of what would happen if we possibly lost them.
Thunder cracked over our heads followed with a gigantic flash of lighting.
"Leave him the fuck alone!" I recall yelling, Choromatsu yelling things in similar suit.
Despite our desperate yells and pleads, the group of students didn't stop running. They kept running after him, switch blades in hand and rocks and slingshots at the ready. "Jyushimatsu, keep running!" Choromatsu yelled once he noticed said brother slowing his pace.
All too quickly, I had felt the ground rush up to me, mud sliding underneath my sneakers. My head came down fast on the ground, rendering me unconscious.
Upon being shook awake, I remember not knowing where I was before the memories had flooded back into my head. "Jyushimatsu!" I yelled at him. "Where is he?!"
"Lost him," Choromatsu said, his usual worried eyes looking absolutely distraught and horrified. "I didn't want to stop running, but I already couldn't see them. I need help. Ichi, can you stand?" He had asked me.
Even if the world spun before me, I didn't let it hinder me. I was going to look for my yellow clad brother if it killed me. I had briefly thought to strangle Choromatsu for not forgetting me and not running to find Jyushimatsu anyway. But I had decided that doing that would only make us lose time.
So we split up, running in directions that the group could have gone to while looking out for slippery mud puddles.
With drying mud slathered all over my arms, I ran like I had never run before.
Your brother could be dead, my mind kept telling me. He could be dead and it's all your damn fault, you imbecile! My cell phone dinged, and with hopeful fingers, I gripped the small cellular device out of my pocket and looked at the sender. My heart dropped upon seeing it only being Osomatsu.
Where are you guys, the text read? The teachers are looking everywhere for you guys. Well, you guys, and another group of kids.
I bit my pride and instead of typing an answer hit the call button. I continued to run, my eyes darting in every possible direction as I listened to the ringing phone.
"Ichi-"
"Jyushi's gone, " I huffed out, feeling out of breath. "We lost him. He was being chased by a group of kids with switchblades and slingshots, and we can't find him. Please, Osomatsu-niisan, we don't know where the hell he is!" I yelled, looking everywhere through the field of tall grass.
"What? What are you talking abou-? Ichi? Ichimatsu? Matsuno Ichimatsu, you better answer me right now!" I could hear his voice nearly screaming through the receiver as I hissed in pain, gripping my scratched up arm. I had tripped over something, but I didn't know what, yet. I sat up, the pouring rain continuing to drench me and now my nearly completely mud coated body. I looked over to see what it was that I had tripped on before my usually droopy eyes widened.
"Oh my god!" I screamed, frantically reaching over to my unconscious brother's body. Tears streaked his face, his body was shaking, his face was warm.
God, oh god, was he badly injured. His body was littered in so many cuts and bruises that it was scary. His school uniform had a gigantic crimson stain leaking from his midsection. I already knew he was stabbed, but stupid me decided to lift his shirt to look. I gagged once I saw how deep the wound was. A bump made itself known on Jyushimatsu's precious little head. His left eye was bruised, and his lip had a cut right through at the end.
I nearly threw up.
I moved away from his body, dry heaving into the grass before I heard Osomatsu's screaming voice on the end of the receiver once again.
I picked up my mud covered phone. "Osomatsu-niisan, get someone, anyone out here. Please, now! God, he's been stabbed, niisan! Aniki, why aren't you doing anything?! Do something!" I screamed, tears streaming down my face.
He had gotten several teachers who went out on a search party while the principle had the entire school on lock down, only permitting the students to leave if their parents were present. Teachers searched, an ambulance was called, even a search helicopter was issued out, due to my lack of an address. I had to be at least five miles away from the school.
I had called Choromatsu, telling him I found our little brother. He had found us before anyone else had, and nearly went into a panic attack. Thankfully, he had been able to get over it without help from me. I wasn't good at helping Choromatsu through his panic attacks, and I'm still not. But no matter what happened, I wasn't letting go of my brother's hand.
"Why would they do this to him?" Choromatsu cried, tears falling from his eyes. "He-He's so nice. He doesn't deserve this-"
I had cut him off with a curt, "I know,". He shut up after that.
We all thought he would die.
That had been the first time we had all seen Mom cry.
We all knew that Jyushimatsu was by far the biggest handful with his sudden energetic outbursts and seemingly endless need to play, but we all also knew that he was the sunshine of the Matsuno household. Without him there, the house was dreary, dark, and sad.
The doctor gave him a week, telling us that the stab wound had been fatal.
So when a week had passed and we walked into Jyushi's hospital room, seeing his wide smile back as bright as ever was a complete shock. Of course, he was still in pain and had trouble moving, but other than that, he was completely better.
Three years later, however, when we were all 16 years of age, the thunder roared like never heard before.
Everything seemed to happen in slow motion.
Us brothers were all in our respectful areas of the living room, watching a random movie that had popped up on the TV. I was in my corner, petting a cat, while Osomatsu sat on the couch with Karamatsu. Todomatsu sat on the couch's arm, kicking his foot back and forth, discovering many assortments of social medias that his friends had shown him. He had been in a phase where he tried to learn some English words and phrases only to fail miserably at the awkward sounding syllables and words. If anything, Karamatsu picked up on it the most and used terms like mommy and daddy and bingo and no plan. Of course, we all knew what mommy and daddy meant, but what the hell was bingo or no plan?
Choromatsu sat in the middle of the living room, lying on his stomach while Jyushimatsu lied on his big, yellow, yoga ball he had received one year for our birthday.
"Hahaha! This movie is so funny, right, Ichimatsu?" He asked, looking back at me.
I looked up from the ginger cat that sat on my lap and into his identical eyes. I hadn't the heart to tell him that I hadn't been paying attention, but I had a hunch he knew anyway. I nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Real funny." After speaking, I had feared that I came off sarcastic, but dismissed the fear when Jyushimatsu let out a small laugh of satisfaction before turning back towards the movie.
The wind howled, and the rain shrieked as it continued to hit against our roof before...
The room went dark.
Throughout the now silent room, Totty could be heard giving off a shriek of fear, clinging onto the closest brother which had been Karamatsu. Karamatsu let out a yell of surprise at the sudden weight that was placed in his arms and on his lap. To be honest, we all knew that if we were fear stricken, neither Osomatsu-niisan nor Karamatsu-niisan would mind staying in physical contact with us until the fear subsided. Same with Jyushimatsu, but he had been far from Todomatsu's reach.
"The power went out." Choromatsu stated from what I had assumed his same spot on the floor.
"No shit." I muttered underneath my breath.
"I'll get candles!" Jyushimatsu had yelled before taking off out of the living room, many crashes heard after that from the fifth Matsuno.
"This sucks," Osomatsu groaned. "Now we'll never know why the girl wouldn't let that guy have sex with her."
"Probably because he was a prick," Karamatsu theorized. "I mean, if I was a girl, I wouldn't want to date a guy like that."
"But you're not a girl, Karamatsu-niisan." Totty protested from Karamatsu's lap.
"I said if I was." Karamatsu retaliated.
I could only chuckle with a roll of my eyes at the sound of their petty argument.
Suddenly a loud scream rang through the house, alerting all of us aside from Todomatsu who only clinged closer to Karmatsu. "What was that?" Todomatsu asked in a quiet tone.
"That sounded like Jyushimatsu." Karamatsu said, quick to get the youngest brother off of his lap, running out of the room. I was close to follow, along with Osomatsu. Choromatsu didn't follow which led me to believe that he had stayed behind to console a horrified Todomatsu.
"Jyushimatsu?" Osomatsu called out, looking for the six year old stuck in a sixteen year old's body.
His voice was only met with a groan of pain, to which we all followed into the bathroom, a box of candles fallen all over the tiles. "Gah! It hurts!" Jyushimatsu yelled, hands gripping at his hair.
"What does, Jyushimatsu?" I asked, my eyes adjusting to the darkness, allowing me to see tears rolling down his cheeks.
"My head!" He exclaimed, hands grabbing onto my arms, a clasp of thunder heard above us once more. "Make it stop, niisan! Please! Oh, god, please, Aniki! It hurts so so bad!" He cried, sobs starting to tear out from his throat. My heart broke, but I knew exactly what was happening. I got migraines all the time, and I knew just how to treat them.
"I bet you have a migraine, Jyushimatsu," I explained softly, taking him by the arm. "Come on. Lets head to the room and I'll lay out the futon. We'll let you rest there, and I'll do some remedies," I looked back to the others. "Don't enter the room unless permitted. The first migraine is always the worst." They nodded, and I led him to the room. His sobs and sniffles could be heard behind me, and I could feel my heart break.
"It hurts, Aniki!" He cried, sobbing grossly.
"I know," I muttered before sliding the door open to our room. He stood in a corner and watched as I lied out the futon, rubbing his eyes to stop tears that only kept returning. Once it was laid out, I signaled for him to lie down to which he obliged. He rested his head against his normal single pillow to which I simply shook my head no. I took the pillow from my end and placed it underneath his head, giving him elevation. "I'm going to go get some items. I'll be back in a moment."
I grabbed some Tylenol and a glass of water, despite my knowledge of him hating pills. Unfortunately, I knew children's Motrin wasn't going to help this time. I grabbed a heating pad and a few candles and some matches before heading back to the room. I knelt down beside the futon, placing candles down on the ground. I grabbed matches, brushing them against the rigid portion of the box, sparking a flame. I set fire to all of the candles' stems, light finally being welcomed in the room. I motioned for Jyushimatsu to sit up, placing the heating pad on his pillow and plugging it, putting it on medium heat. I placed two Tylenol pills within Jyushi's hand and the glass of water in his other.
He whined. "Niisan," He hiccuped, "I hate p-pills."
"I know," I said bluntly. "You want your head to stop hurting, right?" He nodded. "Then take them," He looked at the white pills with reluctance before placing one in his mouth and taking a swig of the water. He gagged and nearly choked, but got it down. His eyes became even more teary. "Good. One more." I told him. He sighed and repeated the cycle. I patted his back before having him lie down. He nearly moaned from how well the heating pad felt against his pounding head.
"It still hurts." He sobbed, hiccuping in between each word.
I scoffed. "You just took the pills. You have to be patient." I informed him, my fingers lacing themselves in his hair. I gave his hair gentle tugs as the rain outside continued to pour. Running my fingers through his hair seemed to calm him down a bit, watching as his violent sobs turned into gentle hiccups, then sniffles, then nothing. He was sprawled out completely along the futon, and I wasn't going to wake him up. The others could sleep in the living room, but I wasn't moving from him.
Needless to say, I stayed there the entire night, but was confused when I woke up, him enveloped in my arms.
Yeah, I hate rainy weather. Because when it rains from the sky, the sunshine of our household dissipates and a rainfall of tears fall from the usual sunshine's eyes. I would take sunny weather over rainy weather, any day of the week. As long as it means that my little brother stays happy.
Sorry if this seems abstract. This concept came to mind as I was baking a cake for some reason. I hope you enjoyed, though.