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Maki huffed quietly to herself as she walked. Her bag around her shoulder felt heavy despite there only being a few books and art supplies. She hated these rich people. The neighborhood she was called to babysit in was so perfect and clean, it made her feel small and out of place. Every house was huge, fancy windows decked out in Christmas lights showcasing the massive tree inside, ornaments hung from every single branch.
Hmph. Christmas was stupid. Holidays were stupid. Despite that, she really didn't like being called to babysit some kid on Christmas eve. The parents must be really stuck up to leave their kid alone the night before Christmas.
Maki arrived at the mansion she was called to. She pulled open the gate and rang the bell, shoving her cold fingers under her jacket. A few minutes passed and Maki was just about to leave when a kid pulled the door open.
“You’re…Harukawa-san, right?” The kid asked. Maki looked him up and down. Despite her being… maybe five years older than him, he was already up to her shoulders. He had long, tangled white hair that looked to have once been brown, and a tired face with red rims around his grey eyes. He was wearing a big, oversized jacket with a red pattern on the shoulder and hood, and a pair of black sweatpants that were also too big for him.
“Yeah. Your parents called me to babysit you. Where are they?” She walked into the house and the boy closed the door behind her.
“Oh, I-I think you misunderstood. I called you.” He said, smiling up at her.
“...but you’re just a kid. Stop playing with me and call them down.” Maki sighed and squeezed the melted snow out her pigtails.
“My parents are dead.”
“Wh-what??” She jerked her head back to look at the kid. He seemed indifferent. The smile he was giving her was lax, if a bit pained. “You live in this place all by yourself?”
“We have maids and nannies. Miss Tojo-chan is the one that does all the money work and complicated adult things, but she has this week off because of Christmas.” Maki took off her shoes as the kid started to walk toward the big staircase. He motioned for her to follow him.
“What? No, no. You’re joking. Quit the lying or I'm going to leave.” She made to put her shoes back on.
“No!! No, don't leave! Please don't leave!! I’ll pay you really, really well. I’ll pay you twenty thousand yen! Is that a good price? I can raise it to twenty-five thousand!” The kid ran back over to her, tripping on his pants and jacket. Desperation was laced in his voice. He fished into his pocket and held out the yen.
Maki froze.
Twenty-five thousand.
Twenty-five thousand.
She sighed. “You weren't joking when we talked on the phone.”
“Of course I wasn't!” The kid held the money out to her. “You have to stay for two hours minimum and I’ll give you twenty thousand yen. That's how babysitting works, right?”
Maki stared at the money. How can this kid keep twenty-five thousand yen in his pocket?
She pushed his hands back, dropping her shoes. “You give me the money after I babysit you. Not before.”
“Oh! Oh, okay.” The boy nodded, putting the money back in his pocket. “So you are staying?”
“Yeah, I guess I am.” She sighed and held out her hand for a shake. “Harukawa Maki.”
“Komaeda Nagito.” Komaeda grinned and took her hand, shaking it. “Now let's go, Harukawa-chan! I told the cooks we needed to wait for you before we start dinner!”
“Wh-?” Maki found herself being pulled into a dining room bigger than her and her friend’s room combined. A fancy chandelier hung from the ceiling, and paintings hung on every wall. A huge table was filled with platters of fancy foods. Far too much for just one ten year old boy.
“You don't know me. Why did you want to do this?” She sat down next to Komaeda, almost drooling at the huge meal in front of her.
“Because why not?” Komaeda replied. A butler came over and portioned the food in front of them onto plates, then set them in front of them.
Maki didn't wait to start eating. They fed the kids at the orphanage well, but the food was so bland . It was nothing compared to what Komaeda’s cooks had whipped up. She could practically taste the love and care in every single bite.
Komaeda was eating his own dish slowly. Despite having smaller portions than her, he barely made a dent into his food.
She scoffed internally. Rich kids could throw food away and they wouldn't even bat an eye. He was so arrogant.
“Do you want more?” He asked her after she finished. I can get someone to cut it for you-”
“No, no. I can do it myself.” She shook her head and served herself another slice of the chicken. “Why aren't you eating?”
Komaeda looked back down at his plate. “I am.”
Maki raised an eyebrow. “You’ve been picking and staring at it for a good ten minutes.”
“Oh, I’m usually not very hungry.” Komaeda shrugged. “But I can eat it if you would like me to.”
“You should.” She started on her seconds. Komaeda nodded, taking a small bite of mashed potatoes.
“If it's alright, can we watch a movie after dinner? We have a theater upstairs.”
A whole-ass theater room?? I didn't know you could have those in houses.
“Oh, sure. What did you want to watch?”
“I’m not sure. I was going to let you pick. Every movie I pick is bad.” He shrugged, putting his fork down.
“Oh...alright. I havent seen many movies though.” Maki blinked, finishing up as well. Komaeda stood up from his chair and pushed it in.
“Well then, we can go now if you would like.”
“You’re done already?”
“I don't usually have an appetite.” Komaeda shrugged. He reached his hand out to take hers before retracting it and leading the way upstairs. Maki blinked in confusion. She turned to bow to the servants taking their plates and silverware away before following Komaeda.
She passed the living room and was slightly surprised to find no Christmas tree near the windows.
Komaeda was sitting on one of the many couches in the theatre room when she arrived. His legs were tucked under his long jacket and he was holding a remote. He held it out to her when she came near him.
“You can sit anywhere you want. I won't take offense if you don't want to sit next to someone as worthless as me.”
She blinked. Now where did that come from?
He's probably fishing for compliments. Rich people do that all the time.
“You’re not worthless.” She sighed and sat next to him, albeit a few inches away. She took the remote and stared at it. There were so many buttons to press. They only had one TV at the orphanage and there was only one button to turn it on.
“Hm.” Komaeda shrugged. He glanced at the screen and then back at her. “Do you need help?”
“I'm...not sure what to press.” She said, embarrassed. Maki handed the remote back to Komaeda and he flipped through multiple sources.
“What do you want to watch?”
“I already told you I haven’t seen many movies.” She sighed. She watched as he scrolled through movie after movie. “We could watch a Christmas one, since it's Christmas tomorrow?”
“I…guess we could.” Komaeda scrolled down to the holiday section. “People say the Grinch is good, but only the old one.”
“I haven’t seen either.” Maki shrugged. “Lets watch it.”
Komaeda nodded. He found the original movie and started playing it.
~
Movies were boring. She knew this movie was supposed to be for children, but she was still bored. It was a somewhat sweet story, she supposed.
The movie ended and Maki looked over at Komaeda. His eyes were dropping and he rubbed them back open.
“What do you think?” He looked over at her.
Maki shrugged. “It was alright, I guess.”
“...you didn't like it?”
“Well, I wouldn’t watch it in my freetime, but it wasn't bad.” She shrugged again.
“I’m sorry. Everything I pick always turns out to be trash.” Komaeda blurted out. “You can pick this time. Just by yourself. Whatever you want.”
“Woah- uh- where’d that come from?” Maki blinked, surprised again.
“What do you mean?” Komaeda tilted his head.
“That self-deprecation thing. You keep doing that.” She sighed.
“Oh, it must be annoying. I’m sorry, I know I’m bothersome but you can put up with me for two hours, right? Or, well, more like an hour now.”
“Stop.” She sighed. “Just stop.”
Komaeda went to say something but she put a finger up. “Don't say anything bad about yourself, alright? If I'm going to stay with you for one more hour, that means you don't talk bad about yourself.”
“M...mn. Okay.” he nodded. “Um. What should we do now?”
“Well, you could show me around your house?” Maki glanced around.
Komaeda nodded, standing up. “Okay. Maybe I should just…show you around upstairs. It’d take more than an hour to do the whole house.”
Maki stood up and followed him out of the theater room. “Well, alright.”
“Okay well… the first bathroom is over there. There's a game room over here but no one usually uses it. This ones a closet… um, another closet…that's another bathroom…”
Komaeda looked over at a big door at the end of the hall and looked away. “That's…the master bedroom. No one uses that room anymore. And this is my room.”
He pushed open a door they were closest to. His room was painted white. A smaller chandelier hung from the ceiling. Medical equipment and machines lined the walls, and one was positioned next to his bed. The bed was a queen size with four pillows and a big, fluffy comforter. Cream colored transparent curtains hung around the bed, fairy lights draped around the curtains’ base. There was a fuzzy rug on the floor, and a dresser across from the bed with empty photo frames and a small urn with a picture of a dog propped up next to it. Maki internally winced. She glanced over as Komaeda climbed onto his bed.
“What's with the medical equipment?” She asked, sitting next to him.
Komaeda was silent for a second. “I have lymphoma. Cancer. It's only stage one still but the doctors say it might reach stage two soon.”
“Oh…Komaeda…” Maki frowned. “I'm sorry, I…”
“It's alright. They say it's curable.” Komaeda shrugged. He went silent again, but Maki could tell something was wrong. His eyes were glazed over and his hands were twisting the sleeves of his jacket. He started dozing off before Maki broke the silence.
“Why…did you call me? I mean, if you really do live alone, wouldn't you be fine with that maid you mentioned?” Maki asked. She was still salty about how casually he said he didn't have parents. Komaeda had to have some kind of family, why else would he be living here and not at an orphanage like her? Pretending his parents were dead was totally something someone like him would pull. Not everyone was fortunate to have a family, so she would play along with his stupid game.
Or so she thought.
Komaeda stared down at his sheets. He picked at a loose thread silently before speaking.
“I'm not lying, you know. My parents are dead. They died in a plane crash when I was seven.” He said softly. “And everyone that works in the house is off all day tomorrow because of Christmas. I told Tojo-chan to tell them that.”
Maki blinked. …was he really not lying?
“I’m going to be alone. I saw your number on a babysitting website, and it then occurred to me you could pay someone to give you attention. I thought that if I had fun on Christmas Eve with someone, I wouldn't be as lonely on Christmas day.” Komaeda giggled sadly. “I’m so stupid to think that would be the case. So stupid and naive. You’re watching me because I said that I would give you twenty-five thousand yen. Not because you care about me. No one does. I’m alone. E-Everyone I love always dies or abandons me. I shouldn't have called you here in the first place, now you’re going to get hurt because of my stupid bad luck.”
Komaeda fisted the sheets, tears dripping down his face. He sniffled and wiped his face but the tears kept coming. “N-Now you’re probably disgusted by me. I-I’m crying like an idiot even though I’m rich. That's p-probably what you’re thinking.”
Maki was taken aback. She didn't think he would react this way.
She didn't think...that his parents were really gone.
Maki hesitated before she wrapped an arm around Komaeda’s small shoulders. He hiccupped and gasped softly in surprise.
“I'm...not disgusted. Even...even if crying is sometimes looked down upon, it's still good to let it out sometimes. And just because you're rich doesn't mean that your life is perfect. You’re struggling with your parents’ death and your cancer. It's understandable to be upset.” Maki said. She hesitated again before pulling Komaeda into a hug. He stiffened slightly before slowly relaxing. “You’re not stupid or naive, either. Money is nice, but being around children is nicer. It's why I’m a babysitter; I like taking care of kids.”
It was...a half lie. She enjoyed kids, but money she needed for college is what tempted her.
Komaeda was different from the other kids she babysat, though. She could feel an odd connection to him once she stepped through the door.
“Ah...you’re...hugging me.” Komaeda wrapped his arms back around her slowly. “Haha...even my mother wouldn't hug me like this. I’m telling myself I don't deserve your warmth but...I don't wanna let go.”
“Oh Komaeda…” Maki mumbled, hugging him a bit tighter. “I...I don't have parents either, to be honest. I live at an orphanage with lots of other kids.”
“Oh, you do? I’ve heard of orphanages but…I don't wanna leave Tojo-chan.” Komaeda mumbled into her shoulder.
“That's alright, Komaeda.” Maki started to play with his hair, humming. “How about I come over tomorrow as well? Free of charge. We can make our very own Christmas dinner and have fun.”
“Really?!” Komaeda looked up, stars in his eyes. “You’d do that for someone as worthless as me?!”
Maki chuckled. “You’re not worthless, and of course I would. No one deserves to be alone on Christmas.”
Komaeda hugged her harder. “Thank you Harukawa-chan…thank you so much!”
“Hey, no problem. I’ll come over a bit later, after we finish festivities at the orphanage. I’ll bring some cookies for you too. Or we can make them if you want.”
“I think I’d like to do both. I can ask one of the cooks to set out ingredients for us before you come.”
“Sounds like a deal then.” Maki smiled. She leaned back against the bed, Komaeda still curled up on her chest. She began to hum softly, the low melody of Silent Night floating through the bedroom.
And if Komaeda didn't let go of her far after two hours were up, well,
Maki didn't mind.