【Asongichi Kara】Grow up

Chapter 1

01

This is the most comfortable season of the year, neither too hot nor too cold, there will not be too much unexpected rain and the sun goes down too early, occasionally on the way home from get off work, you can see a few sparse stars.Kong Song was carrying a supermarket shopping bag filled with discounted chicken, and when he looked out from the top of the ramp, he could see a beautiful view.

In front of him was the road that he had gone back and forth a hundred times and was already familiar with. He went up to the second floor along the corner of the stairs he used to walk, then took out the key and pushed open the door of the apartment.What greeted him was actually a hint of fragrance in the air.

My younger brother poked his head out from the kitchen door.

"I'm back." The other party said naturally.

Kong Song was taken aback, kicked off his sneakers and stepped into the entrance after a few steps.

"Isn't it planned to work overtime today?" He asked cautiously.

The shirt on Qingqing's body has not been changed yet, and a plain apron is wrapped around his chest. He holds a plate in his hand. He turns around and gives Kongsong a smile.

"Ah, because, today we are going to celebrate Kongsong's official one-month anniversary."

The pot made a gurgling sound, and the moment he turned around easily, the heat of the food rushed to Kongsong's face, and he felt that it was melted there, and the small room was filled with the setting sun that he had missed.He smiled unconsciously, this was the first time Kong Song smiled sincerely in the past month of fear.

All the things started earlier than this. After careful calculation, it has been the second year since the six brothers left their hometown to live in succession.

This was a situation that no one had thought about before, until that sudden day, when everyone was sitting together idly staring at the sky outside the window, Kazumatsu said those words lightly.

"I'm moving out."

Eh what?Why?The remaining five gazes all focused on him in an instant.

"There's no reason," the four men in the family replied calmly, "I've probably stayed with you like this for too long, and I feel that it's almost the same. It's time to start living independently."

"Living independently or something, Yisong, you can't do it alone."

That was the first time the six of them began to think about this question, and it came too suddenly, like the last fireworks at the end of summer, and it ended too quickly.

"Yes, yes," someone else echoed, "it's impossible to make people feel at ease."

"Then two people together first?" Yisong gave them a rare response, "In short, six people can't mix together like this anymore. If they don't separate, no one can grow."

These words fell into the air, leaving a long silence in the room.Even if Kong Song thinks about it now, he still feels that it was a moment that makes people feel lonely in memory.

The six children of the Matsuno family have been crowded together since birth, like six nails wedged together, like a row of continuous teeth, but they still start from a certain date that they can't remember clearly, They are really separated.

Said that no matter what, I don't feel at ease to let Yisong take care of him even if it is for the eldest son's obligation, and Xiaosong took Yisong away.And Linsong, who said, "Leave Brother Shishisong alone, I can't imagine how he will survive in society", chose to live with Shishisong temporarily.

In the end, the younger brother who was obviously born later than himself fulfilled the original promise of "I will support you if I can't do it", found a job as a clerk in a club, and rented a single apartment not far from the company. The apartment, took Kong Song out of the house.

Every time he thinks of this, Kong Song always feels guilty.It is clear that he is the second son, and it is clear that he should take care of the younger brother, not the other way around.It was clear that the other brothers, who had never thought that they would suddenly get on the right track, also slowly found their own positions after starting their new lives, but he had been wallowing in the sense of uneasiness of not knowing where to go, until two years later, he began to own first job.

At that time, they were 27 years old, which is the age when a normal man should start thinking about the topic of love, and even start thinking about marriage and family life in the future.But they still sat opposite each other as if nothing had happened, holding up half-full beer bottles and shouting heartlessly "Cheers!"

Kong Song drank the remaining wine at the bottom of the bottle, and a blush crept up his cheeks.

"Hey, easy, you are in the company, do you have any female employees you like?"

"I haven't thought about it yet." He answered easily.

"You're not too young." Kong Song repeated, not knowing what he was expecting.

"In terms of age, you should be the one who should be worried."

Then the atmosphere relaxed in a little drunkenness.As brothers who live together, they often have such conversations. However, the scene of one of them starting a family alone and leaving the other to live alone is still unimaginable after so long.It has changed from six people to two people. If we continue to separate, one day when we suddenly wake up and look at ourselves in the mirror, maybe we will forget the fact that we are not alone in this world.

Does the so-called growth have to be such a bitter thing?

Relaxed and silent, staring at the inner wall of the spinning beer glass under the warm yellow light.The phone in his trousers pocket vibrated, he took out the phone and answered it under Kongsong's surprised eyes, another string of alcohol-smelling nonsense immediately leaked from the receiver.

"Really!" Easy frowned, "How many times have I told you, Matsuno Komatsu, your profession doesn't seem to allow you to drink like this!"

It turned out to be Brother Xiaosong.Kongsong held up his chopsticks, as if he was used to this kind of development - in the past six months, Brother Xiaosong who drove a taxi for a living seemed to often get drunk after work like that.He would always randomly dial the numbers in the cell phone address book, sometimes it was him, sometimes it was linden pine or fourteen pine, he made such calls to all his brothers, even when the phone was blocked because of his drunkenness Even after being thrown into the river, Xiaosong can lean against any public phone booth and recite everyone's phone number skillfully as if subconsciously, and none of them can escape.

Standing up easily, he gave Kong Song a sorry look, and hurriedly grabbed the suit jacket that was thrown on the sofa.

"I'll go and have a look and I'll be back." He told Kongsong like this, stuffed a wallet that he was going to pay for Xiaosong into his pocket, and opened half of the door, "If it's too late, don't wait for me, you have to work tomorrow .”

Kong Song waved at him with a spoon in his mouth.

Ah, work, this job—he thought, it was this job he had found with great difficulty, which brought some hope of relief.After all, he is the second son in the family. After all, it should be his responsibility to take care of his younger brother...

Kong Song stared dimly at the blank phone screen until a message suddenly flashed on it.

"It seems that Brother Xiaosong is looking for a relaxed look. There will be no one at your place tonight, so come here."

Kong Song knew who sent the message without looking at the signature.Just like the ease of rushing over as soon as you are called, in the past six months, whenever Brother Xiaosong got drunk or went out for a short time because of long-distance business, Kongsong’s mobile phone always received a message like this .

The other brothers didn't know about this matter, and Kong Song couldn't find any possible reason to tell them these things.Compared with the question of "why?", what surprised Koratsu even more at the beginning was another thing that was completely irrelevant: whether the message was an order, or a call for help because he was left alone or -

Why did Yisong choose me?

"You're here." When he came to the small hotel room that Yisong had booked with a packed dinner, Yisong raised his head and gave him a very natural opening remark.In front of him were two cans of beer that had been opened, and a cigarette butt that was burning in the ashtray.Same as he has always been used to.

Kong Song sat down, and handed the fresh-keeping box with the lid off to Yi Song.

"You did it?" Yi Song raised an eyebrow and asked him.

"It's easy," he replied, "he suddenly canceled overtime and went home early."

Kazumatsu took the box, but put it aside.

"I'm not hungry," he said. "We have better things to do than this."

Kong Song knew what he was referring to.Although he'd always wanted to know why, he'd never asked.Regarding why, Kazumatsu would suddenly ask Kongsong to come to a cheap small hotel at a certain time and stay with him in the room for one night.

"Brother can't find you, he will be worried." Kong Song also said to Yi Song like this.However, what he got was the latter's secretive look.

"In this world, there are many problems that you can't ask Brother Xiaosong for help." Kazumatsu replied.He was smoking a freshly lit cigarette, the water from the beer can pattering on the floor between his fingers.The air conditioner in the room was humming, and they never turned on the lights or opened the windows to look at the night view of the street from the balcony.

They just sat opposite each other until Yisong smoked his last cigarette, then crawled towards Kongsong, burying his cheeks in his one-piece overalls, which were stained by the smell of gasoline.

"The new job... a gas station?" he asked.

"I arrived in such a hurry that I didn't have time to change my clothes."

"It's okay, it doesn't matter anyway."

"Do you want me to sleep with you like this tonight?"

"Isn't it just for this every time I call you here?" Yisong smiled. "After all, I have slept next to each other for more than [-] years. Sometimes I can't fall asleep if I don't smell this smell. Really. There is no help."

"About insomnia...are you really not going to tell Big Brother?"

"He will only worry about it. That guy's job now is to drive a car on the highway all day. Are you sure you want to let him know that it's safe?"

Kong Song stopped talking.

Kazumatsu is right, in this world, there are many things that cannot be solved by relying on the eldest son.And when the eldest son couldn't solve it, it was naturally his turn to help the second son.If Kazumatsu needs only himself at this moment, then Kongsong will come here.Even those togethernesses that are accompanied by peaceful dreams are brought about by the separation from each other in the first place.

—TBC—