Lesson Learned

Mitsuko flinched when she heard the door slam from upstairs, as the crappy and distorted Christmas jungle still played in the background.

"...I told you not to buy it," mom whispered harshly.

She looked over her shoulder at her parents like she was just remembering they were there.

"It was a kind gesture," dad said quietly, narrowing his eyes at her. "I'm trying my best."

"And failing." Mom's voice rose. "I told you not to push him. He's in a delicate mindset, you can't force—"

Mitsuko gritted her teeth as she watched them. "Mom, dad, now isn't—"

"I'm not trying to force anything," dad replied sharply to mom. "I'm being honest about the situation. I've tried to apologise to him, which is more than—"

"I am doing whatever I can to give him the love and attention he deserves!" she snapped.

"You're smothering him."

"I'm not the reason his face is still healing—"

"WILL YOU SHUT UP!?" Mitsuko screamed at them.

Mom and dad both stiffened, the glares and coldness fading from their faces when they looked over at her.

Mitsuko balled her hands into fists. "Just shut for once! What is wrong with you?!" She exclaimed in outrage. "Stop making this about you. Stop using us as an excuse to fight just because you can't own up to your own shitty problems."

Mom winced, looking down. "We weren't—"

"I don't care." Mitsuko shook her head. "Just shut up." Her gaze shifted to where her brother had disappeared out of the room. "I'm going to go talk to him, so just...just leave us alone and go fight somewhere where we don't have to hear it."

Her parents stayed silent, watching her as she left the room to go find her brother.

***

Mitsuko fidgeted outside of her brother's bedroom door until she apprehensively knocked on the door.

"Gaku-nii?" She called quietly. "Can I come in, please?"

There was a long pause of just silence when he didn't reply straight away.

"...Fine." The reply was mumbled and hard to hear at first.

She held back a sigh and entered the room, frowning when she saw all the curtains were drawn, blocking out most of the sun so the room was dim.

She looked to the right where his bed was and felt her heartache when she saw him curled up on the bed with his face buried in a pillow.

"Gaku-nii..." She swallowed a lump in her throat, closing the door behind her and walked over to the bed, sitting down next to him.

He kept his face hidden in the pillow and turned away from her so he was facing the wall.

Mitsuko felt her guilt grow worse, staring at her hands on her lap. "I'm sorry..."

He shifted slightly behind her. "...Why?" His voice was still quiet but she could tell he'd lifted his face out of the pillow. "You didn't do anything..."

"Yes, I did," she replied quietly. "I made things harder for you because you had to look after me, and I didn't pay enough attention to how you were feeling." She blinked back tears. "I was happy that mom and dad were paying attention to me again and being nice that I didn't think about how upset that would make you."