“Hi!” The tall, lanky man with hair so smooth and shiny in which it wouldn’t be out of place if he was in a shampoo commercial greeted Satoshi enthusiastically.

“H-hi…” Satoshi answered unsurely, catching the hand the man gave him for a handshake. He thought he had seen him somewhere but his memory couldn’t pinpoint it exactly where. Had he been to his wedding? Now it made Satoshi more nervous.

“Have we met before?” Satoshi asked cautiously.

“Did we? I don’t think so,” the man answered, looking at him thoughtfully for a while before a smile came back on his face making crow's-feet appeared at the end of his eyes. Satoshi let out a breath he didn’t realized he held, in relieved.
Just as Satoshi wanted to ask for his name, Matsumoto instructed all of them to gather at the middle of the room.

Setting all the chairs aside, Matsumoto broke them into seven smaller groups consisting of two or more people in each group. Coincidentally, the guy who had greeted him was also in the same group as him as with an older man and an older woman who would be acting as their father and mother respectively.

“Hey, I’ll be your little brother!” exclaimed the guy excitedly, holding Satoshi’s arm rather tight that it made Ohno flinch slightly. “I’m Aiba by the way!” Aiba said, saying Masaki was his given name. Satoshi gave him his name and they shook hands for the second time, much to Aiba’s delight. It was then when Satoshi realized that Aiba had a very bright smile and for the first time after a while, he smiled.

Then they introduced each other to the rest of the ‘family.’ The father was Ihara-san while the mother was Miki-san and the four of them would be the Kagawa family for the day tomorrow.

“Talk and familiarize with each other. Be real families.” Matsumoto voice could be heard reverberating inside the room and just as soon as he finished, small talks between them were already initiated. Matsumoto was pretty happy as he walked between ‘family’ to ‘family’ to ask whether they were comfortable with each other. When he approached Satoshi’s small ‘family’, all of them smiled at Matsumoto and Aiba was giving him a thumb up and a grin that could shine the whole room.

The more they talked, the more Satoshi was at ease. They introduced themselves to each other a little, telling them where they were from and how they were actually first time actors, just like Satoshi was, with the exception for Aiba who had experiences as small-time actor, according to him. And apparently, all of them were single and thus, they hit it off pretty well soon enough.

Things were running smoothly as all the fake families of the groom integrated themselves seamlessly inside the wedding hall. In his rental suit, Satoshi smiled and talked a little with the others, mainly with Aiba, as Aiba kept talking to him about the simplest things--like how he liked the flower arrangement, how there wasn’t enough of those little blinking lights inside the hall, and how he like to give the groom the speech of his life. Satoshi laughed at that because that speech probably would contain every single fake thing that Aiba could conjure in his mind. He told Aiba to forget it so that their disguise won’t be ruined. It made Aiba pout adorably before he broke into breathy giggles. Smiling, Satoshi thought how carefree Aiba was and he wanted to be like that too.

Aiba tugged at Satoshi’s sleeve to make him join the others, who had gathered in front of the groom and the bride to take photos with their phones. A few clicks later, Satoshi was checking his phone’s album to see the pictures he took and he was startled when his eyes were blinded temporarily by a flash. Aiba was chuckling in front of him, holding his camera phone.

“Cheese!” he said before another flash came off. Satoshi chuckled when Aiba went beside him to take selfies. When the others were busy with the wedding pictures, Satoshi and Aiba were busy taking their own pictures.

A few hours later, with gift bags dangling from their fingers, Satoshi, Aiba, and their ‘parents’ came out from the wedding reception in giggles. They had a few glasses of wine and it loosen them up, gossiping about the rumour they just heard about the groom. Apparently, they’d heard that the reason the groom was hiring them was that he was practicing an unlawful polygamy. The wife he was just marrying didn’t even know that he had another family that was still tied to him.

Upon hearing it, all of them closed their mouth with their hands in shock. It was illegal and they knew that. Although Satoshi was feeling quite sorry for the wife since she was being duped, he couldn’t do anything about it. He hoped the wife would find out, the sooner the better.

Satoshi and Aiba were soon separated from their ‘parents’ at a junction where the ‘parents’ were heading to separate station as opposed to Satoshi and Aiba. When Aiba found out that they were using the same the train line, Aiba asked Satoshi to join him for a drink before they going home. Since Satoshi had nothing to do after this, he agreed.

With just the two of them in a karaoke room, accompanied by beers and snacks, Aiba shoved a microphone onto Satoshi’s face. Picking a random song from AKB48, Aiba tugged Satoshi to join him in singing. Although he was reluctant at first, Satoshi eventually conceded. He wasn’t really familiar with the song so he could only hum along. Aiba seemed to know the choreography to that song so well and Satoshi was amazed by how fluid Aiba’s movement was. When Aiba picked a Kinki Kids song next, Satoshi took the lead since he knew the song and Aiba, delighted by his on-point choice of song sang along with him loudly. Praising him for his good voice, Aiba picked another song and another until their voices were cracked from singing too much. They twirled and danced to a disco song. They even jumped around like a maniac for a techno song. Slumping down into their seats, tired and giggling, they chucked down the beers and called the waiter for more.

It was nearly 11 pm and Satoshi didn’t want to miss his train so he had to excuse himself. Aiba, who appeared to be a little tipsy asked him to stay longer but he told him he couldn’t. He saw how Aiba became dejected that made his resolve nearly crack a little bit because he didn’t want Aiba to lose his smile, but he forced himself to move. Before saying goodbye, they exchanged contacts.

“Mr. Funk?” Satoshi asked, chuckling at the peculiar user name as it appeared on his phone’s screen. Aiba giggled uncontrollably. Just when Satoshi ducked down to give Aiba the goodie bag he was carrying for him, Aiba was already gone. With a shrug, Satoshi walked to the station to go back to his room.

Today was the first time he had so much fun in his whole life. As he rolled on his bed, he smiled to himself. His mood had become better since yesterday and he was sure that the main reason was Aiba. He wondered if they could meet again next time.

After a day full of excitement, Satoshi went back to his ordinary life of wiping glasses, tables, and the floor. Trying to leave his past life behind, not thinking about what had happened with him and his ex-wife, he wiped the table feeling his sadness being washed away, replaced unexpectedly by the warmth of the smiley face of his new friend.

His life was quiet again when he didn’t receive any contact from either Aiba or Matsumoto. He didn’t even try to contact them either, since one, he was a shy person; and two, he didn’t want to bother them. Between Aiba and Matsumoto, his feeling to talk to someone was a lot stronger for Aiba although he wasn’t sure why. All he knew was that he couldn’t keep staring at Aiba’s number on his phone screen, his fingers kept itching to dial the number. But he resisted the temptation to since he wasn’t sure what to say to him. Would he thank Aiba for giving him the best time of his life? For giving him the chance to enjoy what the world had to offer? He found that it was too embarrassing.

What was more embarrassing was that Satoshi had begun to think about Aiba all the time. He would like to think that Aiba made him comfortable but that smile of his was pretty addictive to see, and Satoshi found himself wanting to see more of that. It shocked him to feel like this just soon after his divorce, but perhaps he needed Aiba’s smile to heal. But it seemed that Aiba might not be feeling the same since it’d been days but no words from him. It made Satoshi a bit disheartened.
A few days later, a buzz from his phone made him grab it from his pocket impatiently.

“Hello?” A familiar voice greeted him. Ohno found himself disappointed for a split second because he wasn’t hearing Aiba’s voice but he picked himself up as fast as he could. It was Matsumoto. Would he be hearing a job offer again from him? A similar one as before so he could meet Aiba again without looking too desperate? Thinking of the possibilities, he felt his heart rate went a little faster than normal.

Satoshi was slightly edgy on his seat as he waited for Matsumoto. Matsumoto had asked to meet him during lunch time. When he saw the handsome man approaching he looked at Matsumoto with a barely hidden hope on his face. Matsumoto pushed an envelope towards him. Satoshi nearly smack his own head for anticipating a different thing. He had forgotten he hadn’t received a payment yet for his acting stint and Matsumoto was here to give it to him.

“You were really good last time,” Matsumoto remarked. Satoshi smiled awkwardly when hearing the praise. He wasn’t that good, he told him that. Matsumoto repeated his praise and it made Satoshi blush.

“So I have another job for you,” Matsumoto suddenly said. Ohno’s attention was caught. A similar job?

“No, a different one. But it’s full time though,” Matsumoto added, he picked up the beer in front of him and drank it.

A full-time job? But his current job was taking too much of his time and he had just working there. He couldn’t just quit. Ohno was a little conflicted.

“I recommend you to accept it. It’s 100,000 yen per month and you’ll save on the lodging fee since a room will be provided to you free of charge.”

Eh? This is too good to be true. But as he said he couldn’t quit his job just like that.

“Don’t worry I’ll take care of it.” Matsumoto gave him a wink that would melt any girls’ heart.

What happened next was a rather absurd scene that Satoshi had ever witnessed in his entire life. As soon as Satoshi showed who was the manager of the café where he worked, Matsumoto knelt on the floor begging the manager to release Satoshi out of his job with his over the top acting; claiming that Satoshi was his boyfriend that had ran away from him after a fight.

“Thank you for taking care of him and I’m so sorry for the inconvenience!” Matsumoto prostrated low onto the floor. Satoshi was blinking, deeply embarrassed and afraid to look at his surroundings because he was sure many eyes were on them since there were still many customers around.

Not long after, Satoshi found himself settling into Matsumoto’s car with a face so red after clearing all the possessions in the room he had occupied quite hastily. They drove away. After quite a distance, Matsumoto broke into uncontrollable laughter. Satoshi who was still embarrassed by the whole scene hit his arm not so lightly.

“That was unnecessary!” He pouted.

“Now are you convinced how good I am as an actor?” Matsumoto said smugly after his laughter died down. He wiped the tears that gathered on his eyes from laughing too much. Satoshi looked at his smug face and then he couldn’t help from breaking into a laugh too. That was stupid but what a dramatic end to the chapter of his life at the café. He swore that he won’t show his face there anymore.

After that, they drove silently out of the city. Satoshi didn’t know how long but he had fallen asleep somewhere along the journey until he woke up to the sound of the car’s door closing.

The first thing he saw was Matsumoto pulling a very grand gate to open in order for the car to come in. Behind the gate was a very big, western-style mansion. The wall was made of grey bricks, with a steep roof in the darker shade than the wall. Satoshi wondered why they were here.

Silently they climbed the stairs to reach the main door. Satoshi was carrying his luggage since he was told to by Matsumoto. Nobody was around and the neighbourhood was quiet. It gave a sense of eerie calmness. Maple trees in different sizes filled the compound, and Satoshi could see a rabbit run past the small garden in front of the house.

It seemed that Matsumoto had the key to the mansion, so he put it into the lock and twisted it open. The double door opened with a small creek showing pure darkness inside. Satoshi was half-expecting a ghost might come out but thankfully there was nothing of the sort. Matsumoto turned the switch on and the inside was suddenly bathed with bright lights. It made Satoshi blind temporarily.

There were two stairs that went up to the second floor, and Satoshi was a bit shocked with the scenery of the living room that greeted them.

“What are we doing here again?” Satoshi asked unsurely. He couldn’t remember whether Matsumoto had told him the nature of his job as he was cringing at the mess in front of him. Obviously whoever the owner was, that person had been partying all night without bothering to clean up at all.

“From now on you’re the maid.”

“What?!”

With a grin, Matsumoto left him alone to wonder.

Seriously? Why the hell did the owner want to hire a guy as a maid? Was there a shortage of maids around? He was familiar with men hired as a groundskeeper or even a butler, but as a maid? This was a bit unusual.

With a scratch of his head, Satoshi walked past the mess of a party and walked curiously towards the stairs to look around. His steps echoed inside the house making Satoshi shuddered because of how eerie this house seemed to be.

He found a room with a queen-sized bed. Since he saw a pile of maid outfits and a whole lot of costumes - Satoshi wasn’t sure of the purpose - he assumed that he could take the room. Placing the luggage just beside the door, he jumped onto the bed and within minutes he went to sleep.

Satoshi wiggled around when something heavy was pressing onto his body. In a second, he bolted up when he remembered where he was. Is someone trying to kill him?

A thud followed by a groan was heard on the floor beside the bed.

“Eh?!” Satoshi exclaimed loudly as he saw a familiar person sitting on the floor, rubbing his sore hips, a slight guilty look was staring at him.

“Aiba-san, I’m so sorry!” Satoshi apologized in shock before he realized that the man wasn’t even supposed to be here. “Eh! What are you doing here?”

“Sorry I startled you…” Aiba was now grinning, hand rubbing the back of his head as he pushed himself up from the floor and settling himself comfortably at the edge of the bed. He was wearing a marine blue shirt with small dolphins printed on it. He smelled very much like sweet wine.

The sleepy fog was leaving Satoshi as he stared at Aiba. He’d wanted to see him again but this was so unexpected and sudden. Looking at the clock on his bedside table, it was 3:16 in the morning.

“I just came back from a party and I’m tired… so can I sleep here Oh-chan?” Aiba yawned widely and without waiting for Satoshi’s permission, he crawled to the empty side beside Satoshi and dropped his face down before sighing contently like a cat finding a fluffy napping space. Satoshi gaped at Aiba. Oh-chan?

Satoshi poked Aiba’s body and got no reaction. A soft snore was heard instead. Satoshi shook his head, wondering how bizarre it was to suddenly have Aiba in his bed sleeping, when he didn’t even hear anything from him since their last meeting. He let his body fall beside Aiba, staring at him fondly with a little shake of his head. After blinking for a while, he fell asleep again.

When Satoshi woke up at around seven o’clock in the morning, he found himself being wrapped around Aiba’s long limbs. He turned his face to his left and saw Aiba’s face being buried slightly against the pillow. His mouth was opening a little, and slight drool could be seen wetting the pillow. Satoshi was itching to brush away the hair that was hiding the face.

“Hey, Aiba-san…” He poked at his cheek.

Aiba hummed sleepily but didn’t open his eyes. After another failed attempt to rouse him, Satoshi ended leaving Aiba to his sleep and went to clean himself up. The house was still empty besides the two of them, the mess that was left yesterday was still untouched and it started to emit unpleasant odour. It looked like he had to clean the mess alone. But first he needed to eat something. He hesitated to ransack the kitchen for some food since he wasn’t sure whether he was allowed to do so, thus he went outside to see whether he could buy something. He found a bicycle at the garage and pedalled himself to the nearest convenient store.

He pedalled faster back, rushing through the trees at the sidewalks, carrying a few sandwiches for him and Aiba, hoping that Aiba would like the sandwiches he bought for him.

With Aiba’s presence - even when he was sleeping upstairs - Satoshi felt he wasn’t alone anymore, the house didn’t feel so scary any longer. Satoshi picked a garbage bag that he found at the utility store somewhere in the kitchen. His nose wrinkled up as he began picking up the trash, gathering all the dirty plates and glasses and dumped them into the sink to be washed. He wiped the table, bundling up the table cloth and put them inside the washing machine. It was already mid-afternoon when Aiba walked out from the room yawning widely, his hair in a mess.

“Oh, you’ve finished cleaning up?” Aiba stared at the whole place which was literally sparkling due to it being so clean. Satoshi nodded. Surprisingly he didn’t feel any bitterness when Aiba didn’t help him cleaning at all.

Aiba gave him a thumb up. With a wide grin, he said “Ah~ I’m hungry~” while rubbing his stomach and headed to the kitchen. Satoshi wanted to stop him, to say that he had put the sandwich he bought on the table but Aiba was already gone, so he was hoping that Aiba would find it the moment he entered the kitchen.

He followed Aiba and to his horror Aiba was already opening the fridge and gulped a bottle of milk directly from its bottle.
“The owner--“ Satoshi started but he was interrupted.

“They won’t find out,” said Aiba convincingly. “Rather than waste the food here, it’s better for us to eat them before they’re going bad, right?” added Aiba, gesturing to the fruits, vegetables, and other ingredients in the fridge. Satoshi was sure the other compartments were full with stuff too.

“So, do you know who the owner is?” Satoshi asked, since Aiba made it looked like he had the permission to use up all the food. Perhaps if the owner had given permission through Aiba, he would be able to use the items to cook.

“Well… kind of…” said Aiba vaguely, rummaging into the fridge for an apple. “Met them when I started to work here…”

“You’re working here too?” exclaimed Satoshi in surprise. Didn’t Aiba say he was an actor before?

“Of course! Or else why would I be here, right?” Aiba said as he was biting into his apple. Aiba leaned over on the table, his face close to Satoshi’s who sat on one of the chairs, looking at him with amusement in his eyes.

“So Oh-chan, why don’t we cook something?” Aiba suggested at him with a wink, or something resembling a wink. It looked funny on Aiba but it was adorable too. Satoshi found that he liked it.

Cooking apparently wasn’t a strong trait for both of them. When chopping an onion made Aiba cry, he passed the knife and the half-chopped onion for Satoshi to continue. Chuckling, Satoshi chopped them up in decent looking little pieces before he set the chopped onion aside to work with the vegetables and meat. Aiba complained that he took too long that his pan was already burning up. Satoshi grumbled back at him saying that he shouldn’t turned on the stove if the ingredients weren’t ready yet. They had little disagreement on it but it was light in nature, to which Satoshi began to think that his life had become much more enjoyable with Aiba as his company.

Changing to another pan, Aiba threw the ingredients into it. The pan hissed loudly, some of the oil flew onto their bodies making them jump away, squealing in pain. They looked at each other and began laughing. Then Aiba threw every sauce available in the kitchen into the pan until the vegetables went super dark. Satoshi asked Aiba what he tried to make but even Aiba had no idea what it was, so he called it ‘Super Special Vege and Meat Mix Aiba-style!’

When the rice had cooked, they dug into their hot meal. Satoshi had meant it literally. It was super hot. Apparently Aiba had accidentally used a lot of tabasco sauce when he intended to put Winchester sauce instead. Aiba was jumping around claiming that his tongue was already melting. He rushed to the fridge to grab some cold water. Satoshi, who could tolerate hot food laughed at him. Despite it was being really hot, it didn’t taste that bad so Satoshi continued eating until he finished his second bowl of rice. Aiba was whining that he couldn’t eat it. So, Satoshi shoved a piece of sandwich into Aiba’s mouth to shut him up. At least the sandwich wasn’t going to be a waste.

Satoshi kept the unfinished food in the fridge so he could eat it later with the intention of not wasting anything, even when Aiba was protesting about it. Aiba conceded his defeat when Satoshi was being stubborn about it.

They sat around a bit longer in the kitchen and Aiba pulled him into a small talk. He said that he had been here since a week ago, being hired to do the same job as Satoshi. Satoshi wondered why the owner hired him too if Aiba was already here. Aiba shrugged noncommittally, now pouring a bottle of beer into two glasses for both of them. “Perhaps since I’m doing this part time?” Aiba reasoned in which Satoshi thought that it was plausible.

As Aiba talked more, Satoshi only stared at him with a small smile on his lips. Now that they would be living together, Satoshi wondered whether they would develop a great friendship who would be sharing hardships and fun times together. He found himself wanting to know Aiba more too. Aiba was definitely a fun and entertaining person to be around. Satoshi looked forward to share his time with him.


Part Four