Koi and the Brother
Their lives have grown quieter and darker, even if sunlight persistently breaks through the great, grey clouds above them.
Even if the koi fish, which the grandson feeds regularly, seem indolently happy in their swimming.
Mother has been silent and aloof, praying before a home shrine to the deceased, his grandfather. Rain and thunder come and go, keeping time stuck in a loop of grief and melancholy, yet his younger brother seems the most stuck, his behavior colder than winter. Their lives have grown quieter and darker, even if sunlight persistently breaks through the great, grey clouds above them. Even if the koi fish, which the grandson feeds regularly, seem indolently happy in their swimming. All things of nature cannot change their emotional present, for his younger brother retreated deeper in his mind, his eyes showing no happiness.
It has been hard for the grandson, eating meals with his mother and younger brother amid raindrops and soft winds. Their dinner conversation, uninteresting news from town, feels weak. Their mother excuses herself, no longer feeling hungry. She stands up weakly, her lack of appetite evident for the grandson and his younger brother. She then shuffles to her bedroom. Alone with his younger brother, he tries to break the silence with a curious question about frogs, except the younger brother leaves for outside, calm and damp. The grandson balks and follows.
Before the koi fish pond, his younger brother stares at them, swimming around peacefully. The grandson hears him tut and scoff, unsure why they need any attention. The grandson hesitates, nearer to his younger brother, but unwilling to stand beside him in case of a sudden reaction. He has to tend to them or they will have no fish, no life in the garden their father made long ago. That sparks a flash of anger across his younger brother's face, responses not taken too kindly. With that, his younger brother yells about the stupidity of fish then runs off, much at the grandson's distress, confused, and soon afraid, as his younger brother has run off into the night.
The grandson flings the wooden entrance door open, searching up and down the gravel path for his younger brother, unable to find him. He shuts the entrance gate gently and dashes into the night. He can't find his younger brother, running and searching, calling out his name, but the frustration becomes panic. Soldiers, doing their patrols, catch the grandson. They scowl at him and demand a reason why a youth seems to be causing a disturbance in the neighborhood.
The grandson didn't know soldiers would be patrolling, so he apologizes, except one soldier orders he return home immediately, or they will bring him to the local police station. The grandson, forced to return home, eavesdrops that they will be shipped out to a faraway land soon. It doesn't sound like somewhere in Japan, but the grandson dismisses the thought for another, his younger brother, still out there on a night fraught with rain, thunder, and potential lighting. He could catch a serious cold, which could become a fever, and if untreated, it could spell disaster. Personal disaster for the grandson, ashamed that he said the wrong thing by the koi fish ponds.
Back home, he does not hear his mother. He cannot find his younger brother. Yet Koi fish swim.
