Chapter 5 – The Younger Brother
Chapter 1, Part 3
Novel Title: 融愛~Melt Down~ (Melted Love ~Melt Down~)
Author：風結子 沙野 (Fuyuko Sano)
Illustrator：雅良 水名瀬 (Masara Minase)
Translator: K (@kin0monogatari)
Protagonists: 葉越海理 (Yougoshi Kairi -MC), 葉越翼久 (Yougoshi Tasuku -ML)
*Please read at Novels Space.space, the original site of translation. TQ*
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“Could be your liver. But seriously, you’re better suited for being a boxer, not a host. Look at this—what a huge bruise.”
As Kairi brushed past him, he slapped the toned side of the young man’s waist.
“Ouch—damn, that’s fresh from this morning.”
Kairi stepped into the ten tatami mats sized living room and let out a sigh of exasperation.
Though it had been spotless when he left, the floor was now scattered with open magazines, rental DVD cases, discarded towels, clothes, and half-finished bottles of drinks.
His brother never changed.
He bent down to pick up one of the bottles—a 1.5-liter Italian mineral water, Fillette, shaped like the curve of a woman’s waist.
“You’re already 23. Isn’t it time you got a proper job? You could go to a vocational school, get some skills. Is there anything you’d want to do?”
Despite Kairi’s strong urging for him to attend university, Tasuku had ignored him. He dropped out after high school to work at a host club. With a natural talent for handling women, he quickly became one of the top earners at the club. For the past five years, he’d consistently ranked in the top three, though he didn’t seem particularly driven. However, his tendency to get into fights meant that his position as the number one troublemaker was undisputed.
Thinking back, Tasuku had always had a knack for being pampered by women, even as a child. The beautiful but shady woman who lived in the run-down apartment next door had been particularly fond of him… and remembering that nightmare of a snowy day still sent shivers down Kairi’s spine.
“Yeah, yeah. You’re all upright and respectable, Aniki.”
As Kairi started tidying the room, Tasuku flopped lazily onto the blue square-shaped sofa, smoking a cigarette.
“Well, I guess with a national university degree and a job at a major food company, ‘that woman’ must feel like the money she sent was well spent.”
“I’ve told you not to refer to mom like that.”
“…Hey, when was the last time we saw ‘that woman’? Eight years ago?”
“No, when I was a first-year in high school. And you were in your second year of junior high. So it’s been nine years.”
“Nine years, huh. I bet even if we passed by her on the street, she wouldn’t recognize us.”
――I was in fourth grade, and Tasuku was in second when our father passed away suddenly.
Their mother, who was both emotionally and financially dependent on men, started drifting from one man’s house to another. Eventually, her absences became more frequent. And by the time a year had passed, it was rare for her to come home at all. If it were today, child protective services might have intervened for the abandonment. But back then, no one extended a helping hand to the two young brothers.
Rent was always overdue, and there were several times when the electricity or water was shut off. Each time that happened, their mother would apparently stop by and leave an envelope with a few thousand yen, sometimes up to ten thousand, which allowed them to get by.
The money for Kairi’s high school tuition was provided by his mother’s lover. Kairi met the man once to express his thanks. His mother had always moved from one man to another. But it seemed she had stayed with this one for about a year—a scrawny man in his late forties who worked as a pachinko machine technician. Even now, Kairi vividly remembers the man’s dark, cowardly eyes. His mother had been addicted to both alcohol and pachinko, so they had likely met at one of the large pachinko parlours near the station.
It was nine years ago when their mother stopped coming home altogether. She disappeared with her lover, and no one knew where she went.
At that time, both Kairi and Tasuku worked part-time jobs—delivering newspapers and at fast-food restaurants—managing to cover their basic living expenses on their own. But even though Kairi’s high school was public and the tuition was low, there was no way they could afford it on their own. Kairi decided to drop out of high school to work full-time, determined to at least ensure that his younger brother could graduate and even attend university if he wished.
However, just before Kairi was about to drop out, a large sum of 300,000 yen was deposited into his bank account from his mother. After that, substantial amounts continued to be deposited sporadically.
Though there wasn’t a single phone call or letter, Kairi was touched by the thought that their mother was still thinking of them. Sometimes, he would take out his bankbook and stare at the name ‘Yougoshi Touko’ printed in the remitter’s column—his mother’s name.
Kairi graduated from high school and went on to attend a national university. Tasuku also graduated high school. But when he turned 18, he said there was no point in going to university and entered the nightlife industry instead.
Kairi quickly tidied up the room, throwing the laundry into the washing machine and putting the magazines back on the rack. The apartment had pretty good soundproofing. But vacuuming this late at night would be too much. So he decided to save that task for the next morning.
When Kairi got out of the bath, Tasuku had already set two bowls with a Chinese-style thunder pattern on the edges on the dining table.
“After drinking, ramen’s a must.”
“Do I really reek of booze that much?”
“You’re not a good drinker, so don’t overdo it. What’re you gonna do if some bored chick gets you drunk and takes advantage of you?”
“Yeah, yeah. Thanks for the meal.”
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*Translator’s Note: I’m sure their mom is a beautiful woman since both Kairi and Tasuku are good-looking. Hey, I can’t help but think, with the amount of true crime shows I’m watching, that maybe their mother was murdered by her last lover. Who knows? By the way, allow me to mention that when Tasuku mentioned ‘that woman’, in writing, it is written in katakana (アノオンナ) instead of hiraganas and kanjis (あの女). Using katakana for ‘that woman’ would be a way to emphasise his strong contempt and emotional disconnect. Katakana is often used in Japanese to convey foreignness, emphasis, or a sense of otherness, so by using it here, it can heighten the sense that he sees his mother as something alien, detached, or even dehumanised. It underlines the intensity of his negative feelings. -K
*GLOSSARY:
- Onii-san / Onii-chan / Nii-san / Nii-chan / Aniki = (Big/Elder) Brother
☝🏻I’ll be using these throughout my translation.
☝🏻 Filette mineral water
Next update: 2024.12.31
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