By Zephyria Amber and Tennessee were currently in Texas City.
‘Let’s go to Texas for Thanksgiving. Dexley throws a huge party there every time people gather.’
Amber’s bucket list had been realized.
Quite a few people gathered, including many of Amber’s cousins. Tennessee wondered if David’s siblings had been raised without any corporal punishment.
That meant the kids lacked manners.
“So, you’re Ryker’s boyfriend?”
The one sneering and mentioning Ryker’s boyfriend was Xander.
‘Even the dim-witted cousin Xander brought a girlfriend.’
He was a cousin Amber had mentioned once. He wasn’t far apart in age from Amber.
All the way to Texas, Amber had lectured on how deficient and rude Xander was among the cousins.
Once, a children’s fight had almost escalated into an adult brawl. Even though all three children of the Dexley family were adoptees, Xander had run his mouth poorly about adoptees. A fistfight had even broken out between Amber and Xander.
‘This is a free country, and I have freedom of expression!’
Xander had said after being hit, and Amber had freely hit Xander. Amber added that the incident had grown quite large, and since then, Elizabeth particularly disliked going there.
‘That’s why I sometimes don’t go and just stay home—’
‘Were you scolded a lot?’
Tennessee asked, cutting him off. He already knew this story. It was natural, as he had received regular reports for several years.
‘Yes, a bit. …Anyway, I was told that you shouldn’t try to solve things with your fists.’
Tennessee, who had always solved problems with fists and bullets until now, listened to those words seriously.
‘He denies it, but Xander is a racist and a homophobe.’
Still, Tennessee found it strange that Amber silently went to Texas City. When asked for the reason, the answer was, Because everyone except Xander is great.
‘And it’s not like I don’t know why he’s like that.’
‘Really? What’s the reason?’
‘Because he lives a pathetic life, he puts others down to feel a sense of superiority. Because he thinks they’re easy targets.’
Hmm. For Tennessee, it was a rather familiar type of human.
“I am Isaiah Clayton.”
Ending his reminiscence, Tennessee offered a handshake to Xander. Amber, who almost asked Who is that?, only then realized. He had become so accustomed to Tennessee that he forgot it would be difficult for him to say, ‘I have no surname or given name, I am just Tennessee,’ to a stranger.
“Nice to meet you.”
“You’ll have a cola, right?”
As Tennessee offered his hand, Xander turned his back, saying he would pour a cola. Naturally, the handshake was not returned.
That little… Amber approached with clenched teeth, but Tennessee signaled him with his eyes. It meant there was no need. Putting on his mask well, Tennessee smiled kindly and took the cola. It was a red plastic cup, and there was a lipstick mark on it. It was a cup someone else had used.
It was childish in the extreme, but Amber had no intention of overlooking it, whether Xander was being childish or using a high-level scheme.
“Throw it away.”
Amber snatched the cup from Tennessee’s hand and tossed the cola carelessly onto the garden grass. The plastic cup crumpled with a crunch. With a menacing aura, Amber led Tennessee inside. What Tennessee felt while being led was…
Freshness.
Amber checked on him, worried that Tennessee might feel bad, but Tennessee just looked like a sleepy giant feline. He followed obediently wherever he was led.
“Besides acting like that, did he do anything else to you?”
Did he hit you, or bully you…
“No,” Amber said flatly.
“This is the first time I’ve experienced something this childish.”
Because it was so incredibly blatant, it didn’t hurt at all. It wasn’t even annoying. If anything, it was almost amusing.
“That’s a relief. He’s less so with me and Tennessee, but he seems to say mean things to Annie and Cody sometimes.”
The worst thing had been said five or six years ago, when they were students.
‘Did Elizabeth and David pick you and bring you here? Like adopting puppies?’
“I just felt bad, but it probably hurt the kids.”
As he led Tennessee, his footsteps came to a sudden halt.
“He said that to you?”
“Yes.”
At that moment, Amber saw it. In the eyes that had been relaxed like a languid cat, a sharp core had formed.
Tennessee evaluated that Amber’s relatives were generally not bad. A few showed signs of discomfort, but it seemed to be due to unfamiliarity rather than hatred. There were also those who welcomed Tennessee and Amber and were sincerely happy for Amber.
As time passed, Tennessee erased names from his potential hit list one by one. In the end, by the time dinner was over, only one person remained. It was Xander.
“Annie.”
Seeing her poor expression, Amber approached Annie, knowing Xander must have said something again. Sure enough, Xander was wearing a slimy smile behind Annie. He must have thrown out words that hovered on the ambiguous line between racism and ignorance, upsetting the child.
“What ignorant thing did Xander spit out this time?”
Speaking loud enough for Xander to hear, Amber put his arm around Annie’s shoulder. Annie, who had been a very young child when he first saw her, was already a middle school student and had grown a lot, but she was still far smaller compared to the tall Amber.
“Do you feel bad?”
Annie let out a sigh and shook her head.
What kind of nonsense had he said to make Annie act like this? Calming his boiling insides, Amber responded gently.
To the racist Xander, Cody, who was East Asian, and Annie, who was Black, must have been irritating targets. In particular, Xander had a history of spitting out various nonsense to Annie. He had thrown out words like, You’re the only Black person here. What had he said back then?
‘If you do a DNA test, everyone is probably at least 1% Black. We’re all cookies anyway; it’s just a difference between being a brownie cookie or a sugar cookie.’
He remembered comforting her by saying that.
He wondered how to comfort her this time, but Annie, who had become a prickly middle schooler, didn’t seem to need Amber’s consolation much.
“Xander definitely has no brain cells.”
Having been significantly influenced by Amber, Annie had a cynical side.
“What happened?”
Tennessee, having spotted the two, asked. Annie stared blankly at Tennessee while pressing her cheek against Amber’s broad shoulder. Annie was exceptionally fond of Tennessee. The reason was that he was handsome and cool. When she was little, she would reach out as if asking to be held or try to get his attention whenever she saw him.
As Annie grew up, she changed a bit; her “big-headed” answer was that “anyway, all the decent men turn out to be gay.” Regardless, Annie tended to like Tennessee more than Cody.
Tennessee responded bluntly to Annie’s greeting. His interest lay not in the heartbroken Annie, but in Amber, who was comforting her. Amber gave a slight smile and pointed toward Annie.
“Annie, what did Xander say?”
“……Forget it. I don’t even care.”
Should I just kill Xander? Just as Amber’s fist began to tighten, Tennessee shook his head.
“Wait here.”
Then, Tennessee stroked Amber’s and Annie’s heads in turn and disappeared.
It was a family gathering; surely he didn’t bring a gun today, right? Having undergone a sudden process of socialization after being adopted in middle school, Amber thought, ‘Still, murder probably isn’t allowed, right?’
However, Tennessee, whose socialization was relatively less advanced, was different.
“Xander.”
Tennessee called out to Xander, who was greedily eating a steak. Why me? A look of wariness clouded Xander’s eyes.
“I heard you like cars.”
Tennessee took out his car keys. He currently owned two cars: a Jaguar and a Corvette. Since Tennessee had no particular preference for cars, those vehicles had all been purchased according to Amber’s taste.
Originally, Tennessee had intended to buy Amber a Ferrari or a Porsche, but Amber had joked, “In movies, cars always explode. So let’s just buy something less expensive.” He had bought them anyway, but he remembered that Xander had been staring intently at his car when he parked earlier.
“Want to take a look?”
Xander followed him as if possessed.
Without imagining for a moment what result that would lead to.
After talking to her boyfriend for two hours, Annie felt somewhat better. As Amber hugged Annie and patted her back, the back door leading to the garden opened, and a pale, terrified Xander appeared. Behind him was Tennessee, wearing his usual expression.
Click. The sound of the door closing echoed unusually loud.
“I-I’m sorry. Annie, I apologize to you too.”
Trembling violently and spitting out apologies rapidly like a magic spell, Xander vanished in an instant.
“…….”
After a short silence, Amber covered Annie’s ears and asked.
“Did you cut or break anything?”
“No.”
Then it’s fine.
Strictly speaking, Amber simply hated the idea of Tennessee getting blood on his hands; he didn’t particularly care whether Xander died right then or not.
The development of Amber’s empathy, having undergone formal socialization in middle school, had been somewhat delayed.
Amber asked nothing more, and Tennessee sat beside him. Annie, feeling much better, suggested they take a selfie together, but Tennessee just stared at her again. Amber, curling his body up, leaned against his shoulder.
“Ugh, you cockroaches.”
Annie grumbled and went upstairs. Since people were gathered in the kitchen and backyard for conversation, they were the only two on the living room sofa.
“There seem to be many good people around.”
Tennessee said so out of politeness, though he’d have to dig a bit to know if they were actually good. Amber, who knew exactly what was going on inside Tennessee’s head, smiled and nodded.
“It’s thanks to you, Tennessee.”
The natural chatter of those sharing a past, the noise of the TV, the sound of children running and shoes stepping on the carpet. An ordinary life. It was perfectly picturesque.
“Tennessee. Kiss me.”
Holding a dream in his heart, Amber closed his eyes.