Chapter 202 - House of Laughter
Spring brought the smell of cherry blossoms.
Neither Kuro nor Akari had exams for the first time in years.
Instead...
They carried boxes made of cardboard to the small house located on the outskirts of the town.
It wasn’t big.
The living-room space was modest.
The kitchen was only spacious enough to fit two people.
The additional bedroom remained empty.
However, the very moment Akari crossed the threshold, she turned around with a big grin.
"Kuro!"
"It’s ours!"
She raised her arms to the sky, only to bump into one of the moving boxes.
The box flipped over.
All the kitchenware spilled out with a bang.
Kuro glanced at the mess.
Then, at his wife.
Akari awkwardly scratched her cheek.
"... Welcome home?"
He couldn’t stop himself from laughing.
"I guess that’s an appropriate start."
---
One week ago, they had sworn their vows in front of all their relatives and friends.
The ceremony went rather well.
The party afterwards...
Didn’t go as planned.
Akari somehow persuaded the photographer to compete in the dance competition.
The wedding cake almost fell down when she hugged Rika enthusiastically.
Akari demanded she could say the thank you speech unprepared.
She started crying in the middle of the speech.
Laughter at herself.
Then she made everyone else cry.
Thinking about it...
It was as typical Akari wedding as it could be.
---
They soon formed some kind of routine in their married life.
Each day, Kuro was cooking breakfast while going through the notes for his counseling sessions.
Akari was rushing about the house trying to find her phone.
"Kuro!"
"Have you seen my bag?"
"It is on the dining chair."
"My keys?"
"Kitchen counter."
"My wallet?"
"Inside your bag."
She was looking at him in wonder.
"Are you psychic?"
"No."
"You are simply predictable."
She pouted and laughed.
"I have married someone too attentive."
---
One Saturday afternoon, the bell rung.
Akari opened the door without even asking the visitor’s name.
There were standing Yui, Rika, Aoi and Mina with bags full of snacks.
"Surprise!"
Akari exclaimed happily.
"You came!"
Rika stepped into the apartment and looked around.
"This place already feels like you both."
Aoi corrected her glasses.
"There are books about psychology on each shelf."
She pointed at the couch.
"And there are three plush toys somehow."
Akari proudly crossed her arms.
"Decoration."
Mina smiled.
"I would say this place is controlled chaos."
Kuro looked around the living-room.
She was right.
The house wasn’t perfect.
There was a blanket left over the couch.
The cup of coffee was sitting on the table.
Akari’s bright slippers were nowhere near the shoe-rack.
It wasn’t perfect.
But it was lived-in.
---
The afternoon soon became quite noisy.
Akari proposed to all her friends to play board games.
She proudly declared she was going to be the future champion.
She lost the first game in fifteen minutes.
"This game is obviously unfair!"
"It uses the dice," answered Aoi calmly.
"The dice are unfair."
Everyone laughed.
Even Kuro, usually silent spectator of any game, couldn’t resist and laughed almost the whole time.
The conversation soon switched from the stories of university to the work, dreams and plans for the future.
Nothing extraordinary had happened.
No drama.
No life changing revelation.
Just some old friends eating and laughing.
---
At the evening, everyone helped with the dinner.
Or rather...
Everyone tried.
Akari offered to cook enthusiastically.
In ten minutes the smoke already started coming from the frying pan.
Kuro quietly put his hands on the pan and turned off the heat.
"I had everything under control."
"The fire alarm thought differently."
She burst into laughter so much that almost dropped the spatula.
Finally, they managed to prepare something that was uneven but delicious.
At the dining table, the room became filled with cheerful conversation.
Rika said that Akari’s cooking became "survivable".
Yui tactfully called it "full of efforts".
Even Aoi admitted that the food was "statistically better than expected."
Akari put her hand on her heart.
"I guess that was a compliment."
---
Late that night, after everyone left, the house became silent.
Akari leaned against Kuro’s shoulder as they were sitting on the porch.
"I hope our friends will always keep coming here."
Kuro looked through the window at the cups left unwashed and at the cushions left everywhere in the living room.
"They definitely will."
She smiled.
"... Do you think that the married life is supposed to be so ordinary?"
Kuro gently took her hand.
"I think people spend too much time waiting for the extraordinary happiness."
"And you?"
"I think the happiness is a lot like today."
"A small house."
"Friends that don’t announce themselves."
"A messy living room."
"And you laughing every five minutes."
Akari rested her head against his shoulder.
"If that’s happiness..."
She squeezed his hand.
"... I hope our house will never get any quieter."
Kuro smiled looking at the warm light spilling from the windows.
"So do I."
For the first time since they have sworn their vows, he realized something very simple.
The happiest house wasn’t the cleanest.
Nor was the biggest.
Nor was the most impressive.
It was the one full of the laughter of those you love.
And their small house...
Already was.
The first Sunday after everybody had paid them a visit came rather quietly.
Warm rays of sunlight penetrated through the curtain and filled the living room with their golden glow.
For the very first time...
It was completely quiet in the house.
Slowly opening his eyes, Kuro looked at the clock.
Seven-thirty.
Usually Akari was already up, whistling and making quite a lot of noise that could tell the entire neighborhood she started her day.
Today...
Silence.
"...This is not normal."
Curious, he headed to the bedroom.
Akari was sleeping.
The half of the blanket had somehow found its way to the floor.
One pillow was thrown away to the other corner of the room.
Smiling in her sleep, she embraced another pillow.
Unable to suppress a small laugh, Kuro approached her.
"Even when you sleep, you do it energetically."
Hearing something, Akari murmured something incomprehensible and turned over.
Gently lifting the blanket which was left on the floor, he covered her with it.
Right when he wanted to leave the room, she grabbed his sleeve in her sleep.
"...Five more minutes..."
Kuro smiled.
"All right."
"I’ll make us some breakfast."
Asleep, she nodded and released his sleeve.
---
Soon after the kitchen was filled with the smell of rice, grilled salmon and miso soup.
Taking care, Kuro prepared everything and set everything nice on the table.
A few minutes later he heard hurried steps.
"No!"
"I overslept!"
Akari appeared in the kitchen with messy hair.
Stopping in front of the breakfast, she exclaimed.
"...You already made us breakfast."
"I did."
"I was going to prepare the breakfast today."
"So you said."
Lowering her head dramatically, she continued.
"I failed as a wife."
Placing a bowl of rice in front of her, Kuro replied.
"I disagree."
"You do?"
"I woke up smiling."
"That sounds irrelevant."
"I don’t think it is."
Blushing a bit, she answered.
"You always know what to say."
"Not always."
"Enough."
She smiled and sat down.
---
After breakfast, they decided to clean the house.
Or at least...
This was their initial decision.
Akari opened one of their old boxes.
"Oh!"
"I found the pictures from our university!"
Cleaning instantly stopped.
Sitting on the floor, they looked through the photos one by one.
"There!"
Pointing her finger to the photo, Akari said.
"The cultural festival!"
Laughing, Kuro added.
"You were covered with flour."
"Do you remember it?"
"I do."
"You have accidentally walked into the cooking club."
Laughing until the tears started forming in her eyes, she looked at another picture showing them under summer fireworks.
For a minute nobody was saying anything.
"Our first festival as a couple..."
Akari said quietly.
Nodding in agreement, Kuro added.
"I remember your confession."
She tried to hide herself behind her hands.
"Please don’t."
"You shouted it."
"I know!"
"So did you."
"I was replying."
They both started laughing loudly.
---
By the end of the afternoon their living room was looking messier than before.
Alboms.
Photos.
Notebooks.
Souvenirs from university.
All of them were spread across the floor.
Looking around proudly, Akari commented.
"...In some way, we managed to make a cleaning messier."
"Objectively, yes."
"Is it worth it?"
Kuro looked around at all the photographs.
Laughter.
Friendship.
Love.
Ordinary days that quietly turned unforgettable.
Smiling, he replied.
"Worth it."
Leaning on his shoulder, Akari continued.
"I’m glad we found all of this."
"So do I."
Reaching for his hand automatically, she said.
"You know..."
"Hm?"
"I thought the happy marriage means doing everything perfectly."
Looking around at the wonderful mess of their room, she added.
"But maybe..."
"It’s laughing in attempts."
Gently intertwining their fingers, Kuro replied.
"I think you have found the secret finally."
"And what is it?"
Looking around their cozy house, he answered.
"The happiest houses are not those that are quiet."
"They are those in which people don’t mind the mess."
Akari laughed so loud that she almost dropped another albom with photographs.
"I love it."
The breeze carrying the smell of the blooming flowers came through the open window.
In their little home sat a couple among the photographs, memories and undone cleaning.
Not in a hurry to finish it.
Some moments were priceless to interrupt.
Without realizing it, they created another photograph that someday will find its place in the family albom.