The Light of my Life

Momo’s a Little Strange

With Lily settled in front of the television Tamotsu made his way to the kitchen. It was a spacious apartment, the living area overlooking the Tokyo skyline. The kitchen was directly behind the couch in an open floorplan, so it allowed him to watch the television as well, while cooking. He wasn't particularly interested in the drama's Lily watched, but he kept up with them nevertheless because she always seemed to have fun talking about the characters and plot lines. He couldn't say he didn't understand the appeal as he was a fan of all things anime. 

Anime certainly had a lot of genres to choose from like mecha, space operas, sci-fi and the recently popular isekai tropes. But what was Tamotsu's preference? Moe. Moe, bishoujo, and kawaii culture. Suffice to say, "Momo's" tastes were a little strange given his serious personality and presentation. Otaku did not always have a positive connotation in Japan, but Tamotsu was one of the sorts that kept his hobby a respectable distance from his work. And quite the hobby it was. His apartment had a secluded hobby room where he could paint and display his figurines. Whenever anyone outside of the culture asked, Tamotsu simply admitted to painting in his freetime.

It made him sound smart, sophisticated and while his intelligence didn't suffer he was not as cool as he looked to be. He was never all that collected in the head. He was easy to panic and quick to anger. There had been rumors that Tamotsu got into fights in his youth, but it was quite the opposite. Tamotsu was quite the protector and often was left black and blue stepping into the way of fights he had no chance of winning. There was little one could find on Tamotsu that was negative, or untoward. 

It surprised many that he worked with models. He was always seen as a shy boy and had difficulty talking to ladies. At first they thought he was just a pervert looking to surround himself with beautiful women to one day wallow in the lavish lifestyle of a harem lord. Tamotsu would laugh you into the grave if ever such a thing was said to his face. Harem was, by far, his most hated genre. He found it to be the lowest of the low. Trashy, uncultured. Harems didn't respect the individual beauty of the characters and instead threw ten and twenty tropes into a pot and hoped something stuck.

He was a snob when it came to such things. The kawaii culture was king. Why watch girls running around in skimpy outfits or wearing aprons with nothing underneath when you can relish in the lovely style of full dressed maidens who were all pluck and proper?

Speaking of aprons... at this moment Tamotsu was tying his apron over his work clothes. He wouldn't have time to dress down until he made it home, and goodness knows when he would get that chance. Keeping an eye on Lily was a full time job. But he was prepared and always kept extra clothes in the office so he could always breeze by for a wash and change if the moment allowed. 

While Lily watched her dramas she was curled on the couch, hugging one of the pillows as she wallowed in her self pity. As the images flashed across the screen she would catch the reflection of Tamotsu in the kitchen in an apron. Pulling the pillow closer to her face she couldn't help the thoughts that trickled in. With the black screen and his dark suit it almost looked like -- 

"Hadaka apron." She whispered to herself.

"Lily?" Tamotsu's voice broke the somber scene on the tv, Lily jumping into a sitting position. 

"It's not like that!" She suddenly spouted. 

The two stood quiet, the drama in the background plucking its mood shifting tune. Tamotsu's eyes slowly drift towards the television. What did he miss? Lily deflated and flopped back on the couch, laying on her side. Tamotsu waited for a sign of life. When her hand raised over the back of the couch and dismissed her response with a flick of her wrist he chuckled. He wasn't sure what was going through her head but her reactions were always on point.

"I was going to ask if you wanted Japanese food or American food?" She could be amazingly picky for a girl who ate a lot. 

"Hamburger." She mumbled, only for Tamotsu to roll his eyes.

He was already preparing the meat, but wanted to double check. She was pretty obsessed with the stuff, some weekends that was all she would have him make. How she never got sick of it he would never know. 

Momo-- ahem, Tamotsu was a pescatarian and the only meat he had in his diet was fish and seafood. A Kanagawa native, from the city of Yokohama which was by the sea. So he grew up eating all sorts of seafood. He preferred it to the greasy and heavy meat diets he has seen some people partook in during his time at University. Nothing was a bigger turn off than watching drunk roommates binge on meat filled hotpots and later watching them expel the same meal into the nearest toilet.

With his peculiarities many were surprised to find out he had someone living with him at home. 

There was a certain point in his life that Tamotsu lost his parents. Seeing as he was still a minor at the time he was taken in by a family friend. Now what made it a curiosity was that this family was Chinese. The Xie Family were respected business owners and had ownership of a number of photography studios, karaoke bars, and popular internet cafes in Akihabara. He lived with the Xie family for the better half of his highschool years and the early part of his middle grade years. Though he was a ward of the Xie family Tamotsu lived in his family's Minka, a traditional Japanese house, in Kamakura, Yokohama. The home was built by his great-great grandfather and had passed down through his family. Seeing as he is the only son of his father it went to him so leaving it unoccupied was out of the question for a minor. 

At first people found it strange he was left to live in such a huge manor alone, that is until they saw his roommate. The young Xie heir: Xie Liu.  The grandfather of Liu would be the adult figure in the household until the two reached seventeen and were left to their own devices.

It wasn't all that strange to have young people living together but Liu and Tamotsu's closeness always seemed to exceed that of friends. Early on rumors began to crop up of their private relationship and regular outings to popular dating spots in Akihabara. Though as soon as those rumors appeared up they, and those who spread it, mysteriously disappeared. This only fueled their belief that Tamotsu was some sort of gangster and the Xie were hiding his identity. 

But it wasn't kind to spread rumors and whenever Tamotsu was asked directly he would only state that he grew up with Liu and they are, in fact, quite close. Eventually the attempts from the media to make a mountain of that molehill died out. Mostly due to the fear that they would be the next to disappear. Liu and Tamotsu are regularly shipped among the office hens of the Blood Moon Agency, without their knowledge of course. Despite what it may seem, Liu and Tamotsu have a healthy interest in women. It is just sometimes they are not self aware of how their bond looks to outsiders. 

Especially Tamotsu. 

He was an especially friendly guy and was sometimes unaware how he came off to others. He was accused of being spineless, submissive, even a kama for all intents and purposes. He dismissed all of these descriptions though on the simple basis that they were wrong. He had someone he liked very much and was quite upfront about his intentions, but he would admit he was not yet courageous enough to say those three words to them.

"I love you!"

Tamotsu fumbled the dish in his hand when a feminine voice squealed the sentence in the drama. Lily peered up from her spot on the couch, head poking up from the back at Tamotsu. 

"Momo, she finally said it!" She crooned with tears in her eyes. 

Tamotsu squint as he held tight to the dish and resumed drying it before setting it down. "About damn time. What was she going to wait til the season ended? He's leaving for America in the morning!" Ugh.

He wasn't invested in the show. It just frustrated him that the main protagonists, the love interests, spend the entire season of a show at the edge of their love never speaking up. He hated that kind of romance with a passion! It was why he despised harems! It was why kawaii culture was king! And that's why he hated himself....

"I don't have a place to say such a thing yet..." He thought as he glanced toward the spot where Lily was seated. Sighing he would plate the freshly fried hamburger steak and the over-easy egg. Filling a small ramekin with a ketchup/mayo mixture. 

"Lily, they're ready." He set the plates on the island counter before removing his apron and coming around with the utensils. 

Lily had already jumped over the couch and hurried to settle herself on the stool. Tamotsu followed suit and glanced over to the woman as he set down their knives and forks on napkins. They nodded and clapped their hands together. 

""Itadakimasu."" And they settled to eat.