Chapter Text
"Who’s Goromi?"
She saw him tensing for a couple of seconds at the name. However, when he spun to face her, he seemed more annoyed than anything.
"Where d’ya hear that name?"
Hikari found that strange. Majima’s tone sounded off. Almost forced.
"Saw it on a box in your dressing room. It looked like your writing." She said, hesitant, wondering what all that tension meant.
He had the face of someone trying not to frown but his brows came together and his mouth firmed. If it was something she wasn’t supposed to see… He had made a poor job hiding it.
So what was he hiding now?
“An’ what were ya doin’ in there, huh? I don’t suppose yer interested in stealin’ my pants. Are ya?" he scolded, crossing his arms.
He would have looked intimidating if Hikari hadn’t caught that little glint of mischief returning to his eye. She chuckled, somewhat relieved.
"I wasn’t." She answered, lifting a hand. "I wouldn’t dare. But you told me to put some of my things there since I’m… moving in now.” It still felt weird to say it out loud. Even after weeks of basically living by his side. “I didn’t want to pry…"
"But ya did! Ya little vixen!" Majima screeched enthusiastically, a smile widening on his face, jabbing a finger at her in triumph. "Knew it! Ya couldn’t keep yer hands an’ eyes to yerself! Ya tried to discover the great Goro’s secrets!"
Hikari couldn’t help but laugh. Why was she even worrying? Majima would always be Majima. She wouldn’t be surprised to learn that he had placed that box there ONLY to spark her curiosity.
Except the box was dusty.
And old.
She was pretty sure it hadn’t moved from that spot in the dresser for months. Maybe years. It couldn't be one of his stunts.
Probably just some old stuff, then? The label intrigued her though.
"So… What’s in it? Are you going to tell? And who’s Goromi? Do you have a sister?" she asked.
She didn’t really believe it. She would know by now if it was the case.
Or would she?
Majima’s face twitched.
He jerked away and shifted his focus back onto what he was doing earlier :
Building miniature models.
A HUGE pocket version of Kamurocho, and Kamurocho Hills, had sprouted in one corner of the apartment, close to the window bay.
Majima kept it strictly updated to the real thing, going as far as making tiny human models as well, many of them wearing a replica of the Majima Construction helmet. Two particular ones stood out though : one wearing both the helmet and a trademark snakeskin jacket, the other wearing a grey suit and a sort of dragon head.
Hikari had been amazed at how skilled and dedicated Majima had been in reproducing the tiniest detail but also concerned by the number of hours he spent on it instead of, say, eating and sleeping.
It looked like he desperately needed something to keep his mind busy these days.
Hikari thought she recognised a pattern in this.
It had started with pocket circuit. He’d built car models from scratch and then made a whole race circuit to challenge Kiryu on it. Hikari had been both their sportscaster and their arbiter.
Majima had lost.
Then won.
And lost again.
Hikari had managed to take a few pictures of the event.
That was how she had found the box in the first place. She'd been trying to hide the damn album she was making, as a gift, somewhere Majima would not find it.
That dusty closet where he apparently never really set foot anymore had seemed perfect.
Now, seeing as Majima avoided the box’s subject, she wondered what she had stumbled upon.
"Goro?"
"Busy!" he retorted, turning his back on her, picking up a small brush and some paint.
Hikari felt like he was shutting her out.
Avoiding whatever this was about.
It was an on-going pattern.
Once it had been clear that Kiryu would keep the title of Kamurocho’s fastest, and once he had LEFT Kamurocho with little Haruka, a very upset Majima had shoved all the pocket circuit stuff aside and thrown himself into rollerblading again.
Neither Hikari nor Nishida could keep up on their wheels long enough to pretend to try racing. Majima, annoyed, had joined a gym band and entered a tournament.
His team had won.
Several times.
Until Majima had been bored and had left his rollers by the shoe-rack to start brewing his own beer.
Something the Majima family eyed suspiciously.
With good reasons.
Majima’s first few attempts at a 'Maji-Potion' were outright terrible.
Nishida himself couldn’t keep from gagging despite knowing he would get smacked on the head by a very angry, very peeved, patriarch.
Hikari had joked that he would end up brewing a particularly efficient poison if he kept going.
“Huh. Ya think I really could?" had been Majima’s only answer.
For a few days afterward, both Hikari and Nishida had been scared, half-expecting herbalist books to pile up and weird colored plants to spawn in Majima’s apartment.
To their relief, Majima had turned to miniature modeling, pouring more and more time into it whenever he wasn’t out, wandering the streets, looking for a fight.
Right now, he was sitting cross legged on the ground, stripped to the waist, hunched over a small piece of what looked like a… bin of sort. Majima was carefully painting it in blue and Hikari figured it was one of those that could be found all over Kamurocho.
The very same ones into which she could found him a while back, hiding to try to jump-scare Kiryu.
Or her.
She wondered if, by chance, Majima planned to hide small models of himself everywhere in that replica of Kamurocho.
That sure sounded like him.
There was something oddly nostalgic about all of it.
"You didn’t answer me." Hikari asked again, softer, seeing how Majima pointedly ignored her now. Deflecting again.
"Answer what?"
"Do you have a sister? Or an aunt maybe? I thought… you told me you had no family."
The brush froze mid air.
Majima lowered his hands and frowned, looking in the distance.
"Onee-chan… " he muttered, lost in his thoughts.
Hikari padded closer to him, worried she might have pushed a difficult subject. She was about to put a hand onto Majima’s naked shoulder when he bolted up, grinning.
"Tell ya what! Gotta introduce her to ya!" He beamed. "I’ve gotta make preparations at once! Time ya meet Goromi!"
With that, he snatched up his jacket and tanto, both lying on a nearby cushion. Hikari watched him, stunned.
He had reached the door, pulling his shoes on, when she managed to catch up with him, grabbing his wrist before he could bolt away again.
"Wait! You… are you going to present me to… your family?!”
But I thought he had none left. Did he lie?
"Whatcha talkin’ 'bout Hikari-chan!" Majima whined dramatically. "Ya already know the Majima family : Nishida, Minami, Gary… "
"No! Yes? I mean… It’s… Meeting up real family I mean…”
Majima shook his head, but he didn’t pull free from Hikari’s grip and when he talked his voice subsided to a softer tone, his smile more genuine.
"Ya ain’t gotta be worried, Hikari-chan. Goromi will absolutely love ya!"
Something crossed his mind then and he frowned, waving his hand in an apologetic gesture.
"Truth be told… Ya might be the one not likin’ Goromi that much. But she’ll love ya, trust me on that! Now…" He looked at his wrist where Hikari still held him tight. "Would ya mind lettin’ me go? Got a special dinner to arrange tonight. I want this to be BIG!”
The light in his eye sparkled with renewed energy and Hikari knew there was no talking him out of it once he got like that.
His mind was set.
She could only hope for the best.
As soon as Hikari released him, Majima disappeared behind the door, humming along one of his imaginary tune, leaving Hikari more puzzled than before asking her question.
Who was Goromi?