"What happened?!" shouted Ichigo. She stared angrily at the bandages around Yuzu's neck and at the band-aid covering Kari's cheek.
No one answered her, and she felt her resolve start to crumble. "Did that person do this?" she asked with dread, feeling panic start to rise within her.
They hurt Yuzu and Kari! I don't feel like going to school! But if I stay home, I'll be alone…He might get me…No! I don't want to be alone!
"Forgive your me!" Kari suddenly shouted, snapping her out of her panic. K stood up slowly and solemnly, not looking at her.
"Forgive you…for what?" she asked, her fear dissipating as confusion took its place.
K pointed at Yuzu's neck. "I…I did that," k said quietly, if not dramatically. "You see, while I was out jogging, I thought someone was following me." Those words would have filled Ichigo with more dread were it not for k's next words. K covered k's face with k's hands and murmured regretfully, "Your Kari is just too handsome."
Ichigo blinked. What?
"I thought they were after my handsome face," Kari continued sorrowfully. "So, I decided to teach them a lesson. Too late, I realized it was our big brother."
Ichigo flicked her eyes over to Yuzu, who was staring at Kari with a look of dead disbelief. She stared at the bandages around his neck, noting the purplish skin hidden underneath. Cool calm washed over her, and she momentarily forgot somebody was stalking her. Instead, she coldly thought about ways she could punish Kari.
As if sensing her motives, Kari pointed to k's cheek to gain sympathy. K said with sad eyes, "But Big B punched me. It still hurts."
Good job big brother, she thought as she ignored k. Then she looked at Yuzu worriedly. He noticed and gave her a reassuring nod. "It's not that bad," he said after draining his cup of water. Did he think she wouldn't notice how he had winced when he drank from his cup?
She angrily whipped her attention to Kari, who was currently in the kitchen looked dejected. "What are you doing?!" she shouted, stomping over to k. "You should be responsible for what you did to Yuzu!"
"I'm finishing your lunch for today," answered Kari helplessly. "Should I not shape your rice?"
She frowned as she looked at the misshapen shape in Kari's hand. Kari was good at shaping her rice into cute animals, she privately admitted. "What were you going to shape them as?" she asked quietly, curiosity getting the best of her.
"Penguins," k replied. "Don't you like them?"
She reluctantly raised her eyes up and saw k smiling idiotically. She looked down, not knowing why she couldn't meet k's eyes. "Did you already pack Yuzu's lunch?" she asked, her anger and worry from earlier evaporating.
K turned back to Ichigo's lunch almost suspiciously. "I took care of it," k said vaguely, no longer looking at Ichigo. She found that odd. Was k hiding something?
Yuzu stepped into the kitchen with his finished plate in his hands, death in his eyes. "Where is it?" he quietly asked, referring to his lunch.
Kari finished packing her lunch and washed k's hands, not saying anything. Ichigo tugged at k's shirt, and k looked down at her as if she had done something adorable. But Ichigo gave k a dead stare. "Answer brother," she said coldly. I'm not taking your side!
"Well," k paused and visibly gulped. "I put his lunch in the blender and blended it. Before you get mad, Ichigo, just know I did it for our big brother." K laughed as if k had found a solution to a problem only known to k. "His lunch is as smooth as water. Now he won't be in pain when eating his lunch because he can just drink it!" Kari grinned down at her. "Did your Kari do good?" k asked her.
Ichigo approved when Yuzu walked to the sink and washed his dish without looking at k. After drying his plate and spoon, he turned towards her and said, "Let's go, Ichigo. I'll buy you breakfast on the way to school."
"What about your lunch?" she asked, following him as he went to grab his backpack.
"I can buy it from the cafeteria," he said, slinging his pack across his back.
"Ahh, Big B, you can do that," called Kari, "but Ichigo, bring yours—"
"Buy lunch for me, too!" Ichigo interrupted cheerily, taking his hand. Dark envy emanated from Kari, and she chuckled to herself.
"Yuzu," Kari called in a scary tone, "before you decide whether to buy lunch for Ichigo from that shitty convenient store, you should think about her health and compare their shitty lunch to the perfect, nutritious lunch I made just for her."
A few feet away from the front door, Yuzu froze. Ichigo stopped walking and looked up at her big brother. Before she could decide for herself whether she truly wanted the convenient store's shitty lunch, Yuzu let go of her hand and walked back to Kari rigidly.
She caught him whisper something like, "Don't curse in front of Ichigo ever again, you heartless—." She couldn't hear the rest of what he said as he snatched the lunch from Kari's hand and walked back towards her.
"I'll bring your lunch to you, so don't buy any," Kari called after him.
She looked back over her shoulder as they exited the house. Kari caught her looking back and gave her an innocent wave. She ducked her head and tightened her grip on Yuzu's hand, leaving the house and Kari behind.
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Ichigo seemed cheerful after she finished her milk and snack bought from the convenient store. Without mentioning the stalker, Yuzu asked her whether she would feel alright attending school today. She hesitated, and her hand in his tightened. Then her eyes narrowed, and with a fire in her eyes, she grumbled, "If I can handle that idiot Kari, then I can handle anything else that blocks my way."
Yuzu was surprised at her determination, so very different from her sickly face from last night. So this is the fruit of Kari's idiotic labor, Yuzu thought as Ichigo walked past her school's gates, waving him goodbye with a grin.
As he walked away, he passed under the branches of the trees lining the sidewalk. He didn't notice the man crouching high above one of the trees.
This man was still, watching, before taking multiple pictures of Subject 2, Yuzu, with a small and high-tech camera. Abruptly, the subject turned and looked up, seemingly towards the man. The man slowly leaned back against the trunk, willing himself to become one with the tree. After a while, the subject continued walking, this time looking more guarded and cautious.
The man breathed out his tension. For the fifth time that day, he reminded himself to be more cautious. He could handle Subject 3 were the little girl to confront him, but Subject 1 and 2…they were the ones he had to be careful around.
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When lunch rolled around, Bob asked about the bandage around Yuzu's neck. As he unwrapped the sandwich he had bought, he vaguely replied, "There was a misunderstanding between me and Kari. It's nothing."
"Should I have a chat with k?" Bob asked quietly, looking serious. That made Yuzu smile for a bit.
Bob noticed and looked hurt. "What, you think I'm going to get pummeled?" he asked, taking an angry bite out of his own sandwich.
"No, I was thinking how you've always had my back," Yuzu said. "But, really, it was just an accident." he added. He bit into his sandwich and winced at its dryness. Maybe I should have accepted Kari's lunch, he thought as he gulped down water.
The conversations within the classroom suddenly cut off. He glanced at where the other students were looking at, curious. As soon as he saw Kari standing at the classroom's doors, a pressure pinched at the base of his neck. He let out a ragged sigh and hung his head low to the table, feeling the eyes of his peers boring into him.
"That bruise on k's cheek, I guess you did that?" Bob asked him. He grunted in confirmation without looking up.
"It's Yuzu's little bro," someone whispered.
"Dumbass, that's his little sister. Handsome bastard," someone growled enviously.
A muffled giggle rang out. "Kari's coming this way!"
"Yuzu," called a familiar voice from above.
Should I pretend to be asleep? No, Kari already saw me eating. How long can I endure—
"Big bro—" Kari began.
He sprang straight up and gave k a death glare. Don't you dare call me that here!
Too late, the people around him heard and chuckled under their breaths. His cheeks heated. Kari gave him a big smirk but decided to let him off easy because instead of staying any longer to torment him, k set down a cylinder, thermal container and grabbed the sandwich in his hands.
"What are you—" he paused and stared in shock as Kari scarfed down his sandwich. After finishing it, k pointed to him and then at the container. "Eat it," k ordered.
"Where's mine?" Bob asked just as k was leaving. Kari gave him a single parting glance, to which Bob immediately answered, "I'm joking." He slumped down lower in his seat with a nervous smile as Kari exited the classroom.
Yuzu twisted the container's top open with a feeling of dread. What kind of chunky mixture was going to greet him? As soon as the top came off, Bob jolted upright and leaned in close, nostrils flaring as a wave of deliciousness steamed out of the container. Several classmates suddenly jostled against Bob to get a closer look, and Yuzu could faintly hear Bob telling them to bug off.
The scent of the hot soup hit Yuzu's taste buds, resurfacing memories of his mom cooking whenever he, Kari, or Ichigo got sick. A part of him didn't want to give in. If he gave in, something inside him would start believing that Kari truly wanted to be part of his and Ichigo's family. If he believed that and somewhere along the way, Kari hurt Ichigo again, he would never forgive himself for believing in Kari.
But if Kari's intentions were pure...he recalled the feeling of his hand in Kari's that morning. Before his thoughts could linger on that moment, he mentally swiped it away and stared at the container.
His mind didn't register his body's action as it dipped a spoon into the warm mixture and took a sip. By then, it was too late to refuse the food.
Shit, he thought as he lost himself to the nostalgic magic happening within his mouth. It's as if Mom made it.
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"So cute!" Moe exclaimed as she and Ai set eyes on Ichigo's lunch.
Two rice-penguins grinned up at the three. Between them was a strawberry, shaped like a heart.
The image of Kari sending a heart to her filled Ichigo's mind. Before the other two could question its meaning, she scooped it off and shoved it to the side.
"Does that person really make your lunch for you?" Ai asked curiously. "It's not Yuzu?"
The three of them had been friends since grade school, and Ichigo had included them in the loop of how she felt about Kari. In the beginning, she didn't say nice things about Kari since k had been distant and scary. Lately, however, her shared opinion about Kari had been skewed due to the fact that Kari seemed to be a different person. "That person makes my lunch," she confirmed, picking at one of the penguins. Its grin reminded her of Kari, and she decided to eat it first to get it over with.
"If you're not going to eat the strawberry," said Moe, reaching for it, "can I—"
"No!" Ichigo exclaimed, shielding it with both hands. It took her a moment to realize what she had done. Moe and Ai stared at her in surprise. Then Moe quickly apologized and returned to her lunch, flustered.
Ichigo blushed in embarrassment. "Sorry! I didn't mean to—um, here, I'll give you half!"
"Are you sure?" Moe asked hesitantly.
Ichigo turned a darker shade of pink. "I'm sure," she squeaked out. Stupid Ichigo, why would you do something like that?! You didn't even like the heart in the first place!
"Ok, thanks!" Moe said toothily, becoming cheery again.
Ai had silently watched Ichigo guard the heart. She glanced at the half heart on Ichigo's lunch and then at the redness on Ichigo's cheeks. She giggled to herself, feeling something lovely brewing in the air.