"Phew," I sighed closing the door. I finally arrived at our home with Kaitou waiting for me on the couch. "So how did your research study went?" He asked rolling his eyes.
"Not so great about the research part honestly, we did explore plant species but ended there. The rest we just messed around."
He sighed, "You do know that you can also do a study about different things other than plants?"
"Got to caught up with the plant thing. I did want robotics too, but I think it's going to be complicated for my small brain. Besides, we got distracted while having our 'research activity' earlier."
He sighed, "Well that's understandable I guess, robotics is not easy to do. I used to get distracted all the time too whenever we had group activities."
I walked to the couch he was sitting on and sat beside him. I laid down and placed my head onto his thighs using it as a pillow. He started to pat my head and asked, "You tired?"
"Yeah... I danced a bit too much." I replied starting to feel drowsy I closed my eyes.
"So you went to an arcade? " He asked as reached out for the blanket beside him and placed it over me. "What's a good anime can you recommend me?"
"Dreamers, it's a pretty interesting anime." I recommended.
"Hmmm," I was feeling really sleepy by that time. While he was using his other hand to pat my head,
I grabbed his other hand to hold it and feel relaxed.
"You haven't change at all, You're still adorable and a kid for me." He chuckled.
"You still act like a parent," I commented.
****
I jerked open my eyes; waking up with Kaitou's sleeping face right in front of me. I had no will to move and stared at him appreciating his visuals. I guess I never paid that much attention to it, that's probably why he's so narcissist at times. Finally having the energy sent to my three remaining brain cells; I sat down and Kaitou started waking up too. "Oh, Good morning, did you sleep well?"
"I did." I said wiping off the saliva from my mouth.
"Take a bath first. I'll just cook our breakfast." He suggested.
I nodded back and took a towel and went straight to the bathroom.
After a few minutes, I finally finished taking a bath and wore casual clothes and started doing the
thing that I fucking hate the most; brushing my hair. My hair knots every 5 seconds making it difficult to comb.
While I struggle combing my hair, I received a call from Nica.
"Irene!" She wailed.
"Is something wrong?" I asked.
"You see, the school drama is coming up and we still haven't found a lead woman. I need to find one until Monday. ~ Irene can you help me please?"
"Me? The fuck, what drama and why me?" I asked startled.
"You're really not informed, huh? The yearly school drama is going to happen this year. I was the committee elected for it so I'm in charge of finding the leads. I'm calling you because I heard from Kaitou that you're good at singing, dancing and acting. You're the perfect candidate for this." She pleaded; I can hear it from her voice.
I stopped for a moment and hesitated, "I'll think about it Nica. I'm that not sure if I want to join."
"Please Irene think about it well, I'll really appreciate if you join." She reminded one last time.
"Sure, bye."
"Bye!" She said as he ended the call.
I sighed and head out of my room. Kaitou already cooked our breakfast and placed it onto the dining table. I sat down next to him and started eating our meal. We started eating silently leaving an awkward silence between the two of us.
Deciding to break the silence, I asked him whether I should join the play. "Do you think I should join the play?"
His eyes widened and stopped eating for a while. "Whoa, you were invited to act on the play?"
"Yeah, Nica invited me to be the lead since she can't find one. I'm not even aware of this event like I swear to god. She's pretty desperate by now." I explained sighing.
"Why don't you agree then?" He asked.
"I'm not just that interested into acting anymore longer, not like before." I said bumping my head onto the table.
"Hey stop doing that you'll hurt yourself you idiot." He said catching my head and stopping me from bumping it one more time. "Let's finish eating breakfast then I'll take a bath then I'll take you somewhere."
"Where will you even take me though?" I asked.
"It's a secret, but I promise you that once we get there you'll want to act again." He winked.
We continued eating our meal and right after that Kaitou went straight to the bathroom while I washed our plates.
A few minutes later, Kaitou finished taking a bath and changed into casual clothes. "Let's go Irene."
I nodded back and stood up and wore my shoes by the door. "Why the fuck are you so tall?"
"I'm a grown-ass man alright? You can still grow taller... I think." Hmph, I pouted. He laughed and patted my head while we start walking outside. "Let's ride a taxi by the corner. Let's go to the festival nearby. I heard there's a lot going on there."
"Fine," I said and followed him silently.
We walked to the corner of the street and rode a taxi from there.
"Mister, to the Filido Street, please." Kaitou requests as the taxi driver started driving. He started using his phone, leaving silence between us once again. I wore my headphones and listened to music, but instead of using my phone I stared at the scenery outside the taxi. For some reason every time I ride a taxi or a bus, I feel sleepy. I felt my thoughts slowly going away as I slowly close my eyes.
~*~*~*~*~
I felt a slow pat on my head. I slowly opened my eyes and I saw that it was Kaitou's hand. "We're almost there Irene, wake up."
I yawned and stretched my body; I took a peek on the window and saw lots of decorations and people. The car stopped and the driver told us we've arrived. Kaitou reached out for his wallet and paid the fee while I got out of the taxi. "So... why are we here in the first place?" I asked looking around at the busy street. "Well just to have fun honestly." He shrugged and grabbed my wrist and started walking.
Walking steadily he suddenly asks me a question, "You like BL right?"
Kind of flustered I replied, "Y-yeah, why is something wrong?"
"Well, were going to a BL cafe." He excitedly says.
"Isn't it going to be a bit uncomfortable for you?" I asked worried on what he might do.
"Nope as long as you're happy, I'm alright with it."
A few minutes later, we finally reached the building and he let's go of my wrist. "Come on let's go, Ire."
We both slowly entered the building and knocked on the door. We were greeted by a group of guys. "Hello!" Greeted by the guy who opened the door.
"Oh, Kaitou what are you doing here?" The man who opened the door asked.
"Hey, Seung it's been a long time now," Kaitou greeted. "Well my younger sister really likes BL so I thought that I should bring her here."
"Is that so," He replied as he turns his attention towards me. "Hello, is it you're first time here in a BL cafe?"
"Y-yes," I nodded. "Come follow me to your seat." He says as he brought me to a seat. He then handed me the menu and made me choose what food and what scene would I like to have.
"So for every food I order there'll be a scene included or are they separated?" I asked. "Nope, you can order them differently." Seung said correcting me.
"Is that so? Well I'll just have burger and fries with coke." I said then flipped to the scenario pages. 'Kabedon', 'Pocky Game', even 'Seme and Uke' and other more.
I felt the corners of my lips rising and forming a smile. Kaitou saw my reaction to the scenarios and smirked, "You look really happy right now."
"Sure," I replied and covered my mouth.
"So what scenario do you want?" He asked.
"The Pocky scenario seems pretty nice." I said pointing at it on the menu. "Well then you'll need two guys for that. Choose from them." He said pointing at the guys behind the counter near the table.
"Hello!" They greeted in unison.
Three of the guys started walking towards us, "Hi, I'm Hoshi!" The guy in the middle with blonde hair greeted with a smile.
"I'm Tsubaki." The guy in the left side with purple hair greeted.
"I'm Niji." While the guy in the right side with black hair greeted.
"Uhm, can Hoshi and Niji do the pocky scene? Then the next scene kabedon Hoshi and Tsubaki do
it?" I requested. The guys immediately prepared for the scene and moved the table so I can see what they're about to do.
"Okay we'll start now," Hoshi said putting their selves into a trance.
*****
"Hey~ Hoshi is it true?" Niji asked grabbing Hoshi's arm.
"What's true?" Hoshi asked back smiling gently at him.
He sighed and looked down the floor, "That you'll be leaving by next week?"
Hoshi just smiled and pat his head, "Where did you hear that?"
Niji stayed silent and kept on looking down. "Come on now, cheer up Niji," Hoshi pleads taking his
hands and holding it.
"W-What are you doing?" Niji asks flustered by Hoshi's action. "I have your favourite food." Hoshi
whispered. He grabbed a pocky box from his pocket and placed it onto his and Niji's lips. Niji tries to resist but Hoshi overcome his strength
The two's face slowly started to come closer, until the end Hoshi's and Niji's lips met each other.
"OUCH! HEY STOP!" Kaitou shouts as I keep on hitting his back due to the excitement I felt from the romance scene.
Everyone laughed from the view of me doing countless slapping my brother's back due to the romantic excitement I felt. "So the Kabedon scene is next, right?"
"Wait, please stop for a while my heart can't take too much romance at once." I exaggeratedly said still slapping Kaitou's back. "Hey stop already!" Kaitou shouted once more still feeling the pain on his back.
"Hey Kaitou my shift just ended. Let's go." Seung said heading out of the building. "Alright, let's go." Kaitou said dragging me out of the room.
"Hey! What about the Kabedon scene!" I complained.
"Sorry, Ire but that'll be for next time." He said sticking out his tongue.
"See you guys next time!" The guys shouted.
"Did you even pay?" I asked. "Of course I did." He replied with the three of us still running.
"Where are we even going?" I asked as I start to feel exhaustion on my feet. "Well, we're pretty close to it don't worry." Seung explains.
We kept on running until we reached a building and head inside; entering the stairs that head downstairs.
"Whoa," I commented. The place was actually full of people, and there was a stage full of instruments. "Seung is joining a band competition here; I wanted you to watch it with me." Kaitou
explained while Seung head onto the backstage.
The emcee now came out from the backstage, starting the program making the whole crowd cheer.
"Alright, everybody the show shall now start with the one and only The Pillar!"
The contest finally started making the audience calm for a while. Groups were supposed to sing two songs one of them being lively and the other one being ballad. The lively songs always made the audience go wild, while the ballads make them relaxed.
After a few more bands it was finally Seung's band turn. "Alright and the aspiring rookies of this year, Rumour!"
The crowd went wild as Seung walks onto the stage with the look of confidence in his face. He walked to the center of the stage preparing for their number. "Are you all ready?!" He shouts hyping up the whole crowd.
He took a deep breath and started singing, "Though the light is still in a faraway sky I will not lose my wish and wait for the earnest you."
"Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!" The crowd chants throughout the song.
His singing voice and the crowd cheers gave me sudden goose bumps. "Everything you see will change the world the sea of tears that you shed will only strengthen your heart!"
"Hey are you sure that you don't want to onstage? Don't you feel the excitement in your heart whenever you stand onstage?" He asked as if trying to inspire me to be onstage too.
I pretended to vomit, "You're too cringey Kaitou," I commented keeping a straight face.
After their first song is finished the audience went wild while Rumour prepared for their next song.
As the guitarist started to strum their guitars, the atmosphere slowly changed calming down the audience. Seung took a deep breath and started singing, "When the flowers were blooming, I didn't know but now I long for spring, I wait for it.
"All of your marks that are deeply engraved in me. I can't erase them so even the pain is still so clear." I slowly fall into a trance due to his voice. His unique voice started to give me goose bumps. I felt a spark. Kaitou's plan might've work. This was the feeling that I felt before that inspired me to be a singer in the first place. The feeling of the crowd's loud cheer; the thought alone just gives me a lot of goose bumps.
***
The show finished with Rumour winning first place. "I still have one place I want to go with you."
"Another one?" I asked. "Yep," He nodded.
"It's a place you're really familiar with." He smirks.
Arriving at our last destination, it was none other than an album shop. "Come on let's buy something."
We both entered the store while the cashier greeted us hello. "Can I buy Super Bangtan's album?" I asked Kaitou.
"Go on." He said as he heads onto a different shelf. I started looking around for the newest Super Bangtan or even R6 albums. I kept on looking around at the shelves until, "Oh, found one." I said finding the most recent Super Bangtan album I found.
If I can find Super Bangtan's album then I can probably find R6's, I thought. I looked around the shelves again this time trying to find R6's. After another round of trying to find a fucking album I finally found it.
"Oh, found it finally." I pointed out and started pulling the album as I pulled the album a different one also fell. "Oh, what's this?"
"'Forever Promise'?" I questioned the album seemed oddly familiar to me. I inspected the album a bit more closely looking at each side. Just when I started to feel like I remember why it seemed familiar, Kaitou took it away from my hands. "Hey what the-?"
"This album is the collaboration album of our parents," He said smiling gently at the album. "You might not remember it, but when you were still a toddler you always sang this sang in front of the television." He said as he started to pat my head, "'I'll become just like Mom and Dad when I become big like them.'" He chuckled, as he was mimicking me.
Just in a flash, he changed his expression and suddenly hugged me tightly, "I wonder what happen to you, Irene? You used to be so cheerful and act like an extrovert before, but now you're just acting like a loner and stuff."
"Puberty I guess..., I honestly don't know either." I sighed. "I'm joining a drama though, not a singing contest. Everything that we did and talked about right now is not related to theatre."
Flustered from the realization he let go and shouted, "S-Shut up! It's the same thing, okay? People sing on theatres and stuff like musicals. Well either way, I'm just reminding you to chase your dreams. I just think that you standing on stage fits you the best."
"You're really an old man aren't you Kaitou?" I mocked. "Hey I'm a fucking young adult, Missy." He hissed.
I ignored him and went straight to the cashier to pay for the three albums. "Hey! Don't ignore me!"
He complained and fell in line.
The cashier scanned the albums Kaitou and I chose. "The total is ¥13,425.33"
Kaitou paid ¥14,000 yen. "I received ¥14,000. The change is ¥574.67"
We bowed and said thank you to the cashier and head out the store. "Are you happy with what you bought?" He asked.
"I guess, hehe."
***
"Uwaaaah!" I said as I stretched my body. "I'm fucking tired." I shouted and flopped down my bed. I turned on my phone and read the most recent messages. It was actually from a group chat, I started to back read and read the first thing I saw. "Fuck. FUCK. FUCK. FUCK!" I shouted.
"I swear to god Irene stop swearing!" He shouted. "What's the matter anyways?" He asked.
"I fucking forgot to make research topics cause you brought me somewhere just to convince me to join a fucking school drama." I ranted as I read more of our research group chat.
"Are you still joining the drama?" Kaitou asked. "Yeah, Nica has no more choice anyways. Now I have to fucking cram and make 3 research topics for tomorrow." Realizing how pissed off I am, Kaitou left the room leaving me alone. I sighed and decided to call Nica. She immediately answered the phone.
"Hey, Irene." She greeted.
"Hey, Nica. I've decided to join the drama on Monday and now I have to go since I haven't done a single thing for research, bye." I said quickly without breathing and hang up.
I flopped down the bed and sighed, "Fuck sleep, here we go cramming."
I turned on my laptop and started looking for anything that can get my attention. "Ashitaba is pretty common here, maybe it has some kind of properties I can use for something." I said talking to myself as I continued on cramming.
I suddenly received a call from Subaru and decided to answer it. "Hey Irene!"
"What?" I asked through the phone.
"Are you done with the research topics? I already made 4 topics and Nica made 3."
"I know I read it on the group chat. I actually went somewhere today that's why I'm cramming right now." I sighed rubbing my eyes due to how heavy my body feels from all the places we went today.
"Is that so? Just tell me when you need help about something. I'm usually online anyways."
"Okay, I'll take note of that." I said and hanged up the call.
Kaitou all of the sudden peeked at my room and asked, "Cramming?"
"Yeah..." I replied with a sigh.
"Here," He said handing me a piece of paper. "What's this?" I asked looking at it.
"Those are my old research topics from highschool since I took you to so many places today instead of letting you create your own I felt guilty," He looked down apologizing. "So here they are but don't tell anyone about this."
"Alright, thanks a lot Kaitou. You're such a life saver." I commented.
"I'm always welcome Irene," He said patting my head as he walked back to his room.
With a sigh of relief I flopped on the bed and started scrolling to look for a new book to read. It was peaceful until Nica chatted on the group chat of our whole batch.
I clicked on the chat head and read the message.
SCHOOL DRAMA PLAY
IRENE AMANO AS THE FEMALE LEAD
JUSTIN ALFRAIN AS THE MALE LEAD
"Fuck who the fuck is this Justin?" I mumbled. "Goddamn it why did I agree to this without even knowing what's the drama we'll be acting and who's the other fucking actors." I complained.
"Irene you're such an idiot!" I shouted as I felt my shoulders get heavy due to all the stuff I need to do. "I'll just sleep." I sighed and closed my eyes as I finally became drowsy as my body finally gave up from all the stuff I did today.