"So, why did you asked me to come to the school rooftop?" A girly but stern voice could be heard together with the gushing sound of the wind. The weather was a little humid, but the breeze felt nice.
"Thanks for coming Mikagi-san—This time it was a manly voice who replied to the girl's question—there is something I wanted to tell you for a while, could you hear me out?"
The girl, Mikagi Sora, a second year student of Kotori High-school, stood in her place, listening to the person who asked her to come. She looked at him for several seconds, trying to analyze him from head to toe. Finally she sighed like resigning herself, and just nodded. .
"Mikagi Sora, I like you, please go out with me!" In a louder voice after a deep bow, the boy confessed his feelings to the beautiful girl named Sora. Trying to sound as sincere as possible, and hoping for the best outcome, he conveyed or at least tried to convey his feelings for her.
"Sorry, that's impossible, not happening." However, sometimes life is harsher than you think. With a simple sentence, the blonde haired girl, turned down the boy and in a couple of seconds, she demolished every inch of courage that he had. With a quick bow, she walked off towards her classroom, leaving the boy alone in the rooftop.
"Yeah, that didn't work huh?." Mumbled nonchalantly for himself Kanzaki Ren after being turned down. Not that he thought that he had a high chance to actually succeed but maybe, just maybe he had a slight opportunity.
'Well, the outcome was pretty obvious' He nodded for himself with a 'I see' expression on his face.
Ren, who is a very, if not extremely ordinary person, with regular looks and a neutral personality, stand no chance to date the school beauty Sora, who is basically an idol at school. Just looking at her appearance alone, she stands out like a sore thumb compared to the typical Japanese girl.
Long blonde hair, deep cerulean eyes, porcelain-white skin almost doll-like, tall height when compared to other girls her age, a pretty big bust size, and a slim figure that could even make boys jealous.
"Well, I just have to think of another way, I'm not gonna quit just because I was turned down once." With renewed resolve in his mind, although a really over-optimistic one, Kanzaki Ren left the rooftop wearing his trademark stoic face, and made his way towards his classroom.
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"Hey man." Said Ren when he returned to his classroom.
"Hey, how did it go?" Asked the person in return when he saw his friend back at the classroom.
"I got rejected." Said Ren without hesitation, like it was a matter of fact that he was going to be rejected, though it was most likely a fact.
"Huh, bad to hear that, feeling sad?" Replied the other man with a little of compassion in his face.
"Not really, she just turned me down this time, who knows what's going to happen in the future Akira." Ren said, thinking that he just needed to try harder the next time. In reality he never talked before with Mikagi Sora, or interacted with her in any way, this was most likely because Sora was in class 2-A, while Ren and his classmates were in class 2-E.
"Honestly dude, where do you find all that confidence? I would really like to know." The other boy is Nishina Akira, Ren's classmate and best friend almost since the entrance ceremony. He's tall, has an athletic body from playing basketball at middle school. He has brown hair, green eyes and is a calm and friendly person. At first they didn't even know about each's other existence, but after Akira started to have an interest in Ren, they instantly got along. Basically because they understood each other to a certain degree, and it was an unspoken rule that neither of them asked about each other. It was a strange but simple friendship and maybe for a normal person, a friendship full of secrets was just going to end in despair, but it worked just perfect for both of them.
"It's not that I'm confident and not that it benefits me or anything, it's just that I was half resigned from the very start." Ren spoke honestly, he did thought about it a whole bunch, he reached the conclusion that he was going to fail, but anyway, being rejected is also a new experience for him, it was supposed to be painful and sad, but he didn't really felt anything of the sort, that disconcerted him a little.
"Yeah, true—Replied Akira with a smile—wanna go hit the arcade a little?" Asked Akira with a big grin, Ren couldn't help but smile too.
"Sorry, my sister's already waiting for me—Replied Ren with an apologetic smile—maybe next time" Akira's grin just became bigger after Ren's words.
"Ohhh yeah, can't forget that your 'sister complex' won't let you stay away from her for a few hours, oh you siscon." Said Akira while laughing and hitting Ren on his back.
"Shut up idiot. Anyway I can't go today, i'll make it up to you next time." Ren started to pack away his things onto his bag, and shortly after, walked off to the entrance.
"Yeah yeah, sounds good, see you Ren." After saying goodbyes (at least one of them did), both parted ways at the hallway.
Kanzaki Ren is well known in the class for being part of the ''class decoration'', and it was no exaggeration that people thought of him that way. The only times that Ren seems to be doing something is when he eats, or when he talks with Akira, otherwise he just stares outside of the window, stares at his notes, stares at the teacher's lecture, but that's it, nothing more, nothing less. Even some of his classmates jokingly said that "he is easy to forget", but for Ren that doesn't mean anything, he'll just smile and say "Is that so?", and it was no joke, he couldn't care less about how the other people thought of him. Obviously, we live in society, so we have to know how to get along with people. Ren knows this well, so he makes sure to have a good relationship with people, from his own classmates, to students from other classrooms, so almost everyone knows Kanzaki Ren.
But since the entrance ceremony, someone caught his eye from a single glance, and that someone is Mikagi Sora. Ren doesn't know exactly why, but when he saw her from afar, she remained in his mind. He thought that this could be what people call "love at first sight", and from Ren's perspective, this was a valuable chance to experience what people call "love". So today, he tried to confess to Mikagi Sora at the school rooftop. From what he read, it was the top spot for confessions in high school.
The rest it's already in the past, now Ren have to think of a way to make it happen, that is, to know more about Mikagi Sora. Who knows, maybe something could happen in the future.
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"'Sup Rin." Said Ren to the girl standing alone at the school entrance, apparently waiting for someone.
"Don't 'sup' me nii-san, you're awfully late, I have been standing here for about 20 minutes!" Exclaimed in an angry voice the short girl at Ren when she saw him.
The person who called Ren "nii-san" it's Kanzaki Rin, Ren's little sister. Rin's a 15 year old, short and slim girl with long black hair and bangs that partially cover her left eye, using a sakura flower hair-clip to retain it from covering her right eye too. She has beautiful crimson eyes that looks almost like a pair of rubies, and has a friendly but straight and serious personality, she is often called a prodigy because of her high intelligence, scoring the 1st place among the freshman at the Kotori High-school entrance exams.
"I'm sorry, I had something to do a couple of minutes ago, but now it's okay." Replied Ren with a smile while patting Rin's head.
"O-oi nii-san! Stop patting my head!" She quickly brushed him off, while her cheeks were bright red. Ren often treats her like a child, although Rin always lashes at him for that.
"Haha, yeah my bad, ready to go home?" Ren ignored Rin's complaint like she never said anything at all and took her bag from her onto his free hand.
"Yeah, yeah, let's go." She decided to let it pass because it was useless against his brother, she just sighed for herself and started to walk back home with a smile on her face.
"By the way Rin." Ren started talking again.
"What is it nii-san?" Asked curiously the crimson-eyed girl.
"I confessed to Mikagi-san before I came to meet you." Replied Ren as if it was a normal topic to talk about.
"I see, is that s—before she could continue speaking, she thought and processed what Ren had told her, and then, it clicked—EHHHHHH?! WHAT?!" screamed Rin in surprise at the sudden and unexpected news.
"That's why I was late to meet you, I'm sorry." He ignored Rin's screams of confusion and offered an apology.
"Wait wait wait wait! Nevermind that, what are you talking about nii-san?!" She stopped on her tracks and looked up to see her brother's face.
"Uh like I said, I confe—"
"I know that, but what I mean is why?!" Rin couldn't contain her bewilderment and surprise.
"Why you say...? How am I supposed to answer something like that?" It looked like he was talking to himself than to her.
"What? You don't know? Come on, tell me already!" She started shaking his brother's shoulders in desperation.
"Well I mean, it doesn't really matter, she turned me down anyway." Replied Ren apparently unaffected while Rin started recovering her calm.
"It doesn't matter he says..." Said Rin in exasperation while rubbing his temples with her fingers.
"You see Rin, Mikagi-san is like really popular, yeah? So I think that I want to know more about her." Intervened Ren with a little shy smile.
"Really you... Okay, good luck I guess?" At the end she just sighed again and decided to let him do whatever he wants. Ren's usually like this, or more like he doesn't really ask for anything and it's the same for the house-chores, usually Ren is the one who cleans and prepares the food. Maybe a little bit of liberty would do him good, but who knows.
That said, the two siblings continued their walk, talking about how was school. Basically, it just meant Rin talking about what she did with Kana and Shizu, her best friends, while Ren listens silently and occasionally nods and throws a comment.
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""I'm back!"" Two voices could be heard from the entrance door of the apartment, both from the respective owners of said apartment.
"Haaaa, I'm wasted..." Rin threw herself head-first at the sofa, making her skirt roll up in a unladylike way, and started rubbing her face against the hard fabric.
"Oh right. Rin, what do you want to have for dinner?" Asked Ren while tying up an apron above his school uniform.
"Whatever's fine with me, I don't feel like being picky today." Replied the crimson-eyed girl without raising her face from the furnishing.
"You shouldn't be picky for starters..." Sighed Ren and shortly after, he started preparing dinner.
"Rin you should start preparing the bath, dinner will be ready in 1 hour." Without looking at his little sister's face, Ren continued dexterously cooking.
"Okaaay." With this, Rin disappeared from the living room and went into the bathroom.
It was usually like this, Ren took care of all the house chores while Rin, when she felt like it, prepared the bath for both of them. Looks like today is one of those "if I feel like it" days.
Ren and Rin lived alone in the apartment because their parents passed away several years ago, leaving them orphans. Until their father's grandparents took them in until Ren turned 14, when he asked to live alone with Rin. Due to circumstances, their grandparents allowed it, and they send them money every week to live by. As for where they slept, their apartment has two individual bedrooms, one for each sibling, but Ren usually slept at the coach for apparently no reason at all, much to Rin's dismay.
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"There~" With a satisfactory sigh, Ren finished setting the table with the dinner, he looked to the living room for Rin and called her for dinner.
"All finished nii-san, now itadaki*..." Rin returned and sat at the table, ready to eat when her eyes detected something grotesque.
*Itadakimasu can be translated as "Thanks for the food" or something like that.*
"Nii-san you know I hate vegetables, why did you put them in my meal?" Asked the Kanzaki sister while frowning.
"Come on Rin stop complaining already and just eat them." Ren didn't even bothered to look at her, he simply decided to start eating his own meal.
"No no no, come on nii-san, you know that I simply can't eat them, please eat them for me." Mimicking her brother Rin started eating, the difference being that she just ate the fried chicken, no vegetables included.
"Aren't you a picky brat?" Ren opened one of his eyes to look at her while he kept munching his food.
"It's not my fault, you already know that I don't like veggies and yet you put them on my plate, they are not yummy in the slightest." Continuing her tantrum, she pushed away the vegetables with her chopsticks.
"Just eat the damn vegetables already you "flattie"! Maybe that way your boobs will grow big and plum—*THUMP*—Gahh!" After receiving a full-blast kick from Rin, Ren was now laying on the floor, barely conscious.
"Shut up you idiot! I said I'm not gonna eat them an that's my last word!"
"O-okaay..." Replied a semi-alive Ren to his sister's words.
"You really are an insensitive jerk without a piece of delicacy, now I'm mad!—Rin ate her dinner at record speed, put her plate down and looked at her brother again.—I'm taking a bath, baka-nii!"
"..." After several seconds, Rin's head peeked over the bathroom door and saw Ren still lying on the floor.
"Bleghh!" She stuck her tongue out and again, she entered the bathroom, leaving her brother on the dining room.
"Haaah, at least she is as energetic as always." With a soft smile, Ren finished his dinner, took a bath after Rin finished hers, and went to sleep, hoping for a more interesting tomorrow.
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"HateHateHateHateHateHateHate" Pitch black darkness stained everywhere, there was not a single color, just darkness, one that Ren knows to well.
"I hate you" He kept hearing dreadful voices, throwing curses at him, like he was the worst kind of scum in the world. Maybe he was, and he didn't know about it yet, what if he was a terrible person doing bad things when nobody is watching?
"It's your fault" No, no matter how you saw it, this was clearly an unjustified hatred, a high level of hate without form that searched for a way to leave the body, because otherwise it could be really dangerous to have inside.
"Why her?" Mixed with the intense hatred, there was a tinge of sorrow, sadness, pain, a potpourri of negative emotions swam in a pool of malice, but never took form, always a black screen, like his life was cut off out of nowhere.
"You have no allies left" This one sentence was indeed truth at some degree, he always thought that he was left alone in this world alongside Rin. But also Ren always thought that if the world would be his enemy, he wouldn't care as long as Rin was at his side, that would be enough, he didn't needed anything more.
"I hate you." This time, he felt an intense pain in his chest, as if someone had just stabbed him with a knife to his very core. He started trembling, and after a few seconds struggling with himself, he woke up.
"Haah! Haaah, Haah..." Ren was now sitting on the couch, drenched in sweat and feeling like he fell from a skyscraper. He decided to check the hour at his old model cellphone.
"5 am." Giving the hour a quick glance, he tossed away his phone and let himself drop back-first onto the coach.
"This is troublesome, am I going to stop having this nightmares someday..?" He sighed, and chuckled a little bit, thinking that he indeed has really bad luck when it comes to the "dream world". Was Orpheus mad at him or something?.
'Well, I better hop into the shower, I feel really gross covered in my own sweat.' With that in mind, Ren left the living room and went straight to the bathroom to take a shower, afterwards, he started cooking breakfast.
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"Yes, it looks really good." After making sure that breakfast was finished, Ren took his time to contemplate his work. After several seconds glancing at the freshly-made breakfast, he gave his creation a thumbs up and a passing mark.
"Oh, is it already time to wake up my little sister? Lucky me." Said to himself after taking a glance at the clock in the living room. After making sure that the table was all set up, he walked towards Rin's room.
*knock, knock* "—Rin, are you awake?" Ren knocked on Rin's door, and after making sure that she was asleep, he decided to enter her room.
"Well, excuse me, i'm entering~" Ren opened her door and stepped inside without hesitation.
Rin's room was not what you would expect of a girl's room. It was all messy, clothes scattered around the room, especially used underwear. Ren already scolded Rin for not cleaning her own room on a regular basis, basically he was the one in charge of cleaning the entire house, Rin's room included. She said that she didn't like when he cleaned her room, because he was always touching her underwear without permission, while Ren always replies that if she wants her underwear to be cleaned, he needs to wash it, meaning that he needed to touch it.
"..." Ren stared at his little sister's sleeping face.
He always thought that she looked really calm while she sleeps. After taking glances at her face he started to talk again her.
"Oooooi Rin, wake up, we need to go to school!" After several seconds, Rin's body started to move slightly, until her eyes opened.
"Ahhh... No vegetables please nii-san..." It was crystal clear that Rin was still half-asleep and didn't know what she was saying at the moment.
"Huuuh... not listening are we?" Ren muttered to himself when he noticed that Rin was half-asleep.
Rin was looking everywhere with half closed eyes while a single string of saliva was hanging from her open mouth, while some people would think of this scene as something "sexy", Ren thought that she looked really dumb and gross, although he did thought that she looked somewhat cute.
"Well, I don't want you to get moody because i didn't woke you up early, so don't mind if I do..."
After talking to apparently nobody, Ren pinched Rin's nose with his thumb and index finger, then he stared at his wrist watch, and after several seconds the face of the person lying on the bed started to turn into a pale light blue or purple color.
"Waaaaaaah! Haa.. Hah... Haaah..."
After receiving an ultra rough "wake up call" from her dearest brother, Rin woke up with a loud drowned scream and started breathing heavily, when she finally recovered her breath, she glared daggers at Ren.
"Hey, finally awake? Good morning Rin." Ren smiled while Rin was angrily looking at him with a face that screamed 'don't you dare look at me like nothing happened!'.
"What the hell Nii-san?! Can't you try to find a more gentle way to wake me up?! At this rate, I'm going to die!" Rin was seriously mad with Ren because this wasn't the first time that he used this method to wake up Rin, but he thought that there's no other way to wake her up because of her being a heavy sleeper. He didn't planned to change his methods until Rin learned to wake up by herself.
Just to clarify, it's not that Rin was the kind of person that stayed up until 3 AM, in reality it was the complete opposite, she is a "model student", a really hard-working person at class, so it was a shame that we can't say the same thing of her when we talk about house chores, but that's another story. Because of Rin's weak constitution, she has low blood-pressure, so this mainly caused her "heavy sleep" problem, not only that, but she tends to sleep during lunch break after quickly eating her lunch.
"Hey I DID tried to talk to you, but you just didn't woke up." Ren nonchalantly replied to his little sister's voice of complaint.
"Yeah but.. That's..." Rin couldn't find a way to respond to Ren's words.
"Weeeell, we could stay all day arguing, but you should probably start changing, we gotta go." Ren hurried her because otherwise they were going to be late for homeroom at school.
"Yes, yes, I understand, get out!"
"Whoa there, I got it, geez I'm going, I'm going." Ren made his way to the living room after being chased out of his little sister's room by Rin herself.
20 minutes after their daily routine, they ate the breakfast that Ren made, and shortly after that, they started walking towards school. Although Rin complained everyday of Ren's methods to wake her up, this was truly their daily routine, and deep down in her heart, she was happy that she could have this little interactions with his older brother. After a 15 minute walk from the home to school, they entered the main building that connected the first, second, and third year floors.
"See you after school, nii-san." Rin said her goodbyes, and then she went straight to her classroom when they reached the first years floor. Ren continued climbing the stairs until he reached the second year floor, then he made his way to the classroom with the labels '2-E'. When he entered the classroom and went to his desk, the girl that sits next to him turned to greet him with a big and bright smile.
"Good morning, Ren-chan!"
Ren turned to his left after hearing his name called in such a embarrassing way and saw a well known girl's face a few centimeters to his face.
"Ah, good morning Sakagami-san."