"See you later," his mother said as she pats him in the head and gives her a kiss of the forehead.
He was being greeted left and right as he entered school. Every single kid would turn his way and give him a cheerful greeting, waving their hands towards him like he's some sort of idol.
That's not all. There weren't just kids that gave him a greeting, but also from the mother and father of the kids, as well as the faculty and staff of this school.
He entered his classroom full of joy in his face, and got greeted yet again. Despite being a kid, he was widely known around his school. He was smart, strong, and someone you could depend on.
The bell rang and every single children got back to their seat as their homeroom teacher entered.
"Okay class!" she said cheerfully as she clapped her hands. "The new transfer student we've been waiting for has finally came!"
As every single kid, including the famous one, paid attention very closely to the teacher's words, a person went inside the classroom.
The child that came in was a girl. She had long blue hair which reached all the way to her knees, and her bangs makes it hard for the other children to make out an expression on her face, or even see her face at all.
But the famous one knew. This girl was the one who was going to bring him his demise. The start of a terrible life. And so...
Yuuji Akamatsu held on.
"Hngg...," I groaned as I tried to open my eyes.
I was in my bedroom. The darkness that was once present earlier suddenly disappeared, and a ray of light coming from the window was the replacement for the comforting thing I had. It seems like it's already morning. Specifically, it's exactly eight o clock.
I felt water dripping down the side of my eyes and cheeks. My ear felt wet, and although it could be mistaken as sweat, I could also feel a little bit of moisture in my neck.
"...This again, huh..." I muterred to myself.
The dream I had earlier was something I wasn't really used to. I was famous in my old school, a sudden transfer student arrived, and after that, it was just all vague. I woke up before I could even see the girl's face.
I just decided to just wipe off the tear, but I felt something in my arm heavy. I couldn't move it even when I wanted to. It was like I didn't even have an arm.
Looking at my arm, it was still there. I could feel it, move it, see it. But there is one anomaly stuck into my previous body part.
"Yuumi," I said as I shook her with my other arm.
She groaned, and eventually opened her eyes and looked at me.
"Oh, Yuu-nii... Is it already morning?"
"Seems like it. Pretty rare of you to sleep in in the morning."
"I was doing some homework while watching anime, and seeing as it was going to be a weekend today, I let my desires run amok, but..."
She let out a yawn and switched from hugging my arm to hugging my body.
"I'm sorry I couldn't prepare you breakfast, Yuu-nii..."
"..."
Seeing how she's been really diligent at being the only person in this household to do some chores that her lazy brother couldn't do, I couldn't help but pat her in the head.
The dream that I had didn't matter now. Seeing how much my little sister has cared for me this past days really did I number on me.
"...By the way, Yuu-nii," she said. "Why were you crying?"
The hand that I was supposed to wipe my tears off was getting hugged by Yuumi, so I couldn't wipe the moisture off my face. I could've used my other hand, but I completely forgot.
"I just had a bad dream, that's all," I said as I started to wipe it off with my other hand.
We stayed like this for awhile. My mind was already awake, but my body still seemed to not respond well. I don't know if was just me, of if it's because Yuumi was hugging me. Either way, I didn't have the energy to get up.
"Could you tell me about it?"
"As much as I'd like to, I've already forgotten. Dreams don't tend to stick around that long, after all."
It's all become fuzzy, and the only thing I remembered was me being famous, and that transfer student. Me being famous never happened, even in my childhood, so that certainly was confusing. The problem, though, was with the transfer student. I didn't recognize her face, but she seemed pretty important to me in some way.
"Well, let's not worry about that," I said. "Why don't we just take a break for now? Today and tomorrow is a weekend, after all."
"...Mm," she agreed as she gave a small nod.
We both got out of bed, and Yuumi went to the bathroom to get her face washed. As for me, I started doing my bed, and after that, I went ahead and changed to my indoor clothes. I laid down the bed I had just made after that and just started to think.
Come to think of it, this is actually the first time in a week that I felt refreshed. The problems that came over the past week has got my mind all jumbled to the point I started crying, but other than that, I seem pretty much okay. I wasn't sure if it's because someone felt the same way as me, as trying to help a friend like Yamaguchi-senpai was doing, or if it's because I had Yuumi with me when I woke up. I wouldn't be surprised to think that Yuumi would be the one to calm me down.
It was currently eight thirty, and while I was daydreaming, I smelled breakfast. Specifically the salt-grilled mackerel. That smell indicated that breakfast was ready.
I went down the stairs to find Yuumi in her indoor clothes, setting down the last of the utensils and taking off her apron.
"Oh, Yuu-nii. I was just about to call you."
"The smell beat you to it. As expected, your cooking really is amazing."
It truly was. There was the standard rice with the egg on top, accompanied by miso soup, pickles, and the grilled fish that got my attention. Although it was all simple, for someone like me, I probably wouldn't be able to create this kind of masterpiece.
"Stop exaggerating. This is pretty basic, you know?"
"Even so, I am thankful for the services you give your worthless brother," I said as I took a seat.
While, yes, this type of breakfast is easy to prepare, I was pretty much clueless whenever it comes with home stuff.
As we both ate our foods, the silence eventually got to me. For some reason, I didn't want to be accompanied by silence for now, so I tried striking up a conversation with Yuumi.
"How's school going, by the way?" I asked as I took a sip from my bowl of miso soup.
"Well, I guess it's been quite alright. The literature club is still trying to get me back ever since you left."
"They just can't seem to give up, huh."
After my graduation from from my previous school, Taka Junior High, all my juniors there was very dependent towards me, and even now, I still don't know the reason. Yuumi joined the club back in my third-year, and then left after I graduated. She's been their target ever since.
I wouldn't really be surprised, though. She's far surpassed me in terms of literature, so it wouldn't be strange that they'd try to get her to join again.
"Any guys picking you up?" I asked.
"Yuu-nii, please refrain from asking stupid questions."
"Come on, can't I just try to be informed with your relationship at school? Yuu-nii is pretty worried, you know?"
She sighed in response.
Yuumi is pretty much the ideal girl any guy want. She's smart, pretty, reliable. All-in-all, she's pretty much perfect in every aspect compared to her brother, me.
"There's been some cases," she said. "I've rejected them all, though."
"Oh? What's the reason?"
"You already know it."
"Come on, it can't hurt to just mention it."
She sighed.
"...I don't want to be in a relationship right now," she said. "There's too much work that comes with it, with pampering your boyfriend and revealing secrets to each other. Besides, even if I did want to be in a relationship, they'd probably leave me the moment they know that I'm an otaku."
And that's that. She's kinda downgrading herself so much.
"What about me?" I asked. "I'm good with your otaku side, and you pamper me almost everyday."
"You... don't count."
"Hm... Well, guess I'll just relinquish it at that and be rest assured that I can still keep you for myself for just a bit longer."
"Yuu-nii, just finish eating."
"Already did."
As we finished our conversation, I already skipped the remains of my miso soup. My bowl of rice was empty, the side dishes was nowhere to be found except my stomach, and the grilled fish that was once full was reduced to just bones.
She continued eating hers, while I just sat. There wasn't really anything do right now. I tried thinking of some stuff that I could do in my free time, and accidentally thought of my childhood.
There was a nearby park in here where I lot of kids tend to play. I know this because I played there lots before the Ryuuji incidents. It's become a core memory for me, at this point.
Since I had nothing better to do, I decided to ask Yuumi.
"Hey, remember the park we both used to play at?"
"Yeah," she said as she finally finished eating her food. "What about it?"
"Want to revisit it again or something? You know, just a little bit or nostalgic adventures, since we're now older and all."
"Well, I guess that's fine," she said. "But wouldn't that be boring?"
"What do you mean?"
"Just taking a stroll in the park isn't really that memorable. How about we have a picnic while we're at it?"
"Oh, that sounds great. Well, let's prepare to go out this noon."
And so, the Akamatsu household prepared to go out. This was probably a good choice, considering both of us have been neglecting the time we spent together.
"Yuu-nii! Can you help me out here?"
As I finished taking a shower and changing to my outdoor clothes, Yuumi called for me downstairs in the kitchen.
I went down to see her struggling to carry an insulated picnic basket. It seemed to look heavy, considering how she was struggling.
I went towards her and grabbed the basket out of her bag, and a realized that it wasn't that bad.
"Wow, you couldn't hold this much?"
"I don't even hold anything heavy besides my bag whenever I'm going to school, and that's already pretty struggling."
Taking a closer look at Yuumi, I noticed that she herself is also wearing casual clothes. She had a white one piece, with its skirt reaching all the way to her legs.. They paired quite nicely, in fact, that it looked like she was a different person. The sun hat that she wore also made that look more effective.
"Hey, Yuumi."
"Hm?"
"Would it be wrong of me to accidentally drop this basket just to hug you?" I asked, not even sure myself if I was joking or not. But since we were talking about Yuumi, I'd probably be going with the latter.
"And why exactly would you do that?"
"You just look absolutely adorable that my desire to hold you is going off the roofs. All I need now is your permission."
Yuumi sighed.
"Yuu-nii, don't be stupid and drop the picnic. I worked hard to prepare that, you know?"
I can tell. I haven't exactly seen the contents of what the culinary expert of our household had in prepare, but I could tell it would definitely be delicious as heck and tons as well, judging by how heavy the basket was.
"I know, but I just can't fight it off anymore.
She sighed in response. She took of her hat and just held it in her hands.
"Fine. Just set down the basket on the table."
I did as she told me to, and then immediately wrapped my hands on her entire body, squeezing her like some chubby baby.
"You're just way too cute! Like a doll!" I squealed in excitement as I embraced my sister. She really was just way too cute.
"Yeah, yeah, can we go now?"
Knowing that this is probably already enough, I went ahead and let her go, giving her a pat on the head as I did.
"Sure, let's go."
I took the basket from the table, went to the exit to don our shoes, and went out the door. The late morning sun felt refreshing as it shined through our skin.
On our way to the park, many people were staring at us, especially at Yuumi. They were mostly mesmerized by the cuteness of my little sister. The people that passed us mostly focused more one Yuumi more than me. I mean, why would they?
I puffed my chest out proudly. In my mind, of course.
As we both reached the park I had mentioned, there were a couple of children that could be seen accompanied by either their mom or dad, or on rare occasions, both. It felt oddly familiar.
"I remember us having a picnic here seven years ago," Yuumi said as she took in the scenery of the families going to the park.
"Now that you mention it, we did, with both Mom and Dad."
In this exact day, May 13, seven years ago, the Akamatsu Family took a picnic in this exact park. Dad requested a leave in his work for a day and school was closed for the day because the staff had an important meeting with the other schools. I wasn't sure what that was at the time.
If it was seven years ago, that would probably mean that I'm ten years old at the time, whilst Yuumi was nine. We were both born just a year apart.
It was still in the years of the hatred of the townsfolk that lived here had in me. As I've said before, back when I was six or seven, I had dissociative identity disorder. It would've been fine and all, but that persona of mine was violent as heck, up to the point I got separated from my childhood friend.
This time, though, not much people hate me. Sure, some of the old folks here still resented me for what I did to some of their kids, but I think I did a good job fixing it by acting more proper than I was back then.
"I miss Mom and Dad...," said Yuumi as she casted her eyes downwards, just enough for me to not see her with the hate blocking it.
I gave her a pat in the head and then reassured her.
"They'll be back soon. They always do."
"...Mm."
As soon as I said that, she casted her eyes back at front. I could see her face again, and seeing that somehow made me feel relieved. That is, until that relief was somehow dissipated in an instant.
There was a teenage girl the same age as me wearing an orange T-shirt with casual jeans with a smile plastered on her face as she was walking with a kid eating a vanilla flavored ice cream.
And the teenage girl in question was Ayase Shimamura, the first-year who managed to beat one of the Three Deadly Beauties of Mitorishi Senior High.