Suddenly
Boom——
There was a flash of lightning and a sudden explosion of thunder outside the window, which illuminated Okino Kazuki's dim room, illuminating his slightly ferocious face and eyes full of anger.
The girl, who had never seen her brother like this before, suppressed the fear in her heart, stepped over the debris on the ground, and walked slowly to his side.
The little face that had lost all color due to fright tried to muster a forced smile:
"Brother Kazuki, what happened? It's okay, we'll talk about it later.
Let's eat first, it's all your favorite food."
After saying that, she wanted to hold his hand.
But the latter suddenly raised his hand and angrily brushed it away.
"Brother Kazuki..."
Feeling the pain in her hands, Okino Rinka raised her eyes, full of innocence and tears.
Seeing his sister's pitiful, kitten-like murmuring, the boy suppressed the fiery irritation burning inside him.
Then, he took a few steps forward, his taller figure overshadowing her petite body as he questioned her harshly.
"Okino Rinka! Tell me!
Why do you keep preventing me from getting close to Otome?"
"Why do you make trouble every time I talk to Otome?"
"Why did you lie and trick me into going out yesterday?"
"You know! You know! You..."
"I'm your brother, do you hate me that much? Making trouble for me at every turn, do you know what you've done? You..."
Thinking of the bedsheets he saw before, Okino Kazuki felt a pain in his heart, but he hadn't finished speaking yet when he heard the girl whisper with tears in her eyes: "That's because I..."
Slap!
Hearing the beginning of her knowingly guilty explanation, the boy, not wanting to hear anymore, hit his sister for the first time.
Because of the anger in his heart, coupled with the feeling of being betrayed and getting stabbed in the back by his sister, he used all his strength.
So, the moment she was slapped, the girl was immediately knocked to the ground.
Feeling the coldness on the ground, Okino Rinka, whose left side of the face was numb to the point of feeling no sensation, bit her
blood-filled lips.
The heat and pain on her face were less than one ten-thousandth of the pain in her heart.
This was the first time since they were children that Brother Kazuki had hit her, the first time he had lashed out at her, the first time he had smashed a gift she had given him.
Even so, even so, she wanted to convey her feelings to...
All she had done was in hopes of getting Brother Kazuki to pay more attention to her...no, not even attention.
Just one more look.
Whether through her antics or clinging to him, it was all to make him see that he still had her...
"Brother Kazuki, I like..."
Swallowing a mouthful of blood.
The girl covered her face, struggled to stand up, and tried to speak more clearly.
But Okino Kazuki, blinded by rage and feeling betrayed by his sister, had completely lost his reason.
Seeing that she still didn't admit her wrongs, he pushed away the hand that wanted to hold him and shouted at her with a ferocious expression:
"Get out! Just get out! I don't have a sister like you, have you lost your mind? Going to help Sasaki, an outsider, to betray me, get out.
Don't show your face in front of me again!"
________________________
The blurry tears in her eyes turned into transparent pearls, falling one by one down her swollen and pale cheeks, falling and shattering on the ground before disappearing, leaving only a faint watermark.
Hearing Brother Kazuki's words to drive her away, tears continued to pour from Rinka's eyes.
The words she tried so hard to say were drowned out by his roaring.
In normal times, seeing his sister cry like this, Kazuki would have stepped forward to comfort her and admitted his fault.
But thinking that she was the culprit and betrayer who caused him to lose Otome, he felt boundless rage in his heart.
Had Otome chosen someone else, he didn't know at all.
Aside from some sadness, he would have felt no other emotion.
But she chose Sasaki, someone who he grew up and played with.
And it was with the help of his younger sister that he gained her favor.
Thinking of this, Okino Kazuki looked at the sister in front of him with even more displeasure.
He didn't think he was inferior to Sasaki in any way.
If it hadn't been Okino Rinka's trouble, Otome would have definitely chosen him in the end, definitely.
Blinded by jealousy and rage, he pushed his sister out the door.
Not paying attention to her collapse on the ground, he slammed the door shut with a 'bang.'
Looking at the closed door, the girl lowered her head and leaned against the closed door, whimpering softly.
The heavy rain outside the house also poured down after the rumbling thunder.
The chill from the floor, combined with the cold breeze blowing in from the end of the corridor, made Okino Rinka, dressed in thin clothing, shiver back to reality.
After reaching out to wipe away her tears, she slumped on the ground and let out a soft 'um.'
With her mind that was confused due to sadness, she began to think of ways to make amends.
She remembered all of her Brother's likes and dislikes, his every habit; she knew all of them like the back of her hand.
Although, her mind was not clear due to sadness and anxiety.
But after thinking for a while, she quickly thought of a way to make up for it.
She remembered that her brother Kazuki liked to eat Dorayaki the most.
She remembered him telling her that as long as he ate dorayaki, all the sadness and troubles in his heart would be forgotten.
so...
"Dorayaki..."
With cold hands, she propped up her numb legs.
Anxious to mend the rift between them, the girl, wobbling, leaned on the wall and made her way downstairs...
After pulling an umbrella from the stand at the entrance in a hurry, without even putting on an additional piece of clothing, she plunged directly into the curtain of rain.
Although it was not night yet, the sky was extremely dark.
The fleeting thunder and lightning were like a dragon or a python coiled in the dark clouds.
Accompanied by a deafening thunder.
Under the downpour, a small figure with a transparent umbrella made her way along the road, struggling against the wind and rain.
Feeling the chill in the cold wind, Rinka's petite body, soaked by the rain, trembled like chaff.
Thinking of her determination when his brother pushed him out of the room just now.
Thinking back to the moment she was pushed out of the room by her brother.
Even though she couldn't even open her eyes due to the rain splashing her face, the girl bit her pale and blood-streaked lips and moved slowly but determinedly towards the convenience store.
_______________________
Clover Convenience Store.
Dingling~
A sound was heard.
Because it was raining and there were few customers, Haruno Ayato, who was waiting boredly for the store manager to finish talking to Sasaki, was the first to react.
Turning his head.
Tick tock~
What caught his eye was a girl in their school's high school uniform, soaked to the skin and dripping with water.
The girl's face was covered by her wet chestnut hair, so he couldn't see it clearly.
The only thing that could be seen was her pallid but swollen left half of her face and her colorless lips.
Before he could recover from his stunned gaze.
The girl who had rushed into the store threw her deformed transparent umbrella on the ground and, with 'drip-drop' water-dripping steps, quickly dashed into the food section.
"this..."
Watching her disappear into the food area.
Thinking that he had met a homeless girl, Haruno Ayato subconsciously wanted to turn around and tell the store manager.
But before he could turn around.
The thoroughly soaked and shivering girl darted out of the food section.
After tossing a handful of change at him, the girl, like an arrow released from a bow, rushed out of the convenience store.
"this..."
Looking at the assortment of coins on the cash register, the boy raised his head and glanced at the girl who had disappeared into the rain, coming and going like the wind.
Scratching his head, unsure of what had just happened.
Just when he was about to tell the store manager about it.
Sasaki, having finished connecting emotionally with Ayumi, came out from the back.
Slapping the dazed boy, he picked up the scattered coins from the table:
"What are you spacing out for? Did Sister Kasumi come?"
As he looked up at the empty door only to see a deformed umbrella falling to the ground.
Sasaki blinked in confusion.
"No, I just saw a girl in our school's freshman uniform, completely drenched, enter the store."
"She didn't say anything after coming in and just ran straight into the food section."
"Before I could react, she threw a handful of change at me..."
Glancing at the deformed, dripping umbrella and listening to the boy's description,
Thinking back to what he had said to her that morning, Sasaki suddenly had a bad premonition in his heart.
Holding the boy's wrist, he interrupted him.
"Is that girl short and has chestnut hair?"
Haruno Ayato, who almost screamed when he felt the severe pain in his wrist, heard the urgency in his words and nodded quickly.
After getting a definite answer, Sasaki jumped over the checkout counter and rushed toward the door.
Watching him rush into the rain without even taking an umbrella, Haruno Ayato opened his mouth, wanting to remind him to bring an umbrella, but then swallowed his words,
"He's in such a hurry..."