Yoru
"YORU! YOUR BIG SISTER WAS FOUND UNCONSCIOUS IN THE ABANDONED SCHOOL GYM WITH ANOTHER GUY!"
I felt a chill run down my spine when my classmate said that. "Why was she there?" I asked, my voice barely steady. "And what do you mean she's unconscious?"
"They say she was... assaulted."
Those words crushed my world down to its lowest point. Those memories of two years ago flashed back, memories that I thought I had buried. It's almost unbelievable that he was still in this school. Earl Stan Gonzaga—of all people. Never would I have imagined him doing something like this to my sister, especially given how close they were. Every time she came home, she would talk about him whenever she had the chance. They were best buddies, despite her being a year older.
I never really paid much attention to what was happening around Nee-san. The first time I noticed them hanging out was during lunch one day, here on this very rooftop where I later confessed to Alexei. It felt strange at first since she was older, but I ignored it. They were just friends, after all. Everything seemed fine until that fateful day. The police came, arrested Earl, and my sister was left unconscious from a heavy blow to the head. My anger towards him was immeasurable, like a volcano on the verge of eruption.
Weeks passed before my sister woke up, screaming as if she went through a nightmare, and the doctors had to sedate her. I was so terrified seeing my sister expression everytime she screams, I can feel the horrors she felt during the day that Earl is assaulting her. The doctors explained to us that her reaction was due to the trauma of the incident and it takes time for her to recover from it. They urged us to stay by her side and support her in every way possible because she needed her family more than ever.
One month passed, I headed straight to her room in Buckwright Hospital. She was sitting on the couch, clutching the remote control. I assumed she was watching movies on Nettix, her favorite pastime. I hung my bag on the stand and sat beside her. To my surprise, she wasn't watching a movie; it was the news.
"W-why is Earling on TV?" she asked, her voice barely a whisper, filled with sadness.
"He... is the main suspect in what happened to you," I said, meeting her teary gaze.
She looked at me, and suddenly, she burst into tears. I never expected this reaction from her. Perhaps knowing that her best friend was the accused made her feel betrayed. I didn't know what to do, so I hugged her as tightly as I could. It was the best I could do as her sister, to support her.
She cried for what felt like an eternity, making my legs numb from sitting on the sofa. After what seemed like forever, she looked at me and said, "Earl... Earl didn't do that to me. It wasn't him!"
"What do you mean, Nee-san? It wasn't him? He was there with you, and all the evidence is against him," I said, my voice rising slightly. "Even his DNA was found on you!"
"He was framed, Yoru!" she growled, standing up and turning off the TV. "He saved me!"
Framed? Saved? How much influence did that guy have over my sister that she's this blind to the facts? That guy had the audacity to use his friendship with my sister to take advantage of her. I would never forgive him, even if he begged for our forgiveness. I'd beat him—no, I'd kill him with my own hands. How dare he mess with the Maeda family?
"I saw him before I blacked out," she continued, her voice trembling as she avoided eye contact. "He was fighting them off all by himself until someone hit him with a metal pipe."
The revelation left me speechless. Could it be true? Earling, the one I had blamed and despised, was actually trying to protect my sister? My mind is not processing what my sister said, now conflicting thoughts are now circling in my mind.. The evidence, the accusations, everything pointed to him. But my sister's tearful confession and the pain in her eyes told a different story.
"That's all I remembered during that day, Earling protected me."
It's hard for me to accept it since it also affected my reputation at school badly. That's why the day Earling returned to school weeks after the incident, I spoke ill of him and embarrassed him numerous times.
My sister's testimony of what happened started to make more sense the moment she shared it with me in detail. Earling had indeed been with her on that day, but it turns out he left her for a brief period to go to a convenience store nearby. He was supposed to buy some drinks and wait for her while she finished her extracurricular activities. To verify her story, I went to the store myself, slipping the manager a bit of money to let me review the security footage. Sure enough, there was Earling, sitting patiently for two hours, holding the drink he had bought for her.
The footage didn't lie. He was nowhere near the gym during the time of the incident. The image of him waiting there, oblivious to the nightmare unfolding back at the school, made my heart sink.
My sister also told me that she and Earling had never had any serious arguments, which made the idea of a hidden grudge between them seem implausible. In fact, she admitted that she had bullied him once in the past but had since apologized, and over time, they grew closer. They shared a bond that was hard to define—almost like they were kindred spirits, each naturally drawn to the other. They shared the same energy, the same vibe, and even the same likes and dislikes. It was as if they were two halves of the same whole, destined to complement each other.
To add more evidence to the "Earling didn't do it" theory, he had confessed to my sister.
I felt bad seeing him on this rooftop. I had accused him, hated him, and done bad things to him. He must have heard me get rejected by Alexei—so embarrassing. But why was he sneaking to the rooftop door? Was he afraid I might get mad at him? Also, he had a guitar. Did he play? Maybe listening to him sing might help me cope with the pain of rejection. Rejections hit hard, and I was on the verge of tears.
I walked as fast as I could to catch up to him, grabbing a bit of his uniform. He almost jumped in surprise, his reaction so funny that his face went pale as if a vampire had drained all his blood.
"C...Can...Play...me a song?"
I stuttered, feeling stupid. Why was I like this around him? Was it because I used to hate him? Or was it... No, right? It's not like that, right?
After that, I pretended not to know his name, using it as an excuse to start a conversation. Small talk can sometimes start the spark of friendship, you know? So, I asked him if he could play a song that might bring me to tears. To my surprise, he began to sing one of Aunt Janine's favorite songs, "Kung Wala Ka" by Hale.
As he sang, it felt as though he was the one experiencing the heartache, not me. Every word dripped with emotion, and I could feel the weight of his pain as if it were my own. His voice had an almost ethereal quality to it, as though angels themselves were harmonizing with him, amplifying the sorrow and beauty in each note. It was heavenly—every note he hit resonated within me, striking chords of feelings I had buried deep inside.
Every strum of his guitar seemed to echo the emotions embodied in the lyrics of Hale's song. It was more than just music; it was a message wrapped in melody, conveying the sense of loneliness that had taken hold of me. It was as if each note whispered the truth I had been avoiding—that Alexei had left me, trapping me in a never-ending cycle of unrequited love.
And then, without warning, the dam inside me broke, and I burst into tears. The one that cause doom to my sister is not him, he's too pure to do that thing. I really feel bad about all that Earl have gone through I must seek the real one, and