A Brother's Sacrifice

"I'm Kinoshita Machi."

"And I'm Kinoshita Mai."

The two girls introduced themselves to me in a cheerful manner.

"And I'm Kaburagi Tenma. I'm your big brother's friend. Nice to meet you."

"Thanks for saving us there."

"It was the most obvious thing to do when your friend is in trouble."

Kinoshita was feeling down a bit. His head was facing down the floor.

"Kinoshita, can I come to your house?"

"Eh? Why?"

"I just want to visit a little bit. And also I would like to know where you live. In cases of emergencies, I can come over."

"..."

Kinoshita was not saying anything. He was thinking about whether it would be good to let me come to his house.

"Let big brother Tenma come over to our house. After all, he saved us from those scary guys."

The one who supported my idea was Mai. She grabbed onto the hem of Kinoshita's shirt and looked at him with big eyes.

'How cute. I bet Reika was like that when she was small.'

Kinoshita looked at her and surrendered to her demands.

"...I guess we can."

And thus, Kinoshita was seduced by his little sister's cuteness and agreed to let me come to his house.

"Thank you, Mai."

"No problem."

She replied to me while at the same time, she winked at me. Kinoshita's sister is sly, isn't she?

....

Kinoshita's house was like everyone else's. But the difference was there is a small garden in front of their house. We walked towards the door. Kinoshita opened the door and entered normally.

"I'm home."

"Welcome back Ken."

The one who responded belonged to a female one, probably her mother since that voice sounded a little bit older.

Kinoshita's mother came near the door. Noticing me, she was a bit startled and surprised.

"Oh, is that your friend Ken?"

"Y-Yes."

After her mother heard her son's answer, she was smiling.

"I'm Kaburagi Tenma, nice to meet you. I go to the same school and same class as your son."

"I'm Ken's mother. Please take care of Ken at school."

"I will, cause he's my friend."

Even Kinoshita was smiling alongside his mother. But they don't know me very well.

They don't know my intentions of befriending Kinoshita. Those smiles on their faces are meaningless to me.

"Mom, did you know that big brother Tenma saved us from a scary person."

"Huh? Are you two alright? You too Ken! They didn't do anything harmful to you, right?"

Kinoshita's mother was worried about them. Looking at her, I felt a bit envious.

"I wasn't hurt mom. It's all thanks to Kaburagi."

She looked at me with an apologetic face.

"Thank you again Kaburagi, for taking care of my son. I don't know how to repay you for your help."

"I have just one favour to ask."

"Anything that is within my hands."

"I just want to visit your house frequently, if you don't mind me coming here."

Listening to my request, she was staring at me. Tears started to well up in her eyes. She turned around and covered her face with her hands.

"Mom...?"

"Mom, what happened?"

The siblings were approaching near her. They had faces full of worry. Meanwhile, I was scared a little bit.

'Did I say something wrong?'

She wiped her tears with her hands and assured us that everything was alright. She invited me inside to eat and drink something.

I couldn't refuse her because she was insisting on having something to fill my belly. So I ate some handmade cookies and drank some juice. It was delicious but my stomach doesn't want more food, thus I just ate a little portion.

When we finished talking, we went to Ken's room which was upstairs. For some reason, the twins were following us. They said that they also wanted to chat with me.

While walking upstairs, we came across a girl who was the same height as Ken. She was quite beautiful. She looked at us quietly before Ken was able to break the silence.

"H-He's my friend, Kaburagi Tenma. He came over to visit."

"...At least you know how to make friends."

"Anzu-"

Before he could say anything, she went downstairs without caring about me. Somehow I was kind of pissed off at her.

"Who's she?"

"The oldest daughter, Kinoshita Anzu."

I didn't say anything else which could get Ken's mood bad. But I was kind of interested in their relationsh.i.p.s.

He led me to his room and the twins accompanied us. It was a simple room with only one strange thing.

'There are so many posters and photos of actors who were in action-packed movies. What a die-hard fan.'

"Sit on the chair if you want."

I ignored his request and instead, jumped on his bed. I was exhausted from all of these running around the whole town.

Seeing me so relaxed, the twins also tried to jump on the bed. But Machi overjumped and landed on my stomach.

I was really in pain. But I didn't scold them as they were still kids and they resemble Reika too much. Kinoshita sat on his chair, watching us with a little smile on his face.

"By the way, how old are you two."

"We are 13 years old."

"Just 13? When you two will be older, you two will be more beautiful."

The two of them had red cheeks. They were embarrassed.

"Stop flirting with us big brother Tenma!"

Mai was hitting me in the stomach. But the hits were harmless.

"I'm not flirting. I'm just stating facts. Besides, some prince on a white horse will have to take you away from this house."

Machi who was quiet all this time joined the conversation. But her head looked down and we only heard her say,

"But we don't want to leave home."

Seeing her sad face, I retreated my comment.

"Well, that's not for me to decide. It's your life."

Just when Machi was about to say something to me, their stomach was grumbling. They were hungry.

"Just wait here. I'm bringing the snacks upstairs so in the meanwhile, keep Kaburagi company."

"Thank you, big brother, Ken."

Kinoshita left the room. Now is a good chance to know about his family. I was a bit curious about his sister Anzu.

"Say, Mai, was your big brother always in a bad relationship with your elder sister?"

"...Why do you want to know that?"

"I want to help them reconcile."

"...If it's you big brother Tenma, then it's fine. After all, you saved us."

I came closer to Mai and Machi so I could listen clearly. But right from the start, they dropped a bomb.

"Did you know that big brother Ken was bullied in middle school?"