A Brother's Sacrifice

Miyake Kyoko, the person whom Kinoshita had a crush on, was now trying to call out to Kinoshita himself, for help.

Kinoshita looked at Miyake who was begging for his help. When Aki saw this, she started to tease Miyake.

"Kinoshita. It seems like she is trying to ask for your help. What do you want to do?"

Both Kinoshita and Miyake stared at each other. Miyake had a sign of relief and comfortness when seeing Kinoshita, thinking that he will help her because he is her best friend.

Kinoshita, who was just watching the two girls silently, came closer to them and said,

"What else is there to do? Punish her if she defies you, Fujimoto. And punish her even more severely if she continues to be disobedient."

Miyake's last hope was shattered right before her eyes. Confusion and despair was starting to cover Miyake's face.

"...Why...Kinoshita? Weren't we...friends?"

Miyake was holding her tears as if she was clinging onto that 'fake hope'. Trembling and waiting for a response from him was all she could do right now.

"Friends? Did you really think that we were friends?" Phuhahahahaha...!!"

Kinoshita burst out in laughter, ridiculing Miyake in her pitiful state. She finally let out her tears which was flowing down to her chins.

"Then...why did you approach me...when Kaburagi and Fujimoto...insulted me?

Miyake kept questioning Kinoshita. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"It was essential to do so because it would be easy for me to be able to be 'friends' with you. That time was good to accomplish my objective as you were in a vulnerable state. I was with Kaburagi all this time."

"Then...you didn't have any intention...of becoming my friend at all? It was all an act?"

Aki interrupted their little conversation.

"She is a smart one, isn't she."

"Yes she is."

"Now, what should we do with her?"

"For now, just threaten her a bit as she is already broken on the inside."

"You're right Kinoshita. Although I would've prefered beating her again."

Miyake, who was hearing all of this, was in a state of shock. Mostly because of Kinoshita. She got down to her knees as she was unable to control her emotions.

"Then how about we do this?"

Aki, who couldn't care less about Miyake, decided to threaten her. She leaned down near her face and said in a terrifying voice.

"If you tell anybody about this, not only we will break Ryusaki's leg but we will also make sure that he will never be able to play soccer in his entire life."

Miyake slowly looked at Aki, showing her unpleasant face, and started begging Aki to stop all of this.

"Please...don't do that. It's his...dream to be a soccer pro player. I'm...begging you. Please... Stop all of this!"

"Then you better obey me!"

Aki retreated back after saying those last words. I followed Aki and Kinoshita also did the same. Miyake was left there, stranded on the rooftop.

.....

Kinoshita separated from us and went his own way while me and Aki were chatting together.

"By the way, how did you know that all the food on Miyake's lunchbox would be spilt on me, even though it was closed firmly."

"I sabotaged her lunchbox's lid when she was not near her bag."

"When did you-?"

"Yesterday, at the lunch break. After she ate, she put her lunchbox on her bag and just left to the toilet. All I did was sneak my way to her bag and did my thing."

After she listened to my plan, Aki looked down and sighed, and looked at me again with a grin on her arrogant face.

"You scheming bastard."

"At least I'm not the 'Thug Hunter' Aki."

"You son of a-!"

"I'm so sorry for angering you, 'Thug Hunter' Aki!"

"You! Stop calling me that! I also know how people view you. Lelouch, the 'Devil's son'."

"Well, it sounds cool. At least it's better than the 'Thug Hunter'."

I couldn't hold my laughter in so I let out a giggle from my mouth. That infuriated Aki even more. Looking at her angry expression, I started to think about how to escape from this situation. There was only one way that I could think of.

'Run.'

I dashed towards the direction of my house.

"Where do you think you're going Tenma!? Come back here!!"

I ignored her and continued to run as fast as I could.

....

I narrowly escaped from Aki. She also ran after me but she didn't have much stamina to spare. Maybe she was tired due to the commotion with Miyake.

Anyway, I entered my house, also tired of running away. I was sluggishly going up the stairs as I was really tired.

"What's wrong Brother? Are you okay?"

Reika was looking down to me from the top of the stairs.

"It's nothing. I'm...just tired."

"Really? You seem like you're enjoying yourself. Look, you're smiling."

"Eh?"

Reika took out her phone and showed me my own expression in its reflection.

'I am....really.....smiling...?'

It's true that I was smiling. It's.....been a long time since I felt this kind of feeling.

Suddenly I felt a severe headache. Everything was black to me and I was standing in the darkness itself.

'What the hell is happening right now!?'

I looked around my surrounding, there was just total darkness.

"Do you have the rights to enjoy yourself?"

A loud and cold voice was echoing continuously in my head.

"Didn't you forget what you did?"

These phrases were resounding in my head. I put both my hands on my ears, but the echoes just wouldn't stop. I shouted at the top of my lungs to that cold voice.

"Who are you!!!"

"It's not about me, it's about you. Who are you really? Ask yourself this question."

"...I'm Kaburagi Tenma! A high school student and a caring brother for which, I would do anything to give my sister happiness!"

"That's from the outside. You are trying to act like that to atone for your sins, aren't you."

I felt a sudden pain in my heart when hearing those words from that cold voice. I couldn't breathe properly and still, I stood up to the unknown voice.

"You're...huh.....wrong!"

I couldn't withstand this unbearable pain so I almost collapsed, but I endured it, and as a result, I was kneeling in this complete darkness and solitude.

"You can't decide what's right or wrong. All you can do is be yourself. The path that you will take will have bad consequences and you can't avoid it. It's your fate."

".....huh.....What...?"

"If you stay close to your sister that you have, you will suffer endlessly."

"W...What do you...mean!?"

Nobody answered and after a moment, my legs were starting to get enveloped into a cloud of black smoke. I was panicking and was trying to get up but my leg wouldn't move.

"Wait!!... Answer me!!... What do you mean by...suffer endlessly because of Reika!?"

The black smoke covered my lower body and then eventually, covered my whole body. It was only darkness. After a moment, my eyes opened and I was feeling much more tired than before.

I was panting heavily now and more sweat was running down my whole face. Reika saw this sudden change in me and started to worry about it.

"What's wrong Brother!?"

"It's...It's nothing. Move aside, I'm going to take a shower."

"...Okay."

I passed by Reika and went to the bathroom. I looked at myself from the mirror and thought.

'It's true that I don't have the time to enjoy myself. And I will definitely keep my sister happy, even if I have to jump into the pits of hell.'