A Brother's Sacrifice

"Well well well. Look who it is."

Aki, who smiled quite widely, announced the arrival of Ryusaki to all of us. Miyake's eyes started to get moist and wanted to cry. But Aki looked at Miyake, which scared her and thus held up her tears.

This kind of little action infuriated Ryusaki and had enough of this bullying. He calmed his breathing and took an imposing pose.

"Let go of her!! Now!!"

Miyake is really happy about Ryusaki's entrance but the second she put on that happy expression, it was instantly changed into a pained one. The cause was, obviously, my partner who pulled her hair even more violently.

"And if we don't, what are you gonna do? Kick our asses?"

Aki laughed and everyone knew why she was taking fun on Ryusaki. Because she was stronger than Ryusaki, and even himself knew about it. Well, the whole school knows about it so he also should surely know about Fujimoto Aki.

"I'm warning you for the last time! Release her!"

Aki put one of her hand near Miyake's neck and started to press her neck slowly. It was to show that she was feigning ignorance of Ryusaki's warning.

"Get your hands off of Kyoko!!!!"

The second he said that, he dashed in our direction at an astonishing speed. He isn't the captain of the soccer club just for show.

We were expecting this kind of attack from Ryusaki, so we braced ourselves before he launched his attack. His eyes were locked on Aki so he rushed towards her. He resembles a lot like a raging bull.

Aki waited for him to be closer to where they were. Just when Ryusaki arrived at a certain distance, Aki stepped back really quickly, thanks to her great footwork and avoided Ryusaki. Aki was on guard to the next attack that Ryusaki was going to give.

But strangely enough, Aki didn't get attacked which made Aki a little bit confused. She looked at Ryusaki and saw him shielding Miyake with his body.

"What are you doing? Are you not going to teach me some lessons?"

Aki questioned him with a provoking face. But Ryusaki didn't move an inch from his spot. He didn't say anything and he put Miyake behind his back.

"What? Are you just going to stand there, doing nothing?"

"..."

Irritated as she was, Aki couldn't stand Ryusaki's silence. So she moved forward, step by step while talking to him at the same time.

"Say, why are you always interrupting us? Why are you meddling in our affairs that doesn't concern you?"

"Because what you are doing is wrong!"

"You could have such an easy life if you didn't protect Miyake from me. Then why?"

"You are bullying her! I can't stand that!!"

"Then can't you turn a blind eye towards Miyake like every one of your classmates are doing?"

Ryusaki gritted his teeth at Aki's proposition to leave Miyake alone.

"I'm not like them! I'm not scared of you two!"

"Either way, the extent you are going for her is absurd for a stranger. Are you related to Miyake?"

"...Not really..."

Staring at the ground and pondering over the question that Aki asked, Ryusaki was in a state of confusion. Aki got closer and closer to those two and stopped right in front of Ryusaki.

"Then why are troubling yourself over her? Just leave and lead a quiet life elsewhere."

Miyake was also kind of expecting an answer from him. Ryusaki's guard was down and Aki saw that as an opportunity to pull Miyake by her hair, so as to snatch her from Ryusaki's protection.

She quickly tried to grab Miyake's hair at a relatively high speed. But her hand was stopped right in its track.

Ryusaki saw through it. Thanks to his reflex, he made it in time. Even Aki was astounded by his action. She was being glared at by Ryusaki and he screamed...

"I LOVE HER DAMMIT!!!"

...at Aki, from the bottom of his heart.

"...Ryu...saki...?'

And that was what we all wanted to hear. All of us were waiting for his confession of love. Miyake got the answer that she wanted to hear the most. And that signified that our work was done. But Aki was just staring at Ryusaki's face

"NOW DON'T TELL ME THAT I'M NOT RELATED TO HER!!! I'M HER BOYFRIEND SO STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM HER!!!"

Miyake was not objecting the statement that Ryusaki was making, meaning that she was alright with it.

My eardrums were starting to get ruptured by that annoying boy's scream. But Aki was just standing there, her hand was still stationary due to Ryusaki. She didn't care about that, instead, she looked straight into his eyes.

Pure and determined. Those eyes were the very embodiment of those descriptions. Aki pulled her other arm back and formed a fist. That fist was driven really fast right onto Ryusaki's face.

But before it could make contact with his defenceless face, I stopped her right on time.

'This girl, what is she doing!? Our work is done so why is she continuing to attack those two.'

After I stopped her attack, Aki came to her senses. The ferocity that was in her eyes disappeared for the moment. Getting closer to her ears, I said

"Calm down Aki. Let's go, we have already accomplished our job."

Aki did what I said and proceeded to relax and leave the scene. She looked at those two with a displeased face. I relayed a message to those two lovebirds on behalf of Aki.

"It seems like we went too far with this one but you two really held on. I'm a bit impressed. But next time, we won't be this kind to you. Goodbye."

Me and my partner left the scene after creating such a mess by ourselves.

....

There was no one at the school gates apart from Hitomi Ayame and Kinoshita Ken. Those two were waiting for us.

"So, since I won the bet, could we get our reward please?"

I put my right hand on my left c.h.e.s.t and slightly bowed to Hitomi Ayame.

"Tch. I'm giving you only 5,000¥ because you hurt Kyoko. Accept it and don't complain."

"I certainly will."

After our little exchange, a Rolls Royce pulled up right before us. An old man, wearing a black suit was the driver. Hitomi walked to the car and entered. Before going, she showed us her disgusted face.

Both of my pawns were standing still with their mouth shut. I tried to break the atmosphere's awkwardness between us by talking to Kinoshita.

"You did well Kinoshita. You were vital in our plan. If you hadn't arranged for Ryusaki to be there at the right time, we would've fail."

"It was thanks to one of your ideas that this was possible. Bribing one of Ryusaki's clubmates with Hitomi's money, and making him guide Ryusaki near the storeroom was a success."

Aki wasn't surprised by it as she was already getting used to the schemes that I've been making.

There was again a silence between us three. This was killing me mentally so I tried to liven up the mood, but the second I thought about that, I heard someone weeping.

Me and Aki were searching where that was coming from and the answer was revealed to us pretty quickly.

It was Kinoshita, covering his face to hide his unsightly expression, but unable to control his overflowing tears that slip out of his fingers.

I already knew the reason for his crying. Cause the place where Hitomi was, Kinoshita was also there, watching the drama about those two. He has seen it all, Ryusaki's confession and Miyake's acceptance of his love.

I patted his back and tried to console him.

"Their feelings couldn't be hidden for long, so it's best to let it out at the right moment. You yourself saw it that you are not destined to be with Miyake."

He was still crying. Even Aki was starting to pity him. But it was all over. He unconsciously helped them be together

Till his crying started to die down a bit, I talked to him in a caring manner while looking at the school.

"It's time to say your final goodbye to her."

"...Un..."

The three of us walked quietly to our house while reminiscing about what happened today.