A Brother's Sacrifice

"Well...Since we met again, I have another request from you."

"What is it?"

"Can you help me with the shopping thing? I'm not that good in these type of things."

"Sure, what do you want to buy?"

"A bracelet. It should be like trending in fashion right now but neither too expensive nor too cheap. And it must be not too flashy."

"Okay. But for whom are you buying it for?"

"For...a childhood friend. I owe her one so I guessed I should gift her something."

"Okay. I got it. I'll search for some and you will decide which one you want to buy. Is that fine?"

"Yeah."

After the request I put forward to her, she started to complete it right away. She scanned the shop's products. There were even some at the back of the shopkeeper.

Sakura kept stockpiling a few of the items before she glanced at me and said,

"So, choose one."

In front of me were three different kinds of bracelets which were selected personally by Sakura herself. Now I just have to choose one which I prefer.

Well, the first one is a dark purple one which had small beads as its string. Well, it had a good colour which attracted me. And the beads were not that big so it would not annoy the hand.

The second one was a pretty simple one with no complex structures for the string. The colour is gold and there was no extravagance in it. But strangely enough, it was the most expensive one out of the three. I really don't know why.

Then the last bracelet selected was the one which captivated me. A bright white glint was caught by my eyes. I picked it up and observed it closely. The bracelet's body consisted of shapes of small little hollowed hearts. And it was stretchable, so that was one good selling point about it.

And there was a small completed heart, which was a little big than the hollowed hearts, that was attached on the bracelet. It was hanging and the rays of the sun reflected on the heart to my eyes.

"How much is this?"

"It is 490¥"

The shopkeeper replied politely to my questions. I took out my purse and handed over the cash needed to buy this beautiful bracelet.

"I'm taking this one."

"Thank you for your purchase."

He happily accepted the money I gave to him. Now my business is done. I'm sure that Reika will like this bracelet that I chose.

"Thank you, Sakura."

"No problem."

"You should buy something for your sister too."

"Too?"

"I mean..., aren't you gonna pacify your sister with a gift as an apology for what happened? Or are you just gonna let it be?"

"Of course I'll buy something for her! Didn't I tell you that I will definitely improve the relationship with Sis? That's why I'm here."

"You better be. I'm going now but don't let Aki see you again. Wait till she completely cools down then give her your gift."

"I understand now please go."

"You don't see-"

"Just go already."

"Yeah yeah don't be so impatient. You remind me of my mom."

"Go!"

"Jeez."

My bored face seemed unaffected by her action as I search for those two. Well, I didn't take much time to find them. I said I found them but instead, they came to me.

Kinoshita brought some items for her sisters but he didn't tell me what he bought. I did not investigate any further. As for Aki, she bought.....a pair of gloves? Why did she buy that? Is she in the stages of chuunibyou?

It was those gloves which bikers wear when they are riding their motorcycles. It was black and had those bulges which aligned perfectly with her knuckles. I felt them and it was quite hard. Well, I did not ask her why and where did she buy it. After all, everyone has different preferences.

Well, now that there was nothing else to do, and it was pretty near the mentioned time that the teachers said to return. We walked off to the lodge.

........

"Thank you for having us here!"

All of the students of Aomori High School bowed their heads in front of the staff members of this lodge. We already packed our belongings when we arrived at the lodge. When we have done packing, we were all lined up at the entrance alongside the other class.

Then all of us sent our gratitudes to the few staffs, who wore polite smiles on their faces, for the 3 day and 2-night stay at this place. Since there were no events that caused the staff or the civilians any kind of disturbance, the school retained their good reputation.

Well after that, we boarded the 2 buses which were already waiting for us. We got to our respective seats like before. I was by the window and leaned on my hand which was placed on the bottom side of the window.

Aki sat next to me and Kinoshita sat next to her. It was just the same as the time we came to Hakuba. Well except one thing. Mr Komori just boarded this bus and was walking towards us.

'What does he want?'

Mr Komori stopped near our seat and spoke in his usual rough voice.

"You two. Sit elsewhere. I'm gonna take your places."

Kinoshita and Aki complied to Mr Komori's order quite reluctantly. Those two went over to a two-seated place. The two girls, who were supposed to sit there, timidly went to the front.

It was now only just me and this guy with a big body and muscles. Now that I look at him, he had a blatant knife scar on his left cheek. Wonder how he got that? The bus just started to move when I thought about that.

"Why did you let that kid win?"

The source of this voice was Mr Komori. He suddenly started a conversation with me. Why is he interested in me?

"Sir, I don't understand what are you talking about."

"The hiking race."

"Yes?"

"Why did you let that kid win?"

He was looking at Kinoshita who was talking to Aki at their new seats.

"You mean Kinoshita, Sir?

"Yes."

"Sir I think you are misunderstanding something here. I did not let him win. I just lost."

He crossed his big muscled arms and closed his eyes. He stayed silent. During this time of silence, I was thinking about this. Did he sit here just to know about that time? Why does he wanna know?

"You lost because you slowed down willingly, right?"

"Willingly? What are you even saying this Sir?

"I have experience in this, kid. I'm not a PE teacher just for these muscles. I have enough knowledge about the human body. That last sprint that you did, you slowed down just after glancing at that kid. Why did you do that?"

He is really catching on this old man. He is really dangerous. It's risky to be near this old man.

That's right. What this old man is saying is the truth. Really, I don't know how this guy noticed it but he has good eyes. I only just slowed down for Kinoshita's sake. Why? Because it plays a part in Kinoshita's strength growth.

I saw him trying his best when we were running the last sprint. I mean, I can't crush his effort, right? In other words, from the day I instructed him to run around 1 km, he tried hard to increase his stamina.

And today was like a test for him. I mean, how would you feel if that all of these days of training, and you still can't produce a good result. You would feel that those days of hard work were pointless and you would lose motivation.

By letting him win, I just motivated him in a way. He will think that those days of training have paid off and he will continue to train hard. I know that Kinoshita is that kind of guy who would do anything for his family after I 'brainwashed' him. So he will continue to train and with more motivation to being stronger.

Well yeah, it was just kind of a little boost of confidence in Kinoshita for his training, nothing else. Thinking about that, I looked at Mr Komori and casually told him,

"Sir, I was just running out of gas and couldn't run anymore. It's been a while since I ran this much. There was no ulterior motive or anything."

Smiling at him, I turned to the window and closed my eyes to rest for the journey back home. I was just falling asleep with the fatigue that built up in these 3 days. And today, right now, this program has come to an end.