A Brother's Sacrifice

The building of Aomori High School was in plain sight. We have arrived at our school after a 2 to 3-hour journey on the bus.

The sun was starting to fall down the horizon as it was in the late afternoon. The orange colour reflected in the sky was the result of the sun that was near the horizon.

The bus entered the school through the wide white gate used for the entrance. The driver drove the bus into a spacious area alongside the other bus. When the bus positioned itself next to the other bus, it came to a halt. Turning off the engine, it was the signal to make us know that it is now the time to exit the bus.

Mr Komori took a peek at me before getting off his seat and exiting the bus alongside the other students. There is something about me that he founds interesting, or at least he is suspicious about. But I don't know what is it or why does he have an interest in me.

The best possible and obvious thing that I can do right now is to make the least possible contact with that man. While I added one more thing in my 'to do' list, I got off the bus with my bag containing the necessities that I used at that camp.

There were still some second and third years, who were still doing club activities during this time, as there were some boisterous noises coming from the gym. It was pretty close to where we were so I heard it pretty clearly.

Anyway, me, Aki and Kinoshita forming the usual group got in a line, which the teachers in charge told us to do. Since I wanted to go home, I quickly got in the formation of a line.

"All of you did well to behave in Hakuba. I'm glad that there weren't any problems on our trip. I hope that not only you all have good discipline, but you will also get good results in the upcoming midterm exams in one month. I also hope you will continue to be well mannered and be good in your studies. You are now all dismissed. Enjoy tonight's sleep in your own bed."

""Yes sir!""

That annoying speech was, as expected, from one of the youngest and most handsome one among the teachers. Mr Kimura acts as a role model for other teachers to the students. Seriously, all the other teachers are just old men and old women, making him easily the number one teacher in every student's ranking list, especially females ones.

He is always lively and he is friendly with students. And any problems which arise with any of his students, he takes care of it cautiously but also gently, like a father. Really, he just pisses me off for no actual reason.

After badmouthing everyone's favourite teacher, I joined with Kinoshita and Aki to go home.

"The program was pretty boring wasn't it?"

"........What part of it was boring?"

Kinoshita questioned me for more details upon my statement.

"Well, apart from the chilling water from the river, the stress-relieving hot water of the Public Foot Onsen and the delicious cake that we ate from that pastry shop, everything else was boring."

Those two looked at my face with disagreement written on their disappointed face.

"...What?...Am I wrong?"

""A bit.""

Aki's voice overlapped with Kinoshita's voice.

"There were other things that were interesting."

After 5 minutes of listening to Kinoshita and Aki about things that were presumably fascinating in Hakuba, we have arrived at Aki's house.

"You live really close to the school Fujimoto," Kinoshita asked.

"That's the only reason I chose to enter this school."

Aki slightly opened the door to her house and directed her sight towards us two boys.

"Bye. We'll meet again tomorrow."

"Yeah, bye Aki."

"Bye Fujimoto."

After saying our goodbyes, we two resumed to our walking. After another 5 minutes, we arrived at a junction and Kinoshita came to a full stop.

"Kaburagi, I need to go this way. So I need to part ways with you."

"Don't make it sound like we are a gay couple and you are disappointed because we are being separated for the day."

"...I'm really not though."

"You can't take a joke, do you? You don't have to be so stiff around me. Loosen yourself up. I'm not some merciless trainer, I'm just your friend helping you. "

"Well...If you say so Kaburagi. Bye."

"Cya."

We parted our ways and went to our own respective destination. And yet another 5 minutes of walking, I arrived in front of our house. I opened the door slower than usual and heard a creaking sound which originated from the door itself.

"I'm home," I muttered, knowing there would be no response.

I took off my shoes and left the bag, which was on my back, in my room upstairs. I came downstairs when I saw mom getting out of the kitchen.

"What's up mom."

My mom jumped up instinctively due to a sudden fright but returned to her disgusted gaze that pierced me, knowing who was the cause of such an act.

"Where is Reika?"

Replying my question with another question, I sighed.

"Not here yet."

Upon my response, she went and sat down on the sofa in the living room.

"Did you miss me?"

"..."

Silence was her reply. I did not ask further. That expressionless face of hers, only me and dad knows about it. She wouldn't show it to Reika.

A few minutes passed as I was sitting on another sofa, the furthest from Mom. Me and my Mom were watching the T.V silently, not even discussing about the trip.

"I'm home."

That voice triggered mom to stand up and respond to that beautiful voice. The owner of that voice is...

"Welcome home Reika. Did you have fun in the study camp program?"

"Yes mom. It was super fun."

The conversation went on from that bit as mom was taking her bag from Reika. A radiant smile plastered on mom's face, I wish she would show that to me directly one day.

I did not want to see them anymore so I walked up the stairs. That cheerful atmosphere....played a role in that. My room was the furthest one to the left. I dragged my feet to my room's door and opened it.

"Wait Hikigaya!"

".....Reika?"

The figure of my little sister standing near the stairs could be seen. Haaaaaa...Do I need to explain this to Reika? She was approaching me with quite an angry face. Not the first time I saw it though. After coming to a stop before me, she continued,

"So, was it fun, Hi-Ki-Ga-Ya?"

"...Reika please stop using that name. There is no Hikigaya here."

"Apparently there is one in front of me."

"*Sigh*....I can explain."

While sighing, I was thinking about that Imai guy.

"I'm listening."

I made a defeated face to make it seem more realistic. Her face expression hasn't changed a bit yet.

"I lost a game."

"Game? Then?"

Her line of sight did not budge away from my face. She was really focused on me.

"The loser had to do a dare."

"I'm assuming that the dare relates to this matter?"

"Yes. My friend said to me that I should introduce myself to someone that I don't know, with a fake name. And if that person doesn't know that I used my fake name till the end of the program, I win."

"Why did you chose Imai?"

"Well, he came to the same room as me. He was a good target as the other ones in the room that I was staying in knew me, as most of them were my classmates. As a bonus, he seemed like an easy prey for me."

That last bit made her expression even worse as I was badmouthing her boyfriend.

"Well, that's about it."

"...Okay, I somehow understand. But I did not know that you had friends. I know just that girl."

"Well, I made another one. And that was quite harsh for you to think I'm a friendless person."

She ignored me and calmed down. And this was the time to know if Imai had known my name. I asked her the moment she spends with her boyfriend, and she readily accepted to tell me. I stood there listening to every detail, even the lovey-dovey part.

And pretty much, she was always with Imai, not giving him the chance to know about me. But well, now I realized that there is no point in hiding my identity to him. All I did was taking out some information from him and I did.

"Oh. By the way, Reika, here is something I bought. I almost forgot."

I took out the white bracelet with the hollowed hearts acting as beads and presented it before her. She was quite surprised when looking at this present.

"Although I don't really have much experience in this kind of field, I hope that you like this gift that I bought."

"...Brother....."

As she murmured that, she held out one of her hand and cutely said,

"Won't you put it?"

...This girl. Haaa.....I unhesitantly put it carefully around her wrist while she was staring at me happily.

"How is it?" She said as she posed in such a cute way that she emphasized the bracelet on her wrist.

"You look like a great model."

"Hehe~"

She opened her arms wide and proceeded to hug me quite tightly.

"Thank you, Brother."

"Yea yea, can you move now? I need to go to shower, eat and sleep."

"You can't say what you want to say for once Brother? Or are you shy?"

She looked at me with such a smug face.

"S-Shut up and let go of me!"

"Hehe~"

After me and Reika finished talking, I did what I said earlier. Shower, eat and sleep. The bedsheet, the pillow and the mattresses. I missed those. That night, I slept like a log, not thinking about anything serious.