A Brother's Sacrifice

"Kinoshita, why don't you follow up after Kaburagi's disastrous performance, which caused the oozing of blood in our ears?"

Sakura was scratching the inside of her ears to check if really my supposedly 'bad' singing did indeed lead to a damaged ear.

"Oi Sakura, even if you are badmouthing me about my incredible singing skills, aren't you crossing the limit of insults towards me?"

In response to my warning, Sakura gave me that look. That look which is too piercing for me, penetrating my soul and proving me wrong about the harmless threat that she received.

"Even if you say that, it really depends on the person. For you, I think that I am still miles behind the 'boundary' that you speak of."

Am I that much derailed off from the path of a normal person? Really, now I'm starting to wonder if I want to continue to be in this room.

".....S-"

"Don't even bother defending yourself. You already confirmed it by your own eyes that your shitty voice caused tremendous discomfort in our ears. Now sit down quietly before I punch you in the spot that you don't want to get hit!"

Butting in the argument between me and Sakura, and terrorizing me like I am some kind of a loser, was the last touch that they needed to compel me to sit down. Fricking Aki just scares me with those daunting stares, which she seemed to have developed after being called inhumane.

I am not even given a speck of chance to voice my emotion that is being tangled by these two siblings. But like a coward that I am, I obediently passed near Kinoshita to go have a seat.

"That was a good decision Kaburagi."

...Oh just go get slapped by a monkey and be shoved in a quicksand full of turds! Even he is thinking that I am not a good singer. Tsk! Now my pride has been hurt.

Kinoshita sighed as I went past him and sat down.

"Kinoshita, come on, it's your turn now. Please make it at least a hundred times better than Kaburagi's."

Sakura tempted Kinoshita to continue on the fun. Nevertheless, she didn't have to disparage me in the process.

"Humph! You're all just jealous of my talent."

I crossed my arms and looked the other way while pouting heavily, showing my displeased facial expression but quite a cute one, to those three envious 'friends' of mine. My action caused those concerned three to gaze stolidly at each other, leading to a synchronized attack...

"""Whatever"""

....that thrusted an invisible spear of bewilderment into my already weakened heart. My emotions are being mangled since I started singing, or even when we first came to this room.

Seeing that a gloomy atmosphere encircled me and my head was kept down with humiliation, they disregarded me and proceeded to tempt Kinoshita to sing a song.

Aki and Sakura were surely having fun as I could see them smile quite widely and sincerely when I was peaking towards their direction. My, somehow, demeaning singing skills brought those two some enjoyable moments to bask in.

"~~"

An instrumental part of a song started. The tune was composed in a sad manner it seems. Judging by the slow buildup and by the sound of a violin and a piano, I thought that this one would really hurt feelings.

Kinoshita embarrassingly brought the mic near to his mouth as the song was near the part where the singing would start. He opened his mouth slowly and started...

.......

"Kaburagi! Just get off me!! You're throwing me off balance!!"

"But! But!! That song that you sang was...!! *sniffs* wveery gooood!!"

"I know Kaburagi! I know!! Now just get off me!!"

The sight that Sakura and Aki were viewing, was clearly defined in their impassive expression. But I did not care about those indifferent stares as I was busy embracing the masterpiece that I discovered today!

"Tenma. Just.....what happened to you? A few minutes ago you were just dispirited and now, you are in this hideous state. Are you having a mood swing?"

"I-It's just that...Kinoshita's song triggered a switch in my lonely heart!! It is just indescribable!!"

"Just how much of a weak bastard you are...?"

Kinoshita's creeped out face, Sakura's disgusted glare and Aki's annoyed stare did not stop me from indulging into the body of a marvellous artist in front of me.

It took about 30 seconds to divide me and Kinoshita apart, because we were practically one body seeing how much I was glued to him, with the aid of Aki and Sakura.

Thanks to Aki's terrifying glare, I snapped back to reality and took my seat embarrassingly as I reminisced what just happened to me a moment ago. I turned into one of those crazy emotional fans that we see on live concerts, to be precise, those stage invaders that want to embrace famous artists due to their singing talents.

"Sorry, Kinoshita. It seems like I stepped over my bounds there. It's just that the words that you sang from your mouth, transformed me into a devotee of yours."

That's right. The lyrics of that song was shaped like an invisible thread, which eviscerated my heart from my body. That was purely a heartbreaking song. I did not know that I was such a weak-hearted guy against these types of songs.

"I-It's okay Kaburagi. It just shows how much my singing was good in your opinion."

He warily smiled at me as he dropped the mic on the table. He took his seat but a bit far from where I was seated. I don't blame him for that, although I am the one who he is being scared by.

"In a sense, what Kaburagi did was obvious, but not to that extent."

Sakura praised Kinoshita for what he did in front of us three.

"I'm glad that you enjoyed it S-...Fujimoto."

"Oh, you don't have to be so stiff around me. We are just still one year apart and I'm your junior. So don't be shy to call me Sakura."

She displayed an angelic friendly smile to the slightly shy Kinoshita.

"Haha. I'll keep that in mind from now on."

He lightly laughed it off and the mood between them loosened up much more compared to the first time they met.

"My dear sister. It is now your turn to do the honour of standing in front of us and entertain us with your singing skills."

Sakura changed the topic of the conversation by telling Aki to do a small performance. She reluctantly got off her seat and asked in a bit of an abashed manner.

"Then...what should I sing?"

Hearing that, Sakura got off her seat and grabbed a second mic that was on the table.

"How about we sing together?" Sakura questioned Aki as she was fiddling around with the tablet to find a suitable song.

"A duet? That's going to be nice." Kinoshita got excited a little with the proposal of Sakura.

But can Aki really sing as good as Sakura, or even at least at the same level as Kinoshita? If she can't, then that sure would be funny and that would be the start to my revenge.

"I would sure love to see you try to sing."

As I said that, Aki stared at me, seeing through my intentions of expecting her to fail miserably. But as calm as she could get, Aki darted a look into Sakura's eyes before nodding in a synchronized way.

She then proceeded to sneer at me quite grandly. I was appalled and I thought to myself.

'Something unexpected is about to happen.'

Sakura put down the tablet that was on her hands whilst the instrumental part of the song that she has chosen, was being played. Lyrics started to show up a little later on as it was about to start. Those two were getting in position and,

"Every day! Every day! We are living our life, like there is no tomorrow! Every where! Every time! We are always having fun, with our true friends!"

Aki started the cheerful song and it was really impactful towards us two boys who were seated in a state of amazement. Her voice was really high, but not piercing to our s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e ears.

Honestly, I felt goosebumps of excitement which were crawling up my arms, transferring the thrill of this situation to my whole body.

"We don't have to worry about anything! The worries, frustrations and stress should be washed away, from our energetic body, by the times spent with those friends.!"

Sakura can be described as a happy-go-lucky person right now due to the way she was singing so enthusiastically. Her voice contained energy and happiness as he continued to sing along with his older sister.

As time goes on, I and Kinoshita couldn't contain our exhilaration so we stood up and joined them into their little duet performance. I did not want to ruin this moment for them so I did not even try to sing. But those siblings persuaded Kinoshita to sing one of the chorus part with them.

He was hesitant at first because he did not want to destroy this precious and enjoyable moment for those two, but he got dragged in regardless and he sang it flawlessly for them.

He was like a catalyst to their enjoyment as after he had sung that part, those two girls were more excited and a big wide smile showing their white teeth was stuck on their sweaty face.

Geez.....

The atmosphere elevated to an even more joyful one as we formed a circle consisting of only 4 people. We all had our arm grabbing onto the shoulders of the person next to each one of us, forming a ring in this karaoke room.

Us four individuals had one thing in common. Our delighted smiling faces confronting with the other ones. The two girls continued to sing the song as we continuously jumped and circling around ourselves.

We did not know exactly who started this but regardless of that, we continued to do it as we were lost in the thrill of such moments. We were tired and it could be seen from our sweaty faces, but we did not care and carried on with the circling action.

Only us four were truly experiencing this gratifying situation and I'm sure that this would be embroiled into our memories, even if we want to forget about it.