A Brother's Sacrifice

After finishing my lunch, I and Aki went to our class. Every student in our class didn't dare to look at us in the eyes when we entered the class.

There were only 2 periods and after that were clubs activities. Since I was not in any clubs, I'll head straight home.

'I wonder if Reika is joining any clubs?'

I got up and turned my head towards Aki.

"Hey Aki, I'm going home. I'm feeling tired from all these actions I took today. See ya."

"See you too."

I went out of the class and headed to the shoe locker to change my shoes. Then I exited the building and headed to the school gate. While on my way, I could hear people screaming and cheering.

"It's the baseball club members practising. Ahhh, it brings back memories."

...

I got home and took off my shoes.

"I'm home."

"...."

No one responded.

'So she is still angry at me.'

I went to the living room, sat down on a sofa and switched on the television to watch some news. I was very tired. So many things happened today. But it was not so bad. I even got a useful 'friend'. But to make her completely under my control, so that she won't betray me, I need to get information to know her completely.

...

About 40 minutes later, Reika came home.

"I'm home."

"Welcome back."

My mom was the one who responded to her. Thank god that she is not angry at Reika. I was relieved by this fact.

Reika sat beside me and she was sighing. I think she was exhausted.

"Did you get tired of making too many friends or because of club activities."

"Both."

"Oh, aren't you sarcastic? Well, which club did you enter?"

"The literature club."

"You really do like reading, don't you. Did you have fun?"

"You could say that. By the way, did you eat mom's food? It was super delicious."

So she doesn't know about me. Well, I gotta talk to mom to sort some things out. For now, I must not let Reika know about the relationship between me and mom. She could argue with mom for me.

"Yes, it was delicious."

I showed her a gentle smile. She seemed relieved somehow. Well, at least I want Reika to enjoy her high school life peacefully. I don't want to drag her down with me.

"Did you eat with your friends in the classroom?"

"Yes, we chatted about lots of fun stuff and were enjoying our lunch. I made a lot of good and reliable friends."

So that means that she didn't see me in that 'form', in the cafeteria. That was a good piece of information. Maybe she would also be scared of me and I don't want that to happen.

"Did you get a boyfriend?"

"W-what are talking about!"

Her face was red. She was startled by my question and was facing me with an angry expression.

"What. I just said that if you had fallen in love with someone."

"Of course not!"

"Well if you do fall in love with someone, I must see what kind of guy you are dating. It's my duty to protect you after all."

"Good luck with that."

Our conversation was interrupted by mom's order to Reika.

"Reika. Go and take a shower. You must be tired."

"Yes, mom."

She got up from the sofa and headed to the bathroom. Before leaving, she stopped midway and turned around to face me.

"Umm... Brother."

"What is it Reika?"

"Did you get... a girlfriend?"

Ah. Would she be jealous if I get any girlfriend?

"Come on Reika. What are you saying? You are the most important person to me. I don't have time to deal with other people."

"Is that so."

While leaving the room, I saw a hint of a smile on her face when she was turning around to go to the bathroom. She was happy. It was true that she is the most important person to me so I need to quickly progress the plan and execute it flawlessly. For that purpose, I'm going to have to talk to mom when Reika's in the shower.

I got up and went to the kitchen. My mom was cooking dinner for the three of us. Dad rarely comes home early in the afternoon so mom just made some food for him and kept it in the microwave. Dad is a workaholic, we hardly ever see him.

"Mom, I got something important to discuss with you."

"...."

"Stop ignoring me, mom. It's about Reika. I chose this time so that we can discuss alone without Reika knowing about it."

"What do you want from me, you demon."

"Come on, don't call your son a demon. I just have one proposal."

"What is it?"

"You know mom. You can call me by any words you like. You can abuse me, humiliate me and even insult me. I don't care. But don't make it too obvious to Reika."

She was a bit startled. It was as if I was talking nonsense.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that Reika shouldn't know that you treating me this way. If she finds out, she will blame herself for the kind of treatment that I'm having with you. At least I don't want to ruin the rest of her school years,... as I did to her in the past."

"....then what do you propose that I should do?"

"Just act like you had already forgiven me for what happened in front of Reika. When we are alone, you can stop pretending and insult if you want to."

She was surprised by this proposal that I gave to her. She was thinking about it carefully. It was when we saw Reika come into the kitchen who was wiping her black wet hair with a dry towel.

"Mom. Brother. What are you two talking about?"

She had a worried face. She's probably thinking that we were having an argument.

"It's nothing Reika. I was talking to mom at how the food she made was delicious to eat."

Mom looked at me and understood what was to be done.

"Isn't it obvious to cook delicious food for my beloved children."

Reika felt relieved from mother's comment.

'Ohhh. She can act well, doesn't she? I would have given her an award for best actress ever. The way she turned from the cold mother who hated me very much to a gentle mother who cared about his son.

I smiled at her and confirmed that she agreed to my proposal. Now that this problem is out of the way, I'm gonna think of other problems to solve.

But first I'm going to take a shower, eat and go to sleep. And thus, came the end of the first day at school.