A Brother's Sacrifice

The blue sky came into view. The first strange thing that I gazed at was an oddly shaped cloud. It was kind of a fusion of a bus and a lion? The front of the bus was either in the form of a lion's face or a cheetah's. I really don't know.

Shortly after I observed the weird shaped cloud, another oddity came into view. When I sat up, Aki's expression bothered me. When my sight fell on her, she averted her eyes and wryly smiled as she took small glances towards me.

I was worried about myself.

The next thing I did was look for Ken. Another oddity. Scratching his cheek, he was whistling as he avoided my eyes nervously.

I started to worry about myself even more.

I grabbed the side of my neck as I tried to make a cracking sound by twisting my head to the sides very quickly. The pain was still there, but not to that extent. Then I must have been unconscious for a good amount of time so that the pain would be less agonizing.

"How much time have I been out?"

Was it just me or did I feel that something was strange when I asked that question? Aki peaked at me and answered,

"...About 40 to 50 minutes."

The sun was closer to the horizon from when I was still conscious. I stood cautiously as I considered the injury on my shoulder and hip. The thought of going home clouded my mind and I was sure that my body would agree likewise.

Still, I could not ignore the awkwardness between us four individuals. Not only Aki and Ken, but even Miyamoto was uneasily looking at me.

"Is there something that I should know of?"

Those three diverted their sights away from mine. I got more impatient from those attitudes which they addressed me.

"Nothing of great importance..."

Ken tried to comfort me but instead, it had the opposite effect. I got even more worried, I was not trying to hide my true emotion.

"...heh..."

I slowly turned to that source of that small chuckle. The anxiety in me further piled up.

Aki covered her mouth and averted her head even more when I concentrated on her. The joy in her eyes was visible to me.

"I said, is there anything that I should know?"

I again forced them to spill the matter that they are hiding from me. I stared at those 3 with an annoyed tone, but inside I was anxious.

I focused on Ken. He met my eyes and he embarrassingly scratched the back of his head, fluttering his black hair alongside his hand's movement. In the process, he looked at Aki then fixated his gaze on the ground. I could not attain any information from him.

Next, I planned to fixate my sight on Aki but she was busy laughing to herself. Letting out those suppressed laugh was making me even more restless and even more irritated at their behaviour.

Finally, I glared at Miyamoto and pressed him for an answer. But I got an unexpected response.

"U-Umm.....Fujimoto is scarier than you so....Yea..."

He wryly smiled lightly at me before directing his focus onto Aki's figure. The hell is this? Does he mean that he can't speak because of Aki? That just confirms that the cause of their strange behaviour was indeed Aki.

I approached her with my quick steps and raised my voice.

"Tell me what is going on! Why are you acting like this?"

I went close up to her face as I try to pressurize her into divulging this strange matter. But it ended having a reverse effect compared to the one I was anticipating.

"Pfft!!"

She could not contain her laughter as she covered her entire face and tried to turn her head away from mine. Instead, my patience has reached its limit. I grabbed her head and made her fixate her sight in my direction.

"Tell me already!! I'm tired of your annoying face!"

"PHUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!"

...I was in disbelief.

I think she even spat on my face as she started to laugh hysterically directly onto my face. I let go of her since I gave up on trying to pry any further. But not without a last try.

"One more chance for you all to tell me what the f.u.c.k is going on before you all regret it."

But that last 'plea' went down the drain. Miyamoto was still scared of Aki, Ken remained silent as he looked down the floor while suppressing his smile, and Aki was still ignoring me as she tried to subdue the volume of her laughter.

I sighed as I finally succ.u.mbed to their magnificent resistant behaviour.

"Well if you are not going to tell me what are you hiding from me, at least tell me if the plan succeeded or not."

"...Yes, it was good...to an extent.....pfft!!"

"Oiii!!!!"

Ken chuckled upon raising his head to focus on me. Now he calmed myself down as I continued to question him on a certain point.

"What do you mean by 'to some extent'? Was there some problem?"

"...Nothing major. Three third years did not want to be part of it so they took off without creating any big scene."

I turned my sights towards Aki who has finally stopped from behaving like a crazy mental patient.

"Hey, he was strong enough alone to put me on edge. If his two friends joined, then I would have been screwed."

"Did you fight him?"

"Yeah. He is really skilled. His name was.....umm...yea it's Kurosawa Takumi."

Not knowing who he was, I waited for more information on this third year. Ken caught up on what I was waiting for so he replied on behalf of Aki.

"Apparently he is a former member of the Karate Club. He was kicked out by Mr Komori."

I pondered on this strong individual's profile. It was kind of difficult to find someone in this school who is able to have the same level of strength as Aki's.

"Hmm...For what reason was he kicked out?

Miyamoto joined in by letting out a small response, "We don't know."

Hmm. This is troublesome. But if he is not going to be consistently a thorn on my path, then I might consider leaving him be. If what Ken said is the complete truth, then he don't like us and he don't want to be involved in us. That was not a problem.

"Well don't mind that guy. It was a success no matter how you look at it. Some little anomaly is always bound to happen."

Everyone was now in a good mood after my response, even though those two were still holding their laughs.

One day, I'm going to unravel this mystery that I am surrounded with.

Anyway, we decided that we would go now. I picked up my bag and so did the others. Miyamoto went on his own ways while leaving us three casually walking together.

What bothers right now that when we were exiting the school building, some club members who passed by us chuckled instead of worrying about being near us. Now that's really humiliating.

I don't even know why they are laughing at me and those 2 definitely did something to me. I'm the only one in the dark.

Is it because of my face? Is it because of Aki's punches that deformed my facial features? Or is it the way I'm dressed? I checked my uniform but everything seems alright

Still, when walking, some passers-by would also hide their mouth and I heard their suppressed laugh. By this moment, I cannot be even bothered now.

When I double-checked any anomalies in myself, Ken and Aki turned their heads away from my sight. Muffled noises, resembling that of a maniacal laugh, could be heard.

"Hey. Wouldn't it hurt to at least tell me a hint on why you are behaving like this."

They replied to me unintelligibly as they could not contain their laughter.

As irritated as I was, I did not even glance at them. They could notice that I wore a furious expression but as if they didn't detect that, they got even more annoying. The muffled chuckling was not muffled anymore, but straight out laughter beside me.

When we were about to arrive at Aki's residence, Ken and Aki would kind of murmur between themselves. I tried to eavesdrop on them but my listening ability was not that great.

Ken who was holding his laugh, walked right beside me as he said,

"Tenma, let's take a selfie."

"What the heck? All of a sudden?"

"Yea, for memories."

Aki grabbed me by the neck as she posed with a 'V' sign on one of her hands. Ken too did the same, while holding his smartphone sideways for a selfie.

"C'mon Tenma, you too!"

"Alright! I get it!!"

I was forced to do the same pose as them. Since I did not have any reason why I should not do this, I lifted both my hands to make the sign.

Now that I think about it.... I have never taken a selfie in my life. Ever.....

However, that made me more voluntary in their little action. And for that reason itself, I started to smile widely like an idiot. I just could not help but feel happy right now.

"Wow it's really a good picture," Ken announced while observing the picture.

"Show it to me."

Ken evaded my hands as I tried to grab his phone.

"Hey! Show me! I want to see!"

"Now is not the right time."

"For god's sake, you are really annoying today!!!"

I threw tantrums but it did not work in the slightest in them divulging the secret they are hiding.

"Well, I'm going to go. Ken, be sure to..."

Aki did some kind of gesture with her eyes as she greeted us off. Ken just nodded in response.

"See ya."

I was watching this strange exchange unbeknownst of its meaning. The bad feelings kept creeping all over my body.

I reluctantly continued walking with Ken as I was watching him suspiciously. He noticed my glare but he paid no attention to it. Then he separated afterwards while grinning slightly and even laughing openly when he gained some distance.

Strange behaviours for which I am guaranteed that I'm the cause. But I myself don't know why am I the cause.

I arrived home as I reviewed the day for some clues. I concluded some points that can help me unravel this unfunny mystery.

Something must have happened from when I was unconscious. Those 2 were involved, that's for sure. But what?

When I pondered on that question, I suddenly heard my Mom's cold remarks.

"Having fun at school?"

I was surprised but I replied in a low voice.

"I guess..."

I went passed her because I wanted to take a shower. I got upstairs and was about to enter the bathroom but I stopped.

The door opened and Reika came to my sight. But she did not greet me as usual, instead, she started laughing as soon as her eyes fell on me.

I was not confused or startled at this point. I waited for her to calm down but that took a long time.

She laughed so much and so loud that even Mom checked if she is okay from downstairs. My unfazed expression waited for her.

"So? Tell me why are you laughing at?"

"...Hahaha...Don't you know yourself? You might want to take a look at the mirror."

Mirror? The mirror?....

....My face.....?

Something strange....on my face?

I realized.

I rushed in the washroom as I stared in the mirror. A disastrous scene before me. Then I again realized something else which made me abashed completely.

'Was I walking in the school and in the streets like this?!!?'

My hands reached my average looking face that was covered with o.b.s.c.e.n.e graffiti.

A big 'DUNCE' was handwritten with a marker on my forehead. A picture of a b.u.t.t was on my right cheek whereas on the left was a big poop. My lips were coloured with a red marker as if I used a lipstick.

No wonder I felt something off when I was talking!!

An oddly-shaped moustache further increased the atrocities that were done on my face. Even colouring the surrounding of my eyes made me look like as if I got hit.

What the heck was this!?!?

Wait...?..

The selfie...

.....

.....So that's what they were talking about!!!!!

I felt more embarrassed as I contemplated on their obvious childish plan that I trapped myself in.

The mystery was unravelled quickly by the victim himself...