A Brother's Sacrifice

The sound of the bell ringing for the end of break was heard by the two of us. Aki wrapped up her lunchbox. I waited for her while staring at her bandages.

"You should probably take the bandages off your hands. People will freak out looking at it."

"Yeah, you're right. Although I don't care about other people."

She got up while rolling the bandages. I also got up and opened the door. We walked to the corridors of the building while chatting.

"Anyway, what are you going to do with Kinoshita?"

"Who is Kinoshita?"

"What, you met him a few minutes and you forgot about him already."

"Oh, him. I'm gonna make him our errand boy."

"So you are bullying him."

"Who said anything about bullying. He'll just get our food from the cafeteria or do some other petty things for us. We are not hitting him or anything like that. You also can ask him something if you want to."

"Well... okay."

Just after Aki's answer, we saw a large group of students coming towards us. There was a mix of boys and girls, and in front of them was their leader, Reika.

All of them were swarming around her like bees swarming around a nectar. I asked Aki who she was. It was to make sure that we are not related at all. If her friends around her knows that I am her brother, they would probably leave her alone and not talk to her again.

"Who is she?"

"Did you fall in love with her?"

"Are you jealous?"

"Of course not!"

I countered her with another question. I wanted to avoid answering the reason why I'm interested in her.

"So?"

"She's the most popular girl among the freshmen here. Kaburagi Reika."

"In just one day?"

"Yep. At first, she was sitting alone in class. But she took the first step. She went into the largest group of students and skillfully, made everyone turned their attention to her only. She has excellent communication skills and has that charisma that attracts everyone to her."

"Only with that."

"As a bonus, she's extremely beautiful."

"By the way, how do you know all of that?"

"I saw her when I was running to go to class. Remember? You swindled all of my money."

"Oh. Well, that was not swindling but getting rewarded for saving you. Forget about that now."

Aki grabbed my shoulders which diverted my attention to her.

"By any chance, are you related to her?"

"Is it because of the names?"

"Yes."

"Then you're wrong. Do you think an asshole like me is related to someone like that Reika? Our levels are comparably different.

"...You're probably right."

She let go of my shoulder and glanced at them. Reika noticed us coming. Her friends were also looking in our direction. Seeing us, they were alerted. The boys moved in front of Reika so as to protect her from us and the girls were surrounding Reika.

Reika let out a voice unintentionally because she doesn't know why they are acting like this. Then one girl approached her and whispered something into her ear. After hearing some information given by that girl, she was shocked. She looked towards us again.

Did that girl tell Reika about the incident in the cafeteria? If so, it seems like I have to explain her.

We walked towards the group casually. When we walked past them, I heard a boy in that group saying,

"Hey did you see that girl's hands. There's some blood."

Hearing that, I looked at Aki's hands. It was true.

"Aki, let's go and wash it off. It's dirty to have someone else's blood in your hands."

"Now that you said it, it's starting to smell."

While walking off, I glanced at that group. All of them were straight out scared of us. Reika was still in shock.

'Oh crap. I have to explain this also.'

"Do you want to skip class?"

"Where do you want to go?"

"Play games at the arcade."

"Yeah let's go. I'm starting to feel bored."

.....

We arrived at our classroom and I took Aki's and my bag together. The teacher was not here yet. Aki was waiting for me with hands filled with small droplets of blood. The class was astonished. That boy Kinoshita witnessed the fight so he was a little bit calm about that fact.

Oh. I need something from our errand boy.

"Kinoshita. Come here."

He slowly stood up and walked towards me.

"Do you have a phone?"

"Yes... why?"

"I need your contact number."

"Why?"

"Don't ask many questions. It irritates me."

"O-okay."

He gave me his number and we exited the class to go play some games.

....

We entered the arcade which was filled with people. First, we played some car games, then some fighting games. We enjoyed fighting games more compared to the other games. I sneaked a look at her and saw her actually having fun.

'So she did have other fun things to do other than fighting.'

We spend quite some times there before getting some snacks at a café. We sat and talked to each other. When it was the time to go home, I asked for her number. She shrugged it off and passed her phone to me. She has quite enough trust in me.

......

I got home and Reika seemed restless. When she saw me enter and sitting on the sofa, she kept glaring at me. I broke the silence.

"What?"

"Huh...?"

"You were staring at me as if you want to kill me."

She was hesitating to tell me. After a few minutes, she resolved herself and said clearly.

"What was that about the incident in the cafeteria?"

So it was that matter. As I thought, she wants to involve herself in my matters. She wants to know why am I doing this. But no matter what, I won't tell her that it's for her sake. If I do, she would stop me with all her might, which I don't want that to happen.

"What about it?"

"... is it true that you would've killed a guy?"

"Yeah, so what?"

"Why are you ....."

She was mumbling to herself.

"What. I can't hear you."

"WHY ARE YOU DOING ALL OF THIS!!!!!"

She suddenly screamed and looked at me into my eyes. She was crying and angry at me. Shit, I can't bear to watch her in that state. It just reminds me of the time when I was the worst sc.u.mbag alive. But.. for her sake, I have to answer her and keep her out of my business.

"Is it because of me.... if so, stop all of thi-."

"Are you an idiot?"

"Eh...?"

"Anything that happens with me is any of your concern. So keep away from me."

I replied to her in a joking manner. She was dumbfounded.

"You have changed, Brother."

She snuck out those words before running really quick in the direction of her room while wiping her moist eyes.

Sorry Reika but, it's all for your sake. Don't worry about the pains that I received and will receive in the future. After all, I'm used to pain.