Alinea

At the Suzuki House in Denenchofu, the pendulum clock on the wall struck ten in the evening, and its noise reverberated in the entire place.

DING DONG DING DONG

The girl who had been quietly sitting in the living room couch lifted her gaze from her sketchbook to look at the time, and a small frown marred the space between her perfect black brows.

Since coming home from the hospital, Aki always made sure to be home before dinner. It's not that she felt resentful about his absence, but she found it strange.

"Oniichan must be busy," she murmured, before transferring her attention back to her drawing.

She and Asou bought a lot of art supplies – some she didn't even know how to use yet like the stuff for comic artists. But she was too happy to have them anyway. She could learn how to use them bit by bit.

Suzuki Ara had been worried about her future for a while now. She had thought it would take time for her to clear her name. But it didn't even take the whole day for it to happen. She came to class as the most hated person in school, and came home with people smiling at her it was so weird.

Before running into Midori after class, she was actually already dreading the coming boredom. But…

She happily looked at her drawings. She had been sketching since she came home at seven, and she had already finished some works.

Her newly discovered talent was a welcome surprise. It seemed she had the ability to draw anything from memory. To test this theory, she did sketches of people, places, and animals she hadn't seen in a while to check if she could capture their likeness on paper.

The first one was of Ivan. She was able to capture the Flame Emperor's c.o.c.ky grin, his face handsome in a rugged kind of way. He wore a heavy armor with the crest of Kresnik on his sleeve plate. He had always been so wild and carefree that it was a bit of a challenge for Ara to transfer his untamed yet gentle characteristics on paper.

The next one was a chanleya, an animal that had the same appearance of a white tiger with wings. They're the steed of choice in Kresnik for the country was surrounded by vast mountain ranges.

After that, she drew the Devil's Cavern. She didn't know why, but she felt like she should immortalize the place where Alinea took her last breath. As she drew that huge hole on the barren rocky mountain side, she couldn't help but wonder what happened to her body – wondered if Alistair even came back to at least put her to rest.

At the thought, Ara shook her head. She shouldn't think about that anymore. She's here now. What happened to her body back in Ritz was not her business anymore.

To cheer herself up after that lonely thought, she decided to draw one more thing before going up to her room to rest.

"Hmmmmnn what to draw?" She should at least really challenge herself in her last piece.

She closed her eyes, as she thought about what to draw when an image of a tall, lanky, young man with raven hair and cold, blue stare came to her mind. He was wearing a black hakama, a bamboo bow in his hand as he stood waiting under the cherry blossom tree that was in full bloom. The small pinkish white petals raining down on him made the moment seem magical.

Ara's breath hitched. She didn't know why but she seemed to be possessed by the real Ara as her heart beat in a nervous kind of way whenever she remembered that beautiful boy whom she met eye to eye in a fleeting moment, the spring of her last year in middle school.

Yep, he was beautiful like a painting that time. It was why his likeness was carved so deeply in Ara's psyche even if she'd only ever seen him once.

With her tongue in cheek, she stopped fighting the memory away and let her hand glide freely across the paper. In no time, she was able to really, really draw him.

"Ugh…why am I so good at this?" she asked no one in particular as she studied her last piece for the day. It was really that sempai. Too bad she used lead pencils and not colored ones. He would look better with color – most especially his unusual eyes.

"Well…"

There's always a next time. She could just draw the guy again in the future, she thought as she scanned her sketchbook to inspect all her work. She was proud of her work, but too bad Aki was not at home to show her sketches to.

Maybe she could use this talent not just to stave off boredom but also make a living out of it. After all, she only had another couple of months until she graduated from senior high. She still had no idea what to do for college yet, although the original Ara already chose to study literature at a university.

She hated reading. It would be torture. Maybe she could ask Aki to help her switch courses to art, she thought as she closed her sketchbook and tidied her things.

She stood up and stretched, readying to leave for her room, when the doorbell rang.

Ara paused where she was as she watched the housekeepers rush from the back of the house towards the door to open it. At the same time, the familiar voice of his brother could be heard from the other side.

"Ara-chan I'm back. Open the door."

"Strange." Aki had keys so why was he ringing the bell – not to mention he sounded…drunk?

The door opened, and yes, a drunken Suzuki Aki being supported by someone almost fell in the room the moment the housekeeper opened the door.

"Master!" The servant hurriedly helped the other man support Aki, while another servant came to the room to assist.

"Oniichan, what happened?"Ara couldn't understand this scenario. If her memory was right, her brother should have a high tolerance on alcohol.

"Ah Ara-chan!"Aki smiled as he staggered towards her sister and the servants immediately caught him.

Ara was tall for a girl, but Aki was a lot taller with a bigger frame. It wouldn't be good if they let him fall on his sister who just came out of the hospital.

"It's okay,"Ara said as she rushed to help push Aki up to a standing position.

"Ara-chan, Oniichan failed you miserably. I owe you an apology. But the earth is moving right now," the older brother chuckled before suddenly fainting.

"Oniichan!"

The servants and the man who was with her brother caught him before he fell on the floor.

"It's alright young miss. We will take the master to his room," the servants assured her, and they carried her unconscious brother upstairs to his bedchamber.

"We had a boys' night out. I didn't know Aki would be like that. Sorry we didn't stop him from drinking," a familiar voice said and Ara turned her attention to the man who brought Aki home. He was by the door, half in, half out.

Ara was surprised.

"Weird guy!" She had spoken before she thought, and she instantly clamped her mouth shut as she blushed. "S-sorry Kaze-nii, I was surprised," she explained sheepishly afterwards as she gave an apologetic look to Kazehaya Gin who was unhappy.

Kazehaya was about to say something when a chuckle echoed from the door behind Homura's CEO, and Ara was surprised to see another figure there.

She tried to see the guy, but Kazehaya's too tall he was blocking him. Sensing what she wanted, Kazehaya Gin stepped further into the room, and to the side to let the other man in.

Ara watched as a long leg stepped out of the shadows into the foyer, looked as another familiar tall figure came into view. She hadn't realized she had her mouth slightly agape as a pair of intense blue orbs locked with her silver-grey ones.

"Good evening," the familiar young man greeted her, and she finally snapped from her trance.

"Do you recognize him Ara?"Kazehaya asked with a grin, and Ara nodded.

"Yes!" She exclaimed as he pointed at the stranger. "Pretty boy archer sempai!"