"This is wrong...", she whispered in his ear.
"I know..." Tightening his hold, she trembled.
'But I...'
'But I...'
"Syuichirou, she'll be your little sister from now on." He looked up to his father. "Be good to her, okay?"
"Un! I will protect her always, otou-chan." The little boy nodded and then held out his hand to the bashful girl in front of him. "I'm Syuichirou. Yoroshiku!"
"Aah...I'm . Yoroshiku, Syuichirou-san." The little girl said in a discreet voice.
"Onii-chan dayo!" He stated.
"Eh?"
"You're my imotou from now on, so you're supposed to call me 'Onii-chan'." The 8-year-old boy shook her hand and started to drag the girl outside. "Otou-san, we're just going to play outside."
"Be back before supper okay?" His foster mother yelled after both siblings ran off outside.
"I told you it would be fine." Oishi Senior re-assured his wife. "My boy is excited to have your daughter as his 'Imotou'. I can tell. I'm his father after all."
Back then, could it be more providential?
Surely, our futures were predestined.
"Nii-chan...?" The little girl tugged her big brother, who was lying beside her on the bed.
"What is it? Do you want to pee?" He asked as he prepared to stand up but was held down by a clutching hand on his chest. "Daijoubu?" He was starting to worry about his younger sister's strange behavior.
"Why can't I be with okaa-san?" She asked with a croaked voice. "She's always beside me when I sleep at night and she always sings me a lullaby too." She started to sob.
"Nakanaide..." He patted the little girl's head and hushed her. "Your mom... I mean our mom is with our dad. Parents are supposed to be with each other."
"She doesn't love me anymore?" The innocent girl asked.
"No! She loves you very much. You know that more than I do." He said.
In the darkness and coldness of the night, the room was filled with silence and only the girl's sobs were heard. He couldn't stop her from crying. He hugged her tighter and started to sing.
"Since okaa-san won't be able to stay with you at night and sing you a lullaby, I'll do it." He kissed her forehead.
Finally, she stopped crying and started to feel drowsy.
"A... ri... ga... tou, Nii-chan..."
She was already brought to dream land along with her newfound friend.
I lie awake to feel your nearness.
I would never have wanted more than this.
"Suits you well." A 3rd year high school student ruffled his little sister's hair.
"Hey! Stop it, Onii-chan." She pouted and combed her hair once more. "And these glasses don't look good on me at all."
"Trust me, they do." He intertwined his fingers with her sister's and led her to the door. "Would your big brother lie to you?"
"Well... if you say so..." Her words were inaudible and as they walked past a corner she quickly hid behind his big brother's back.
"-chan~ Ohayou nyaa!" A jolly red-headed fellow bounced towards them.
"Onii-chan..." She pulled his brother's sleeve and he quickly understood what it meant.
"Eiji, what did I tell you about greeting ?" Oishi said with a voice of authority.
"No tight hugging and no over-teasing." Eiji restated his oath in a robotic manner.
Oishi sighed as they continued to walk to school. Ever since Oishi had introduced his little sister to him, Eiji had always hugged her and teased her cuteness. It was even a shock to when Eiji impulsively hugged her instead of shaking hands on their first meeting. She wasn't used to other people hugging her aside from her big brother.
"Tottemo kawaii, -chan!" Eiji hugged her again.
'That's the 5th time this morning.’ Oishi thought. 'Can't Eiji be a little less affectionate?' He was protective with her even if it was his best friend.
"Eiji..." As he was about to scold Eiji, he heard someone talk or rather confess.
"-san, will you go out with me?" A bouquet of white roses was in front of her.
"Eh?" She exclaimed.
"..." Oishi was speechless.
"Fuji!" Eiji gasped as Fuji knelt to get what he wanted.
"Will you go out with me, ?" Fuji repeated as he took her hand and kissed it.
She turned to look at his big brother as if waiting for his approval. They gazed at each other's eyes for a moment and Oishi sighed.
"Shall I ask the confirmation of the big brother first?" Fuji eyed them with his gaze of sincerity.
"Can I...think about it first?" She replied with a certain gloominess in her eyes.
'Am I justified as overprotective if I don't allow you?' He thought.
When it started, I didn't know.
But right now, I know...
This once flickering spark,
Is now a fully-fledged bonfire.
"Say something." tugged Syuichirou's sleeves but he remained silent.
Their walk home has never been this awkwardly silent like this before. Usually Syuichirou would talk about his day in the tennis club. Now, it seemed like he's never going to talk again.
"Is it because of Fuji-sempai?" She stopped in her tracks and lowered her head. She was hurt. Was her big brother angry? Angry because she didn't deny a suitor immediately like she usually did?
"It's not that." He stopped in his tracks. "I'm just worried. Fuji's okay with me but he's a little...different." He turned around and saw that 's tears were falling.
"Hey!" He quickly ran to her and dropped his bag. "Don't cry. I've already allowed you haven't I?" He hugged her little sister.
'Yokatta...' She thought as her sobs faded in his brother's warmth.
"I'm sorry..." He said as he let go of her. "I'm not being a good brother."
"No you're not!" She quickly opposed. "You're the BEST Nii-chan ever!" She smiled and entangled her arms in his arm.
"Best in the world ka..." He said as he patted her head but she suddenly pouted. It's a habit she got off from hanging-out with Kikumaru Eiji.
"Sonna koto iu na..."
"Why?" He was confused.
"When you say 'the world', it means that you're only best in this period of time." She said.
"What do you mean?" He was even confused after her statement.
"There can never be anyone like you. You'll be the best even if many generations come." She smiled.
Syuichirou blinked a couple of times. He was surprised with her thought. It was rather unexpected and altogether overwhelming. Then he laughed. He laughed with all his heart.
"What's so funny?" She raised her eyebrow.
"Nothing. Come on, let's go home." He said as he chuckled a bit and picked up his bag.
You're seat of thought is way beyond mine.
So unpredictable, untainted and undeniably compelling.
"Nii-chan, I'll go home with Fuji-kun today." She said as Fuji waited in front of the gates.
It has been almost a month since has been seeing Fuji Syusuke, the renowned 'Tennis Prodigy'. She has been pretty close with the boys' tennis club way back in middle school because of Syuichirou and that didn't exclude Fuji. She got along with them quite easily. It was an ability she was born with.
"Ooh~ They've been seeing each other for quite some time now, haven't they?" Eiji said as he walked past Syuichirou. "Oi, Oishi. What's wrong?" He waved his hand in front of his friend's face.
"Huh?" His friend just got back from a trance.
"What's wrong nyaa?" Eiji patted his friend's shoulder.
"Nothing's wrong."
Both of them continued to walk and went to the market.
"Thanks for accompanying me, Eiji." Oishi said as he lifted the grocery bags.
"No problem! I've got this chore today too, heehee..." Eiji said as he handed the money to the cashier.
After they have bought the groceries, they parted ways and went home.
"Stop eating the carrot." He ordered his little sister who was trailing behind him.
"I am not!" She countered.
"It's your fault if your teeth get big and if you suddenly grow big ears." He chuckled at the thought.
"Here." She handed the carrot to her big brother along with the grocery bag in her hands and ran to the end of the block. "Race you home!" She waved from afar and dashed to the corner turn.
"Matte! You're not playing fair." He ran to catch up and eventually, being a tennis player, he caught up quickly and won.
"How come... you... always win?" She caught her breath after running so fast beyond her pace.
"Because you cheat..." He said as he flicked her forehead.
"Hey! That hurt."
Going back to reality, he walked to the corner where they go home from grocery shopping.
'Weird, I feel like these grocery bags weigh a ton.’ He sighed to himself.
--
It's past 10 O'clock in the evening and Syuichirou laid down on his bed a couple of minutes ago. Somehow his mind wouldn't allow him to sleep even if he shut his eyes. He heard his door creak open.
"Nii-chan?"
"? Why are you still awake?" He sat up from bed.
She jumped in his bed and hid herself under the sheets.
"Can I sleep here?" She asked while peaking through the bed sheets.
"Sure." He said as he laid down on bed once more.
"Nii-chan?"
"Hmm?"
"I missed you." She said as she hugged her big brother's arm.
"...I missed you too." He replied as he gently put his hand on her head.
I feel so empty without you
And I feel so overfilled when you're near
Oishi, along with Eiji, were walking along the park. Eiji insisted on checking out the new ice cream shop that had just opened.
"I want strawberry!" Eiji hadn't really changed since middle school.
"Hai, hai..." Oishi stopped in his tracks when he saw two people under a tree that was a few meters away.
"Isn't that..." Eiji covered his mouth at the scene he just saw and dragged Oishi to the bushes.
Fuji's arms pinned to the tree. They were talking about something that was unreachable to Oishi and Eiji's ears. Suddenly tears started to flow down 's cheeks and Oishi was alarmed.
'How could Fuji make her cry' He thought and stood up but Eiji pulled him down.
"What are you doing nyaa?" Eiji whispered.
"She's crying!" Oishi was enraged.
"Just sit down and watch. We know better that Fuji wouldn't harm her. He likes her so much." Eiji said.
Both of them knew that. Fuji would always tell them at practice how he had grown fond of her.
The next scene was unbearable for Oishi as Fuji lowered down and kissed . Some kind of pain was surging through him. The same kind of pain he felt when told him that she accepted Fuji as her boyfriend but only more hurtful.
"Come on Eiji." he stood up and pulled Eiji.
"Hey, how come?" Eiji pouted.
"It's not right to butt in to people's privacy...especially when they are a couple." Eiji said no more when he felt dreariness in his friend's aura.
When I've come to realize
This strong feeling nestling in my heart
It was a little too late
Fate has slapped us right in the face.
"Ohayou! Ara...Oishi, how come you're not with today?" Eiji walked to his locker and started changing.
Eiji was wondering why his best friend was awfully quiet. He didn't even return the greeting.
'Was it because of yesterday? When we saw Fuji and in the park?' He thought deeply.
"Oishi... tell me what's wrong?" Eiji turned serious. He wanted to know why his bestfriend was upset since yesterday at the park.
"How come you're so upset about yesterday?" He said as he zipped his jersey and leaned against his locker. "It is only proper for a couple to do that and besides you gave her permission to have a boyfriend remember?" After what Eiji had said, Oishi still remained silent and continued to change his jersey slowly.
"Come on, let's practice." Oishi said as he shut his locker and walked out of the room.
--
You should tell your brother...
"Sumimasen, is Oishi Syuichirou inside?" decided to talk to him. It was Fuji's suggestion as well.
"Ah, he is." The girl nodded and proceeded inside the room.
"Nii-chan?" She took a peek before she went inside. There he was. Looking so intently at the document in his hand, he didn't hear her footsteps closing in.
Upon hearing a warm breath from behind, he looked up and saw . They gazed at each other for a moment and suddenly they looked away.
"...Nii-chan? Care to have lunch with me?" She asked as Syuichirou stood up and fixed the documents on the table.
"I'm sorry, . I have a lot of things to do today. Why don't you go have lunch with Fuji?" He slowly walked to the door, leaving the poor girl behind.
But he might scold me...and he probably won't allow such nonsense.
You won't know until you do it.
Tears dropped on the floor.
--
"You're so mean nyaa!" Eiji walked behind Oishi.
"What do you mean, Eiji?" Oishi asked, still walking.
"You so DO NOT have anything to do today." Eiji caught up with his friend's pace. "Why?"
"You're being absurd, Eiji. I HAVE a lot of things to do. You just don't have any." Oishi said coldly.
"You're acting strange, Oishi. Come to think of it...you never leave the house without her and you even skip school if was sick at home. And most importantly, you NEVER refuse her even if you're on the verge of dying from schoolwork." Eiji circled his friend, who continued to walk.
"And since when did you get to be detective?" Another cold comment from Oishi.
Eiji stopped on his tracks when Oishi started descending the staircase. Suddenly he spoke, "It's as if you're acting like a jealous lover."
Oishi stopped on his tracks. Lover?
Both of them remained silent for a moment and Eiji decided to break it.
"Oishi...don't tell me..." Eiji gulped.
"That's not it... it's just..."
"It's just what, Oishi? It's just what?! Giving her privacy by avoiding her? That's so not you." Oishi couldn't deny anymore. His best friend knew him too well and not to mention that his bestfriend saw through his feelings prior to himself.
"I know you too well, Oishi. Too well to also know that you've just realized you're feelings." Eiji said as he patted his best friend's back.
"Maa..." Oishi paused for a moment. Tears welled-up in his eyes as he sighed. "She's my sister, Eiji. And besides she has Fuji."
To be near you is all I would ever have needed
Even if it meant keeping my feelings in the dark.
He decided to find her and apologize for being so cold. No matter what happens, she's still his little sister that he vowed to always protect. First, he had to find Fuji. After all, he did send her off to the tennis prodigy.
"She's not with me. We already broke up." Fuji informed Oishi.
"Nani?!" Eiji flabbergasted.
"Why?" Oishi seized Fuji by the shoulder and shook him. "You've been steady for 5 months now. Why did you have to go and break her heart?"
"Oishi, keep your cool." Eiji tried to calm down the enraged Oishi.
"You've got it all wrong.", Fuji explained as he broke free from Oishi's seizure. "I'm not the one that broke up." Fuji opened his sapphire eyes and stared at Oishi, who remained speechless.
"But you were kissing so passionately at the park yesterday? How come you've broken up?" Eiji asked but quickly covered his mouth.
"Oh that. That was her first and last kiss from me." Fuji contained the sadness he felt and continued to talk. "It is not in my place to explain what had happened. She'd always be so kind but I felt it coming, ever since we started dating." Fuji rested his hands on Oishi's shoulders.
"You know where to find her, right?" Oishi nodded and ran off the campus building.
That day, I saw the sign.
A flicker of hope
To be near you and
To freely love you.
"I'm sorry, Syusuke-kun." Tears fell down from her cheeks.
"Don't be. I've known your feelings from the start." Fuji sighed and impulsively kissed her.
"That's you're parting gift."
"Gomen... Hontouni..." She wiped her tears.
"You want to know why?"
"Eh?"
"I wanted to take my chances but 'he' still had the bigger part. Maybe a hundred times larger than the space you had for me in your heart." He patted her head as she remained speechless.
"You should tell your brother..."
"But he might scold me...and he probably won't allow such nonsense."
"You won't know until you do it."
sat on the swing where she used to play with her big brother. She remembered how he used to push the swing to move and there was also the time when she'd fall off when she tried to swing it by herself.
'Those times are irreplaceable... but I...', she sighed.
"Mitsuketa..." She heard a voice but she didn't dare look up to face him.
Silence surrounded the park and the setting sun made the wind that blew, freezing cold. As Syuichirou walked closer to wrap his jacket around , she stood up and started to run away but he prevented her by grabbing her wrist.
"I'm going home." She said rather coldly.
"I'm sorry." He apologized as he let go.
"It couldn't be helped. You had a lot of things to do. And..." She paused for a moment. "I don't want to be a nuisance." She started to walk again but this time Syuichirou stopped her with his embrace.
"I'm sorry. Forgive me, I didn't know that you were hurting." He held tighter from behind.
trembled when Syuichirou spun her around and burrowed his head on her shoulders.
"Ni-nii-chan!" She stuttered.
"...Let’s just stay like this for a while."
The sun had set and the streetlights had lit up. The breeze made them feel vulnerable yet having each other they were unshakeable.
"I'm sorry..." She sobbed. "I gave you the cold shoulder."
"Sssh...it's alright." He said as he stroked her hair. "Saa, Why don't we go home?" He intertwined his fingers with hers and started to walk.
"You know..." They said in unison as they walked. "Go ahead..." Yet again in chorus.
"You start off." She said.
"No, you start." He offered.
"Let's say it together." They said in harmony and stopped walking.
"Ready?" He started.
"Ok."
"1..." He counted off.
"2..." She continued.
"3!" They both took a deep breath and spoke.
I felt so happy
That you felt the same
But fate was cruel
And to feel this way is a sin
"This is wrong..." She whispered in his ear.
"I know..." Tightening his hold, she trembled.
'But I...'
'But I...'
"I wouldn't want it any other way." They both said in unison.
As the cold breeze of the night blew,
I've never felt so feeble yet strong at the same time.
As the cold breeze of the night blew,
We solemnly vow under the stars and seal it with a kiss.