Side Story 2: A Morning of Destiny
“Morning, Hikari,” yawned my brother.
“Oh, good morning, Kaito!” It was early in the morning—way earlier than he usually woke up. Even though he was yawning all over the place, he’d actually changed into his uniform already. “You’re sure up early today.”
“Oh, right. I got dragged into going to the track team’s morning practice, somehow. I must’ve forgotten to tell you. My bad.”
“Ahh, that explains it. And it’s fine! I already finished making your lunch.” I was actually pretty surprised by his explanation, but I didn’t let it show and replied with a smile. I was aware that he’d been showing up to the track team’s practices every once in a while, but as far as I knew that was the first time he’d gone to a morning session.
It felt like my brother had changed a lot since he started going to Oumei High. He’d never been good at making friends outside our household. In fact, the only friend friend of his I knew of was Kotou Tsumugi-chan, and he’d known her for a really long time thanks to our families being on good terms. When my own friends met him they always told me how handsome he was, so he wasn’t unpopular, but I’d never actually seen him with a guy friend of his own. I wasn’t sure if he even had any.
I knew perfectly well that I myself was the cause of his friendlessness. Our parents’ jobs kept them away from home the majority of the time, and at that moment in particular they were actually both working overseas. You’d think they’d have taken us along with them, but from what I understood, the place they were living wasn’t a suitable environment for kids of our age. We were left to support each other, along with occasional help from our grandparents.
My brother’s a year older than me, so he felt obligated to watch over and protect me while we were living on our own. I was in charge of cooking, but he took on the majority of the other household chores and would usually head right home after classes ended to make sure I could attend my own after-school activities. I was grateful, of course, but I did always worry about whether I was being more of a burden on him than strictly necessary.
After he got into high school, though, he started to change. In a good way, of course! I was in my third year of middle school, so I had to go home early and study for my entrance exams. I used that as an excuse to convince him to get more involved with his own school life. Tsumugi-chan was my coconspirator and helped pull him in that direction too. More than anything else, though, the biggest factor that helped my brother change was the boy he made friends with at school.
“Did that Koh-san you always talk about pull you into something again today?”
“Nah, it wasn’t Kou this time. He’s not the sorta guy to get up early for club stuff.”
Koh was my brother’s new friend, and he came up in conversation every once in a while. It seemed that my brother had made friends with a lot of boys since he started school, but I got the feeling that he was far and away the one Kaito felt closest to. I had yet to actually meet him, but I’d heard about him so often that his name had left quite an impression on me.
“Hey, don’t you think it’s about time you let me meet this Koh-san? If he’s supposed to be your best friend, then your sister should have the right to see what he’s all about!”
“Ha ha ha, sorry, sorry. The timing just hasn’t worked out so far.”
“You could always bring him over to visit me at school! Or maybe I should go visit your class instead?”
“Hmm... I’ll think about it,” he said with a strained smile. From the way Kaito described him, I got the impression he was quite the comedian, to put it generously. I had a feeling that my brother might’ve been trying to shield me from his antics, though I’d also heard that he and Tsumugi-chan got along quite well. I was honestly really curious about him, but not quite curious enough to risk damaging my brother’s social circle by barging into his class. I knew I’d probably get to meet him someday, one way or another.
“Yeah, you do that. Here’s your breakfast!” I changed the topic by serving up his food: a bowl of white rice, a salad, and a relatively small hamburger steak.
“Hamburger steak, first thing in the morning?” he observed. “What’s the occasion?”
“I didn’t have time to make a side dish. I made those for our lunches, so you’ll have to deal with eating them two meals in a row. This is your own fault for not telling me you’d be leaving early, for the record.”
“Ugh... Yeah, sorry, and thanks.” As I watched him dig into his meal, I considered what to do about my own lunch. I hadn’t had time to make a proper breakfast for him, so I’d pulled the hamburger steak he was eating out of my lunch box, and was now in need of a replacement. I’d used up all the ingredients for that recipe, and I didn’t really feel like going out to stock up before school. Oh, there’s still some chicken in the freezer, though! Maybe I could make something with that?
“Finished—thanks!” shouted Kaito.
“No problem. Here’s your lunch.”
“Thanks for that too! Breakfast was great today as always.”
“Right, right.” I passed him his lunch box as he pulled his shoes on, then rushed out the door.
“Have a nice day!”
“You too, Hikari! Lock up when you leave, okay?” I saw him off, then let out a quick sigh after I was sure the door was closed. I was used to leaving before him, since my student council work started in the morning, and the unfamiliar circumstances were making it hard to keep myself focused. One of these days, I’ll drive the importance of communication into Kaito’s head.
“All right, I’d better get moving too! Gotta get ready!” I’d start with breakfast, and figure out a replacement for the hamburger steak later. I promised myself that I’d keep a firm handle on the cooking situation, and I intended to follow through!
❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤
“Oh, jeez, I’m really cutting it close!” In the end, I overthought it and my preparations took way longer than I’d hoped they would. My school was within walking distance of my house, but since I ended up leaving way later than I usually would, I started to panic and felt very rushed. “I should just barely make it if I jog, right...? Sheesh, if I’m late then I’m blaming it on Kaito, I swear!” I muttered to myself as I rushed along.
Suddenly, a loud meow caught me off guard. I quickly noticed the black cat that had made the noise, and stopped in my tracks. Something was strange about it. Or, well, the cat itself was totally normal—the strange part was the way it was sitting right in the middle of the road, languidly stretching and staring directly at me.
“That’s sort of weird...” I mumbled. For some reason, it was really grabbing my attention. I wanted to take a closer look, but I knew that if I stopped there, I’d definitely end up being late.
“Meow!”
“Whoa!” The cat meowed with incredibly good timing, almost like it was going out of its way to keep my focus. Something about the situation felt incredibly strange, and in an oddly familiar way, at that. I just couldn’t get my mind off that cat.
“Meow.”
After meowing once more, it started walking away. It was like it saw right through me and was telling me to follow as it gracefully strolled along.
“Ahh, ugh...” I felt really conflicted. If I chased it I’d be late for sure, but I just couldn’t ignore the mysterious sensation I was feeling. “Ahh, fine! Kaito, Yuu-chan, I’m sorry!”
I swallowed my worries away and walked off after the cat. It didn’t even turn around to check if I was following it, but it was still somehow walking at exactly the same pace as me. It felt like it was guiding me somewhere. I know that sounds like something straight out of a novel, but I really did believe it.
“Meow!” We’d been walking for some time when the cat suddenly dashed forward and rounded a corner.
“Ah, wait!” I rushed after it, but when I turned the corner as well, the cat was nowhere to be seen. Instead...
“Hello there!”
I found something so repulsive, I couldn’t even put it into words.
“Well, aren’t you just the cutest widdle lady...”
A stark naked old man.
“Kyaaaaahhhhhhh!” The instant I registered what I was seeing, I screamed louder than I even knew I was capable of and ran away as fast as I could! Oh god, oh god oh god oh god! Why is this happening?! What’s even happening?! Why, why, why?! I could feel a thudding noise behind me, and was absolutely horrified to realize that he was chasing me!
“No, no... Somebody, help me, please...” I was pouring everything I had into running as fast as I could, and I was so out of breath I could barely choke out a few scattered words. But still, I just had to keep running—until I found him.
He was a black-haired boy with a sort of sleepy look on his face. Those aren’t remarkable features in Japan by any stretch of the imagination, but for some reason, the sight of him took my breath away, more so than anybody else I’d ever met. I was so captivated that I even forgot about the degenerate who was pursuing me...and also about my own footing. I fell, spectacularly, right on my face.
“Umm, hey, you okay?” the boy asked me, probably reflexively. But I couldn’t reply. My heart was pounding so hard, it hurt—harder and more intensely than I’d ever felt it beat before. And it wasn’t because I’d been sprinting. It wasn’t because of the repulsive sight I’d just witnessed. It wasn’t because I was embarrassed by my pratfall—okay, maybe it was that one, just a little bit, but that wasn’t the real reason. It was that strangely, inexplicably, I found the boy before me so absolutely and utterly fascinating that I couldn’t take my eyes off him.
They say that bad things in life are always followed by good ones. If that’s true, and if my encounter mere moments before was the absolute low point of my life, then it wouldn’t be strange at all for my life’s absolute high point to be waiting soon after.
I knew it was true. After all, I’d always been searching for someone. I’d been waiting for them. I didn’t know who they were, but I knew that they were there, always present deep within my heart.
And I had a feeling that on that morning, at that moment, I’d met with destiny itself.
PREV - TOC - ILLUSTRATION
