...then he patted my shoulder hard. The scraps of our registration forms fell to the wooden floor like miserable snow. Nika's eyes widened in horror as she stared at the shredded paper.
"T-The registration forms... they're destroyed..." Nika muttered, her face deathly pale. "Principal Shiratori is going to behead us tomorrow..."
"Relax, little lambs!" Ryuusei stood with his hands on his hips proudly. "The Principal knows how I work! Sending you here means she has handed you over completely to me. Starting tomorrow, you are required to come here!"
I glanced at Nika, then looked around the room. The people here were clearly operating outside the spectrum of normal human behavior. If we stayed any longer, we would surely be dragged into even more absurd conversations or activities.
I nudged Nika's arm gently, giving her a firm signal. Nika, catching on immediately, nodded fast.
"A-Ah! Thank you so much for the warm welcome, Ryuusei-senpai!" I interrupted quickly, forcing the widest smile possible while slowly taking a step back toward the door. "Unfortunately, we really can't stay long today!"
"Eh? Why the rush?" Mizuki tilted his head with a sad expression that (I had to admit) was incredibly cute for a boy, his tray of cookies still extended. "The cookies I made are still warm, you know. They're chocochip flavor!"
"S-Sorry, Mizuki! It's not that we want to turn down your kindness!" Nika cried in a high-pitched panic, her body already halfway turned toward the exit. "B-But I'm very busy! I have to move houses tomorrow! My family must be waiting for me to pack the boxes! If I'm late, my mom will go berserk!"
"T-That's right!" I chimed in, immediately playing my trump card. "And I have to get home soon to cook dinner! My little sister—if I'm even five minutes late feeding her, she'll turn me into soup stock! Our lives are literally at stake right now!"
On the sofa, Serika sipped her tea and smiled faintly, seemingly unfazed by our mix of lies and truths. Meanwhile, Chiaki, from behind her fortress of books, only snorted softly while pushing up the frames of her glasses.
"A very pragmatic and cliché excuse," Chiaki commented flatly without looking at us.
"Well, what can be done if the call of family destiny awaits!" Ryuusei waved his hand dramatically, as if releasing a flock of pigeons into the air. "Go then, my new members! Prepare your minds for tomorrow! For tomorrow, the gates of mystery will truly swing wide open for you!"
"Thank you! Excuse us!" Nika and I shouted in unison.
Without waiting another second, I slid the wooden door open and we both burst out of the club room like lightning. SRAK! BRAK! I slammed the door a bit too hard. We ran down the creaking wooden hallways of the Old Building, not looking back once, as if we had just seen a real ghost.
Only after we successfully crossed the connecting bridge and returned to the more modern, brightly lit main building did our pace finally slow down. We were both gasping for breath.
"Hah... hah... what is up with them..." Nika groaned, leaning over with her hands on her knees. "What kind of Literature Club is filled with such weirdos? Why is my life like this..."
I wiped the sweat from my forehead with a weary laugh. "Well... at least we didn't get a minus for our extracurricular grade, right?"
Nika immediately glared at me. "This is still your fault, Baka-Itsuka! Tomorrow, you have to treat me to melon bread at the canteen as compensation for my heart attack today!"
"Yes, yes, Your Highness," I replied resignedly. "By the way..." I looked at Nika, who was still catching her breath. "What you said in front of the club... are you really moving tomorrow?"
Nika flinched slightly. Her pale face suddenly turned red again, and she quickly looked away, her right hand gripping the strap of her bag tightly.
"N-None of your business! Anyway, I'm going home! My family really is waiting for me to pack! See you tomorrow!"
Without waiting for a reply or giving me a chance to ask further, Nika turned and ran toward the school gate, leaving me standing alone at the edge of the bridge with a pile of new questions in my head.
On the way home, my brain felt like an old engine being forced to work overtime. Too many ridiculous things had happened today: from Nika's misunderstanding about Reina, being called by Principal Shiratori, being forced into a Literature Club full of eccentrics, to the sudden news that Nika was moving tomorrow.
The evening sun had almost fully set by the time I arrived home. My phone clock showed 17:50. Almost six in the evening. Crap.
"I'm home..." I called out softly as I opened the front door. My body felt as if gravity had doubled. I hadn't even showered yet because I was late, and the cold sweat from today's series of panic attacks made my uniform feel sticky.
"Welcome back, Nii-chan," a flat but familiar voice came from the kitchen.
I dragged my feet to the living room and was immediately greeted by a sight that made my guilt spike. Shiro, my only little sister, was standing in front of the stove wearing her favorite bear apron over her casual clothes. The fragrant aroma of miso soup and stir-fried meat hit my starving nose.
"Sorry, Shiro," I said weakly, leaning my forehead against the kitchen doorway. "I got held up at school because of some stupid club business."
Shiro turned off the stove and turned to face me. Her large eyes scanned me from head to toe. Instead of nagging like she usually did when I was late, her cold gaze slowly softened. She let out a long sigh, put down the ladle, and walked over to me.
"Nii-chan looks like a zombie that just crawled out of a grave," she commented bluntly. Her small hand reached out, taking my heavy school bag.
"Thanks for the compliment," I replied sarcastically with a thin smile.
"I've finished cooking. The rice is ready, too," Shiro said, her tone becoming slightly softer than usual. She looked at me with a gaze that hinted at a concern she rarely showed openly. "The warm water in the bathtub is also ready. Hurry up and shower; you smell like sweat. Sickness could cling to you."
I blinked, a bit surprised by her sudden kindness. "How come you're being so nice? Usually, you'd nag for ages if the dinner schedule was off by even a second."
Shiro's cheeks flushed slightly, though she tried to keep her face stoic. She looked away, pretending to be busy folding the edge of her apron. "I just don't want Nii-chan to get sick. It's just the two of us since Mom and Dad... if Nii-chan collapses, who's going to take care of me and give me allowance? Nii-chan is my most precious asset, you know."
I smiled sincerely and gently ruffled her silver hair—which, miraculously, she didn't swat away this time. "Yeah, yeah. Thanks a lot, my most reliable little sister. I'll go shower now."
"Hurry up then!" Shiro shooed me, flustered, gently pushing my hand away while hiding her deepening blush. She turned back to the kitchen quickly. "If Nii-chan isn't down in fifteen minutes, I'm giving your portion of meat to the stray cats!"
Chuckling softly, I headed up the stairs to my room to grab a towel. The fatigue that had been piling up on my shoulders seemed to evaporate. Dealing with a chaotic day and a bunch of weirdos at school was exhausting, but knowing Shiro was always waiting for me at home made everything feel much more manageable.
After a warm bath that melted away the remaining fatigue from the Literature Club "circus," I came down to the dining room in casual clothes. Shiro had already set the table. Steam rose from the stir-fried meat, its aroma enough to wake the dead.
We ate in a comfortable silence—the hallmark of a kuudere like Shiro. However, just as I was about to pick up the last piece of meat, Shiro set her chopsticks down with a precise click.
"Nii-chan," she called out flatly. Her sharp eyes stared straight at me, as if interrogating a suspect in a dark room. "That night... the night of Mom and Dad's accident... do you really not remember anything?"
I choked slightly and put down my chopsticks. The question came out of nowhere, like a bolt from the blue. "Why ask that again? I've told you many times, Shiro. It was a big storm. I was at home looking after you when you were still a toddler. I only knew what happened from the police and our old neighbors."
"The neighbors who moved away five years ago?" Shiro cut in quickly.
"Yeah, the Sato family. They said Dad's car skidded because the road was slippery near the Moriya District hill. That's all. Why? Is something wrong?"
Shiro fell silent. She stared at her clean plate, then murmured softly, "Nothing. It's just... it feels like there's a missing puzzle piece. Like a mystery novel where the middle chapter was forcibly ripped out."
Hearing her words, my mind was suddenly thrown back to the past.
The gray sky let out a light drizzle, as if mourning alongside us. I, only 7 years old, stood stiffly in front of two fresh wooden grave markers. Beside me, Shiro—who was very small, maybe 4 years old—gripped the hem of my black shirt tightly. She didn't cry; her face had been that flat since she was little, but her body was shaking violently.
"Nii-chan... Mommy and Daddy... are they sleeping in the ground?" she whispered innocently.
I couldn't answer. My throat felt like it was blocked by a large stone. However, the silence was broken by a very loud cry from behind us.
A little girl with short hair and a black lace dress came running through the crowd of mourners. It was Nika. Her face was puffy, her tears flowing incessantly, even more hysterical than me—the actual son.
"Itsukaaa! Shiro-chaaan!" Nika hugged us both tightly, sobbing until her shoulders shook. "Don't be sad... hiks... I'll always be here! I won't let you be alone! Huwaaaaa!"
At that moment, in the midst of suffocating grief, it was Nika's noisy crying that made me feel like the world hadn't truly ended.
"Nii-chan? Are you daydreaming?" Shiro's voice broke my reverie.
"Ah, no. I just remembered how noisy Nika was at the funeral," I replied with a bitter chuckle. "Oh yeah, about Nika... she said something strange today. She said she's moving tomorrow. Do you know anything?"
Shiro's eyes widened slightly, a rare reaction. "Moving? She didn't say anything to me. But... this afternoon I saw a moving truck stop in front of the empty house right next to ours."
I was stunned. "Next to our house? Isn't that the old house that's been empty for years?"
Shiro nodded slowly. "If she said 'moving to be near someone,' and that house is the one beside ours... wouldn't that mean..."
"She's moving next door?!" I exclaimed in disbelief.
No wonder her face was crimson and she called me "deaf" at school. If Nika really moved next door, it meant she would always be with me on the way to school.
"This is going to get very noisy," Shiro muttered, though I could see the corner of her lips lift slightly—a faint smile showing she was actually happy her best friend would live so close. "But Nii-chan... be careful. If Moriya District comes up in your school conversations again, don't ignore it."
Shiro's words felt like a cold warning. Moriya District. The place of our parents' accident, and the same name written on the Literature Club's chalkboard this afternoon.
After Shiro gave the warning about Moriya District, the warm atmosphere in the dining room suddenly felt a bit heavier. Silence once again enveloped us, but this time it wasn't a comfortable silence; it was a silence laden with the weight of an unresolved past.
Shiro began clearing the plates, but her movements stopped. She stood near me, then suddenly leaned her head gently against my shoulder. Her small hand squeezed the hem of my shirt.
"Nii-chan..." she whispered. Her voice was no longer flat, but sounded fragile. "I only have you, Nii-chan. If... if the mystery about Mom and Dad turns out to be something dangerous, promise me you won't go alone. I won't forgive you if you leave me."
I was stunned. It was rare for Shiro to show such physical dependency. I could feel the warmth of her body and the faint scent of bath soap from her silver hair. This wasn't just a sister's love for her brother; there was a deep fear of loss radiating from every breath.
"I'm not going anywhere, Shiro," I said softly, wrapping my arm around her shoulder, pulling her closer in a protective embrace. "I'm your precious asset, right? No way I'd let myself get damaged."
Shiro looked up, her large eyes staring at me intently. "Don't joke. I'm serious. If Nii-chan dies... I'll follow you. I don't want to live in a world where Nii-chan isn't there."
That gaze... it was too intense for a sister. There was a sort of dark obsession flickering in her eyes, a feeling that went beyond the normal boundaries of a sibling relationship. I could only nod stiffly, trying to lighten the atmosphere that suddenly felt too intimate and suffocating. "Yes, Shiro. I promise. Now, go to sleep. It's late."
That night, my sleep was restless. Dreams of flashing car lights, the sound of screeching brakes in the middle of a storm, and Nika's crying at the funeral spun around like a broken carousel.
I woke up when sunlight peeked through the gap in the curtains. I glanced at the calendar on my bedroom wall.
Friday, May 17, 2013
"Ah, Friday," I muttered while stretching my stiff muscles. "Tomorrow's Saturday, finally a break."
The year 2013 felt like a peaceful year, yet for some reason, I had a feeling that this peace was beginning to crack. I went downstairs, took a quick shower, and found Shiro already dressed in her middle school uniform. We left the house together, locked the door, and were just about to step toward the sidewalk—
"SURPRISEEEE!!!"
Brak!
The gate of the old house right next to ours swung open with a loud thud. A girl with a long ponytail jumped out with an energy that could knock down city walls.
"Nika?!" I jumped in surprise, almost dropping my school bag.
Nika stood there, still wearing our high school uniform, which looked a bit messy as she seemed to be in a hurry. Her face was glowing, her hands on her hips in a victorious pose.
"Hehe! How's that? Surprised, right?!" Nika shouted with a booming laugh. "As of last night, Yumina Nika has officially become the neighbor of Shinomiya Itsuka! Greet me with tears of joy, my foolish childhood friend!"
"So... the noise of the truck and the shouting of people moving boxes at eleven last night... was really you?" I rubbed the bridge of my nose, feeling a headache coming on instantly. "No wonder it was so loud! I had to cover my ears with a pillow!"
"Hehe, sorry! Mom wanted everything inside before midnight for 'good luck,' she said," Nika replied without a shred of guilt. She turned to look at Shiro with sparkling eyes. "Morning, Shiro-chan! Now we can play every day without needing to take the bus!"
Shiro, who had been standing silently beside me, just stared at Nika with a gaze that was very, very cold. Her aura suddenly turned dark, as if she had just seen a pest enter her favorite garden.
"Morning, Nika-san," Shiro greeted shortly. Her voice was colder than the ice at the North Pole. "I prefer a quiet atmosphere at home. It seems starting today, the noise pollution level in this neighborhood will drastically increase."
"E-Eh? Why is Shiro-chan so grumpy?" Nika blinked in confusion, then immediately hugged my right arm tightly—a habit that had never disappeared since childhood. "Itsuka! Look, your sister is being scary! Protect me!"
Nika's grip on my right arm made Shiro narrow her eyes. The next second, Shiro was at my left side, grabbing my left arm with immense strength, almost like the grip of a pair of iron pliers.
"Nii-chan is mine," Shiro whispered very softly, but clearly enough to make my hair stand on end. "Nika-san, please walk in front. Don't cling to Nii-chan. He still smells like morning sweat."
"What?! No way! Itsuka always smells good!" Nika argued, refusing to lose, instead tightening her hug.
"You two... please let go..." I groaned helplessly. "The road is still long, and if we keep this up, we'll all be late."
Under the clear sky of May 2013, my journey to school began with exhausting drama. I glanced back at Nika's new house once more, and maybe it was just my imagination, but I saw a curtain on the second floor of that old house move slightly, as if someone was watching us from the darkness behind the dusty glass.
After walking together for a few meters, Shiro finally stopped at the intersection leading to her school. With a very heavy gaze, she released Itsuka's left arm. She gave one last warning look—which was more like a death threat if Itsuka did anything funny—before turning toward her all-girls school.
Now it was just Nika and me. The girl beside me suddenly fell silent, and a second later she started smiling to herself. Her face was beaming, her footsteps light as if she were dancing on the sidewalk.
"Oi, Nika. What's up? Did the spirit of that old house possess you?" I asked, bewildered.
"Hehe... nothing! I just feel today is going to be a very, very wonderful day!" she answered while humming a little. "Imagine, Itsuka! We're neighbors! Now there's no more excuse for you to be late picking me up or forgetting to return my comics!"
I could only shake my head at her over-excited behavior. However, the cheerful mood was slightly disrupted when we reached the gates of the high school. Ryuusei and Mizuki were already standing there, like gatekeepers from another dimension.
"Good morning, lost lambs!" Ryuusei cried with his usual dramatic flair. "Remember, later after school, don't try to run away again. There's an important agenda at the Literature Club!"
Mizuki smiled sweetly, holding a small box. "I'll make cookies again later, so come, okay!"
Nika could only manage a cramped, awkward laugh while I nodded in resignation. We entered the class and sat at our respective desks. Nika was still smiling to herself, resting her chin on her hand while looking out the window, seemingly still caught up in the excitement of moving in last night.
Tok tok.
The classroom door opened. Our homeroom teacher, Satou-sensei, entered with a serious face, followed by a girl behind him. I, who was spinning my pen, suddenly froze. My heart felt like it stopped beating for a moment.
"Class, please pay attention. Today we have a transfer student from an Elite Academy. Please introduce yourself," Satou-sensei said.
The girl took a step forward. Her beautiful long hair flowed perfectly, and her clear eyes scanned the room until they stopped right on mine.
"My name is Aizawa Reina. It's a pleasure to meet you all," she said in a soft voice I recognized all too well.
Deg.
Nika, who had been smiling just moments ago, suddenly froze. She looked at Reina, then at me, then back to Reina. Her eyes widened. The memory of that rainy afternoon in front of the convenience store immediately replayed in her head.
"T-That girl..." Nika muttered, her voice trembling between shock and suspicion. "That's the girl who was with Itsuka back then!"
Reina gave a thin smile—a smile that looked sincere yet somehow felt provocative in Nika's eyes.
"Ah, Shinomiya-kun," Reina said softly, loud enough for those in the front row to hear. "What a coincidence to meet you here."
The whole class immediately went into an uproar. Whispers began to spread. Nika? She wasn't smiling anymore. The aura around her suddenly changed into a blazing fire. The cold war Shiro predicted seemed like it was going to explode much sooner than I imagined.
--END OF CHAPTER 4—