A yawn escaped my lips. As it always did. I always yawned a whole ton when I was half asleep. Now, normally, my brother, who was sleeping on the bunk over mine, would have been gone, watching T.V. with our dad in the living room, probably eating pancakes, or whatever he'd made today.

But today was different. Today was very different. Today was the first day of school. My first day of middle school.

The thought hadn't even passed my mind, but as soon as I thought of it, I got up and stumbled across the room, tripping upon a couple of toy trucks on the floor. I assumed that my brother had been looking for some stupid lucky item today, and that it was some toy.

I slipped out of my pajama shirt and into my dress shirt, along with the blazer, the tie, then the slacks. After I had tugged on my socks, I took a moment to twirl around in front of the mirror, admiring the blazer.

I could hear my brother coming closer to our room. Before he could open the door and yell at me to wake up, I opened it and jumped out at him. He moved back, obviously startled.

"Akihiko! Doesn't this look good on me?" I gave him a small wink. He just flushed, which wasn't a very good reaction, probably in anger more than anything, and gave me a glare.

"You scared me. Well… Oha Asa did predict that I would have the worst luck with siblings-" I shut him up by running past him, down the hallway.

"Screw you and dad's Oha Asa bull!" That was right! I didn't believe in such crap. The future was all just decided by you, not some lady on the radio. Though I had to admit, her voice did sound very pretty.

My father and I, we were so different, especially compared to my brother. Akihiko and my father had green hair and light green eyes. They both had long eyelashes. I had brown eyes and bright blonde hair. They both believed in Oha Asa and horoscopes. I sure didn't. Hell, they both were Cancers as well! I was a Virgo. They were both disinterested in girls, which was weird, because girls were pretty.

Well, I sure regretted screaming that out for the whole world to hear, because one second, I was sprinting down the hall, and the next thing I knew, I had fallen straight on my behind after crashing into my dad's chest.

"Ichirou. Will you ever learn to stop running in the house?" He helped me up, handing me my schoolbag and bentou. Well, I sure wasn't going to eat that. My dad wasn't a good cook. I mean, he wasn't that bad, but… Oh… who am I fooling? He can't even boil eggs. Another similarity between my dad and Akihiko. The two can't cook.

"Sorry…" He seemed sterner, tenser than usual. His shoulders were stiff, and there were bags under his eyes. Sure signs that he'd been taking the night shift, and he was tired. Very tired.

"Night shift?" Akihiko trotted up to me, looking up at Dad's face.

He nodded. "I have a more… severe patient today. If all goes well, I'll be home by 10."

I didn't like the sound of that. Whenever he mentioned 'severe' patients, it meant people that were a bit cracked. Mental problems, depression, suicide attempts, attempted homicide, it was all things that he had to deal with. He could see my lip trembling, I knew it, as he bent down to run a hand through my hair, the way he always did whenever he needed to calm me down.

"Don't worry, it'll be fine." I hated being a baby like this. I was in middle school for gods' sake, I shouldn't be so sensitive. But it still worried me.

Akihiko looked at his watch.

"Ichirou, we best be going to school. Don't worry, I'll take you to your first period teacher. I think you have the same one as I did last year." He squeezed my shoulders, a gesture that I appreciated.

"Alright." I slung my bag over my shoulder. My dad stood up and retreated to the kitchen as Akihiko and I simply walked side to side, out the door, and onto the sidewalk.

There was silence, at least, until Akihiko finally talked.

"Father's been busy lately." I knew that. I also knew that the conversation wasn't over with yet. Akihiko never just said one thing. He'd been planning out the conversation long before he'd started it.

I replied with a small 'mhm', but I don't think he heard it. He simply looked through his bag before handing me something.

It was a stuffed frog. Not an actual frog, of course, but a stuffed animal.

I looked at him, half-confused and half-amused.

"What is this?"

"Fool. It's a stuffed frog. The lucky item for Virgos today." Was that what he had been looking for earlier?

"You left a mess on the floor, by the way. I almost killed myself side-stepping it."

"You be thankful that I've given you this, or you can shove it."

The walk to school was passed with silence. I rummaged through my bag, finding a small apple and biting into it. Akihiko was texting away on his phone.

As soon as I finished my apple, I looked up from it, only to see that the scenery had changed dramatically. Instead of the houses that I had seen, there was a huge school. I saw the school sometimes as I walked back home, but that was only from afar. Being on the school grounds was much more different.

Akihiko went ahead of me. "I have to go advertise my club. Just… try to stay out of peoples' way. Don't get into trouble. I'll see you later." He ruffled my hair, before pivoting and walking towards the school.

I scowled. He obviously just didn't want me to get in his way. Well fine, he could be that way! I decided to sit down on one of the benches, arms on either side of me, helping me sit up properly and let me lean back to see the leaves of the tree that was shading me.

The rest of the morning went on, at least, until the bell rang. Luckily, I had gotten to class a little earlier and taken the best seat.

At the back of the class.

There was another boy next to me. I didn't know his name, but he had intriguing blue eyes. They interested me.

He seemed to be one of those diligent students, and so I had no idea as to why he'd been sitting so far away from the teacher.

But I had really gotten to know him after school, when I had bumped into him at the indoor gym. He'd been practicing shooting, but he couldn't even get the ball to hit the backboard. A snicker escaped my lips.

"What're you doing?" He looked at me.

"What do you think I'm doing?"

"Trying to shoot."

"Well, bingo. There you go." He tried shooting again. This time, it hit the backboard with a loud sound and knocked him straight in the head.

I couldn't resist laughing. I clenched my fists and bit my lip, but in the end, the urge was too much, and I fell to the floor, giggles escaping my mouth. When I had calmed down a bit, I could see the blue-eyed, blue-haired boy frowning.

"S-sorry… that was a bit too much. But… uh… try getting the arc. Snap your wrists. You're just throwing the ball." He scowled.

I could tell he was angry. Who wouldn't be? But he followed what I had said, and almost made it in.

"Better. Don't throw with too much force. Or it'll shoot straight back at you. Like it just did."

Suddenly, I had received a phone call.

"Akihiko?"

"Hurry up and come home! I'm already here!"

Groaning, I moved the phone from my ear. Akihiko had nearly deafened me.

"Okay, okay. Why're you in such a hurry?"

"Actually, never mind. Don't come home! I bet you're fooling around in the gym, right? Stay there."

"Akihiko, I'm going home, alright?"

"What? No-" I had hung up before he'd been able to finish his sentence.

The guy in front of me looked tense. He knows that there's something up.

"Sorry! Uh… come back here tomorrow, alright? I'll help you a bit more then. For now-" I picked up my bag and began to leave.

"-I'm going home. See you tomorrow!"