Summary: After losing their parents in an accident, Minato and Hamuko Arisato are left alone. When they move back to their old hometown in the countryside of Yasoinaba, what awaits them? P3xP4 AU with no personas and S-links.
Ps: The story is told from Minato's perspective mostly.
WARNING: Some characters will not be the same age as canon.
Chapter 1: To a New Life
It came out of nowhere.
Even till this day, the deaths of our parents were unknown to us. It was told to us they had died in a three way car accident on the moonlight bridge. Some crazy taxi driver went at max speed of course and then…it happened.
Life was never easy for our family, and that situation only made it worse.
Mom and Dad never graduated from High School, so it was pretty hard for them to get a job. For a long while, I had to be the one to work, taking odd jobs in a café, a receptionist at the movies and lots of other stuff too. Our parents eventually found decent paying jobs for themselves. They were ecstatic. We earned a lot more after that. Yet it wasn't enough to get everything paid and sorted out for.
Schooling.
Bills.
Food.
Hamuko's medical treatment.
You see, my sister wasn't very fortunate either. She was born with a weak body and was really, really frail. I remember this one time when we were kids, we were playing when she suddenly fainted. Mom and Dad freaked the hell out and rushed her to the hospital. My parents were shaken, but kept telling each other not to cry.
I couldn't help it.
I bawled my heart out. I loved my sister, and it was a huge shock to me as well.
Hamuko was too weak to go to school, but we felt she still needed the education. I studied hard at school and whenever I came back, taught her whatever I learned. The only thing we feared for her was her social skills. She got much better over the years, maybe a high fever now and then, but just when we she started attending school normally.
Mom and Dad died.
I can recall so clearly, that day of the funeral. I had to hold onto to Hamuko tight. She was crying so much. I took one long look at my parents grave that day.
I'll take care of her, Mom, Dad. I'll protect her, just leave it to me.
But I had no idea that, in that span of some days together, we would be tested in ways that we would never imagine.
"….."
I am so sleepy…
"…nato…."
Damn...all that packing really took a lot out of me.
"Mi…to…."
Damn it. I just want to-
"MINATO!"
The sudden shout shook me hard as I jolted awake and banged headfirst into a girl I knew all too well. She had her brunette hair tied back in a bun shaped fashion. Her crimson eyes gazed into me with slight concern and annoyance. In her mouth was a cherry lollipop which she immediately pulled out.
This was my sister, Hamuko.
"Hmm…? Are we there yet sis?" I mumbled as I rubbed my eyes. As you can tell, I'm that kind of guy who loves to sleep a lot. Don't get me wrong, I have my fair share of exercise to keep myself up and going, but sleep is where I can think of nothing but rest.
But of course, Hamuko objects to me sleeping so much.
"Soon. Knowing you, if I let you sleep for five more minutes you would never wake up," she rolled her eyes and continued to fiddle with the lace of her skirt, "Putting that aside, are you sure we packed up everything we needed?"
"Yes Hamuko, I'm sure. There wasn't a lot of stuff to move anyway, only a few things namely: our laptops, clothing, mp3's and some toiletries."
I know what it looks like, I'm being slave driven by a woman, but its not as bad as you perceive it to be. My sister is just a little paranoid about these things sometimes, so its natural for me to seem "bossed" around by her by a lot of people.
In reality, we're really close I assure you.
There's only this one thing which I'm really concerned about…
As she gazed back out of the window, the scenery quickly changing to one filled with more grass than high rise buildings, her crimson orbs seemed to be missing something. Or more like, it looked hollow. I sighed internally as I leaned back into my seat. After all these years, no matter how you look at it or how you try and talk to her, she still, really, misses Mom and Dad.
"Hey, Minato?" Hamuko suddenly spoke up, "how do you think we'll fare through all of this. I mean, I doubt any of our friends would actually remember who or how we actually even look like."
Oh wow…
I knew she never was the most cheerful person around but…that somehow sounded really dark and emo-like coming from her. Looks like its time for big brother to step in again. Getting up from my seat across her, I moved myself onto the two-seater in which she sat on and gave her a pat on the back, "Oh come on now. I doubt that nobody would NOT remember us. I mean, I got a text from Uncle Dojima saying that he couldn't wait to see us."
At the sound of Uncle Dojima, I saw Hamuko perk up a little. To her, seeing Uncle Dojima would mean seeing little Nanako again. Their father's fellow detective associate had a cute daughter which they often played with when she was still a baby. Minato knew immediately when he saw the look on her face, Hamuko couldn't wait to play with her again.
*Attention all passengers, the train has now reached Yasoinaba. For those who wish to take the train back to Tatsumi Port Island, please drop off and switch to the next train.*
"Well, our stop!" Hamuko, filled with sudden energy grabbed my hand and pulled me up, "Come on, Minato!"
Strange, you were almost lifeless a few moments ago…
With a small smile appearing on my lips, I let her tug me along as we got off the train.
After comparing the address we were given and the map we took at the train station, the two of us finally managed to figure out a way to get to our new home. First obvious thing we noticed was that it was pretty darn far from the station, walking would take forever!
Next obvious (and good) thing we noticed.
A bicycle shop on the map.
I'm not kidding you! We walked for a few minutes when we noticed a bike rental shop. Apparently, there was this teenager with a yellow jacket and extremely large headphones talking to the store's manager about some repairs. I made a quick note: Headphones with music blasting plus cycling equals crash…
Hmm, that's just my guess at least.
The boy turned to us, surprise evident on his face, "Hmm, I'm pretty sure I've never seen you two from around here before. Did you just move here from the city?"
"You can tell?" I'm surprised Hamuko was the one to pop back her own question.
"Well, no duh," the guy chuckled slightly, "I'm from the city too, I only moved here a few months back. It's a lot less pollution compared to the city, but other than that its pretty quiet around here. Nothing much to do and stuff…"
"Oh wait what am I saying! I'm Yosuke Hanamura," the guy introduced himself.
"Hey Yosuke," Hamuko greeted back cheerily, "Minato and Hamuko Arisato. Hey, maybe you can show us around town sometime."
"Sure, but I do know someone much better for the job. Still, I'll see you around!"
Hopping onto his bike, Yosuke sped off into the distance. That bike was really fast, I must say. I couldn't even see him from here, and its only been a few seconds…
*Fsshh….*
"Hey Minato?" Hamuko tugged my sleeve, "that sounded like a crash, do you think we should check it out?"
"Nah, probably some birds," I replied as I handed over some rental fees to the bike shop owner. Then, patting on the backseat of the bicycle, I gestured with my finger, "Get on, looks like we'll be cycling to our new home!"
If there's one thing I really thank God for, its Hamuko's map reading and memory skills. Honestly I'm hopeless without it. I don't remember how many times, after I set off, she told me to take a proper turn to the right and to the left…
"No, Minato, your OTHER left you dummy!"
"Well you could have said so!"
I didn't really have time to turn back, so she told me to take a longer route. As much as we both don't want to admit, this was actually pretty fun for the two of us. When we were about six, we used to cycle around like this a lot. I remember, so clearly, I would have Hamuko in the back seat like now and we would always race against THAT guy…
"Hey, Hamuko, I wonder if that guy came back to visit this place? You know, Uncle Dojima's Ne-
"WHOA HEY, MINATO! WATCH IT!"
Huh…what in blazes?
*CRASH*
The impact was quick enough to send me out of my thoughts, and both of us off the bike. One moment I heard Hamuko screaming at us both, the next we were on the ground, covered in bruises and the bike to the side of us. No one was seriously injured, surprisingly.
"Minato, you idi-"
"Urgh…" came a grunt from whoever crashed into us. After helping Hamuko to get up, we moved onto the other unfortunate person who collided into us.
"Hey," Hamuko suddenly put on the sweet, innocent voice that she suddenly adopted when she came here and stretched her hand out, "Hey, are you alright? Need a hand?"
I'm dead serious here, when did she get so…sociable?
"Ah, its alright, I think I can get up…Wait, are you…?"
As soon as the boy stood up, we almost fell back in shock. I recognised this boy anywhere! That tall and lean figure he always had even as a small boy. That strangely obvious greying bowl-cut that fit nicely into his round head. Well, of course, those glasses were new but…Hamuko and I definitely knew him. He was our childhood friend, the one that always beat me and Hamuko in a bike race, the one that always did well in grades AND sports even as a kid. Hell I'd say he's a living walking Gary Stu…
He seemed just as surprised to see us as well.
"Well, well Minato, not the best way to meet. It's been awhile!"
We couldn't resist slapping each other on the back. Even Hamuko looked genuinely pleased to see him.
"Yeah. Long time no see, Yu Narukami."
Well, well, what's up with this you may ask?
I Like AU's, I really do, I thought I'd think up one for the heck of it. Something like this hit me after watching a certain anime, guess which one, dudes.
Short chappie, but next ones will be longer, hopefully. I'm not usually one to rush.
Still, read and review it. I'd like to improve!
