Author Note

This is a story where the Heel Siblings are real people, not acted personas. As such, you know the ending already: the set of Tragic Marker where those two are introduced. My aim to have the events we have seen in the manga be explained by this backstory if we take out all the Kyoko & Ren bits.

What this implies is that I will have to cover approximately 12 years of their lives. This is one of the reasons why my chapters are short: I do not want to get bogged down in endless details involving things like slumber parties and soccer tournaments. Instead, I focus on meaningful interactions that highlight their lives in that period of time. As much as this might qualify for the 'slice of life' genre, I don't want to demonstrate every day boring life. I want to share the cuteness of the younger siblings and the way life forces them to change bit by bit by bit. (Frankly, I probably wouldn't be capable of completing the story if I got stuck working out all those details; I am not that good of a writer.)

At present, I have 32 chapters written of 30k words total and a timeline for the entire story. Yes, my chapters are quite short - sorry! - but I say this to point out it isn't a story without a future; I will finish it. My process often has me revising older chapters, which is why I wanted a buffer before I started publishing.

Still, now that I have said buffer, I hope to release on a regular basis. There would be at least one chapter per month, but my aim is one per week. (But if I get really productive, maybe I'll release faster than that.)

Be warned: this story isn't all butterflies and sunshine. If that is what you are looking for, this first chapter should probably also be the last one you read. But it isn't all sad depressing stuff either: I aim to balance the positive and negative to keep it an interesting read. That is what real life is like, after all: ups and downs.

Thank you for checking out this story. I hope you'll enjoy it!

Chapter 01s: The Way Home

I have heard friends speak of their own families, and to identify with them is... what grownups call a platitude. They speak of younger siblings being annoying and breaking their toys. They speak of older siblings who ignore them as if they were a poopy diaper.

Right now my arms are wrapped around his torso. My fingers interlaced as they rest on his stomach. We're a bit slanted, so I need to hold on tightly. Very tightly. It is a busy road, and I don't want Nii-san to get in trouble if I happen to fall off the back of his bicycle whilst we climb up this hill.

"Stop squirming, Setsuka."

See? Even now he isn't upset. He's explained to me a bunch of times that it is hard to go straight if I don't sit still, but he understands. Those cars, they just wooOOOOOSHHHHHhhhh by us, stinking up our English country-side in the process. I can't help reflexively leaning away and holding onto Nii-san more tightly!

Finally, the top of the hill. Just for a moment, I can feel Nii-san breathing deeply, his body embracing the relaxation of not having to pull his younger sister along anymore. "Gravity is now pulling us both," Nii-san explained once upon a time when I asked him about it. He is really smart.

Now the wind blows fiercely through my hair. Some strands are unfortunately getting stuck in my face but it doesn't really matter. Mom prefers for me to keep my hairties in, but they hurt my head after a while, nevermind the fact that putting them in is a bit difficult. Nii-san usually helps me put them back in when we get home; they are wrapped around his finger.

"Do you know about fingers, Setsuka?"

He asked me this once. Duh, obviously I did. Thumb, pointy finger, all the way upto the pinky. But he was just so gentle as he offered to explain. I just had to play a bit dumb. Just to make him happy.

"This is your thumb. If you make a fist, and your thumb sticks out upwards, you can silently give someone a compliment."

He was even demonstrating it. Did he think I'm four years old? "I am seven years old already!" I wanted to cry out back then! He should know that; we celebrated it the month before when he gave me that cute bunny stamp.

"This is your index finger. You should never point it at people, because that is a bit rude."

Back then, I had to resist making fun of his explanation. But now, I just feel all fuzzy as I remember how his earnest expression just made words like those impossible to speak. Embarrassingly enough, I giggled back at him. Daddy had taken away the ink pad that came with Nii-san's gifted bunny stamp after I filled the living room with a lot of new friends.

Apparently that is not what a 'living' room is for. And daddy kept pointing angrily at me, the walls and the furniture every time he discovered a new bunny friend. I cried a lot back then.

"This is the middle finger that you shouldn't use. It is in the middle because the other fingers help it out with everything!"

I was quite sure people used the middle finger even back then. Either way, the conversation didn't linger on that finger: Nii-san was eager to move on to the next one.

"And this is the pinky. If you hook fingers like this," he explained, extending the pinky finger and hooking it around my own, "you make an unbreakable promise." He paused for a few moments, somehow managing to silence me with those warm, brown eyes of his.

"You can always lean and rely on me, Setsuka."

I wish I hadn't been so silly and youthful back then. I thought that I was smarter, so I laughed and ignored his earnestly set mood.

"You skipped a finger, Nii-san! You skipped one! What about this one?"

My voice was childish. Impatient. I cringe just recalling the memories. Only a year has passed... but am I still that childish? That selfish? In hindsight, I can tell he was being so cute and earnest... Sigh.

The bike slows down as we finally reach level ground again at the bottom of the hill. My hands let go of eachother, loosening the grip of my arms around his waist considerably. See? I can think of Nii-san, too.

Our pace is quite gentle now. When I lean sideways to see passed Nii-san, I can already see the sign that marks the entrance to our little town up ahead.

As always, we come to a stop in front of it. Being myself, I am unable to stop from sighing. The bicycle ride is always so magical, tucked snugly against Nii-san's back.. but our house is just around the corner.

I get off the bike and smile at him. His gaze is so gentle. So sweet. But he still gets off the bike to end our special moment together.

"That is the ring finger. It is where a man wears a ring given by the woman he loves, and where a woman wears the ring given by a man she loves."

That was his final answer, and it echoes deafeningly through my empty brain when I see him struggle a little to pull the looped hairties off his ring finger. He's getting better at taking them off though; the first time I kept them there I had to help him roll them off the finger.

My head feels hot just thinking about that.

I hope he doesn't notice.

Ah, he's spinning me around. I can feel his fingers going through my hair. Getting all the strands. Even carefully collecting the ones drooping over my forehead.

He has already taken away all the little complaints I used to have. How am I supposed to speak to him now?

The ponytail is folded through the hairties a few times, and even as I think I can complain, he tugs some strands back to make it not pull on my scalp so much.

"Come, let's walk the rest of the way."

He says those words casually, and I can only nod, feeling inexplicably happy hearing his caring voice treat me so casually.

Him, the bicycle, and me. That is how we are lined up.

I really want to go over and hug him as we walk. Thank him for being so nice to me.

But as my eye glances over to him, it passes the bike. My gaze looks over the hand holding the handlebar to pull it along.

There is one hairtie that remains around his ring finger.

I want to yell at him... but why won't the words come out?