"Tadaima…"

School Rumble is owned by somebody who is not me.
This fanfic, however, is mine! Hurray for all the characters named by streets, mountains, and/or train stations.

#1 ONIISAMA…OKAIRINASAI… (sono ichi)

Outside a large house, a figure walks. The figure has a partially muscular build. His hair is long and dark black. It is parted from the middle and extends to his cheeks. From the back, his hair is tied to a slim ponytail and reaches down to his hip. The blue jacket he wears is simple and ordinary with the exception of the large white crescent-shaped print on the back. The sleeves of the jacket extend to his wrists. His palms, by the way, are covered by black fingerless gloves. The jacket is accompanied with a white, sleeve-less undershirt. His ivory-colored jeans are apparently too long, since it can touch the ground. His footwear happens to be just simple white rubber shoes. Held on his right hand is a black gym bag which is probably either homemade or not taken care of, due to the numerous stitches on the bag. The final and most important detail is the blue sunglasses whose shades are sitting above his forehead.

"This old place…I never thought that I would have the guts to see it again…"

He checks the name plate on the little wall that separates the house from the rest of the world.

"'Tsukamoto Residence', if I remember the kanji correctly…"

He waits outside, in hopes that he could see two of the people most precious to him.

After a short while, a young lady, with black hair that is neither short nor long, walks outside to see who is waiting outside her door. Her eyes seem to attract a presence of kindness. Even her aura is very welcoming.

"This is…Her presence feels almost like…" the young man stares at her, almost as if he had seen a ghost.

"Yes, can I help you?" she asks in a gentle voice.

"…Ya-Yakumo…" the young man smiles back in response.

"Who are you?" Yakumo asks, "You seem familiar, but…"

"It's me…Keiichi…"

Yakumo steps back and gasps. She places her hands over her mouth and even a tear begins to form on her right eye. "O-O…nii…san!"

Inside the house, Keiichi sits in front of a small table. The direction he faces is towards the TV, which is set to a news channel.

Keiichi sighs, "It's been too long…I have almost completely forgotten…pathetic…"

"Here you go," Yakumo offers a cup of milk tea to him.

"Sankyu, Yakumo," he accepts the tea and takes a sip. "Oishii!"

"I'm glad," she replies and sits across Keiichi.

"It's been a long time. Right, Yakumo?" Keiichi says before taking another short sip from the cup.

"Yeah…" Yakumo replies.

"You've grown up into a lovely young lady. I can't help but wonder how Tenma has grown!"

"She's fine."

"Oh, yeah. Where is she?"

"Out with her friends."

"You didn't have any plans today?"

"No, I wanted to finish preparing tonight's dinner before she gets home."

"Um, right!" Keiichi stares blankly at Yakumo for what she has just said. "What did she say? Something about dinner? I've really forgotten!"

Yakumo looks at him with concern and uses her special power to see what is wrong. All that she could read from his thoughts are English characters. She understood some English, but not completely.

"Uh, this is embarrassing, but…" Keiichi pauses, "Um…do you understand English?"

"Yes, a little."

"That makes things much easier!" Keiichi chuckles, "Especially, since it's pretty useless for me to be able to see thoughts and not be able to read them!"

"What's wrong?"

"To put it simply, I've forgotten to speak a lot of Japanese."

"I see…"

"You do notice that I'm using a lot of English, right?"

"Yes."

Keiichi chugs down the rest of the milk tea and stares at Yakumo.

She stares back and wonders, if there is anything wrong. With her ability, she reads, "It's been way too long. I wonder where Dad and Mom are. I wonder what Yakumo is thinking. Um…Useless…I can't read kanji! Best to just look around for a while." The problem is that she does not understand even half of what she is reading from his mind.

"I'm…just going to look around for a while. Is that alright?" Keiichi asks, as he stands up.

"Do you want me to show you around the house?" Yakumo stands up, before Keiichi leaves the room.

"Um…fine," Keiichi sighs and walks out.

Yakumo reintroduces the places that he is most familiar with and remain almost completely unchanged— the living room, the bathroom, the kitchen, and the storage rooms. In addition to those, she shows him the remodeled rooms— the study, Tenma's and Yakumo's rooms, the guest bedroom, and the empty (multi-purpose) room. Keiichi feels that everything had changed completely compared to the last time he had seen those rooms. Even, their parents' room had been remodeled into a guest room.

With that subject in mind, he pops a question: "Where am I gonna sleep?"

"Ah, maybe the guest bedroom," Yakumo replies.

#2 WHAT'S UP?

Stuck in his room yet again, a young man continues drawing manga. His black hair is pulled back by a headband, but a single lock of hair points upward and sticks out on the front (in other words, an ahoge). His brown eyes are hidden behind the shades of his black sunglasses. With his looks, he would be cool, if it were not for the fact that he is a delinquent and basically feared by some of his peers.

Before he finishes another page, he hears a knock on his door. Obviously not wanting to be bothered, he ignores it; but the door opens anyway. The culprit happens to be a lady with long straight black hair and a figure that would knock almost anyone out.

"Kenji, you should get out. For the entire spring break, you've been doing nothing but caging yourself from the world, again…" the lady explains.

"Shut up, Itoko! I'm still doing something important," Kenji replies without even looking at his cousin.

"Suit yourself. You forget that the longer you stay in here, the shorter your time with Tenma will become," Itoko teases.

"Shut up! Argh, fine! I'll go look around outside to kill some time," Kenji puts all of the pages of his work into a folder before getting up and leaving with a huff.

"What a troublesome boy— that Kenji…"

Outside, he finds couples holding hands, clutching arms, and arms over shoulders. In a way painful to him, since he has tried to confess to the one he loves a multitude of times, but all resulted in failure or misunderstandings. He sighs and looks for a secluded place to work on his manga. After a few minutes of searching, he finds a café and enters.

Just a few blocks away, four girls walk towards the direction of the café. One is quite…er, underdeveloped and has black hair with two little pigtails on the sides of her head. Another has blonde hair with pigtails and mostly normal, if it were not for the fact that she is fairer than most people in Japan and has natural blonde hair. The tallest one has short bluish-black hair and is tall and well-developed, in a sense that she has something larger than the rest of the group. The last one has short redish-black hair and seems the most normal compared to her friends.

"That movie was so cool! I still have goosebumps!" the shortest one remarks.

"I don't understand why they made the hero someone who wanted to take over the world, though," the blonde one thinks aloud.

"The people are just focusing on the romantic part of the plot! Besides, he wanted to unite China," the tallest one answers.

"Even though the entire movie is complete fiction," the remaining one remarks, "it seemed to hit the hearts of most audiences."

"Wow! Akira-chan loved the movie too!" the short one remarks.

"Is that really something amazing, Mikoto?" the blonde asks the tallest one.

"I guess so, Sawachika-san…" the tallest one, Mikoto, answers.

"Tsukamoto-san, I was just relaying my opinion. I neither like it nor hate it," the reddish-black-haired one, Akira, explains.

"Tenma, not everything is something to be excited about," the blonde one explains.

"But, Eri-chan, I've never seen her like a movie before!" the shortest one, Tsukamoto Tenma, retorts.

"Now that I think about it, Tsukamoto-chan is right, Takano," Mikoto remarks to Akira.

"Suou, I don't believe that I have to repeat what I've said earlier," Takano Akira explains.

"You don't have to be that mean," the blonde one, Sawachika Eri, notes.

"Naw, it's okay! So, where should we go next, guys?" Suou Mikoto asks.

"What about this place!" Tenma points to the same café Kenji entered just a few minutes ago.

"Why not? Let's go!" Mikoto enters the café.

Once inside, she sees Harima Kenji writing something. Once the others enter, Mikoto snatches Akira from the rest of the group and whispers to her.

"A good opportunity?" Mikoto whispers, "Harima-kun is here!"

"Yeah," Akira whispers back, "I'll distract Harima for a while, then you have Sawachika sit nearby."

"And we'll talk about Harima and Eri's relationship. Eventually, she'll say that she likes Harima-kun and he'll hear her say it!"

"Precisely."

However, before the plan is set into motion, the most childish and clueless of the group…greets Harima Kenji. "Eh! Hi, Harima-kun, what are you doing here?"

"T-T-Te-Te-Tsukamoto-san! What are you doing here?" Kenji rushes to hide his manga from her.

"It seems as though we have forgotten one important factor," Akira notes.

"Ya think?!" Mikoto says in defeated tone.

"Eh? I asked you first! But, if you wanna know, Mikoto-chan, Eri-chan, Akira-chan, and I are here to just hang out!" the childlike Tenma answers.

"Th-That princess (ojou) is here?!" Kenji screams in reaction to Eri's being in the same place as he is. The reason he does not want to be in the same place as she is because he does not want a repeat of what happened in the last school year.

"Lady (ojou-san)? There's a rich lady here?" Tenma looks around.

"Te-Tsukamoto-san! I'm talking about Sawachika-san!" Kenji gets up and yells at Tenma. In the process, he accidentally looks at Eri, who just happens to be standing behind Tenma at that moment.

For a few moments, Kenji fearfully stares into Eri's eyes, and Eri lovingly stares at his. Although it is not really possible for her to see his eyes, since they are hidden behind the black shades of his sunglasses, there is connection between her eyes and his.

Both of their trances break after a waitress trips and spills a cup of extremely hot coffee on Kenji. As a result, he screams in pain and sprints out like a lunatic.

"What was that all about?" the clueless Tenma asks Eri.

"Yeah, I wonder too…" Eri replies, "I don't like him! He's an idiot with no good qualities! I…I…Do I really like him?"

"Ah!" the waitress gasps.

In reaction, the group of four looks at the waitress.

"He forgot to pay for his drink!" the waitress finishes.

"Uh…I'll just go home now…" Mikoto gulps and walks out.

"I, as well," Akira follows Mikoto.

"Eri-chan, what do you wanna do?" Tenma asks her.

"I'll go home, too. I need some time alone…Sorry, Tenma," Eri leaves like the rest of the group and leaves Tenma alone.

"Geez, I should go home, then! I wonder what Yakumo cooked for dinner? It's probably something really, really, REALLY tasty!" Tenma strolls out, "I can't wait!"

#3 ONIISAMA…OKAIRINASAI… (part 2)

"Niisan, dinner will be ready in a few more minutes," from the kitchen, Yakumo yells to Keiichi, who is watching TV.

"Ah, okay!" Keiichi replies and continues to try to understand at least half of the words coming out of the TV.

"Will Neesan be as surprised, as I was, to see Niisan after all these years?" Yakumo wonders.

"I wonder if that idiot of a sister of mine will remember who I even am!" Keiichi wonders.

At that moment, the front door opens and a lovable, childlike voice yells, "Ta-daima!"

"What timing!" Yakumo thinks aloud.

"Speak of the devil," Keiichi thinks aloud at the same time as Yakumo.

"Yakumo, what's for dinner?" Tenma rushes to the kitchen, until she passes by the door to the living room. She halts, then creeps to the open door and peeks inside to find a stranger in the house! Not only that, but he is watching some anime instead of "The Three Slashed"— Tenma's favorite drama.

Yakumo unties her apron as she approaches Tenma, "Neesan, dinner is—"

Tenma quickly puts her hand over Yakumo's mouth, "Shush! Who's that guy?! He looks suspicious!"

Yakumo takes her older sister's hand away from her mouth and answers, "That's Niisan."

"Nissan? The guy who owns all of those cars?!" Tenma yells in shock.

"No, Kei-niisan," Yakumo tries to clarify it.

"'Niisan'? Someone you look up to? Or a close friend, maybe?" Tenma asks.

By this time, Keiichi has turned around to see Tenma. "Time to eavesdrop…" he sneaks towards the door until only a thin wall separates him and his two sisters.

"No, that's Keiichi," Yakumo tries to explain again.

"A boyfriend?!" Tenma's eyes sparkle as she yells that.

"What the heck?!?" Keiichi grits his teeth while yelling.

"Could you have really forgotten?" Yakumo asks her older sister.

"What have I forgotten?" clueless, Tenma asks.

Yakumo tries to explain, "That is—"

"UISU!" Keiichi runs behind Tenma and interrupts Yakumo.

"WHAAAA!" Tenma screams in reaction.

"Niisan!" Yakumo tries to not get mad at her eldest sibling.

"I don't believe it! Tenma's more than a head shorter than me!" Keiichi teases Tenma.

"Who do you think you are?!?" Tenma yells back in defense, "At least, I'm not a long-haired guy with a weird hairstyle and blue sunglasses!"

"Well, I'm not a shorty with two tiny pigtails!" Keiichi laughs.

"At least, I'm not a guy with no sense of drama! You should be watching 'The Three Slashed' right now!" Tenma continues arguing.

"Well, there are things more interesting than drama. Besides, watching only drama can affect your head!" Keiichi explains.

"Hah! I won! You couldn't think of a thing to say back at me!" Tenma declares her victory.

"Cute…" Keiichi sighs.

"Haha! You're just sad that you can't keep up with me!" Tenma continues taunting. "I am—"

Keiichi interrupts Tenma's victory taunts by patting her head.

"Quit it! I hate that!" Tenma brushes his hand away.

"Really? Is that any way to treat your Oniisama?" Keiichi asks.

"Kei-kun, as my brother, you should know everything that I hate! And—" Tenma retorts but quickly stops, "Why does that sound familiar?"

"There you go! Are you beginning to remember?" Keiichi asks his twin sister.

Yakumo remembers, "Ah, I remember! You always did that to Neesan when she was sad! Niisan would ask, 'Now, now! Is that any way to treat your Oniisama?' then Neesan would reply…"

"'Kei-kun, as my brother, you should know everything that I hate! And I hate it when you act so mean!'" Tenma and Yakumo say simultaneously.

"Then, you would hug Tenma and she would cry on you," Yakumo continues.

"I wonder if you are too old to cry on me…Tenma," Keiichi looks straight into Tenma's eyes, which begin to form tears. "Well?"

"KEI-KUN!!!" Tenma jumps to Keiichi's arms and cries like a baby.

"Really, now! Is that any way for a girl to behave in front of her little sister?" Keiichi holds his twin sister close to him, as if she were something more.

With tearful eyes, Tenma looks up at her twin brother and yells with a cracking voice, "You-You're so mean! Kei-kun!" With that done, she continues her flood of tears, which is being absorbed by Keiichi's undershirt.

"Huh? Wh-What? Sorry!" Keiichi pats her back.

"Niisan…Neesan…" Yakumo smiles at her elder siblings.

Next Time on School Rumble!

Tenma: A space alien plans to invade earth! He is none other than—

Kei: Tenma, don't get too carried away!

Tenma: Next time...

#4 The Delinquent
#5 The School
#6 And The Princess!

Tenma: See you soon!

Info:
"assumed Japanese"
"assumed English"
"thinking"
"EMPHASIZED"
Thanks for pointing that out, Don Piano. I've fixed the mis-wording.
Original "Who do you think you are?!?" Tenma yells back in defense, "At least, I'm a long-haired guy with a weird hairstyle and blue sunglasses!"