I waited for Hajime and Shin at the garden of the Awayuki mansion restlessly. They were really late. I had been sitting like an idiot there for a whole hour now. No matter what the reason is, being one hour late is definitely unforgivable… I thought, getting more and more impatient as time goes by. Finally, as if my friends had read my thoughts, they arrived looking at me apologetically. "Sorry, Mayune-neechan asked me to help her with her work. Did you just arrive?" Hajime, who was standing in front of Shin, asked. I looked at him in annoyance. "For your information, I've been waiting for you for approximately one hour, five minutes and…" I glanced at my watch, "…thirty three seconds."
"Geez, Mannen, you don't have to be so precise." Hajime said in an attempt to make me feel angrier. He always does that lately because he said facing my wrath is the only way he can be braver and more daring. Shin just gave me his usual innocent look which made me sigh. "Fine, I'll forgive you today. Anyway, what did you want to talk about?" I asked. "I just wanted to ask you to go with me to my and Shin's school to pick up some books that I left." Hajime answered. "WHAT? You should have told me that earlier!" I shouted at both of them. "Well, we knew that you would never agree, that's why…" Shin said. I guess he had a point. I would never have agreed to go with them to their school because it was so far away. Still, forcing me to go with them is wrong too.
"I can't believe you would actually force me to go with you. I shouldn't have waited for you." I muttered. Shin smiled at me and assured me that Hajime will treat me to a chocolate chip ice-cream later. Hajime gave him a weird look but he eventually agreed. They always try to bribe me with ice-creams, and unfortunately it always works. I'm nearly always broke so a treat would always make me agree to do anything, except maybe doing Goh's daily chores. Muttering a few words under my breath, I said I'll follow them to their school and warned them not to forget about the ice-cream that they promised me. "Sure thing. Come on, hurry up!" Hajime said as he pulled my hand so that I would walk faster.
On my way to Hajime and Shin's school, I saw my friends hanging around, most of them with their siblings. I always wished that I had a brother. At least I could take out my anger out on him when I'm feeling angry at Goh instead of throwing all of my possessions around my bedroom. Hajime and Shin make a pretty good substitute, though, so maybe it's not that bad. But having a real live brother is different than considering your friends as your brother. I frowned as I remembered what Goh told me when I told him this. "The Leafe Knights are your family and friends. You don't need a sibling." He said. "But that's different! Why can't Leafe Knights have any real family anyway?" I asked.
I regretted my words when I saw the expression on Goh's face. He was clearly hurt. "What do you mean 'real' family? Am I not good enough to be your older brother?" he asked me. I shook my head. "No, that's not what I meant. I said…" before I could continue, Himeno-neechan and her stupid stepsister, Mayune, entered the room. When Mayune saw me, she laughed her annoying laugh. "What do you want, Mayune?" I asked. Himeno-neechan realized that I was feeling a bit angry because they had just interrupted an important conversation. "You stupid brat… you really think that you have the rights to call me by my first name. Honestly…" she laughed again. "Well, what exactly do you want me to call you then? Grandmother Mayune?" I said on purpose. I know that the name always gets on her nerves.
Mayune was about to throw an insult at me before Himeno-neechan covered her mouth. Mayune struggled to get Himeno-neechan's hand off her mouth. "Sorry about that, Mannen, Goh. I just wanted to ask you whether you have seen my dad or not." Goh and I shook our heads, staring at Mayune's angry –and funny—face. "Well, that's alright. I just remembered that he told me that he'll be attending a meeting today. Thanks guys…OUCH!" Himeno-neechan shouted when Mayune bit her index finger. "You stupid, ugly, annoying, disrespectful…" the list went on and on as the two sisters punched and kicked each other. "Uh… I guess I'll get going then." Goh said. The only person who heard what he said was me. "Goh, sorry about just now. I really didn't mean that." I told him. Goh smiled at me and ruffled my hair. "No worries, kid." He said as he walked out. "I am not a kid! Get that through your thick skull!"
"Mannen? What are you thinking about?" Hajime asked, noticing that I was being unusually silent. I shook my head. "It's nothing. Are we there yet? We've been walking for hours!" I complained. "Minutes are more like it," Shin told me without looking at me. "Whatever. Where are we anyway?" I asked, looking at the unfamiliar buildings surrounding me. "It's a shortcut Shin found when we were late for school last week. We don't like to use it since not many people use this road, but since you are complaining about haw far it is…" I pulled a face. Hajime ignored me and continued. "… We've decided to use it. I thought you realized that. Were you thinking about your girlfriend?" he joked. My face turned scarlet out of both embarrassment and anger. "How many times do I have to tell you? I don't have a girlfriend!" I reminded him, but I doubt that he forgot about that. I'm just twelve, for goodness sake. It's too early for me to have a girlfriend.
As if Hajime had read my thoughts, the annoying ten-year-old brat grinned sheepishly. "Well, Yoshiro has a girlfriend…" I know Shin only tried to be helpful, but why did he have to say that at the very time? "Yeah! Yoshiro-san has one! What about you, Mannen? No one in mind at all?" Hajime is so similar to Goh sometimes. The subject had lasted way too long and to stop it from continuing, I punched Hajime's head. I didn't punch very hard though because I know that he'll complain if I do. Still, some people are never grateful. "That hurts, you know!" he said to me, frowning slightly. I was arguing with Hajime when Takeshi, my not-so-good friend in school, saw me and walked up to me. "Hey…" he greeted Hajime, Shin and I with a smile. "What's up, Mannen? Why are you hanging out with little kids on a Saturday morning?" he asked. I saw Hajime's cheerful attitude wavering when Takeshi said he was a little kid and he shot me a look as if saying, 'As if I'm that younger than him.'
"They're not that young." I said, agreeing with Hajime's secret comment. Shin just looked at Hajime and me with a confused expression, probably wondering why I kept on glancing at him and Hajime. "Yeah, they're not that young but don't you want to hang out with someone our age?" Takeshi asked. Easy for him to say. Takeshi's a famous boy in school, and even though he's practically failing all his subjects, no one really cares anyway. It seemed like he has a new girl to hang out with every week. Honestly, I don't know how they can stand being around him. "I don't mind spending time with them" I said, wanting to end the conversation quickly. "Who are these kids anyway? Your brothers?" he laughed. He spoke of them as if they weren't even there, I noticed. "Saying that we're brothers is a bit stupid. We look nothing like each other and that's pretty obvious. And even if there are my brothers, is it a crime to hang out with them?" I snapped. Takeshi looked at me with dislike. A bit annoyed and embarrassed, he walked away from me, looking like he didn't even know me.
"I don't think he'll be talking to you anytime soon." Shin said after Takeshi was completely out of sight. "Who cares. He didn't like me from the start and so do I. Forget about him. It's not like you'll be the one who'll face problems at school when he's not talking to you anyway." I said. After walking for about five minutes, we finally arrived. "Finally…" I mumbled. "Can you go with us upstairs? I'll just get those books and then Hajime will buy you that ice-cream. I promise." Shin said. Hajime nudged him but he pretended not to notice. He didn't need to ask me to go with him. I was planning on doing that from the start. "Okay." I replied. We went up a set of stairs and went to Hajime's class. Before we could enter the class, however, a woman suddenly appeared. I was so shocked that I almost screamed, but luckily I could control myself before I did anything stupid. "You can only enter the class during school hours. It's not school hours now, so get lost." She said bluntly.
"But we walked all the way here. Just bend the rules a bit, miss." I said. The woman just smirked and shook her head. "For a little boy like you, no." she replied. Hajime and Shin had to hold me back from jumping at her out of anger. "It's okay. I'll just get it tomorrow." Hajime whispered. "How?" I asked, not bothering to lower down my voice. "I'll sneak in somehow. Let's just go." Shin tried to pull me but I wouldn't move. Not after all that tiresome walking. I was about to argue with the woman before someone spoke to me first. "Why don't you just let them through just this once, Yoko-san." The four of us looked behind and saw a girl about my age standing there, carrying about three books in her hands. "I'm afraid I can't, Misora." The woman answered, being strangely polite to Misora. Misora walked towards us and looked at me. "What do you want in there, anyway?" she asked. "My friend left some books in class yesterday. I just want to pick them up." I replied, sulky. To my surprise, Misora entered the class and that woman didn't even try to stop her.
Shortly after that, she went out of the class, carrying more books. "Here. This is it, right?" she asked. Hajime nodded and thanked her. "No problem. Hey, by any chance, did you see a kitten pass by here?" she asked. "No." Shin replied in my place. "Never mind. I suppose it wandered off again. See you later." With that, she walked away. The woman shooed us away, saying that we'd been there long enough. On the way home, I asked a question that was on my mind. "Who is that girl, anyway?" Hajime stopped to remember something. "She's our headmaster's daughter." In the end, Shin was the one who replied. "So that's why that woman was so polite to her!" I said in a grudging tone. "Funny you never met her. She goes to the same school as you do." I looked at Hajime in surprise. "Really? Wonder why I never noticed her."
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