Ore no Imōto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai
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Empty Places
By Miracles79
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Chapter 2: Who are you?
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Disclaimer: The property of Ore no Imōto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai does not belong to me, I am merely a fan, the characters and property belong solely to the owner.
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"With more force than (Kira)"
A sudden, familiar, sound permeated through Kirino's ears as she sleepily began to open her eyes. Blinking tiredly, Kirino observed the unmistakeable appearance of the spare room which remained as dark and pitiful as ever. Returning her attention to her laptop, the music continued to liven up her sleepy appearance as she groggily shifted to her knees, rubbing her eyes in an exhausted manner.
"A meteorite (Kira)"
Some of you may have been unfamiliar with the song chosen by Kirino. Then again you may not have been a fan, or even heard, of Stardust Witch Meruru a popular anime show aimed, predominantly, at pre-adolescent children rather than slowly maturing teenagers such as Kirino.
Scratching her head, Kirino continued to listen to the song whilst mimicking the hand movements that would usually accompany it. No matter how many times she heard this song she could never get enough. Just listening to the song was enough to awaken her from slumber no matter how deep or how sleep deprived she felt.
Her enjoyment was short lived however as she suddenly realised a troubling issue. Her headphone cable had disconnected from the computer. So the music she had been listening to for the past minute was not being played through her headphones but rather, aloud to her "Otaku" despising parents who could easily over hear it.
Scrambling towards the computer, Kirino silenced the musical alarm listening carefully for any sound of movement coming from her parents' bedroom. When no sound graced her ears however Kirino took her chance, collecting her laptop, and hurriedly scurried toward the front door, knocking over a couple of boxes in her haste to reach the front door.
Kirino carefully made her way into her room, ignoring the alarming sound the boxes made as they collapsed to the ground, their inner items creating enough noise to wake a drugged rhinoceros. She silently placed her laptop on the computer table; her senses heightened for any sounds of disturbance coming from her parent's room, and tucked herself into bed. An oddly familiar routine for the 14 year old model.
Every single night Kirino would sleep in the neighbouring room, dubbed the storage room, and then be awaken by that beautifully engaging song. Only this time she had made an almost costly mistake, one she would not make again. Not if she wanted to continue sleeping in the storage room which she desperately wanted to do for some strange and unexplained reason. Kirino knew she had to be more careful, she didn't want her parents to interfere like they surely would.
The subtle sounds of footsteps could be heard inching closer and closer to her front door. Kirino, acting on instinct alone, hurriedly pulled the covers over herself and mimicked a deep sleep. It was time for her morning call. Only question was whether it would be her mother, which meant that her parents had not heard the alarming music, or her father who only ever came in when he had to discuss something important.
Thankfully a warm, reassuring voice echoed throughout her bedroom. The mere sound of her mother bringing a relieved smile to Kirino's lips as she promptly pretended to awaken from sleep. "Time to wake up, Kirino-chan. The bath has already been made for you and I put your uniform on a hangar downstairs for when you're ready."
Playing the part of the sleeping princess, Kirino feigned exhaustion, and ignorance, as she turned this way and that sleepily yawning to emphasise that she was still very sleepy despite the previous pounding of her nervous heart. Moving further within Kirino's room, Yoshino spoke once more "Come on dear. Father is already at the table and you know how he is when it comes to meals. He will want to see you before you leave. So come downstairs, have a bath and I will prepare breakfast, okay?" Yoshino informed the sleeping princess.
"I-I'll be right down then. Just give me a second." Kirino murmured sleepily, now rising from the bed as she sleepily stretched out her not so stiff muscles. Yoshino promptly left her daughter's bedroom, at her wish, but not before offering Kirino an appreciative smile. Mindfully pondering its sudden, and unexpected, appearance, Kirino moved across the room, collected her towels and proceeded towards the bathroom downstairs.
After a thoroughly relaxing wash, Kirino entered the living room, her hair still slightly wet, and was unsurprised to see her father already seated at the family table. His usual stern gaze focused on her as she carefully dried her hair and inspected her school uniform for any notable creases or other troublesome issues. However after finding no particular problems of note, Kirino moved across the living room and towards her seat at the table.
Yoshino, meanwhile, was busily occupying herself with preparing breakfast for the family. Kirino, taking a quick glance at the meal, declined the offered breakfast which had been readily prepared by her mother in favour of her usual healthy cereal. It was to be expected; after all, as a model, Kirino was expected to eat far healthier foods over more filling choices which would have been more suitable for a growing 14 year old girl. She never complained however.
Kirino watched as Yoshino carefully placed the hot breakfast on the table, for both herself and her husband, before sitting at her appointed chair which was directly opposite her husband, who merely nodded at the offered breakfast in thanks. And with that the Kousaka family sat down to eat. An uncomfortable silence filling the room only muffled by the frequent turning of pages as Kirino's father read the paper.
It was at this point however, within the growing silence, that Kirino noticed something quite odd. It had happened before and the explanations she had received were always as puzzling as the question was for her parents. But even so why did this always happen? It was such an obvious mistake and yet her parents hadn't seemed to notice, merely content with eating their meals in silence despite the obvious mistake directly across from her.
Feeling the need to reiterate her confusion, she had after all wondered about this again and again without a suitable answer, Kirino took it upon herself to rather rudely note the obvious yet unintended flaw. "Why are there 4 seats at the table?" Kirino emphasised her point by motioning towards the empty chair directly across from her.
Every single time Kirino came down for breakfast, lunch or even dinner she would be welcomed by that empty chair. Surely her parents weren't stupid enough to miscalculate the number of people in the Kousaka family? But even when Kirino pointed out this flaw it never seemed to sink in with her parents because not a day later would the chair be placed directly across from her.
"If I'm not mistaken we're a family of 3, right?" Kirino stated exasperatedly as she continued to swirl her spoon within the confines of her remaining breakfast.
Yoshino and her husband quickly looked up from their breakfast and stared at the intrusive chair before looking at one another in question, perhaps surprised that they had placed a 4th chair at the family table when there was neither need or intent to do so. "I… I'm sorry. I must have placed it there by accident during my cooking routine." Yoshino replied, surprisingly bitterly which was more of a shock for herself than her daughter, as she stood from her chair and removed the supposedly intrusive seat away from the table.
Her parents always seemed to shake this off in a way which conveyed no honesty or even an attempt at understanding their actions. While a 4th chair placed at the table of a family of 3 was not outrageous or even criminal, the constant appearance of the chair had become a tiring sight for the popular model.
To Kirino's surprise however she started to fell a slight pain in her chest. Her eyes seemingly focused on the retreating chair which was being led away by her mother; at Kirino's request no less. But why was her heart hurting again? Why did the pain gradually begin to intensify the further the chair was moved away from her? Why did Kirino feel so drawn to it? It was just a chair for god sake.
Kirino's musings, however, were silenced by her father's booming voice "What have I told you about your manners young lady. I must ask that you be more respectful to your parents." Without responding, Kirino merely gazed at her father who continued to read the newspaper against the absent side of the table.
This was another thing she hated. Had the man no respect? Why did he have to shove his newspaper on… Well to be truthfully honest, Kirino wasn't entirely sure why this angered her so much. Her father was simply reading the newspaper, at the table, like any normal father would be expected to. And when Kirino says expected she means from her experiences of watching Anime's as well as visual novels.
However despite her rising temper, Kirino remained silent. Nothing she could say would even get through to her father anyway. She could apologize or maybe even, if she felt gutsy enough, ask him to remove the paper from the table while they ate but she'd just be wasting her breathe. Her father had already considered this trivial matter as finished.
So, Kirino instead returned her attention to her breakfast in silence her eyes continuing to be drawn to the sole, solitary, chair that sat alone in the corner of the room. Silence promptly re-engulfed the room as the family continued to eat their meals in absolute silence. Yoshino, noticing this evident fact, attempted light conversation with her daughter, this course of action was met with little resistance but it was clear to both that Kirino had other, more pressing matters, on her mind.
After finishing her meal, Kirino thanked her mother and father for their care and wished them an enjoyable day at work. Offering her parents a single kiss on the cheek in farewell as she collected her school uniform and prepared herself for another, uneventful, day at middle school.
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"Kirino!"
The person in question looked towards the sound of the voice, unsurprised to see her close friend Kanako approaching her with her usual, cute, smile. Her friend always seemed to carry an air of superiority over others, the boastful walk doing nothing more than completing her truly adorable appearance. The overly enthusiastic girl was an indispensable friend to Kirino, despite her overwhelming disgust for all things, or beings, who she openly referred to as…
"Err, it's those perverted Otaku's again" Kanako noted as she stared viciously at the small knit group carefully perusing a popular anime website which, incidentally, Kirino was a huge fan of. Mentally shaking off her protective instincts, Kirino replied agreeably "I know right. I-It's disgusting, isn't it?"
Eroge or friendship. It was a common inner battle which often waged within her mind when she so much as noticed her cute bubbly friend. There had been many points in her childhood where she had wanted to protect, or even win over her friends, by putting her eroge over her well-formed friendship. But she never did. How could she risk such a thing? Her friends where everything to her and their importance was weighed evenly with her undying love for all things eroge, as long as they were sister based of course, she wasn't a pervert after all.
"So, what are you doing her Kanako? I thought you would have left by now"
"I should be asking you the same thing," Kanako pointed out raising an eye brow in suspicion ", I had a meeting with the homeroom teacher about my 'attitude towards studying.' So what's your excuse?"
Kanako, for once, was making a good point. It was already the end of school. In fact, it had been well over 30 minutes since the final bell for the day had rung throughout the school building. So why was Kirino still within the school grounds? That was a simple question which had an equally simple answer, one which was very well known by her red haired friend.
However it was not Kanako who would provide the answer, instead it was another friend of hers whose voice ebbed from the hallway. "Let me guess. You didn't want to leave until all your secret admirers had left, hmm?" answered a smiling Aragaki Ayase, who had chosen this precise moment to intentionally interfere for the sake of seeing her dearest friend sport that wonderful blush. Ayase knew her to well. After all, Kirino wasn't the only accomplished model at this school. Her best friend Ayase was also a semi-recognized model.
However Ayase's reputation, while massive in scale, was nothing compared to Kirino's. Her unique look had made her the victim ever since her sudden rise to fame. Flocks of testosterone filled and deluded boys had approached her with sweets words covering lustful eyes. Their intent and purpose far too transparent to a girl who had absolutely no interest in any kind of romantic entanglement. Why would she have any interest in romance in the first place? But despite this very obvious fact, Kirino continued to become the subject of adoration by the male members of the student body and idolized by the female members.
The latter she could handle. She was a role model after all and it was her goal to be admired and even idolized by young beautiful sisters… I mean women. However while she could stand the former group, the latter was a completely different matter. Why did she have to put up with these repulsive boys? Whether good looking, average looking, pompous, anxious, charming, aggressive, desperate, unhygienic or even so depraved as to beg or even blackmail her in an attempt to form a romantic relationship, they were all the same on the inside. Uncaring, sexually driven and vile object of organic material.
Kirino would never look for love or tenderness. She did not need it after all. She had the two things in this world that could keep her happy, her friends and her eroge.
"Yeah, you hit it right on the head. Those idiots just don't know when to quit, do they? It's been 3 months and yet the piles of love letters keep piling up. My bin has become overloaded for god sake; I think I'll have to use a furnace from now on."
After Kirino's words, laughter rang out within the classroom as Ayase and Kanako held onto one another amongst their fits of giggles. Kirino was thoroughly relieved to hear her friends laughing although admittedly it was unintentional. She was being completely honest when she said she wanted to burn the love letters but even so, to see her friends smiling and holding one another in an attempt to remain standing made her lips curl into a pleasant smile.
This was a sight Kirino always wanted to see, the sight of her friends smiling and most importantly happy. Although if this was brought about by her words or actions then she would have to replace happiness with jubilation.
"We-Well… I think enough time has passed. You can now leave safely. In fact, Kanako and I were about to leave also. So we'll tag along with you" Ayase informed cheerfully, a few stray tears being attended to as she spoke.
"Come on Ki-ri-san. Let's go, before you're whisked away by your prince charming." Kanako interjected teasingly, lightly elbowing Kirino in the ribs for emphasis.
"Like that will ever happen… and if I do ever meet such a man… I will deliver a stiff kick to his balls." Kirino stated openly to the two girls who, once again, couldn't contain their fits of giggles as they secretly watched, with admiration and understanding flowing from their gazes, Kirino who had never let that wonderful smile leave her lips.
'I was being serious, geez…'
'Why would I need a prince charming…?'
'I'm content enough with my life as it is…'
'I do not need or ever want to meet my prince charming, ever.'
The girls promptly left the school campus. Kirino and Ayase chatting animatedly about their next photo shoot, they hadn't worked together for almost 2 months and in Kirino's mind a far too long wait. Kanako meanwhile placed a mocking look of envy on her adorable face, as she watched her undoubtedly beautiful friends. The glamorous life style on display for her to see yet, steadily moving out of her reach at the same time.
"I wonder where it will be though. We were told to meet at the park by 7 but isn't a shoot at a public path a little… you know, small time." Ayase pondered aloud wanting to get her best friends thoughts on the matter before coming to a conclusion.
"Hmm," Kirino mumbled loudly, carefully considering her friends opinion before answering ", I know what you mean. Probably just a one off or something, I don't really mind. At least the cash is good this time… and have you seen what we'll be wearing, it's to die for." Kirino continued in her usual, animated, enthusiasm.
"I guess you're right. We'll see on Saturday either way."
"Hey! I am here you know. I don't want to hear about your, oh so, glamorous lives." Kanako whined childishly, the loose strands of hair fluttering around her eyes and nose in her efforts to crane her neck towards the slightly taller pair.
In response, Kirino and Ayase merely laughed at Kanako's routine silliness. She always wanted to be the centre of attention, whether it was in a room full of students or a room full of beautifully stunning models. Kanako always wanted the attention placed solely on herself. That was just Kanako's personality, and Kirino wouldn't have had it any other way.
Kirino listened, half-heartedly, to Ayase's response as well as the impending argument the two always had. She was in her own place again, thinking about her life and what made it so great. The two reasons for her wonderful life, who, meanwhile, continued to bicker playfully, were standing by her side where they had always been. Kirino was fortunate after all, she would have been the first to admit that her life exceeded the hopeless dreams of young 14 year olds.
Taking a moment to enjoy this revelation, and the bustling scenery around her, a sudden figure grabbed her attention. Her body became motionless, paralysed as she continued to stare at the young man walking along the jam packed pavement across from her. How did she even notice him in such a crowded area? More so, why did she notice him at all? He was a boy and not only that but someone, she was sure, she had never met before.
So why was her heart attempting to concuss itself against her ribs, why was her body shaking in… fear, surprise, anticipation. What was this feeling that continued to amplify the sounds of her quickening heart beat? Her palms felt sweaty. So, so sweaty and this was further emphasised when the hand holding her bag in place unclasped itself. The bag emptying against the stretch of pavement. Mirror, school books, make up, lipstick and all her other essential supplies littered the floor around her feet.
However the owner made no attempts to rescue her belongings. Instead she simply continued to stare at the retreating figure who seemed unaware of her penetrating stare, his figure becoming smaller and smaller to Kirino's widening eyes.
"Kirino!"
A faint voice. Whose voice was that? It sounded oddly familiar but her brain failed to process its obvious familiarity. Instead a single thought, a single word, continued to reinforce itself within her awakening mind. A word which held no special meaning but yet a word which she had never even felt the need to use, until this very moment.
"Kirino, what's wrong? Oh my god you're shaking. Kanako call an ambulance now. Kirino look at me, do you feel any pain? Anything at all?"
Kirino's vision of the young man became suddenly obstructed by the familiar locks of bluish, brunette, hair and startlingly clear cerulean eyes. It was Ayase. A sight she would have normally welcomed but not today. Not when she was blocking the view of that man.
'Ayase, get the hell out of my way…'
'Why are you blocking me…?'
'Why won't you let me see him?'
Despite her angry thoughts, Kirino attempted to calm herself by staring at her feet. Ayase taking her actions as a sign that she was horrified to see her valuables littered across the pavement for all to see. Acting on instinct, Ayase knelt before Kirino and began to pick up the spinning items with due care.
"It's alright Kirino. I'll pick them…"
"…" Kirino whispered, unheard by the gradually growing crowd which watched her in awe and in equal part, concern. Ayase merely looked up at Kirino who was beginning to clench her fists into a tight ball whilst her body began to shake uncontrollably, her beautifully round, blue, eyes beginning to glisten with unshed tears as she looked off in a direction which Ayase could not observe from her crouching position.
"Kirino, are you alright?" Kanako asked, resting a comforting hand against the former's forearm.
"B… Ba… Ba…" Kirino stuttered, her eyes widening and her body shaking as that single word continued to wreak havoc within her mind. Why this unrelated word would come to mind was beyond Kirino but she knew, somehow, she knew that this one word summed up… something. Perhaps her answer to whatever this feeling was deep within her bosom as she continued to stare at the unaware man.
Kirino's eye brows creased, a horrified gasp slipping past her lips and her eyes widened as the man disappeared from view, turning the nearest corner and out of Kirino's sight.
"Ba… Ba… Baka… Baka, Baka, Baka!" Kirino's light voice gradually increased, as did her ragged breathing, until she finally screamed the thought out loud. Startling various passers-by, which included her dearest friends Kanako and Ayase.
"Ki… Kirino, what…" But before Ayase even had the chance to continue, Kirino did something shocking. To the shock and horror of the crowd, Kirino sprinted away like a mad woman possessed barely missing several cars which zoomed violently off course in their desperate attempts to avoid the young girl who had just sprinted through oncoming traffic without a second look.
"Kirino! What are you doing?" Ayase screamed, terrified by her friends actions but more so for her friends life as Kirino instinctively dodged passed several swerving cars in her haste to cross the road. The surprising act did not stop there though. Once Kirino had almost made it to the adjacent pavement, Kirino propelled herself over a parked car, running across its bonnet in her haste to keep her momentum going, and sped off through the startled crowd which parted on sight. The entire street stopping as they watched this homicidal maniac continuing her journey.
Unfortunately, several passers-by had not seen her coming and were forced to the ground by Kirino who tore past people at an alarming rate, her face and eyes showing nothing more than immense determination and overwhelming desperation. For what she was not so sure, but all she knew was that she had to find that guy, whoever he was.
Ayase and Kanako merely stared at one another in confusion, the retreating figure of their closest friend becoming nothing more than a small dot in their sights.
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It had already been several minutes of exhaustive searching for Kirino, and for the moment there had been no sightings since her initial finding. Despite this she continued to search tirelessly for the oddly familiar man but whilst Kirino was a remarkable athlete she was still very much human. The toll of her exhausting run had already taken its toll on Kirino's petite body so much that her efforts had progressed to a slow leisurely pace after the unexpectedly, excruciating, exercise.
Kirino was sure that the man had been heading in this direction, but had she missed him? But a greater and more prominent question was who the hell was he?
'What's wrong with me…?'
'Why am I chasing after some complete stranger…?'
'This is ridiculous, what must Kanako and Ayase think of me…?'
'I should go back home and figure out some story to cover for this stupid mistake.'
Despite these thoughts and the finality at which she stated her intentions to return home, Kirino continued to search across the entirety of the local shopping district with not even a slimmer of hope or even success. She did however find a thousand yen, so she wouldn't be going home empty handed after all.
"This is pointless, I'll never find him" Kirino sighed heavily as she pondered this startling news, her expression turning sour and her hands clasping in anger. She wanted to meet him, to talk to him at least. Why? She was not sure but every fibre of Kirino's being was telling her that she mustn't let him go. Not once did Kirino consider her actions odd, such was her devotion towards this flawed and impossible goal.
However, just as Kirino was about to finally give up and return home, her hopeless search finally bared fruit. There he was. Relief engulfed Kirino as she watched the retreating man continue along the slightly crowded pavement before coming to a halt just within Kirino's vision.
A terrifying and almost predatory smile came across Kirino's lips as she carefully approached the unsuspecting man. She was finally going to meet this man, finally going to converse with him. The sounds of the crowds, the traffic becoming nothing but white noise as her heart beat reverberated within her ears. The tension becoming palpable as she shakily made her way closer to the unsuspecting man.
However with only a few steps to go Kirino did something very unlike her. She hid. Her eyes were still focused on the young man yet her usual surplus amounts of confidence had abandoned her. Kirino instead of confronting or even conversing with the man she had followed tirelessly for over an hour hid away from view, using the thick wall nearby as cover. Thankfully the street was largely empty which meant nobody could see the embarrassing predicament she faced or her attempts to calm her ragged breathing.
'I need to calm down…'
'Why am I so terrified…?'
'I just wanted to say hi…'
'Or maybe even hear his voice, if I could…'
'Is that so hard?'
Finding her inner thoughts unhelpful and distracting, Kirino returned her attention to the man after attempting several breathing exercises to calm her nervous heart. But as she looked back around she was met with a painful sight, her eyes widening in horror whilst a hint of loss flowed between her striking blue eyes.
He was not alone. In fact, He seemed to be conversing with someone who had dark brunette hair, from what she could tell from her vantage point, and a slender figure. Unfortunately the woman's face was obstructed by the man's broad shoulder which left Kirino little choice but to imagine this vile woman's image.
'Who the hell is she…?'
'Is that his girlfriend…?'
'Err that makes me… Hey, where are you going?'
Her musing, however, was instantly cut off as Kirino watched the brunette haired girl forcefully push the young man further down the pavement, a surprised exclamation passing the man's lips as he fought to regain his balance after such an unexpected action. Who the hell does she think she is? You can't just push someone further along the pavement?
The young man, unsurprisingly, seemed slightly annoyed by this aggressive action, at least from what Kirino could tell, after all she could only see their backs, the dark haired girl however merely walked past him, ignoring incomprehensible words, as she motioned for him to follow in the same gesture which was reserved for a common house pet.
'He's not some dog…'
'You can't treat someone like this…'
'I swear by the end of today I will make your life a living hell.'
Despite her inner aggravation towards this outrageous girl, Kirino couldn't help but watch the man forlornly as he patiently walked alongside this brutish girl. Something deep inside of her was hurting as she watched this man. Something was calling for her to simply run into his arms and shed as many tears as was humanly possible. Why she had this inclination? She did not know but oh how she wanted to so badly. Even if the act of hugging a stranger was embarrassing she would have risked it all just to feel this man's arms encasing her body in tender warmth.
Kirino covertly followed the pair at a reasonably safe distance, picking up loose pieces of conversation between the two at intervals. The voices, both of them in fact, sounded horrifyingly familiar as if the simple act of forgetting should be enough to condemn her but still Kirino couldn't, for the life of her, identify the figures by their voice alone, but even so she knew she should know them.
"You perverted sis-con. I told you to meet me here at 5, don't make me wait, Baka!"
"Hai, Hai. I was late by a few minutes. It's not like we had anything important planned today."
Kirino's heart soared at the man's soothing and dream like voice, her stomach performing cartwheels and her lips becoming dry as she listened wordlessly to the voice which had sent her mind into a daze. Who was he?
However before she could truly appreciate the sound of the man's voice, Kirino suddenly remembered the younger girl's words. Her eyes began to narrow in displeasure as each word reinforced itself within her mind, her hatred for the woman only intensifying as she stared daggers at this ungrateful girl.
'Pervert…'
'Sis-con…'
'Baka…'
'Who the hell do you think you are…'
'You ungrateful little bitch…'
'He deserves far more respect than that.'
Kirino's initial dislike of the girl only heightened to a dangerously high level, reserved for perverts and stalkers, as she witnessed this ungrateful brat kick her "brother" in the shins with incredible force and malicious intent. His groans of pain becoming nothing more than an emotional string wrapped around Kirino's heart. However this was not the only emotion that swept her away, at the same time, the sound seemed oddly satisfying but most importantly of all it made her feel noticed.
'Noticed…?'
'I didn't kick him though…'
'I mean, no, I would never kick him…'
'This girl is unbelievable…'
'He deserves so much better, so much more than this sort of treatment.'
Kirino was beginning to grow tired of this girl's aggressive attitude and genuinely uncaring nature. So much so, that she was prepared to defend this boy, who she had never met, if she so much as touched him one more time.
"What do you mean this wasn't important, Baka! You said you'd take me to the anime convention, didn't you? So do your job and take me there, maybe then I'll forgive you" The dark haired girl replied throwing in a few more insults for good measure "Stupid, perverted sis-con. You never do anything right."
'I swear to god…'
'One more time…'
'One more and I'll….'
But then, just as the pair were about to round corner, Kirino stopped, her eyes widening to an impossibly large extent, as she gazed upon a sight she had never expected to see. It wasn't the sudden, yet noticeable, change in the girl's hair that shocked her. The girl's usual dark brunette hair slowly becoming dark blonde as if by magic, each strand becoming tinted, one by one, with the oh so familiar colour.
No, it was not this piece of magical innervation that confounded her. It was the girl's face which greeted her.
"Wh-Wh-What?" Kirino breathlessly murmured as the now blonde haired woman turned her face to look in Kirino's direction, not at her directly but through her, as if Kirino wasn't even there to begin with.
For Kirino it was like looking into a full length mirror because staring back at her, with startlingly familiar eyes, was none other than Kousaka Kirino. Time seemed to slow as Kirino continued to stare, transfixed, by her own mirror image who, she had only just noticed, had her arm wrapped around the young man's arm while his face stared off in a different direction to her own. She never did see that man's face.
The familiar blue eyes stared straight through her as if she was nothing more than an apparition of a long forgotten memory, as if they place she currently stood was nothing more than an empty place (Shameless title plug :P) devoid of life, as well as happiness.
Despite her bodies trembling state, Kirino could do nothing more than simply stare at the other, far happier, Kirino. The latter's content and peaceful expression vastly different from the former's confused and heartbroken features. Content, simply because she had a brother who would do anything for her.
A brother who she secretly loved and held nothing but undying affection for, of the un-sisterly kind of which she had no doubt. Hidden beneath her tough yet fake exterior, she was happy. The other Kirino was happy, something that our Kirino could only look at with envious and pleading eyes.
Then in the blink of an eye the other Kirino and her "brother" vanished from sight, turning the corner as our Kirino stood paralysed by the traumatic emotions which were interconnected to this very moment.
'Why was I…?'
'But I'm I…?'
'Wait, where did he go…?'
'Where did Onii-chan go?'
Suddenly Kirino's paralysed body began to move of its own fruition. An unsteady step was followed by her arms and legs breaking her fall to the ground as she attempted to control her trembling limbs and ragged breathing. Thoughts continued to wrap her mind, thoughts that the boy was leaving her. That she would never see that boy again unless she turned that corner.
Such a simple feat but yet, at this present time, a feat which would take all of Kirino's willpower. Steadying herself, Kirino staggered forward unevenly making her way closer towards the corner of the pavement off in the distance. Then, in a moment of desperation and realisation, Kirino sprinted forward, faster than she had ever before in her young life, the thought that she would never see that young man again pulsating through her entire being, spurring her on.
"Onii-chan!" Kirino screamed as she promptly rounded the corner of the pavement, an unexpected scream passing her lips even though she never intended to do so. Perhaps some part of her was desperate enough to call out and scream for her Onii-chan, an Onii-chan which should have never existed.
There was no one there. The long stretch of pavement was empty. Not only that, but to her horror, Kirino realised that the pavement led to a dead end. A single brick wall filling her startled vision as she desperately scanned her vicinity for any sign of the two figures.
Despite the obvious impossibility of the pair materialising out of thin air, on the other side of the road but even then Kirino didn't stop looking. But after several seconds, and shed tears, Kirino was forced to realise the horrible and unavoidable truth. A truth which froze her insides and caused an anguished expression to crease her brow.
There had never been two figures…
There had never been a brother or a sister…
To the casual observer, to which there were thankfully none, Kirino had been covertly following no one…
There was no Onii-chan…
There never had been…
Kirino… was alone.
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Author's Notes: Thank you so much for the reviews, story favourites and story followers. I was so thrilled to see so much support from such wonderful people, so thank you very much.
Your support means so much to me and it is because of your support that I felt the need to return to this story and give you another chapter well before I initially planned to write it. I was going to make this story a monthly update but I may have to re-think that if the reviews etc are this amazing :)
I have also decided to make this a story, although its length is unknown, but the story will be mostly romance, drama and a lil bit of angst which is my forte. I hope you like the story I have planned for you because trust me it will go places and explore the characters to their routes, all of them with the main focus placed solely on Kirino and someone else entirely.
By the way, I was hoping to find a beta reader for this story of mine. Preferably someone with experience in dealing with grammar and the writing structure which, as you may know is often wrong and makes my work a bit of a chore to read considering the long sentences without apostrophes etc. I would ask my wonderful beta reader, of my other stories, but I don't think she knows this anime to well and in either case I feel I have bugged her enough about my other projects considering she has reviewed over 100,000 plus words, give or take.
Well with that out of the way, reviews etc would be gratefully appreciated but not mandatory, so if you simply want to read and enjoy then I take no umbrage with you sir or madam but instead merely thank you for taking the time to read my work.
And yes before you ask, I am British :P
Well I've babbled enough, I hope to update in the near future (Although if I don't update before October 30th then I won't update for a while… Assassin's Creed 3 people :P)
Bye….
Miracles79 signing out
