Chapter 1
A/N: I'd like to note that my knowledge of Japanese culture is very limited, so when it comes down to stuff like what do they eat for breakfast and such... I have no idea, so I have to go with what I know, and that is my own culture... but please, if you know about this kind of stuff please let me know so I can make this fic more realistic. Thank you.
EDIT: I have edited this chapter to fix many grammatical errors (there were lots). Also, I don't fully understand how the Japanese education system works. I used to think there were four years of highschool, but apparently it's only three. Because of that I had to make a change with one of the characters. Sorry for the inconvenience.
I woke up a little earlier than usual. 6:30... I usually wake up at 6:45 so I don't have to hurry to school, but I hate waking up before my alarm clock. Since I was already awake I got up from the futon, exited my room and headed towards the bathroom.
Once there I took a quick piss then went to wash my hands and face at the sink. I looked at my face in the mirror like every morning. The same sleepy and bored expression, the same as every time I wake up, was present on my face, but I looked a bit angrier than usual... damn those 15 minutes of sleep I didn't get. Black hair long enough to cover my ears but not my eyes in a bowl-cut sort-of style. I didn't have my hair cut like this, it's just the way it grows and I don't want to change it. Gray eyes were staring at me from the mirror as I stared back.
I took a quick shower and dried myself up with a towel, wrapped it around my waist and headed to my room once again. I did this because I knew no one else was awake at this hour. Even on days I wake up at my usual time, I'm the first one to wake up in the family, except sometimes Dad wakes up earlier that me 'cause he has to go somewhere.
I dressed up in my Yasogami High uniform. The white, short sleeved shirt and gray pants, since it's summer. Once I was ready I got out of my room and went to the kitchen. Mom and Dad are too busy during the day, and since I woke up so early I decided to start making breakfast to save them some trouble.
But when I got there I was surprised to see Dad already awake and fully dressed in a thin, dark gray jacket, a white shirt and blue jeans. He was already preparing breakfast so I started helping him.
"Ah, Haru, good morning... you are up early" he greeted me.
"Good morning Dad... I woke up before the alarm clock"
"Ouch, I see... sorry to hear that" He said laughing lightly but understandingly. Yeah, Dad is like me, he hates waking up before his alarm clock... or I'm like him? meh, doesn't matter.
"You are up early too... are you going somewhere?" I asked, though I think I already knew.
"Yeah, I am" Told you. "It's an old friend who just came back to Japan with his family, they are living in Kofu right now, but we're meeting at Okina City to discuss some stuff"
"I see." I said, while cutting some bread and giving it to dad, who was putting something between them and making them a sandwich, I didn't see what it was. "Mom didn't wake up with you?"
"She did, but I told her she should sleep a little more" Yeah, Mom it's not like us, she can go back to sleep if she wants once she wakes up. Last night there was a slight problem at the Inn... some people got drunk and started yelling they wanted to party all night, and doing so disturbed everyone else staying here. Mom and Dad tried to calm them down. I don't know the details but they succeeded. Nevertheless, they stayed up until late night, so Mom must be real tired.
"Ok, we are done. There's orange juice in the fridge. I have to go now, see you tonight" he told me as he put his hand in my head and messed with my hair. "Tell your sister I say goodbye, too"
"Sure, take care, Dad" I answered. And with that, he left. I heard the car leaving and getting further and further away.
I took my phone to see the time. '7:08 AM... is she not awake yet? If she doesn't wake up soon I'll have to leave without her...' Well, that's what I thought but... I can't really leave her behind. Sighing, I went to her room, which is right in front of mine. I stood in front of her door thinking of a way to wake her up... and all things considered I went with the easy way.
I knocked the door once, but loud enough for her to hear and yelled "SIS, IT'S 7:10 ALREADY, WAKE UP!"
10 seconds passed ultil I saw the door suddenly open and a girl, with long, silver hair and dressed in a white, sleeveless blouse and white trousers as pajamas, bolting out of the room in direction to the bathroom. Knowing she's going to take some time I went to the kitchen again to eat the breakfast Dad and I made. Turns out the sandwiches had lettuce, tomato and ham.
After 15 minutes she was done. In front of me was my twin sister, Reiko Amagi. Now fully dressed, in the summer uniform for girls.
"Good morning Brother!" she greeted me cheerfully.
"Good morning sleepy head..." I replied in a somewhat annoyed tone, then I handed her own sandwich. "Here, Dad made it. Eat it on the way or we'll be late. Oh, and he had to go to Okina today, he says he'll be home tonight"
Now thinking about it, maybe Dad knew Sis would be late and that's why he made sandwiches... 'one step ahead like always' I thought with a slight smile.
"Ok, then let's get going!"
"Don't you two dare to leave without saying goodbye to your mother" There, right in the door of the kitchen, was our mother, looking at us with a smile. She was already dressed in her pink kimono and looked ready to start the day.
"Sorry Mom... but Dad said you were still sleeping" I told her.
"Well, yes, but just for a few minutes. I'm not going to let laziness take over me" She said proudly. Yep, that's our hardworking mother right there.
"Well, we better leave or we're gonna be late. Come on, brother!" oh, now she's on a rush.
We said goodbye to Mom and before we left I remembered "Hey Mom, Dad left breakfast for you too, it's in the counter!"
I think I saw her smile when I told her... a nostalgic kind of smile. I could be wrong, I'm not very good at reading facial expressions, plus Dad made breakfast yesterday too, so why would she feel nostalgic?
To exited the house we had to cross through the inn's main building to get to the road. We greeted the Inn's staff that was already cleaning and they greeted us back. We exited the Inn through the main entrance and headed towards school.
'It's 7:32' I thought when I looked at my phone again. It takes us around 25 minutes to reach the school walking, less if we hurry up but there is no need for that today since classes start at 8:10 AM.
Upon being close to reach school grounds we bumped into a familiar face... or it'd be best to say this familiar face bumped into ME.
While walking, we heard an all too familiar voice behind us calling our names.
"REIKOOOO! HARUUUUU! WAIIIT!"
We both stopped and turned around. What we saw was the figure of a young man, around our age running at full speed toward us... or towards me to be precise. Since he was going at full speed, once he close enough he couldn't stop, and when he tried he tripped and crashed with me, bringing us both to the ground.
"Argh...! Damn it Ryu, what the hell...!?" I yelled at the boy that was now horizontally on top of me. "Oh, get off of me!"
"Ooouch" He groaned, apparently not liking how the asphalt felt. Well too bad.
I pushed him aside and got up from the ground to see Reiko laughing at us. I looked down to see him, a sophomore at Yasogami High, my kouhai and our childhood friend, Ryu Hanamura.
I gave a sigh and I told Sis to help me bring him up, not because I need her help, but because she laughed at us.
Ryu had short, brown, spiky hair and small eyes also brown. He's a little taller than Sis, and therefore, taller than me. He was, of course, dressed in his school uniform.
"Sorry man, it's hard to stop when you're running at top speed, hehe" Ryu laughed.
"Geez, why were you running, anyway? There's still some time before classes start" Asked my sister.
"I was just using the time to train, like always!" He told us proudly. "And I didn't think you guys would stop, you never do that!"
"True, but this time you said 'wait'" I commented.
Reiko sighed. "You and your training... take a break once in a while!" It's true, Ryu is always training, one way or another, physically or mentally. As a result of his physical training he is well built and his mental training was to prepare his body for the huge amount of exercise... or so he says. I actually train with him once in a while, but he's more dedicated that I am.
"Besides, if you run like that you're gonna end up sweating and smelling and..." She got close to him and smelled him. "eww! You Stink!"
"Really?" He smelled his own armpit. "Well then, let hurry so I can wash in the bathroom before classes begin! Come on!"
Sis and I sighed together and started making our way to school once again, and now Ryu was coming along with us.
He doesn't use honorifics when talking to us, even though we are his sempai. That's because he's known us since he was born so he's almost like another sibling. His parents and ours know each other since their own highschool days, here at Yasogami.
Nearing the school gates we saw two girls talking to each other. One of them noticed us and made a run toward... me? Yeah, me.
"SEMPAI!" The girl hugged me tightly.
God, not again... urgh, I think I'm gonna break!
"Let him go Kaori, you know he doesn't like that" YES! Ryu to the rescue!
"He likes it! If not, then why doesn't he tell me to stop?" Said Kaori.
"Let's see, first: probably 'cause he can barely breathe" Ryu gave his answer "And second, you know he won't tell you 'get away from me!'... he's too polite."
Hearing this, Kaori let go of me. 'Phew... air! Why does she do this? Does she hate me?'
"Good morning, Haru-sempai, Reiko-sempai, Ryu-san" Greeted the second girl a little behind Kaori.
"'Morning!" Ryu greeted back.
I lifted my hand, indicating I heard her and greeting back.
"Good morning Yui-chan!" it was now Sis's time to greet back.
Why is everyone in high spirits today...? no, wait, it's me. I'm the one who's grumpy. Damn those fifteen minutes of sleep that I didn't get
Now, in front of us were two girls, two more childhood friends of ours. Kaori Kujikawa and Yui Tatsumi, both first years, like Ryu.
Kaori wore her blond hair shaggy, with draping bangs and a ponytail that rested on her shoulders. She had a thin figure and was just as tall as me.
Yui was a small girl when compared to all of us, but her shoulder length, straight, navy blue hair and facial expressions made her look very mature, even though she's the youngest of us all.
We heard the bell ring and hurried to our respective classrooms.
Classes were done for the day, and I was preparing to leave.
"You going home now?" I asked Sis.
"No, you know I have drama club today, and as the club leader I can't miss a day."
"I know, just checking. See you at home"
"See ya, take care!"
As I was making my way to the room's exit, I was stopped by Ryu.
"Hey, you coming to practice today?" he asked me.
Right, basketball practice today... But I don't feel like going. I looked at my friend and sighed.
"Sure... let's go"
"Yeah! Come on, hurry up!"
On our way there, Ryu asked me something.
"Oh, right! how's everything for tomorrow?"
'Uh? Let's see, tomorrow's Sunday... June 23rd... oh' I remembered.
"It's all fine, just get there at six, and... get there clean" I answered.
"Ok, you got it" he said grinning.
Tomorrow... June 23rd. That's the day Sis and I were born, 17 years ago.
When practice was over we went home, and parted ways near the shopping district. We had a small game which Ryu and I won. I know Sis teases him a lot for training so much, but god, it gives him good results. The guy's a beast!
I was walking through the flood plains of Somegawa River, and then I felt a sharp pain in my head and fell on my knees to the ground. I grabbed my head tightly and shut my eyes involuntarily from the pain and for less than a second I think I saw a blue butterfly. Just then, my eyes opened widely and I felt the pain faded away.
'What The Hell Was That...!' I was breathing heavily. Standing up I decided to let it go, and just head home. 'I must be more tired than I thought...'
Dinner was normal, like always. Light conversation between Mom, Dad, Sis and I... but Reiko looked weird. She looked worried, so I decided to talk to her about it later.
"...so yeah, it's going to take a while before I can convince him." Dad said to Mom.
"It would be no trouble to let them stay here for some time..." Replied Mom. "But I'm surprised, there is one person whom you can't convince" She giggled.
"You know we are too much alike... but he's more stubborn than me"
I didn't know what they were talking about, but I didn't care. I was more worried about my sister. 'she has barely touched her food'.
"Are you ok, Reiko?" Dad saw this too.
"Uh? oh, yeah I'm fine! I was just thinking about something that happened at drama club today, It's nothing, really"
'Liar' I said to myself.
When dinner was over, Reiko excused herself and went to her room, saying she didn't feel very well. I followed her.
She was already inside her room, so I knocked. "Sis, open up".
"I'm fine Brother, I just want to sleep. Good night" She said from inside her room.
"Reiko... Open The Door" I told her with a firm voice.
A few seconds of silence passed until I heard the door being opened. Reiko was there now in her pajamas.
"Tell me what happened, Reiko" I stood there looking at her.
"...Really, nothing happened. I was just coming home and felt dizzy all of a sudden, that's all" She's telling the truth. It's not that I can see whether people are lying or not, but I know when my sister is telling the truth or if she's lying and she can see the same in me.
"I see. Then rest as much as you can. It' wouldn't be funny if you get sick tomorrow"
"hehe, I know. You rest too. Good night, Brother"
"Good night, Sis"
And with that, I went to my room, changed to my sleepwear (boxers and a white T-shirt) and then to bed.
I felt my consciousness slowly fading away until I was fully asleep. But all of a sudden, it came back to me and felt wide awake... But I wasn't in my room anymore.
I was in what seemed to be just a black and white floor... floating in nothingness... surrounded by complete darkness.
This has to be a dream... right?
I looked around and saw someone. A tall man, probably an adult. He was wearing a white suit and in his face, a mask... half plain white, half butterfly-like, mask.
"Welcome, my name is Philemon. I live between the world of consciousness and unconsciousness. Now tell me, who are you?"
A/N: Ok, this is the first chapter. I don't really have much to say here, just one thing. I took Kaori from an unused concept art for Rise Kujikawa, so check it if you what to know in more detail what she looks like. I suck at describing stuff, so expect just a few hints for the characters, clothes, etc. I'll leave the rest to your imagination.
EDIT: So, the change was that I made Yui a year older than she used to be, so now she's in the same grade as Ryu and Kaori.
