My Beloved Angel
Chapter 3
Sayuri Lapis: Thank you all who reviewed, especially Lucadina and Hamm Ram. Your reviews are very encouraging.
"Aoi, where were you that caused you to come home late?" Akira asked, trying to stay firm with his sister-in-law.
Aoi did not respond. She could only gaze down at the transparent coffee table, making out the small right triangles carved into the glass.
"Aoi, where were you?" Akira asked again, sounding slightly angrier than the last sentence. He was trying to remain calm after worrying about where she had been in the last hour.
"I was with friends." The brown-haired girl lied through her teeth. She didn't even try to direct her brown eyes at him.
"Friends? Since when did you make new friends?"
The brown-haired girl opened her mouth but no words came out. The lie had failed.
Can you just excuse me to my room already? She thought, annoyed. This whole conversation is pointless and a waste of my time and yours!
"You're lying to me Aoi. Where have you been?" Akira gritted his teeth. He was reaching his limit and he was ready to unleash his inner beast out at her. He then let out a small gasp.
"Did you log into Link VRAINS and get caught up within the Knights of Hanoi?"
Aoi's shoulders stiffened when he made that statement. He found out.
Now he was going to erase her account.
"I am going to check the login history and If I see your name, I will delete your account." He stood up and went upstairs. Aoi was still sitting on the couch, trembling. All she wanted to do right now was make herself disappear. She couldn't afford to lose her account. Her fans would be let down big time. She wouldn't be able to interact with Playmaker anymore.
Akira came stomping down a few minutes later, holding his work laptop. He sat himself down on the plush velvety couch and his eyes were focused on the screen.
Aoi may get mad at me later, but this is for her own good. She needs to be punished in order to learn. He thought as he scanned the list of usernames that were active for the last hour, but for some reason, Blue Angel's name wasn't on there. He checked the other hour lists to see if her name was there, but it wasn't there either.
He then came down to the conclusion that she did not log into Link VRAINS today, much to his relief, and unknowingly, to Aoi's too.
"Nii-sama?" Aoi asked. "Is everything ok?"
"You know what Aoi, forget about this whole argument." Akira shut off his laptop. "But don't be late ever again."
But the brown-haired girl wasn't convinced. Her brown eyes hardened and she glared at her brother. "So you got all mad at me for nothing." She fumed.
"Aoi, I'm sorry."
"Sorry doesn't cut it. I'm 16 years old now!" Aoi complained, walking up to the window. "You deprived me of a normal social life and confined me to this house, ordering me to study and do your bidding so I wouldn't put your position at risk!"
"Aoi, please stop…"
"I'm not going to stop! Your work is difficult, causing you to come home grouchy and using me as your personal punching bag! I'm sick you punching and pushing me around!"
"ENOUGH!" Akira roared.
Aoi continued to ignore him. "One day, I'll become a grown-up woman and you will lose any control you currently have over me."
"No I won't." Akira hissed, walking over to his step-sister. "You haven't seen what the real world is like. You will only leave once you understand how hard life is."
Aoi glared at her older brother, but she didn't want to argue with him anymore. She felt like she was going to throw up her lunch she had earlier. When was her older brother ever going to acknowledge that she was almost an adult? Was she going to have to argue with him until she couldn't speak anymore?
Neither talked to each other for the next two minutes, only glaring at each other's irises. "I don't want to argue about this anymore." Aoi finally took her attention away from him and sighed. She softened her fists and began to take some back steps before turning around. In silence, she walked to her room and slammed the door shut, locking it. Akira sighed and scratched his head. He had no idea on what to do with his little sister.
Aoi stood lying against the door, still in place. Tears spilled out of her eyes and she ran to her bed, crying into her pillow.
What does it take for me to earn my freedom without making onii-sama upset?
Yusaku Fujiki was walking to his apartment complex when his AI started to bother him.
"Are you and Aoi in love?"
"Isn't Blue Angel cute?"
"Isn't her Trickstar deck totally structured well?"
"Stop talking." The blue and pink haired boy hissed as he unlocked his room.
"Welcome home master." Roboppy greeted as Yusaku walked in. Yusaku ignored the blue robot and stepped aside. He threw his backpack on the bed.
"Aoi-chan will thank you later when she finds out that you erased her name off the log. Especially since her brother forbids her from Link VRAINS." AI noted to its master.
Yusaku ignored the artificial lifeform and placed his duel disk in the shelf and closed the glass doors that were attached to the compartment. He went into his immaculate bathroom, courtesy of Roboppy, and took his clothes off.
As the steaming hot water was rolling, Yusaku made sure that he got every inch of his body clean. Just because he lived in a shabby apartment, that didn't mean he smelled like a hobo.
After his long and destressing shower, he was greeted my loud moans that could be heard from under his bed. Yusaku rolled his eyes; he knew what was going on, but he didn't bother to intrude.
What went on between Roboppy and AI was none of his business. If he and Aoi were to ever do it, he wouldn't want the ignis to watch them get it on.
Yusaku stopped in his tracks. Me and Aoi? Having sex? Impossible!
Why the hell was Aoi on his mind all of a sudden? He shook his head and lied down on his bed. He only did a favor for her earlier in Link VRAINS and after, by deleting her name off of the login history. He knew about her overprotective brother. Sure, he was shocked when Blue Angel told his real name out loud, but luckily, no one was around to hear.
If anyone was there, it would have erupted into a huge scandal and he would never be able to hear the end of it.
He shouldn't have been surprised, because it was only going to be time that she found out. He knew her real identity before she knew him.
His mind then wandered to Aoi's persona. Her straight hair looked perfect and her eyes looked so clear and bright, like a doll.
Her body wasn't so bad either. Ok, maybe her chest wasn't like the other girls, but who cares?
While being lost in his thoughts, Yusaku's phone suddenly started to vibrate in his pocket.
"Hello?" He answered.
"Oi, it's me." A voice only familiar to Yusaku spoke on the phone.
"Hey."
It was Shoichi Kusanagi.
"I need you to help me with the hot dogs. There's a line of customers at my truck, even though its nighttime." The man now named Kusanagi spoke into the phone.
"Sure." Yusaku sighed reluctantly and looked outside. It was dark. "I'll be there in a few minutes. Where are you at?"
"I'm in central Den City." Kusanagi replied onto the phone.
He sat up on his bed and yawned. Truthfully, he didn't feel like flipping hotdogs with one of his few companions, but he and Shoichi had known each other for a long time and Yusaku didn't want to leave his friend out to dry.
"Aoi, are you done bawling?" Akira knocked on her bedroom door. It wasn't one of those loud knocks that he did in the morning, but it was still hearable.
"Leave me alone!" Aoi muffled into her now-soaked pillow. An hour had passed since their argument happened.
"Aoi, you have to study for your upcoming exam!" Akira knocked again.
To hell with exams. It was like school was her breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
"Aoi, please don't cry." Akira pleaded. "It makes me upset to see you in this state."
Aoi stopped crying and raised her head from her pillow. Akira never had spoken to her like this in a long time. The last time he had spoken to her gently was 10 years ago, back when they had lost their parents in a tragic accident.
Could it be that he finally realized his wrongdoing? A
"You're 16 years old now. Crying is for young children. You're an adult. Companies don't tolerate crying employees."
A sour taste appeared in Aoi's mouth. It was apparent that Akira hadn't changed, one single bit.
As if the last straw broke the camel's back, Aoi sat up, her eyes swollen red and her expression looked like she was furious. How could he? She got off her bed and stomped to the door.
The brunette opened the door and saw her brother standing there. "Why don't you study for my exam and take it in my place if you care so much about your damn reputation!" She yelled mindlessly.
"Aoi, you know I can't do that." Akira sighed and grabbed her arm. "Come on, let's go downstairs and study together. I have your textbooks out on the table."
"No!" Aoi ripped her arm from Akira's grasp and gave him the same glare she did an hour earlier. "I'm going out for a while."
"Aoi, no!" Akira shouted after her. "It's too late for you to go outside!"
But Akira's plea fell on deaf ears and Aoi was in the elevator by the time he said it.
"AOI! YOU GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW, THIS INSTANT!"
But for the very first time, Aoi dismissed Akira's order to stop and she just kept going.
