Hello readers! Erm… I want to brief a little about the Omoda's residence! I know it's draggy, but I really want you guys to be able to visualize the house, the rooms, and everything. So enjoy Yuya's 'tour' of the house!
By the way, I realised that if I continue to write, I'll end up with 70 over chapters 0.o As such, I shall propose: instead of a usual 1300-2000 words per chapter, I'll move up to 2500-3000 words per chapter. Please tell me if you are fine with it: )
Oh another disclaimer: my story might contain a liiittttleee but of spoiler. But oh well, it can't hurt THAT much right?
Chapter 4 – A Step towards Friendship
"Shinrei-kun!" Yuya cried as she spotted her new tenant coming up to the front door. "Welcome to Omoda's residence!" she grinned as she led him inside. "Put your stuff here!" Shinrei somewhat smiled and set his belongings on the floor.
"You should have already seen everything in the first level, so let's just start at the second level!" Yuya grabbed Shinrei by his arm and headed upstairs. Shinrei saw that the rooms in the second level are designed such that their doors form a circle, with a clearing right in the middle of the 'circle' was a space big enough to walk around without feeling cramped. "This is my room, and it is linked to another bedroom through a bathroom. So I am hoping for a female tenant that could fill that empty room!
"That's a spare room over here. We use it when we are expecting guests." Yuya pointed to the door that is closest to where they are standing. Shinrei wondered if he was considered an 'unexpected guest'.
"The bathroom's over yonder," she pointed to the door furthest from where they were standing. "And that's Aki's room."
Shinrei asked for Hotaru's room.
"He took the room in the third level." Was Yuya's reply. "I have no idea why, it's so warm and stuffy!"
Shinrei smiled in spite of himself. Hotaru hates water and cold things. The hot and stuffy room would just appeal to him.
"But there's another empty room upstairs that isn't so stuffy, and I think that would be your room."
Shinrei turned to her. "Please say you are joking. Me? Living in the same level as the person I hate the most? It's bad enough that I have to live with him! Can't I take another room?"
Yuya hesitated. "You can use the spare room… but… it will not serve good for a long period of time."
"It is okay, I will be able to bring the traitor back before then." Shinrei sighed. It was obvious that he was glad that he doesn't have to tolerate his obnoxious brother as much.
Yuya cautiously climbed the stairs leading to the third level of Omoda's residence, carrying a tray of Hotaru's dinner. Outside his door, she knocked softly. There was no response. That's when she realised that the door was not locked.
"Pardon me for the intrusion," she spoke as she entered the room. "You didn't go down to the dining room for dinner. I thought you might want your di… Eh?" There wasn't anyone in the room, but the balcony door was open. There, at the balcony, she found Hotaru sitting on the floor. "Hotaru, your dinner is on your table."
He nodded, not even looking at her. Yuya wanted to leave, but something told her to stay. She found herself also sitting on the floor, next to Hotaru. "A penny for your thoughts?" she asked cheerfully. There was no reply.
It's as if I'm talking to myself. She sighed. She tried again. "Pardon me if I sound too nosy. There are a lot of things that I want to know about you, but you never allow me to take the chance to do so. Don't you think it's very suffering, being all alone and keeping things to yourself?"
I think I talked too much. She chided herself. Still, there was no reply from him. He probably always wanted to be alone. She concluded.
She was about to get up from where she was sitting, when Hotaru suddenly said, "Do you really want to know so much about me?"
She looked at Hotaru, surprised that he would reply. "Yeah… since you might be staying here for a period of time…"
He finally looked at her. His orange eyes almost glowed in the dark. "You remind me of that annoying Akizuki. Go on and ask your questions."
She wanted to ask why he thought of Akizuki annoying, but decided to ask the more important questions. "Why is there such a big strife between you and Shinrei? And… why do you want to get out of Ryuyousei, really?"
He took so long to reply that Yuya thought he had changed his mind to answer her questions. "I don't like Shinrei. I don't like Ryu." He looked at her again. "That's my answer."
Yuya anime-fell and puffed her cheeks. "There must be more than that!"
"Ryu had two wives. Shinrei's mother is the first wife. There is a status gap that made Shinrei and I impossible to get along. I don't want to be like him at all. So I can't explain to you why I hate Shinrei so much. Of course my father Ryu made sure that in order to make us killers who will work for him in the future…"
"Wait… killers?"
"Didn't Shinrei tell you? Sheesh, I expected that he would do a better job in explaining. Everyone who enters Ryuyousei have to be trained in being a killer. Because that is the way of Ryu's doing. If you can't get what you want, do whatever it takes to get rid of the obstacles. It's called 'survival of the fittest'."
Yuya felt goose-pimples everywhere in her body. Hotaru continued. "Ryu brain-washed us so that we would not give mercy to our own family, of course, excluding Ryu himself. My childhood days were terrible. That is, if I ever had one. Shinrei and I never had friends; our closest friend is probably Aki. But later on Ryu bade us to lose contact with Aki, for fear that Aki would be able to stop our brain-washing. Our childhood days were spent in the basement, being punished for whatever that displeases Ryu."
Hotaru suddenly looked at her again, "Have you ever seen fireflies?" Yuya nodded her head. Sometimes in the summer, Aki would bring her to the woods to find fireflies. "I never did. The only thing I saw when I was young, was the four walls of my house. My mother always tell me that she named me 'firefly' (A/N: hotaru means 'firefly'!) because she wants me to give light to others, and be useful to the friends and family around me. But why help Ryu when…"
He trailed off, not wanting to continue. Yuya held her breath. She could almost tell what Hotaru wanted to say next. "Did… your father… he… erm… murdered her."
The young man didn't reply.
"But you never know what he killed her for, right?" She asked again.
Hotaru nodded slightly. "You rubbed that little bit of sensitivity off Aki yeah? He sent Ryuyousei to kill my mother. I only got to know of this news last year." He clenched his hands, his fists trembling in resentment. "I can't be loyal to that blood-thirsty person. Ryu cares for nothing but himself. But it doesn't matter. I've always been alone. And through my independence I have, and will grow stronger. As long as I'm the strongest man on this planet, nothing else really matters."
There was silence between Hotaru and Yuya. "I think I confided in you too much," he replied coldly.
"Perhaps, but it's good to talk you know," she smiled. "Just make sure that we aren't being bugged or something." He shook his head and reassured that they weren't being bugged.
"Oh no! Your dinner is cold!" She scrambled herself up and took the tray. "I will go and heat it up!"
"It's okay. I will go and heat it up myself later." He took the tray from her and put it on the table. "Will go and find you guys later downstairs, and I will tolerate Shinrei for your sake. Whatever I told you just now. Don't blab about it."
"No problem! Do come and tell me how you feel every now and then, okay?" Yuya gave a big smile before heading down to the living room, where Shinrei and Aki were watching TV.
Hotaru closed the door. "I must be stronger, I must destroy Ryu and Ryuyousei, by all means." He whispered to himself.
And once again, it's 2 chapters in one shot! So go on and read Chapter 5! ) Do tell me about whether you think 1300-2000 words per chapter is better or the 2500-3000 one?