Chapter 10
Akihiko Ando
Some houses just tend to be more hectic than others. Especially for me, Akihiko. I live in a small apartment with my mother and my two younger siblings. My morning normally started out with my little brother and sister fighting, my mother scolding them, and then my alarm clock ringing itself right off my nightstand. This morning was one such morning. I woke up on the edge of my bed, my blankets practically in the floor and my brown hair in disarray. The alarm clock was still announding the time in the floor after it had landed there with a loud thunk. The initial thunk was what had actually woken me up. The consistent ringing was what started irritating me as I reached down lazily, almost pulling myself out of bed in order to turn off the ringer. I pulled myself halfway out of bed before I reached the clock, then slid back in, holding the alarm clock above my head as I tried to turn the ringer off. In the process, my door opened, I glanced over a moment, realizing the figure was just standing in the doorway.
"Good morning!" My little sister chimed in with her innocent smile, her head peeking around my door. I managed to turn the ringer off before I turned and gave her a sleepy smile, her long black hair in a braid down her back, her large, dark eyes reminding me of a chibi on the five year old.
"Good morning, Emi."[/b] I greeted back. She took that as permission to come in, she ran over and jumped on my bed, and right on top of me, straddling my chest and looking down into my face before leaning down to hug my neck. I laughed, feeling the pressure of her weight, "Emi!"
She sat back up and giggled, before another voice entered, "Hey, no fair, how come I get in trouble when I come in your room?"
I sighed and glanced over at my little, ten year old brother, a miniature me with black hair, he looked irritated, I glared over at him "Because she's cute and your annoying"
His jaw dropped "Hey, that's not fair!"
"No, it's not, I wonder everyday how I got stuck with a brother like you!" I snapped back, helping Emi climb back down off the bed. I sat up the blanket falling to reveal my bare chest, I threw the blankets off, or what was remaining of them on the bed. I swung my feet to touch the cold floor and stretched.
My brother was glaring at me, I gave him a smirk, "You just wait, i'll get you back." He threatened.
"What can you do, Haru, tell mom?" I asked. This only caused him to give me a death glare, before he turned on his heels and stormed away. I sighed and looked at Emi who smiled, sweetly, she was just as mischievous as he was but she had the charm to get away with it. I chuckled, "Go on Emi," She nodded and ran off, closing the door behind her.
I stood, and went to the washroom, before coming back to my room to change into my school uniform. I packed my soccer uniform into a bag, with my cleats before I went to the kitchen, dropping my stuff by the front door. My mother was cooking and she looked over at me. She was a slender woman with brown, wavy hair and and a gentle smile, though I noticed more often that she was exhausted. She hid this of course in her smile as she turned to me now "Aki, your up on time" she used my pet name and gave me a teasing look.
I shrugged and scratched the back of my head, "What can you do, when you have a five year old greet you in the morning?"
She smiled turning back to the stove, "Food will be ready shortly."
I licked my lips "Sounds good," I then went back towards the back of the small apartment. Emi and Haru were arguing, and I hoped to catch it before mom had to.
"This is not yours!"
"Yeah huh!"
"No, this was my homework, Emi!"
As I reached my brothers room, I glanced inside, the little girl was now in tears as my brother held a piece of paper up, showing it to her.
"Whats going on?" I asked, standing in the doorway with my arms crossed
Haru turned to me, showing me the paper "Emi drew all over my homework!"
I took it into my hands and looked over it, "Surely you can copy it on another sheet quickly"
Haru gritted his teeth, "That's not the point!"
I frowned, he did have a point this time, I turned my gaze to Emi, "Emi, you know not to come into Haru's room right?"
She gave me her puppy dog eyes and nodded her head
"Then why were you in here?"
She shrugged her slender shoulders.
I sighed, it was so hard to be made at her, and yet, I knew that I had to keep things fair, "Emi, you apologize to Haru, or next time he can draw on your things"
Her little face lit up with horror and she quickly hugged Haru around the waist and looked up at him "I'm sorry". Haru looked uncomfortable as he unhooked her little hands and stepped away, "Stay out of my room." He stated again as if to finalize the situation. He then stormed off, towards the kitchen as mother yelled breakfast was ready.
After breakfast, it was a bit of a hassle getting everything cleared and rushing out the door. Haru was complaining because he couldn't find his baseball bat, it ended up being in his messy room. Finally I drug him out of the house as mother, grabbed my little sisters had and locked the door behind all of us. After going down the stairs, mother waved goodbye, giving Haru a kiss on the cheek which he grimaced at. My mother just giggled and we went our separate ways. Haru was dropped off at the middle school, and I went on to the high school.
In front of the school, my friends came over to greet me, I gave them a grin. "Ready for the soccer game today?" one asked, while him and another guy high-fived.
"With Ando on our team, we can't lose!" said another one.
"Chill, Chill" I said holding up my hands, but feeling my pride swell.
They glanced at me, "Dude, you ever get a new soccer ball?" one asked.
I shook my head, frowning slightly, "No, which means that I haven't been able to practice at home."
"Surly your mom can get you another one." My smile vanished, "It's not my mom's problem." I quickly turned from them, walking towards the door and they followed behind, not mentioning it again.
"Hey Ando, think quick!" Someone yelled, I twirled ready to catch the ball, as I did, I walked backwards, waiting for it to land in my hands when I felt myself run into someone. I watched papers fly. I turned and the ball landed almost on the girl as she let out a small shriek, covering her head with her hands as she kneeled on the sidewalk in front of fallen papers.
The girl looked familiar as she glanced up at me, her face turned bright red, her eyes were large and green, looking as innocent as Emi's. "Yamada, Fuu..." I said partially in puzzlement. It was very rare for me to see the young girl, who kept to herself and never seemed to come out into the daylight.
She ignored me, and began picking up her papers, I could hear the guys behind me muttering "who is she?" or "Isn't she that super genius?" I ignored them and quickly helped pick up the papers as I felt the wind begin to pick up. I heard the bell ring and the guys began urging me to come along.
"You guys go ahead, i'll catch up." I quickly retorted. They didn't need much more persuasion as they picked up the loose soccer ball and headed inside.
Fuu didn't say a word as she quickly scrambled to get her papers together, I felt her keep glancing at me though as if worried I might attack her or something. Finally as I picked up the last paper and we got to our feet, she reached out hesitantly for the papers I had. "You can talk right?" I asked.
Her face reddened more and she nodded her head.
"I can't hear you..." I replied with a smug smirk
"Ye...yes." she stammered, pushing glasses up on her nose. I hadn't realized she wore glasses. I figured they must be for reading as I held out the papers for her to take.
She had curly, blonde hair pulled into a bun, she was short girl and very petite. I also knew she was a year or two younger than everyone else in our grade. The second bell began to ring and the young girl gasped, "I've never been late for class before!" she said, looking absolutely displeased about the situation as she took off up the stairs.
I caught up with her catching her arm, "Hey, class isn't worth killing yourself over, once won't hurt." I said with a chuckle, and boyish grin. Her face turned brighter pink, "I'm Akihiko." I stated kindly.
She nodded, "I know..." she said with a small voice, looking down at the floor.
I chuckled again, "Why are you so nervous, we are all people here too...no aliens.."
Even though she was staring at the floor, I could see a small smile flash across her face for an instant. I chuckled more, and tilted my head to the side, "Hurry on to class, I expect you not to be late for cooking.".
She finally flashed her eyes up at me and gave me a childish smile, "Thank you." She then turned and jogged away. I watched a moment and shook my head, strange girl. I then turned to head to my first class.