Chapter 25: Brothers

"Man, it's pretty late," Bossun said, looking at the darkened sky.

"Ya know, I don't think that we're too great at this romantic consultin' stuff," Himeko admitted, blushing lightly.

"Do you now see what I mean? Referencing from those trash novels will do you no good!" he immediately accused.

Himeko's blush darkened in indignation and embarrassment. "Oi, it wasn't as though you were doing any better!" she argued back. "You kept makin' weird faces!"

Bossun and Himeko bickered back on forth about the problem that their latest client had brought to them to solve. Smocks wasn't sure if it was ironic or obvious that this motley group was collectively ignorant in romance. Well, aside from the raunchy love stories that Himeko and Smocks occasionally read despite how Bossun repeatedly ordered them to quit, but raunchy love stories hardly reflected reality. Not to mention Switch's dating simulation games.

Smocks yawned widely and scratched the back of her head. Today had been a long day—the vice-prez pestered her more than usual, Agata still didn't forgive her for lying to him about his sister dating and was being scary about it, Takemitsu didn't come to school again and she had to eat by herself, and the client just had to bring up a problem that was essentially out of their league.

"Move it!"

Speaking of Takemitsu… Sket Dance turned their heads towards the source of the shouting. Takemitsu was on his moped, yelling angrily at his older brother who stood in his way with his arms stretched out.

"What does it got to do with you?" Takemitsu snapped at Shinzou. "And it's not like I gotta answer to you!"

"Have you not seen what has happened to you as of late? You are wasting your life away," Shinzou shot back. "But this time I refuse to let you pass!"

"I'll just go this way then." Takemitsu steered his moped in the opposite direction and took off.

"AH!" Shinzou gaped as he watched his brother zoom away. "Ugh, I failed…"

"Shinzou?"

Shinzou whirled around and exclaimed in surprise. "Bossun-dono? Sket Dance? What are you doing here?"

"We just finished helping out someone," Bossun said, jerking his thumb behind them where they left from school. "What about you? And what's going on with your younger brother?"

"I…" The kendo captain's shoulders slumped. "I fear I must request for your help once again."

Shinzou took them to his place. There, he explained what the problem was.

Because Takemitsu was a friend of Smocks, Sket Dance knew what kind of character Takemitsu was. They understood when Shinzou explained him to be a bit of a lone wolf, but angry and rebellious? Sure, Takemitsu was rough around the edges, but it was hard to envision him being an angst-ridden delinquent.

What particularly shocked them was to hear that Takemitsu had given up sword-fighting after seeing that he could never catch up to Shinzou in terms of skill.

"Are you sure about that?" Bossun said.

"What do you mean?" Shinzou asked, puzzled.

"I mean, a little while ago, we participated in a competition to help out a client. We were then one member short, so Smocks phoned your brother and had him join our group. There was a match where one of our members had to engage in a fight with the opposing team's member."

"Yeah, Takemitsu fought against the vice-prez with a sword," Himeko chimed in. "He was really good at it too. He won!"

Shinzou's eyes widened. His hands suddenly slammed against the floorboards, taking everyone by surprise, and leaned forward into Smocks's space. "Smocks-dono!" he cried, hitting his forehead against the floor. "I implore you, please continue your friendship with my brother! I have faith that your goodness may turn him back to his former self!"

"Goodness!?" Bossun sputtered incredulously.

"Whoa, whoa," Smocks interjected, uncomfortable of how things had shifted into…this. "We still haven't talked about the current problem."

"Yes, you are right." Shinzou returned to his upright position from his bowing. His forehead now sported a bright red circle. "Shinpei had picked a fight with a group of troublemakers from another school a while back. A couple days ago, these troublemakers came to the house and stirred up a ruckus while I was out. My brother used my shinai to defeat them; while he earned himself a victory, he destroyed my shinai.

"I was utterly furious," he continued, his fists tightening on his lap. "That shinai was very precious to me had always brought me good fortune in kendo matches. In my anger, I seized him by the collar and was tempted to punch him… But I told him that I wouldn't lower myself to assaulting him, so I released him and walked away. It was after that night that Shinpei began to avoid me completely and spending time with his new friends every night.

"I certainly regret speaking harshly to my own brother, but it pains me knowing that my shinai has been destroyed. I even have a match tomorrow."

"You should have punched him," Switch said. Even though the synthetic voice was monotonous, he managed to convey a sense of solemnity. "If you truly cared about your brother, then you should have acted at that time and place to make your emotions clear to him. Leave it any longer and it becomes too late."

"I disagree," Smocks said harshly. This brought immediate attention to the girl. "What good would it do by lashing out? You'll only perpetuate another cycle of violence. And if you truly care about your brother, then you wouldn't place your shinai above him!" She rose to her feet swiftly and snapped out, "If you truly care about Takemitsu, then do something rather than shoving that responsibility onto me."

With that said, Smocks stormed out.

Bossun looked back at the slack-jawed Shinzou. "Uh… I'm sure that Smocks didn't mean to say those things…"

Shinzou blinked once, twice, thrice before shaking his head. "No, Smocks-dono does have a point, as well as Switch-dono," he said grimly, eyes downcast. "I have been neglecting Shinpei. However, from here on out, I intend to change that." He lifted his head and looked at them seriously. "Thank you, Sket Dance, for listening. Would you please send Smocks-dono my apologies?"

"I never saw Smocks so mad before," Himeko murmured.

"I didn't know Smocks could do mad," Bossun said. He glanced to his right and elbowed Switch in the side. "And I didn't think that you'd say something like that tonight."

"When the younger brother strays from the path, it's the elder brother's duty to set him straight. If such issues are not addressed at the appropriate time, then it leads to regret," Switch typed.

"A disciple of the sword straying from the path," Bossun mused. As they walked along the bridge, Bossun paused in his steps when something caught his attention in the stream. He smirked. "But that's only assuming he really did stray from the path in the first place."

Knee-deep in the water with his arms submerged was Takemitsu. When Shinzou told them that Takemitsu had been going out every night, it actually wasn't to hang out with his friends but to search for something—his brother's shinai.

"C'mon, guys. Let's help."