Note: Original Character Backstory Alert! Just like to let you know.
4/16
As expected, yesterday's events are still the prominent topic among the students. As I walk to my room, I can hear the voices of the students talking about what happened.
And I must admit, I, too, haven't forgotten about it.
Despite that, classes went by as normal. I can tell the teachers tried their best not to talk about yesterday's events. Principal's orders, I presume.
"Principal Kobayakawa prevented me in putting yesterday's events on the newspaper." Maho-chan said after sipping her juice drink.
"With the way the other students are talking about it, I don't think featuring it is necessary." I said.
Maho-chan and I decided to hang around the spot near the vending machine at the school's courtyard.
"Fair point. We definitely need a new topic to headline the newspaper." she turned to me. "By the way, have you decided?"
"About the newspaper club? No, not yet."
"Oh come on! You haven't made up your mind yet?"
"Well, I still need to talk to Mom about it."
"Kobayashi-san, need I remind you that we need the final list of members before the board meeting. You need to decide soon if you want to join the club."
"I know."
"Hey uh… If you don't mind me asking, what's stopping you?"
"It's just.. I made a promise."
"A promise? To whom?"
"My parents. My father especially. You see, my father when he was my age aspired to be a civil engineer. He wanted to design tall buildings and the like. He was set to enter a university when something happened."
"What is it?"
"All I know is that Dad during his college days got his girlfriend at the time pregnant. They both decided not to abort the baby and accepted responsibility. They lived together to take care of the girl and the baby. Unfortunately, the girl died after giving birth. My father decided to quit his education and became a construction worker in order to take care of the baby."
"So the baby was…"
"Yeah, it was Nee-chan. Anyway, after a few years, my father met my mother. They fell in love, later get married and gave birth to me and the twins. Mother was accepting that Father had a child from another woman and took care of Nee-chan as if she was her own daughter. Years after I was born, Father noticed that I gained interest on being an engineer, his lifelong dream. So, one day, on my tenth birthday, he told about his dream and how it related to mine and we made a promise that I would continue the dream that he started."
".….."
"I…. am afraid. Afraid that I would upset my parents that I would take a different path from what I promised them. Especially since the time I promised them was not long before Dad…"
"I can see your hesitation, Kobayashi-san. A promise is hard to break when you made it with someone you loved. But you know, things change. As we encounter and experience different things, it changes our way of thinking especially on how we aspire ourselves to be."
"Was writing your dream from the beginning, Maho-chan?"
"Well, yeah. At that time that I decided to be a writer, I was thinking of writing fairy tales and the like. But as I read more growing up, I started to take more interest on writing about current events. But my interest on writing children's stories ever waned, I just wanted to go beyond that."
".…."
"So, what's your dream now, Kobayashi-san? Think long and hard about it."
I decided to clear my mind and think about my dream.
"I…wanted to be a writer. I wanted to learn about the world around us and explore its mysteries."
"So, a mystery writer, then?"
"Something like that. But I am sure about it."
"Well, does you mother love you?"
"Of course, she never fails to remind us of that."
"Then you will have no problems convincing her. If you just explain it to her, I'm sure she'll understand."
"Maho-chan, thank you."
"You're welcome. Happy to help you as your friend."
We shared a smile with one another. That's when my phone rang.
"Hold on. I'm gonna take this." I said as I grabbed the phone from my bag.
I immediately looked at the caller and saw my aunt's name on the screen. Thinking it maybe important, I answered it.
"Hello?"
"Ah, Ruri-chan! Do you have anywhere to go after school?" my aunt asked.
"I don't. Why?"
"Well, I was able to secure a reservation to a fancy restaurant. I was thinking of bringing you along with your siblings!"
"Wait, really? Has Mom known about this?"
"She does. We talked about it last week about treating us siblings for a fancy meal but sadly, all of them are unavailable at this time."
"Oh, that's nice. So, shall I go to the hospital as usual?"
"Of course. I was just finishing my shift. See you there!"
She hanged up.
"Who was that?" Maho-chan asked.
"Oh, it was my aunt. She's treating me and my siblings for a fancy dinner." I answered.
"Oh wow! You're lucky to have a rich aunt."
"Nah, she's not that rich. She just knows people."
"Well, let's not stay here any longer then." She said as she stands up. "Remember Kobayashi-san, I want an answer by next week."
"Don't worry, you'll got it."
Maho-chan then left to go home. Meanwhile, I decided to call the twins and tell them about the dinner tonight. They're going to be so excited.
As soon as I entered my home, I immediately rushed to my room to change into an acceptable outfit. I decided to wear the green dress my mother bought for me last month together with my green heels.
After I freshen up, I go down the stairs and saw the twins watching TV wearing their attires for the night. Mai decided to wear a blue dress with white flats and Kai with brown colored polo shirt, gray pants and black shoes.
"You guys ready?" I asked.
"Yeah!" They replied in unison.
We took a taxi to the hospital where we meet our aunt at the nurses station. I asked the nurse who was on the station.
"Excuse me. Is my aunt here?"
"Ah, Ruri-san! Yes, I believe she's at the nearby ward, checking at a patient there. I'll page her up and she'll be here shortly." the nurse replied.
"Oh, thank you."
I relayed to the twins about what the nurse told me. We decided to sit on the nearby bench to wait. It wasn't long when a voice rang throughout the hospital.
"Paging Fumiko Shiraishi, please proceed to the nurse's station. Fumiko Shiraishi, to the nurse's station please."
After the announcement, my aunt finally appeared. She wore a formal outfit instead of her usual nurse uniform.
"Ah, there they are! It's so good to see you again!" she said as she envelops us in a large hug.
"Nice to see you again, Aunt Fumiko." I said, returning her greeting. "I see that you're already dressed for the dinner."
"Of course! It is a formal occasion after all. We must look formal. Now come on! We mustn't waste any more time. The restaurant's pretty strict about punctuality, you know!"
With that, me and the twins follow our aunt. As we about to leave, I heard two nurses talking.
"Hey, is it true that the girl from Shujin was admitted here?" the female nurse said.
"Yeah, I heard she took a nasty fall. It's a good thing she's fine now." the male nurse replied.
Oh, Suzui-san alright. Thank goodness.
"What caused her to do that?" the female nurse asked again.
"I don't know." the male nurse replied. "Must be pretty serious."
"Nee-chan! Come on! We have to go!"
Mai's voice caught my attention.
"Oh right. Coming!" I said as I catch up to them.
Where have you been?
Been searching all along
Came facing twilight on and on
Without a clue
Without a sign
Without grasping yet
The real question to be asked
Where have I been?
Oh wow. There are a lot of food on the buffet table and they all look delicious!
"How come you get a reservation at this place?" I asked my aunt.
"Well, the initial reservation was for a friend of mine. But there were sudden changes on their schedule, so instead of wasting it, she gave it to me." my aunt answered.
"This friend of yours must be very rich, huh?"
"Well, she came from a wealthy family, so it's no surprise that she can afford this. Oh, there's strawberry shortcake! My favorite!" my aunt said as she notices and takes a slice of the cake.
We finally finished getting our food and sat at a table surrounded by couches. Everything's pretty fancy here.
"Hey, I know that song! That song, "Beneath the Mask", is my favorite!" Mai said with glee. Oh yeah, I forgot she was a fan of Lyn. I admit her songs were pretty good.
"Lyn is good and all but Lotus Juice is my favorite. His collab song with Yuki Kawamura, "Mass Destruction", is always going to be a favorite of mine." Kai said.
"It seems that I forgot that tonight is music night for the hotel. From what I've heard, the band has been performing covers of popular songs." Aunt Fumiko commented.
"Based on what I heard so far, they're pretty good." I commented as well. "It's nice to hear good music while eating."
"Agreed."
With the music performed by the band in the background, we happily continued eating. Soon enough, we started talking about random stuff. Thankfully, we didn't talk about the dream of mine. One long conversation about it for the day was enough for me.
After dinner, we stayed a bit to look at the scenery. It definitely is a fancy hotel, I'll say.
As we took our taxi home, Mai reminded of something.
"Hey Nee-chan, don't forget your promise!"
"What promise?" I asked.
"Don't tell me your forgot about it, Nee-chan! You made a promise to take us there earlier this week!" Kai said.
Oh…. OH! Right. I remember now! I made a promise to the twins that I would take them…
4/17
".…to the arcade!" the twins shouted in glee.
The twins rushed to the arcade's entrance and immediately played the games inside. I gave them enough money to play several games. I plan to take them to shopping after this.
As for the money, Mom saved us money to be spent today. She was supposed to be with us but work seemed to be in the way.
I looked at the large number of arcade game machines inside. I guess I could try play some games while I'm here.
As I was searching for the game I could play, I noticed a large crowd forming at the "Gun About" game machine. Feeling curious, I went over to the crowd and saw what they were watching.
They're a young boy with dark hair wearing a red cap with light blue hoodie and blue jeans. Based on what I can observed from the crowd and him, he seems to be pretty good with the game and that attracted the crowd's attention.
After watching for a bit, I decided to continue searching for a game I could play. After a short search, something finally got my attention. It was an arcade cabinet for "Alley Brawler V". I played previous versions of this game and I remembered being good at it. Maybe with this newer version, I could flex my hidden gamer skills.
After the allocated money was spent, we finally left the arcade. The time I had in it was well spent and I can tell the twins enjoyed it too.
As for "Alley Brawler V", my experience was a mixed bag. It was nice to know that the gameplay I'm used to is here however there were new characters and mechanics that took a while to get used to.
I dont know, maybe I've been losing my touch with these games.
As we exited the arcade, I noticed someone among the people walking.
That blond spiky hair….. Is that Sakamoto-kun?And he's with that transfer student? What are they doing here?
Before I could go further with my train of thought, I was interrupted by Kai.
"Come on, Nee-chan. We're hungry!"
I looked back at the twins and said, "Oh right, sorry." I looked back at the spot where I saw Sakamoto-kun and the transfer student but they are nowhere out of sight. I turned back to the twins.
"So, where do you want to eat?"
We decided to stop by the Big Bang Burger for lunch. After that we decided to roam around to go shopping and groceries. We pretty much bought clothes that we like (as long as it's in budget) and other miscellaneous stuff that caught our interests. I bought myself a new copy of the latest book on the Witch Detective series, Mai bought a Blu-ray copy of the latest movie on the Trial of the Dragon series and Kai bought a new robot model which we had to buy at a store at Akihabara.
Before we know it, the sun was about set. We decided to but some take-out food for dinner and went home.
We unpack all the bags and brought the stuff we bought to our respective rooms. I changed to my night clothes and went to the dining room to eat with the twins. After dinner and the dishes were cleaned, I locked the gate and front door and went straight to my room.
I immediately pulled out the book I bought and decided to read it. I was really excited to know the continuation of the Witch Detective series. I remembered that the last book ended on a cliffhanger when the mystery was about to be solved.
…Yeah, as you can tell, I'm a fan. I read the first book back when I was in middle school and I was immediately hooked. And after that, I started to buy and read every book on the series. There was few underwhelming ones but the whole series itself was still pretty great if not underrated.
The story immediately continues after the cliffhanger. Oh, I'm excited for this!
Oh man, chapter one was crazy! Once we thought the mystery was about to be solved, another mystery falls upon the Witch Detective's lap!
Wait, what! Didn't expect a shocking reveal this early on chapter three! I did not expect that!
Oh come on! It's clearly obvious that Megane-kun likes you! It's been chapter five! Notice him already!
Oh wow….. the mystery on chapter seven was pretty….. pretty….
….
What?! Where was I? Oh right! Chapter seven, where the mystery is…
.
.
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A/N
This is the first double day chapter! Expect chapters like this in the future as not much big events happen until the calling card is sent.
The backstory wasn't the one I was expecting. It just came about as I was writing this. I hope this would be alright...
Also started playing Persona 5 Strikers and it inspired me on several aspects on this fic...