Disclaimer: Detective Conan and all its characters belong to Aoyama Gosho. I only own this fanfiction and my OCs.

Chapter 12

Sister

"High school is hell…"

Asagi sighed heavily after he slumped down on the sofa. He just returned home from school. It had been days since the student council visited his home. After that day, he had been studying like an addict to improve his science skill under the tutelage of his own friend, Asakura. That day before the student council left his home, he asked if Inaba could teach him science, but his request was heard by Asakura and Yoshino who were also there. Inaba told him that he was not too bad at science, but Asakura was better than him. At the end of the day, the student council treasurer agreed to tutor him in her free time. When they had no plans after school, they would sit down at the library to study. Even on Sunday, Asagi was not spared from this tutoring session. Asakura was indeed smart, but the way she taught him was really merciless. Every time he complained about this to her, she would quibble that it was for his own good. She told him that he only had himself to blame for failing so much in science. She even commented that it was a miracle he could pass the first year. Not that she made that comment baselessly. Even Asagi had to admit that with his current skill, it was impossible to graduate from the first year, but still, she did not have to say it so bluntly! Did she not care about his self-confidence? Shouldn't she have cheered him up instead?

"Onii-chan is late again." A familiar voice beside him snapped Asagi from his own thoughts. He glanced at the little girl who stared unhappily at him.

"Well, I'm busy," he replied.

"But you're always coming home late these days! You haven't played with Akari lately," the girl complained. "Even on Sunday, you won't stay at home. Akari has to play alone," she added dejectedly.

"You can still play with Kaa-san."

"But Akari wants to play with Onii-chan!" she suddenly jumped onto his lap and sat there with a demanding look, seemingly not wanting to move away any time soon. Looking at the little girl before him, Asagi could only sigh again. He had never thought that having a little sister could be this troublesome. He did have a little sister in the real world, but since their age was not far apart, there was no need for him to babysit her. On top of that, there were many children around their age in their neighborhood, so both he and his sister never felt alone during their childhood. They always had playmates.

Asagi and his real-world sister were lucky to have been blessed with such an environment during their childhood, but his current sister did not have the same privilege. She did have friends at school, but when at home, she only had her family. There were not many children in their neighborhood either and for some reason, even those who lived around here were not as sociable as the ones in Asagi's childhood neighborhood.

Akari only had her family at home, but even her family was busy with their own activity, leaving her only by herself in the end. Due to his job as a journalist, her father was busy with work even during holidays. It was rare for him to be able to arrive home before dinner. Her mother was a housewife, but even a housewife had her own busyness. For instance, she still had the duty to keep the house clean, go shopping for daily necessities, and cook for her husband and children. She could not play with Akari for a long time. Not to mention she was also an adult, so it was possible Akari did not enjoy playing with her as much as when she played with her friends at school. The only one who was closest to her age was her brother, but even her brother was so busy these days. He did not even have the time to play with her on Sunday. When Asagi thought about all that, he felt guilty towards his current sister. He was so used to living by himself that he failed to pay attention to his family.

It isn't as if I enjoy this kind of life, he thought while wondering how he could neglect his sister so much. He did not like studying almost every single time, especially when the teacher was as strict as Asakura, but when he thought about it again, he still did it willingly not only because he was painfully aware of how bad he was at science, but also because being studious allowed him to avoid Sera. It was thanks to his tutoring session the female detective could not get ahold of him easily. Every time she wanted to talk privately with him, Asagi would always have a reason to avoid her either by an excuse of club activity, student council, or a simple study session with Asakura. And what was even better was the fact that he did not even need to reject her because she always came at the wrong time and thus had never been able to meet him so far.

He was lucky to have been able to avoid her, but he had to admit that Sera was getting on his nerve lately, seemingly always looking for an opportunity to speak with him. She had been trying to approach the other student council members as well. Yoshino had reported that she was really curious about Kudo and the reason behind the student council's warning. Even though she had told her just like how she told her classmates, the female detective still looked unsatisfied. Asagi knew she would not be satisfied with the student council's response, probably not as long as she had not spoken with the leader of the student council, which was him.

Asagi did not want to have any business with the characters, so it was obvious he would not want to talk with her. Even so, there was a time when he thought it would be better to confront Sera as soon as possible since once Sera had done talking with him, he would no longer have any business with her, but this idea was quickly thrown out the window after he was rejected by the student council. They were reluctant with that idea since according to them, there was no need for the president to step up when the other three were more than enough against her, not that there would be any difference in response even when the president had to step up. For them, it was too much because it might leave an impression that the president had to babysit all the students by himself even when there were still others in the student council, which might make people question his ability in leading the student council and degrade the dignity of the student council as a whole. It was fine if she asked him directly, they said, but it was different if he approached her first. For this reason, lately, he was playing the game of cat and mouse with Sera. She kept looking for him while he kept avoiding her.

Asagi knew that sooner or later he would have to face her to end this game regardless of the student council's approval, but for the time being, it was clear that he had to keep the game on until Sera managed to catch him. Honestly, he was hoping that Sera would forget or give up about it after many failed attempts of approaching him. This was just how much Asagi disliked having to interact directly with characters. After all, to him, characters were the harbinger of trouble and danger. Besides, he really needed to study hard these days considering how poor his science skill was. It might seem to be an excuse, but it was also the truth. It was so convenient to him that he started to become a study addict to the point he neglected his family.

His parents had no problem with him being studious. They were even happy when they saw how diligent their son was. But the problem was his little sister. Akari was obviously not happy with her brother's sudden change. She wanted her brother to play with her, not just to study hard.

But I don't really know how to play with children, especially little girls, he thought again. All this time, he never really played with Akari. All he did was limited to accompanying her while she was watching TV or reading children books with her. He really had no idea how else he was supposed to play with her. He was a boy and although he had a younger sister, he rarely played with her because each of them had their own playmates. He was with the other boys while his sister was with the other girls. If they played together, it was never too far from hide-and-seek and guessing games. When they were a bit older, they played board games like snakes and ladders and monopoly. After he grew up, he never played with children. He was too immersed in his own world, never looking back at the younger generation.

Recalling his past, Asagi thought that perhaps he could apply his childhood experience to babysitting Akari. Hide and seek was not an option because it could tire them out. He did not want to tire himself out when he still had to study and do homework, nor did he want to be blamed by his parents for making his sister tired. Guessing game was a bit problematic because he was not sure what kind of topic would suit a child around Akari's age. That left him with board games. His real-world sister had no problem playing board games with him, so perhaps he could also play the same game with his fictional sister, but the problem was Akari had no such toys. All she had were dolls and a dollhouse. The other toys—or games to be exact—were all accessible through smartphone apps and could be played by one person, so she never asked for anything else.

He thought she would be content at home as long as she was entertained either by smartphone games or TV shows, but it seemed there were still times when she felt lonely playing by herself.

Even so, I don't want to play with dolls. Asagi shuddered when he imagined himself playing dolls with his sister. It was so weird and cringey to him. He had not even played with it and yet he was already embarrassed. No, there was no way he would play with dolls. Never.

Which meant that his only option was to buy her a new toy that was suitable for both genders. Board game, that is.

"Well," he said after a while, "we can play when Onii-chan isn't busy."

"Really?" the little girl looked happy. "When is that?"

"I don't know, but if I'm not busy, I promise I will play with you."

"Okay!" she beamed. "You promised! You can't take it back!"

"I promised," Asagi nodded solemnly. "Now, dearest sister, can you please get off of me? Onii-chan needs to get up."

The little girl immediately got up, grinning happily as she ran to her mother, telling her that her brother had promised to play with her. Looking at his excited sister, Asagi could not help but smile fondly before he went to his own room, silently texting his father about new toys for his sister. If he had to buy her new toys, as an ordinary student without any job and salary, he could only ask his father for more pocket money.

~o0o~

"You are kidding me."

Asakura glared at her president, seemingly angry and surprised at the same time. She really could not believe it! The president, who kept failing chemistry to the point she had to teach him from zero, just now canceled their study session due to other matters. Did he realize just what he was talking about? It was his study session and on top of it, it was chemistry, the most difficult subject for him! And he wanted to cancel it now? After all the effort she made just to set aside her precious time to teach him? It was not easy for her to cancel her busy schedule, dammit!

"Er, no, I'm serious," Asagi replied cautiously, did not fail to catch the expression on his treasurer's face. Clearly, she was pissed off. "I'm really sorry, Asakura, but this is very important to me."

"Oh." She looked deadpanned now, but that did not mean she was no longer angry. "Fine. What kind of business matters more than your chemistry grade, President?"

"Erm, my sister."

"Your sister?"

"My father asked me to buy her some new toys."

"Toys." She was even more deadpanned now. "You've got to be joking."

"No. As I said, I'm serious," Asagi insisted, feeling worried and scared at the same time. He was not scared of Asakura's anger, but he still did not want his relationship with her to be damaged over trivial matters like toys.

"Do you have any idea how much effort I put just to make time for you, President?" she seethed. "I canceled an appointment with my uncle today just to teach you chemistry and now you want to cancel it only to buy some toys?!"

"But it's my father's order. I can't turn it down," he defended himself. He had no idea Asakura had to cancel an appointment with her uncle. While it might look trivial for some people—after all, it was just a meeting with a family member—Asagi was wondering silently if her uncle was important enough to make her angry when her appointment with him got canceled for nothing. Just what kind of uncle did she have? But such things were not important right now. What mattered right now was for him to successfully get some new toys for his sister without damaging his relationship with his treasurer.

"Can't you pick another day? Or at least notify me early? You asked for my help, so I canceled my schedule to help you. Do you think it's easy for me to make time for you, Nagayama-kun? I'm not that free! And my uncle isn't someone I can meet as long as I want to, you know! It's not that easy!"

"I'm sorry," he said guiltily. "Next time, I will tell you beforehand if I have to cancel our appointment. It's my fault this time. I won't do this again, okay? I'm really sorry."

Yes, that was really his fault. He did not know what had gotten into him today. He could have informed Asakura in the morning before the school started since his father only asked him to buy toys for Akari when he dropped him off at the school gate (it was already several days after he texted his father about Akari's new toys), but he completely forgot because he was so caught up with studying and working as the student council president—his class would have physics test in a few days and there were these reports of unresolved bullying and hikikomori students added with basketball club's upcoming friendly match with another high school in Teitan (bless Inaba for helping him out on this one)—and he only remembered it again after school.

"And… uh, Asakura, if you have other matters to attend to, please just tell me. I do need your help, but that doesn't mean you absolutely have to help me, so there's no need for you to cancel your plan for me. I truly have no intention to force you," he added carefully, afraid he would only make the girl before him getting angrier. Fortunately, Asakura only sighed in resignation after listening to him.

"Fine, I'm at fault too for indulging you too much—no—I think it's because you're so hopeless that I unconsciously put so much effort just to teach you. I can't stand having the student council president being the dead last. That's just too shameful."

Asagi would be lying if he said that he did not feel offended by her remarks. Hopeless. Dead last. Shameful. Ugh, how he despised those words. Even so, he could not defend himself because all of that was true. He was fully aware of how low his science grade was compared to the average student's. He was also aware that if this continued, he would bring shame to the student council. Not to mention how shameful it would be for the real Asagi who was never left behind in terms of academics. He knew he had to improve quickly to maintain his counterpart's performance. It was not just for the real Asagi, but also for his safety as well. After all, to live peacefully in this crime-fiction world, he had to maintain a low profile. He should not draw unnecessary attention to himself and bad grades definitely would only make him conspicuous.

But seriously, this girl, if only she could say it in a subtle way… Asagi lamented, feeling dejected by her treasurer's rude remarks and his inability to refute her, but that was just how Asakura was. She was not a roundabout person. She might look like an angel: beautiful, elegant, and polite, her traits that with the addition of her small stature often led many people into thinking that she was shy, weak, and delicate, but the truth was quite the opposite. There was no way she was shy and weak when she could even criticize her president straightforwardly without any hesitation and even dared to get angry directly at him. And she certainly was not delicate. She could be bold and tough if she wanted to be. If she could not, then it was likely she would not become the student council's treasurer.

"You can go meet your uncle if you want. I'm sorry again for not telling you earlier," Asagi said, but the girl shook her head.

"Forget it. My uncle has another appointment now since I've canceled mine."

"Oh…" hearing that, Asagi was becoming even guiltier. "Then, what are you going to do?"

"Going home, but…" she made an uncomfortable look. "My parents will definitely question why I canceled the appointment if they know I have nothing to do after school."

"Understandable. Uh, I'm truly sorry about that." Dammit, just how much longer did she want to make him feel guilty?!

"Right. Since I told them that I had to help you, President, I shall do what I promised."

"What?"

"You said you wanted to buy toys for your sister, correct? Then let me tag along with you."

Asagi was dumbfounded. "You want to come with me? To buy toys?"

"Yes. I can help since it's for your sister. I'm also a girl, you know." The treasurer affirmed rather easily as if it was not a big deal, but it was different to Asagi. He had not planned to go with anyone to buy toys. He also never imagined himself shopping with a girl like Asakura. Such a girl with a noble attitude and her seemingly wealthy background, for some reason, Asagi was afraid of her preference—what if her preference was too expensive for him? Besides, despite her docile appearance, Asakura was actually quite stubborn and could be impulsive sometimes. What if they argued just because they had different preferences?

Nah, Asagi, you're thinking too much, he immediately dismissed his own thoughts. Even if they did have different preferences, it was not something that worth arguing. Even if that happened, he was sure he could handle it. They could argue as much as they wanted, but in the end, Asagi was the one who bought the toys, not Asakura, so there was no need to fuss over such a trivial matter.

Still, hanging out with Asakura did not feel reassuring, but how could he refuse her when it was partly his fault that she had to face this predicament?

Maybe he was uncomfortable since it would be his first time hanging out together only with her. Let's just settle on this before he went mad for thinking too much.

"Well, if it's okay with you, then… sure." In the end, Asagi decided to agree. It was the least he could do to atone for his fault. Besides, maybe Asakura really could help him choose the right toys for his sister since both of them were girls. It might not be a bad idea to go with her just for this occasion.

And thus, that day, the students of Teitan High witnessed the student council president and treasurer walking side by side as they left the school after quarreling, planting various ideas in their imaginative minds. Unaware of what kind of situation they just caused at school, the two teenagers innocently hung out together around Beika, visiting one by one shops looking for appropriate toys for a 7-year-old girl.

~o0o~

Dear readers, I'm back for a while. Thank you for your patience and support all this time.

Someone asked if Asagi would be more involved with Conan & co. or if he would be on the sidelines. The answer is: most probably he'll often be on the sidelines because I have no intention of changing the original plot (even if I end up having to change it, the change will be small and won't affect the whole original story). He will have to face them directly at some point, but his own story will be more focused on the sidelines. There will also be chapters that solely focus on him (unrelated to DC characters and plot), like this one.

Thank you so much for your favs and reviews. See you next chapter!

Review, please :)