Little Sister
Author: Shirodachi
E-mail: remuslupin@owlmail.com
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A/N: Revised. You might want to read again… ^^;
Feedback: Very much appreciated, can range from constructive criticism to just plain "Nice!" ^^; Although I would like to know what parts you really liked. Flames, or any other kind of criticism are only taken into consideration if the flamer signs in/is not an anonymous reviewer.
CHAPTER 2
Nobody noticed, but Shiori was absolutely furious when she set foot on Kainan High the next day. Earlier that morning, after a quick breakfast of blueberry pancakes (a Shin'ichi Maki special), her brother stopped her just as she was putting on her shoes.
"Shiori-chan, take this with you." A notebook found its way onto her hands. //What's this…// She idly glanced at the first leaf.
The name Nobunaga Kiyota almost leaped out at her.
"Oniichan!" she gasped. "What do I do with this!"
"The baka forgot it last night when he begged us to tutor him. He's in your year, so you can return it to him."
"But I don't know him that well!"
"You met him last night." He reached for the syrup and almost spilled his glass of juice. "Damn."
Her eyes narrowed and she marched towards him, dropping the item on his lap. "Why don't you return it? You practice basketball with him everyday, anyway!"
Maki sighed and rose from his chair. He firmly placed his hands on his sister's shoulders, making her look at him straight in the eye. "Shiori-chan, listen to me." he began in a low voice. "There is a great evil in this world today…"
She was walking away, leaving her brother standing alone in the kitchen.
"Oi, I was just joking! Come back here!"
"You don't have to come up with some lame opening line." Maki reassured her when she agreed to listen to him again. "Just tell Kiyota he forgot his notebook here. Or you don't even have to talk. Just go up to him, tap his shoulder, and hand it over."
Shiori looked on helplessly.
"Wouldn't you feel bad if someone found your things but didn't return it? And to answer your question, he's going to need the notebook at school. I can't return it after."
Shiori groaned and let her head drop.
"So you see, Shiori, you're his only hope…"
"Eh, stop it Oniichan!" She pushed him away. "I'll return the stupid notebook!" As she swiped the notebook from him and stuffed it in her bag, she didn't see the slow grin full of mischief light her brother's face.
She glared at him; his face was stoic.
"Take care, Shiori-chan." Maki waved a bit too cheerfully for her tastes.
She shifted her bag and threw him another glare. "Why aren't you coming to school with me anyway?"
"I don't have classes yet. You're free to walk with me on the way home, if you miss me that much."
"Not a chance." She stalked off, leaving the gate open.
Maki whistled. His sister, for all her extreme shyness, also hid an extremely short fuse. Brown eyes followed as she trudged along the sidewalk, as if a much too heavy task had been placed upon her. She disappeared on the next block. He closed the gate. Humming a lively tune, the brother went back into the house to finish his last pancake.
***
Class hadn't started yet. As soon as Shiori walked in, she became invisible. No one noticed her; no one sent friendly words or greetings. The people inside continued their gossip and chatter. She dropped her things on a seat near the front of the room.
No one saw her take out the thin blue notebook. Very carefully, she traced the cover and fingered the spine. //He must take very good care of his things,// she thought. //Or maybe he just doesn't use this.//
She flipped open the cover. To her surprise mixed with relief, there were writings on the pages. Two or three doodles. She could forgive that. She even smiled at a particularly nice rendition of a Math teacher.
What she couldn't forgive was the chicken scratches for handwriting. And the quality of notes! Shiori was outraged. He didn't outline lectures! Mechanically she took a different-colored pen from her bag, and uncapped it. Soon she was busy scribbling corrections and additional notes to each page.
Howling laughter arose from somewhere behind her. She stiffened. //How inconsiderate…// Other voices followed. She glanced over her shoulder, scanning for the source of the noise. Not very far from her a group of boys crowded around one desk. The culprit was sitting on it, head thrown back in convulsing laughter.
She dropped the pen. //It's him!// Though it wasn't the same him from last night. His messy black hair was tamed and kept neat in a ponytail. No wonder she didn't recognize him in their encounter at once. She didn't even know he was a classmate. Shiori suddenly wondered why her heart was beating twice as fast.
//I can't give it to him right now…// Not while there was a wall of unknown people encircling him. Maybe he would forget about the notebook. Maybe he didn't need it, she hoped.
"Ne, Kiyota-kun, you finished homework?"
The rookie stopped laughing. "No, as a matter-of-fact, I lost mine. I think I forgot it at Maki-san's house." She heard his voice explain, tinged with regret.
Shiori's head fell on the desk in defeat. After such a statement, she definitely had to give him the notebook! Pulling herself together, she turned around to call him softly.
"Kiyota-kun." That wasn't her voice.
"Kiyota-kun," the low, subtle female voice repeated, "how are we doing today?"
Nayoko and her group of girls had stopped by Kiyota's desk.
"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks for asking Nayoko-san!" A flustered Kiyota assured the girls, who all beamed at him. //Was he blushing?// Of course, he had the right to. Nayoko was tall, almost as tall as the rookie. Her long, silky black hair turned heads everywhere, and her cat-shaped eyes alluring. She had always admired Nayoko – her looks, her poise, her brimming confidence.
So why was she breathing heavily? And did she clench her fist just now?
The next thing she knew, Kiyota was looking at her. He squinted in her direction: once, twice. Quickly, before her face flushed completely, she hid herself between a book.
//What's happening to me?//
She then felt the presence of other people beside her. To her distress, Nayoko and her bunch also stopped by her desk. "Shiori-chan," the tall girl cooed.
"What do you want?" Shiori asked a bit too hastily. "I mean, can I help you?" Her arm pushed the blue notebook away from their line of sight.
Nayoko's eyes went wide, obviously taken aback by the usually quiet girl's fast response. But she recovered her dazzling model-like smile. "Shiori-chan, please give my regards to Maki-san. I wish for him to win all their games." The others squealed in delight.
"Here." One of the lackeys passed a sealed envelope to Shiori. The small girl just sat ther with her mouth open.
//Are they for real?// she wondered, incredulous.
Fortunately the teacher appeared afterwards and rapped on his desk.
She stared at the letter, at the notebook, at the beautiful Nayoko, and lastly at Kiyota who sat two seats behind her and one to the right. She sighed. This was going to be one long class.
***
"Your homework is pages 47 to 50 of the text, to be passed on Friday next week. Dismissed."
The whole class groaned in unison, and chairs squeaked as the students occupying them stood up. While everyone was filing out of the room, Shiori furiously scribbled a reminder for the homework on a piece of paper. Her eyes fell on the notebook on her desk.
//Oh no! I forgot about this!// She whirled around to Kiyota's seat. He wasn't there. She searched the room frantically for his semblance. He was chatting with two friends at the doorway. Shiori jumped out of her seat, cramming her bag as fast as she could.
With her size, Shiori certainly couldn't keep up by walking. She thought of a million words to describe boys' longer strides, and none were pleasant. She quickened her pace. Breathlessly she called, "Sumimasen…!" His loud voice, she realized, swamped hers. The distance between them and her grew. Clutching her things, she sprinted. "Kiyota-"
He turned around.
Her foot landed wrongly. She tripped.
"Oi, careful!"
She didn't hit the floor, thank God. The impact made her glasses slip off the bridge of her nose. But even without them, she could recognize the face of the one who caught her, and was only inches away from hers.
"Imouto-san?"
Her eyes widened. She felt her face grow hot.
Kiyota's face broke into a grin. "It is you!" He pulled her up, and she followed weakly. "I didn't know you wore glasses. I wasn't sure if it was you earlier in class."
He was a good head taller than her, she noticed. She swallowed. Her cheeks still hadn't returned to their normal color.
"So why were you following me?" he asked innocently.
//Good grief, people must think I'm stalking him!// She looked around and saw people. Many people. Shiori didn't need her non-existent high school reputation to be tainted. Little Shiori-chan is growing up! She's actually stalking basketball players who think she's too small to be in senior high!
The notebook was already in her arms. "H-here!" She stammered and shoved it to him.
"Hey, it's my notebook!" Kiyota exclaimed as she walked away.
"Kiyota-kun, who's the girl?" One of Kiyota's friends asked.
"Hm? That's Imouto-san."
Shiori cringed.
"Say what?"
"Maki-san's younger sister."
"Hontou? I didn't know Maki-san had a sister."
The others murmured in agreement. "So what's her name?"
She paused and strained to hear.
"Eh? Satomi-chan I think."
Her heart plummeted. She walked faster.
"Satomi-chan, matte!" their voices called. She pretended not to hear.
Someone burst out, "Baka Kiyota, that's not it. I think it starts with 'Shi-'."
"Shizuka-chan? Shinobu-chan?"
Her legs just kept on walking. Somehow she had to get out of there, fast.
"Shinobu-chan, Shinobu-chan!" they called again.
She blinked back the tears as she broke into a run. "Shiori," she whispered hoarsely, "it's Shiori."
***
The ball flew gracefully in the air, before it crashed on the hoop's rim.
"Rebound!" Someone hollered. Kazuma Takasago, Number 5, leaped and caught the ball.
"Aw, shit." Kiyota cursed through gritted teeth. He turned and ran after Mutoh, to whom Takasago had passed the ball.
He was in a bad mood. He knew he had done something wrong that day. A pop quiz, losing the last pudding to an egoistic sophomore, and getting his favorite purple headband dirty. Luck had turned against him. The only thing good that happened was he was able to recover his notebook and pass his homework.
Maki appeared near him and passed the ball. Kiyota made a fast break for their hoop. The sound of the ball dribbling erased his thoughts for a while. The goal was near. He made a lay-up.
But suddenly Jin was there, swatting the ball out of his hand.
"What the-" It bounced out of the court.
A million different curse words passed through Kiyota's head. He wiped his arm across his face and put on a scowl. He was angry, mostly at himself. Super rookie Kiyota couldn't make a simple lay-up.
A hand clapped him on the back. It was the captain. Kiyota cursed silently and expected something sharp such as "Out of touch." But instead Maki asked quietly – "Something on your mind?"
He suddenly remembered how he got his notebook back. Maki's little sister returned it after first period. He nodded, not trusting his mouth to say anything non-sarcastic. Maki acknowledged it.
"Say sempai…" Kiyota started as they were running side by side. "Your sister gave me my notebook back."
"Oh, she did?"
Kiyota raised an eyebrow but decided to continue. "What was her name again?"
"She didn't snap at you for forgetting it? She only does it to me anyway." Maki stole the ball from another player and positioned to shoot. "Shiori. Her name's Shiori."
"Crap." Kiyota covered his face with a hand, realizing his mistake. Memories of the event at the hall flooded him. What an imbecile he was, letting his friends call her other names. "Look sempai, I think I might have upset her a while ago. Do you know where she is right now?"
Maki's eyes glinted. "Run that by me again. You what?"
"I didn't mean to!" He replied hastily. "Anyway, I'm ready to apologize."
"She's not here anymore." The captain's answer jarred him. "She goes home early."
"Ack! There goes my apology…"
Maki's glare was even icier this time. "Ahaha, of course, I am going to do it tomorrow…" He suddenly remembered: tomorrow was Saturday. He knocked on his head with a fist. "Oh…I guess I have to wait for Monday then." They ran around the court a few more times.
"Anou, Maki-san…" Kiyota called once more. "You never told us about Shiori. I've never seen her during a game too. And that's why I didn't know she was in my class."
"She's not interested in basketball." Maki's voice had a 'end-of-story' edge to it.
This was getting unnatural. The Number One Fan slot of the ace of Kainan's basketball team wasn't held by his own sister. Kiyota decided to go deeper. "Why not?"
"Beats me."
Kiyota fell over. "You're the older brother!" He insisted.
Jin appeared out of nowhere to guard the rookie. "Does Shiori-san concern you that much, Kiyota-kun?"
"NANI? I'm not--!" Kiyota hissed.
Maki also felt an opportunity to bother him with inane questions. "Why are you so interested in my sister?" He asked quite bluntly.
"Eh? Stop being so crazy!" Kiyota waved his hands wildly. "I just made a mistake and…want to say sorry, that's all!" He was heaving now. Jin and Maki glanced at each other. Then they shrugged.
"Now what are you two thinking!?" He looked away. There was a short silence. "I just think…" Kiyota felt uncomfortable saying it, but he needed to clear his mind. "It's just…strange that someone could be that quiet. Almost invisible. My point is…you don't mind if I want to know why she's not interested in watching you play, Maki-san?"
Jin's eyebrows raised.
Maki said nothing. But to Kiyota's surprise, he passed the ball to the rookie.
"Good luck then." The captain nodded.
Kiyota set his teeth and drove in, eluding Jin and heading straight towards the goal.
//I'm going to show these guys just what I mean.//
He scored! The ball bounced and someone, a teammate, caught it. Kiyota didn't care, however. He knew he was on the right track.
***
Japanese terms:
Sumimasen – ranges from "Thank you" to "Sorry" to "Excuse me".
Hontou? – "True?"
Baka – idiot