[-x-]

"I'm back!" He yelled from the entrance of his home.

The boy attached his coat on the hangers near the doorway and took off his shoes. Finally closing the entrance and stopping the chilly wind from entering the house. It was particularly colder today because of the lack of sun.

It's been a long day for one Hajime Naegi. The lectures today have been particularly grueling. Jam Packed with information he had to write down and ingrain into his head. Exam season is just around the corner.

Now being in High School, finals are approaching. He didn't have much time to be messing around. If he wanted to be at the top of the class, he needed to study as much as he could. The brunet has always stayed consistent with his grade but he never really placed first, that was about to change he felt.

Not to mention the extra curriculum he needed to take on for his club. The Attorney Club was fun and all but he needed more research to counter his opponents with. It was a load of work but the debates and the makeshift court cases were extremely fun.

But it seems like life had other plans for him.

"Makoto-nii! Give me some croquettes!" Sounds of a chase was present in the living room.

"No! It's mine! I bought this for myself, not to share!" He heard something fall on the floor. It wasn't going to be a pretty sight.

"At least one bite?" She begged.

"No! I didn't eat lunch for this!"

His siblings were arguing once again. Hajime could only sigh at the noise. Not wanting any part with it, he made a beeline to his room. Well, his and Makoto's.

Rushing past the living room doorway where the argument was taking place, the boy climbed the staircases onto the second floor. But before even making it halfway, he was noticed and called out.

"Nii-san! Come here and help me!" Makoto yelled across the house.

"No! Nii-san! Can you get some sense into Makoto's head!" Komaru shouted.

"I'm going to change first, I'm not dealing with you guys yet." Hajime retorted, not wanting part in the conflict. You didn't really need to yell to be heard in the house. Those two simply chose to be annoyingly loud. He continued his trek.

"Okay! You better be on my side later!" His sister attempted to sway him.

"Why should he when I'm in the right?!" The brother questioned.

"Because sharing is caring!" She argued. "Now give me some!"

The eldest opened the door and glanced around the room. It looked normal for the most part but something seemed off. He couldn't put his finger on it so he decided to ignore the feeling.

Plopping his bag near his desk, he sat down on his rolling chair, taking the break he very much deserved. He looked up on the ceiling and let his mind wander around.

Hajime hasn't gotten much of a respite these past few months. Transitioning from Middle School to High School was very jarring, there were way more assignments and projects to focus on. The boy was very used to the light workload his previous school gave him. Which wasn't very much and that gave him time to relax and not worry about his grades lowering.

He couldn't imagine what college would be like…

What made it worse is that both his siblings were now teenagers filled with teenage restlessness. They wouldn't stop bothering him about the problems they should solve themselves.

And those two didn't want to bring this up to their parents as they would just laugh it off, summing it up to childish behaviors. So they only had one outlet to these things. Him.

His siblings could be really overbearing at times but he wouldn't trade them for anything. Sibling love was just antagonistic like that.

He breathed a sigh of relief as he heard them stop stomping downstairs and yelling at each other. Finally some time of peace and harmony.

The boy closed his eyes, taking the few pockets of relaxation he could get.

'Not a chance this lasts long…' He thought to himself. Knowing that those two will barge in any moment and shatter the peace he's created for himself.

And wouldn't you know it, heavy footsteps echoed once again. This time, barreling through the house in his direction.

He should really think of installing a lock…

In his wishful thinking, he hoped they were simply going to Komaru's room instead of his.

"Nii-san! Makoto-nii still won't share!" She announced immediately as she blasted through his door.

"I only have a little bit left and I'm really hungry." The other brunet argued outside in the hallways.

"Then why not share it? You already had most of it." She turned her head towards his way.

"Because I want to taste every little bit of it." He answered.

"But you promised you would give me some!"

"I did, but I didn't have enough for a second one. A classmate asked me to buy him some lunch because he forgot his." He explained his situation.

"So a classmate is more important than your sister?" But the sister didn't back off.

"No, but I can't just leave them out to starve." Scratching his cheek.

"You did that to yourself though."

"I was planning on eating more tonight since mom is cooking tonight."

"Lies!" She pointed at him. "Mom said she was cooking tomorrow night!"

"No, I'm not, mom literally said it was today. She said it was on a wednesday!" Makoto countered back.

"Nii-san! Can you please tell him he's wrong?" The youngest pleaded.

"But I'm right though!"

"Shush, let Hajime-nii decide."

Hajime himself didn't know what to say. He couldn't admit the fact that he turned his brain off at family dinner. That would ruin his eldest sibling's credibility. But how would he even choose a side in this?

On one hand, Makoto has a point. He starved himself in order to buy some croquettes from the store. He was the one that owned the rights to eat it. But on the other hand, Komaru was promised a piece of it. So it was inevitable that she would complain if she didn't get what she wanted.

"Guys, I haven't even changed yet…" He mentioned off topic. Attempting to lead their attention away from the original question.

"But you had enough time to." Komaru placed a hand on her hip.

"Yeah but I was just resting my legs a little bit." He swiveled around.

"Why not let him rest, Komaru?" The ever kindhearted Makoto suggested. And thus he escaped the risk of injuring his credibility.

"Then this argument would never stop." She answered. "It never does until he or mom intervenes."

"I just wanted to sit down for a bit…" Fully resting his back on the railing. "Didn't think you guys would be this impatient."

"See? Nii-san deserves some rest."

"I guess, alright, let's leave him alone." They were both retreating outside.

That wasn't very conclusive. As much as he wanted some tranquility, he wasn't going to let his siblings down. Then, a lightbulb suddenly lit up in his head.

"Fine. Let's go to the stall and buy some." Getting up from his seat. Truth be told, Hajime simply didn't want them to go back and forth until their parents came back from work. He needed to make a dent on his workload.

"Really?" She jumped for joy and gave him a bear hug. "Thank you, nii-san! You're so much of a better sibling than that Makoto over there." She blew a raspberry.

"I'm getting him some too." He added to his fellow male sibling.

"Yeah!" He pumped his arms in the air. "Thanks, Hajime-nii!" He stuck his tongue out.

"I don't want any more complaining about this after okay? I have some cramming to do." He peeled her off of him.

"Hai!" They both said before gunning downstairs.

An audible sigh escaped the eldest. Those two were such a handful to deal with. At one point, he added on those two's shenanigans and amplified it.

How his parents were patient enough to deal with three kids that were very perky was beyond his understanding. They were probably still happy that he's matured enough to restrain the other two.

He decided not to change since he was going out once more. The boy started walking towards the door and as soon as he arrived downstairs. Those two were already ready to leave.

Makoto was wearing a dark green coat and a black scarf while Komaru had a pink sweater with pink earmuffs.

"You guys are certainly excited." He smiled at their giddiness.

"Welp, we're getting croquettes!" His sister replied. "How could I not be?"

"I haven't had my fill yet so I can't wait to get more." Makoto smiled.

"Mom's really not going to be happy that I'm letting you guys eat greasy stuff." He mentioned while putting on his coat.

"Don't worry, Hajime-nii. We'll defend you if you need it." She winked.

"I don't think she'll mind that much anyways." Makoto pocketed his hands.

"Yep! Yep!" Patting her brother's shoulders. "Plus, they're not getting back till 7:30 so we can pretend we didn't eat till they came."

"So we have three hours before they even see us eating this." Makoto finished.

"I guess it's fine then." He opened the door and exited. "Just don't burn a hole through my wallet alright?"

"No promises." The girl winked.

[-x-]

The Naegi siblings were simply sucking in the atmosphere and enjoying each other's company.

Sitting on a bench in front of the stall, the three munched on their own piece of croquette. Hajime on the far right, Makoto in the middle and Komaru sat on the left side. The street was busy with it being rush hour. Cars and trucks passing by and honking, it wasn't exactly quiet around them.

There were also the pedestrians going back from their nine-to-five and students lurking after classes. The sun was nearly about to set so the area was coated in an orange hue.

"How's school been, nii-san?" Makoto asked as he swallowed.

"Really stressful…" Pausing on his bite. "There's been non-stop cramming sessions ever since the weather changed. Not to mention the extra work I have to do because I have a club to manage."

"Ah yeah, you told us about that." Komaru crumpled the empty croquette paper she had. "How come you haven't stopped going to that club yet? It's just adding more work to do."

"Nii-chan's really passionate about his club though, that's probably why he hasn't." Makoto evaluated.

"That's part of it. Even if it's more work, it's work I'm genuinely interested in." He licked his lips to remove the panko. "The small club I joined in Middle School really made me love the topic of cases."

"Hmm, aren't clubs usually closed in exam season? How come yours isn't?" A pretty good question his brother asked.

"Because my social studies teacher is encouraging our club to do so. He said he'll give us extra points if we present a court case in class." The boy made it clear.

"Ooh, so kind of like that Ace Attorney game?" She threw the paper at the bin, missing in the process.

"Haha, yeah." He chuckled. "It's like a stress reliever I do after classes, even my club members think so."

The girl got up and shamefully threw the trash at point blank range. "That makes sense."

"How about you guys? Especially you, Makoto, since you're going to High School in a few months." He asked in return.

"I'm just getting as average of grades as one can get. Not really standing out but not below the passing grade either." He said before getting his final bite in.

"So the usual then? How come you aren't studying harder so you can get better grades?" Hajime raised an eyebrow.

"I mean, I am trying, I just tend to forget most of it mid exam." The middle child scratched his cheeks.

"Maybe you should try another method of studying." The eldest suggested.

"I've tried every method though, writing, reading and even using text to speech to study. I'm probably just not born to study at all."

"Don't worry, I'm the same!" The youngest said as she sat back down. "I try to study but I just get distracted easily!"

"Why not try to eliminate your distractions completely?" He proposed.

"Then I just get jittery and angry that I can't focus so I sleep." She explained further. "At least I still somehow pass my tests."

"Barely… Komaru." He noted. "you know you can just ask me for help if you need it right?"

"But, you're already so busy as is." She tapped her fingers together. "I would just feel bad for taking your time."

"I really don't mind it, if me helping you guys is going to give you better grades. I'm all for it." Hajime insisted.

"Nii-san, are you sure? I get that you have to be the most responsible given that you're the oldest but…" Makoto argued.

"We don't want to burden you." Komaru finished. "We'll definitely be fine regardless of your help."

"Fine isn't good enough in my book. I want you guys to get top 10 in class."

"Top 10?!" His siblings looked at him incredulously.

"How are we supposed to manage that?!" Komaru demanded his brother.

"Nii-san, I would get top 20 but not 10. Don't set unrealistic expectations on us." Makoto was chuckling nervously.

"What are your guys' placements right now?" He asked for clarification.

"Last time I checked I was in 18th place. Just about the middle of the class."

"In the back end of the class, 29th." She pursed her lips.

"Hmm, definitely manageable for Makoto but not for Komaru." He rubbed his chin.

"Phew." She wiped her forehead in relief.

"Don't think you escaped my grasp just yet." He snapped his fingers. "Okay, Makoto, I'm going to tutor you into the top 10."

"H-Huh? Nii-san, you really don't have to do this." He looked at him with pleading eyes.

Hajime ignored him. "As for you, Komaru, I think you can reach top 15 with a lot of effort."

"I'm not failing though." Her mouth drew a thin line. "I'm doing fine as is…"

"But you're at the risk of doing so." He argued.

"N-No…?" She tried to deny it.

"You're nearly failing, Komaru…" He stared at her blankly. "And you're not going to do that on my watch."

"But, Onii-san!" She pouted.

"No, buts. I'm not taking a 'no' for an answer." He waved his finger.

"Hajime-nii, you don't exactly have the time to tutor us though…" Makoto pointed out.

"When are your finals?" He asked.

"Two weeks from now." Makoto answered.

"Then we have plenty of time, I should be done with my exams by then." Rubbing his hands together.

"Rats…"

"'Maru-chan… I know you like lazing around and studying last minute. That's not happening this time." The eldest grinned in their direction. "I'm sure you won't mind my tutoring either right, 'Koto?"

Him calling them with their nicknames sparked some inner fear. That was the tone he used when he was up to something. Something mischievous and very frightening.

"I'm going to need you guys to pass me your curriculum to see where you are. I'll pass you some of my notes to revise on while I'm at it." He mentioned as he got up. "Okay, time to go home."

The two shivered as they rose from the bench. They weren't ready for the grueling education their big bro was going to give them.

But before going back, the sister had something to say. "Nii-san?"

"Yeah? You finally accept your faith?"

"I'll answer that another time." She shoved off the big question on the back burner. "I just wanna ask… can you buy me another croquette…?"

"..." The big brother remained straight faced. He certainly didn't expect that.

"If you're getting her another one…" The little brother twirled his fingers. "Can I have one too?"

The younger two simply grinned. One with absolute confidence she was going to get her way and another with evasiveness, prepared to receive backlash if it came.

The staring match lasted for a few seconds but Hajime eventually gave in. Pulling his wallet out and walking up to the stall, he ordered three again. One for each of them or all for Komaru if gets her hands on it.

He can hear screams of celebration from behind him as he internally cried from his dry wallet. It was simply another day in Hajime's life… and he wouldn't have it any other way.

[-x-]

Happy Halloween everyone! Hope you had a great time celebrating it(if you did).

Anywho, I made another multi-chaptered fic! This time focusing on the Naegi siblings + Hajime as the eldest. This has been brewing in my head for a week and I had to write it. Expect pretty short form chapters for this one.