oSorry – life was hell. This will be a short chapter

Jomei had quickly pulled the cell phone from his pocket, and clicked one of the automated numbers he had stored.

"Kaemon!" The blue-streaked hair man exclaimed when he heard the phone being picked up by his twin. "Guess what I saw on my way to the Isis' Pink." He exclaimed, nearly bouncing in place.

"What? Turo Miyuki?" Kaemon questioned skeptically as he tapped his pen on the rather fact anatomy textbook. "You see her every other week, you got her on the brain."

"No," Jomei rolled his eyes as he moved out of the sidewalk, and into the park, cell phone to ear, guitar case in his other hand "It's Soma," He whispered almost conspiratorially. Then he heard the sound of things tumbling over, and was almost beside himself in laughter. It was too easy to excite his two-and-a-half minute older brother.

A few moments of swearing, and finally he responded. "Soma? What? Where did you see him?" Kaemon asked, as he tried to gather up his textbooks, and notepad. "You better not be joking."

"I saw him in this car, a Lexus! Though I didn't think he saw me..." Jomei exclaimed as laid the case down as he rested against the gnarly, twisted cherry tree.

"Are you certain it's him?" Kaemon ran a hand through his messy, dark brown hair, almost shaking with suppressed excitement.

"How many albinos are there in Japan? Not that many, and Kaemon – he's practically our brother, I think I could spot him even if I was blindfolded with one foot behind my back." He exclaimed as he shrugged his shoulders, head tilted in the old 'I know better' gesture. "You're the Doc, you should know the odds of albinism,"

"And mind explaining how does the one foot factor into this?" The medical student questioned as he raised a brow, picturing the image in his head, then his mind strayed to other thoughts, brooding.

--

It was at the airport, He could remember it like it was yesterday – he and his brother were leaning against one of the pillars, half-bored out of their minds, waiting for this boy that was going to stay over for the school year. It wasn't exactly a new thing for them, that their parents hosted guest students from other countries since they were elementary students.

Thank god it's not going to be an American or a German, Kaemon sighed as he watched his father checked his watch for what seem like the umpteenth time – all they know is that he is a secondary school student from Barcelona Spain, named Soma Cruz – a rather odd name, but who knows with these foreigners. He rubbed his regulated bowl-cut hair as his eyes wondered over to his mirror-imaged twin, who seemed to have fallen asleep standing up.

Movement, and the cord was removed by an attendant, as the passengers walked out of the airbus, most of them were exchange students, holding travel totes, staring wild-eyed at the surroundings, seemingly trying to make sense of it.

Except for one – he stood out immediately in Kaemon's mind; the boy had chalk-white skin, platinum-to-white colored hair that was stopped at his pointed chin. He moved like someone who was familiar with the layout of the airport, making only cursory glances – and went right over to his family.

"Hello, you are Cruz Soma?" His mother questioned as she bowed to the teen in greeting, her long dark hair falling over her face.

"Yes, you are the Muyaki family?" The near-albino asked in heavily accented-Japanese, a smile appearing on his face, he really did seemed to be quite happy to be there. And he was – talking rapidly, asking questions about expectations, and laughing at (what he thought) were rather stupid jokes Jomei made.

He was so different then – Then the summer term, in 2036 (Soma had been arriving every chance he could – something he found curious but never really questioned at the time), He wanted to go to the Shrine to see the eclipse with Soma, but his boss didn't think he deserved a day off. Soma returned home that evening – it seemed like someone had pulled a fog over him, he seemed distant, and was far more irritable. He laughed, and smiled, however, it was clearly forced, and he unconsciously kept his distance from the others. Over time, this aloofness did fade, but the boy did seem like he's hiding a bad secret.

---

Is what happened on that day somehow the cause of the mess? Kaemon wondered as he listened to Jomei rattled on about what they can do, to help their 'brother'.

"Jomei – nothing." The pre-med student sighed as he leaned against the wall.

"What? You saying we don't do anything for him? You crazy!" The phone crackled as his twin raised his voice.

"Look, you're a small-time musician working in dives-" He started to explain.

"Dives? I have you-"

"I'm a lower classman in medical school, no one will take us seriously, and what can we do? You sing off key while I rattle off very vile diseases to make people fell nauseated? It's not going to work, and I trust Soma to know what he's doing, he got a good head on his shoulders." He rolled over Jomei's protest, as he sighed.

"So we wait?" Jomei asked incredulously as he stared at the phone.

"You can learn patience, and one more thing: don't tell our folks, they'll get worried sick, okay?"