Prospects for the Future

I wanted to be stronger. And I had a plan.

At the very edge of our area stood a warehouse. I found myself approaching it after school, when we had been let out early due to something I hadn't really paid attention to. From a little distance away, I could hear shouts, grunts and the sound of punches hitting their mark.

I walked inside hesitantly. At first no one noticed me, but then the round ended, and the two people in the ring walked to opposite sides. It was then that one very familiar face looked up and spotted me.

"Kana?"

I waved hesitantly, suddenly wondering if it had been a bad idea to come.

"Wow, it's been a while."

"Long time no see," I greeted him, bowing my head.

Wataru-san, the owner of this boxing gym, was another person who used to live in the house. He had started this gym and moved out of the house around the time I had entered. He tried to teach me boxing on Shun's recommendation but he had shouted at me that he wasn't going to train me any longer if I kept getting into fights - and I had gotten into one too many and walked away.

I had kept up what he had taught me using the sandbag strung up in the back at the house, but I had been too prideful and scared to come meet him face to face even though Shun had insisted that he wasn't mad anymore.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"...I...I...was wondering...if you could train me…" my voice coming out a lot weaker than I expected.

"...do you remember how last time went?"

I nodded. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize that I was betraying your trust, but I did."

He raised a brow, clearly surprised.

"I don't train quitters."

"I promise to commit! I'll come every day. I really want to be stronger."

"Why?"

"...I thought I was strong enough...but I'm not. I can't even protect the things that I care about…"

The end came out as a whisper and I dropped my gaze to the ground. When everything I thought I knew was slipping away from me, I didn't know how to hold on, how to protect it...and this was the only thing I could think of.

I felt a firm hand on my shoulder.

"I heard from Shun how you've been doing lately, how you've really changed once you started at your new school…does Shun know about this?"

I shook my head. "I was hoping it could be a secret…"

Wataru-san scratched his chin. "You know how much he hates secrets."

"I'll tell him. When I'm ready. When I'm stronger. Please."

He looked hesitantly around the gym and I could feel him about to say no.

"Please, you're the only person I can ask!" I said as strongly as I could, bowing my head to him.

I heard him sigh. "...alright."

"Really?" I raised my head quickly in surprise.

"But on three conditions. One, we do the training in the morning before school. There's too many guys here and while I can vouch for their character, it's not a good environment for a high school girl to be seen walking into and spending time in. Two, you tell Shun in a month. If you quit before then, I'll tell him. If you don't tell him, I'll tell him. Third, you never use this as an excuse not to do well in school, or at the cafe. Got it?"

I nodded, a little overwhelmed that this was actually happening and all that he was asking of me. "I won't let you down. I promise."

Wataru-san held out his hand, and I shook it.

So I began the grueling schedule of waking up early, running with him at 6:00, getting in a little boxing workout before showering really fast and then heading to school. I ended up dozing a lot in between classes and during lunch, but I did my best to stay awake during class like I promised. Then I'd have to go work in the cafe, try to finish some schoolwork and then repeat.

I had thought up a bunch of excuses to explain to Sho or Shun or anyone in the house why I didn't run into them in the morning anymore. But no one asked me anything. I didn't know what was preoccupying everyone so much that we hardly talked, but I was too tired by the end of the day to bring it up, and no one else did.

At first the training was the worst, as my body had to adjust to not only the brutal schedule but the sudden vigorous exercise but then it slowly got better.

"Your arms," Noda poked me in the upper arm one day.

"Did you notice?" I asked excitedly, then groaned internally as I realized now I would have to explain. "I've been doing pushups every day."

Kuma made a face. "Why? That sounds terrible."

"I just wanted to be stronger I guess."

"Well don't get stronger than us," Minami said, his mouth full of food. He was eating his lunch early during class, as usual.

"Oh how could I ever be stronger than you?" I said sarcastically, making Noda laugh and Minami protest.

"Don't push yourself too hard," Uchi said from next to me.

"I won't," I said breezily. I made eye contact with Sawada, who gave me a pointed look before he looked lazily away. No idea what that was supposed to mean, but whatever.

That day, I finished up my shift at the cafe and was doing my homework in the kitchen when Shun walked in.

"Hey Kana?"

"Hmm?" I asked from where I sat, glaring at the impossible to understand science homework. I looked up and saw Shun walk towards me with a tired expression on his face. We hadn't had a proper conversation in days and I felt myself tense up a little.

"Sorry to do this to you, but I'm going to be out for a couple of days starting tomorrow."

I looked at him, immediately concerned. "What happened?"

"Just things I need to take care of."

By "things", he could mean anything. They were keeping me and Sho in the dark - I was painfully aware of that - but I had heard snatches of conversations between Chiba and Kojima during cafe shifts that other groups around our area were getting rowdy.

As our "leader" so to speak, Shun had an obligation to try to keep the peace…or settle it. Is that what had been going on lately? But I knew Shun would never tell me.

"Should Chiba and I run the café then?" I asked, trying to sound unconcerned. He shook his head.

"Chiba's coming with me, so you can leave the café closed until I come back. I'll put up a sign."

I bit my lip. "...That sounds serious, Shun. You never close the cafe."

His expression hardened before he forced a smile and reached over to ruffle my hair.

"Don't worry about it, kid."

"But I…" my words died my lips when I saw his expression. I didn't even know what I was going to say anyway, so I just nodded slowly. "Take care, Shun."

He smiled briefly. "You too."

Wataru-san ended up having to yell at me a couple times to focus during our morning practice. He made me run an extra lap along the harbor which really made me push all thoughts of Shun out of my mind until practice was done. Wataru-san did ask me if anything was wrong, but I shook my head and lied that I had just stayed up too late studying and was sleepy.

As I walked to school though, I found that I could only focus on Shun. He never usually seemed…anxious like he did yesterday. I wondered if I could ask Sho about it but I was still a coward. And Sho would know right away if I was acting weird.

I slapped my cheeks a few times to make myself wake up and focus since I was near school. I was already in a somewhat bad mood but then I looked up and saw Uchi, Minami, Noda, and Kuma huddled up by the school gate. I came up behind them, intending to try to scare them when I realized they were all staring at something.

"Who's that?" Uchi asked, his voice sounding almost dreamy?

"She's so~ pretty!" Noda said. Huh?

I looked past them and saw that on the other side of the school gate stood a girl wearing a school uniform from what I recognized as one of the prestigious girls' schools that was a sister school to Momojou. We had a few joint events with them every year. But it wasn't that close to Shirokin, unlike Momojou. What was she doing here? All the guys were smiling at her with hearts in their eyes as they walked by her to enter the school grounds.

"She's seriously my type," Uchi said.

"I'm going to ask her what she's doing here," Minami said and started forward, but Uchi and Noda grabbed his arm.

They began to bicker over who would walk over to ask. I rolled my eyes. They were such children sometimes.

"I'm going to go!"

"No, I will!"

"What gives you that right?!"

They glared at each other before suddenly jumping into a game of rock scissors paper. Kuma, to my amusement, won and shouted triumphantly only to go "Ah…she's gone," suddenly realizing that the girl wasn't there anymore.

"If she's standing there in front of our school, she was probably waiting for her boyfriend," I said, walking up to them.

They all turned to glare at me angrily until they realized it was me.

"Ugh Kana, what a buzz kill," Noda whined.

"Seriously? I bet Fujiyama would LOVE to hear about this," I responded.

"You wouldn't dare," he gasped. I just grinned in his direction before turning to Uchi.

"So that girl's your type, huh?"

His eyes widened. "Wait, no! What? I…Kana!" he sputtered.

I shrugged as I walked past them into school. I knew I was taking out my bad mood on them but I couldn't stop. I was just as childish. Noda and Uchi chased after me trying to get back on my good side while Minami and Kuma bickered about whose fault it was that the mystery girl had disappeared before they had gotten to talk to her.

"Man, and I have my parent-student-teacher conference today too," Minami grumbled.

That's right. I had almost forgotten. The parent-student-teacher three-way conference began today. Minami and Kuma were among the students who had their conference today. Uchi and Noda's was tomorrow, and Sawada and I had ours on the last day. We were supposed to discuss our "futures".

I had completely forgotten to tell Shun about it. Oh well. Not like he would be around anyways. Besides, he wasn't my parent, and as far as I was concerned, my future looked like it could only end up one way: just like my life was now, just without school. And I was fine with that...

We had regular class for half the day, had lunch, and then only the students with conferences that day had to stay. The rest of us could leave but we had promised to wait for Kuma and Minami until their conferences were done. They were near the top of the list and it's not like I had anything to do. I caught a glimpse of some of the 3-D mothers that had come as we headed to the roof to chill and wait. What would it have been like if my mom was alive? Would she walk proudly to the conference? I shook my head, clearing those useless thoughts. Besides...there was no way she would be proud of me...

"Kana, about this morning…" Uchi began as we sat on a bench. Sawada had already claimed a different one and began to nap while Noda tapped away happily on his laptop.

"Uchi, it's fine. It was just a joke. Besides, she was super cute. If she's really your type, there's nothing wrong with that."

"But-"

"Uchi," I said firmly, hands on his shoulders. He froze as he stared at me. "If you don't let it go, then it's like I told a really bad joke and my jokes are never bad, okay? Are you trying to say my joke flopped?"

He shook his head. I smiled and changed the subject.

"Isn't Oyama's homework bogus? It's like it's not even written in real Japanese. Who the hell would understand it?"

"I haven't even looked at it," Uchi admitted with a laugh. "But yeah, it's the worst."

"Who needs science?" I grumbled.

"We'd all be dead without it," Sawada suddenly remarked from where we thought he was sleeping.

"Shut up Sawada," I snapped back. "Just because you get perfect scores, genius."

"I am a genius," Sawada responded in that lazy voice of his.

"Ugh, just let me copy your homework."

"Sinking to that level now?"

"Shut up and hand it over."

Sawada smirked before rolling over, grabbing his bag and tossing it at me. I rummaged through his papers until I found his science homework and pulled it out triumphantly, only to see Uchi watching me curiously.

"What?"

"...nothing," he said. But he glanced at Sawada quickly before pulling out his own science homework so we could copy Sawada's together.

Just as I scribbled down the last few answers - which I STILL could not understand, Sawada's phone rang.

"Minami and Kuma said they're done."

The four of us walked back towards the classroom where Minami and Uchi waited.

"We woulda been done sooner but Oishi wouldn't let me go first," Minami complained as we walked out towards the gate. We ran into Yankumi.

"I'm so tired…" she said. I couldn't blame her, after having to deal with those mothers. "Hey, why aren't you guys going home with your mothers?" she asked Kuma and Minami.

"Why the hell should we?" Kuma asked exasperatedly. "We just sat in a room together for 15 minutes!" The other guys laughed.

"Ah!" Noda said suddenly. "I found her!"

We all looked up and saw the girl from this morning standing by the gate again. Some of the 3-D guys were asking her…more like flirting with her, about her business at Shirokin.

"Ah," Sawada said softly.

The girl turned to look at us and her pretty face brightened. She ran towards us, and Noda, Uchi, and Minami immediately flung out their arms to her. Even Yankumi did, her arm smacking me in the chest in the process.

The girl completely ignored them however, and went up to Sawada.

"I waited for so long! I almost gave up," she complained with a small pout.

"What're you doing here?" Sawada asked her, his voice a soft tone I had never heard before.

"Eh? What is going on?" Uchi asked, voicing all of our thoughts.

"Are you Sawada's girlfriend?" Yankumi asked boldly.

"WHAT?!" Kuma asked.

"That's cheap, man! Acting like you don't have an interest in girls!" Minami growled.

"And you've been hiding it from us?!" Noda demanded.

"And such a cute girl too?" Uchi added. Ah so Uchi did find her cute...

I found the situation to be rather amusing, especially because Yankumi was acting all offended along with the rest of them but I was curious too. Other than the host club, I hadn't seen Sawada talk to or even mention a girl before.

Our questions were answered when the girl bowed cutely and said, "Nice to meet you. I'm Sawada Natsumi."

"Sawada?" Minami squawked.

"Which means…" Noda said. Oh…

"Sorry to disappoint you guys, but this is my younger sister," Sawada said coolly. She nodded.

The guys by the gate collapsed in a heap, knowing that they would never get a chance with her as far as Sawada was concerned.

"Younger sister?" everyone gasped. I stared at Sawada, wondering why it seemed like no one, not even his closest friends, knew.

Since I didn't have work, I tagged along when the guys decided to take Natsumi bowling. For whatever reason, Yankumi came too.

"Yeah!" Uchi shouted as he bowled a strike and struck a pose. Noda and I clapped for him.

"Man, you coulda told us earlier that you have such a cute sister, Shin," Minami said suddenly.

"You thought that if you introduced her to them, nothing good would come out of it, right?" Yankumi butted in.

"Why are you even here?" Sawada asked, causing her to drop her bowling ball into the gutter.

"To check that there's no funny business going on. I'm here as a chaperone."

"What era were you born in?" Noda asked. If I didn't know her better, I would think she was assuming we'd cause trouble. But somehow, I felt she didn't see us that way.

"Hey, Natsumi-chan, how come you came to see him at school? Can't you see him at home?" Yankumi asked.

The siblings gave each other an identical look.

"I don't see him at home," she finally answered.

"Eh?" we all asked.

"I'm living alone right now," he said as they both bowled a strike. I could imagine Sawada living on his own, but I didn't know that he was actually doing so. But more than that, I was surprised that the guys didn't know.

"You should've told us, Shin!" they were saying to him.

"How come I don't know this?" Yankumi asked.

"I didn't tell you," he answered simply. There was a flash of insecurity behind his seemingly emotionless expression, but it was gone immediately. I shrugged it off, figuring that Sawada had his own problems too. There was no need to pry.

"Let's all go over sometime!" Kuma said suddenly. The guys all slapped him on the head, saying, "That's not the point!" I grinned, leaning over to pat a disappointed Kuma on the arm.

"So I sort of wanted to see Oniichan (older brother)," Natsumi said.

"Aww~ Oniichan," the guys teased Sawada. "You're so loved." Sawada sat, annoyed. I had to smile at this turn of events where Sawada was the one being teased.

"Do you have a boyfriend, Natsumi-chan?" Minami asked.

"No, I don't," She said, as if it were obvious.

"Great! Then the person who gets the highest score in this game gets a date with her, okay?" he said. Uchi and Noda nodded in excitement.

"Hey, don't decide without asking," Sawada said sharply.

"Aww~ is Oniichan worried?" Yankumi teased.

"Shut up. It's your turn," he said. She obediently went to play.

"Whoa. If, say, I got married to Natsumi-chan, I would call Sawada Oniisan!" Uchi said. I began to laugh. Silly Uchi.

"That's not going to happen. And it's Onii-sama, not Oniisan*," Sawada corrected.

"Whatever! Let us call you onii-sama!" the guys laughed and began to tickle him. Despite his cool appearance, Sawada was apparently very ticklish. He begged them to stop.

"My brother seems very happy with his friends," Natsumi said to me. I smiled. She asked me if I was going out with any of the guys.

"No," I answered with a small laugh. "We're just friends."

"You must all be very close," she said.

"I guess?" I said and we both laughed. The thought of them being who I was considered close to made me feel warm inside.

As the guys came back to flirt with Natsumi, I turned to Sawada who had a serious expression on his face.

"What's up?" I asked him.

"Just wondering why my sister's here," he answered. "I hope there's no problem at home…"

"Hey Kana! If you got married to Sawada, Natsumi would be your little sister!" Noda suddenly said before I could respond.

"Baka," I said. "I don't plan on getting married."

"Ever? Then what are you going to do after graduation?" Yankumi asked. The guys looked at me curiously.

"…I'm not sure yet," I mumbled. As much as I hated talking about the past, I hated discussing my future even more.

"Time to go," I said, standing up. Sawada glanced at me.

"You didn't even have a turn yet."

"Bowling's not my thing," I shrugged, grabbing my stuff. "See you guys tomorrow. Nice to meet you Natsumi."

I began to walk off. Suddenly I heard Uchi call my name. I turned and saw him running after me, pulling on his jacket.

"I'm going with you," he said. I looked at him questioningly. "Well…you know, you haven't been hanging out with us that much and…so yeah…"

"What? No, you should go back and hang out with everyone."

"Remember when you said I could ask you for anything?" Uchi said seriously.

I stared at him blankly until I suddenly remembered. The basketball game. They had won and I had promised him that I'd do something he asked.

"I want to hang out with you today...unless you have to go home right away?"

"Oh…um…I don't...but are you sure that's what you want to ask for?"

He nodded vigorously.

"...okay then" I said finally. Without Shun and the other around, I could use the company. I would be going home to an empty place anyways. "You'll lose your chances with Natsumi if you leave now."

"Doesn't matter," he said casually as we walked out. After calling her cute? I glanced up at him but he seemed sure.

"So…arcade and then winner treats?" I asked, and he grinned.

"Let's go," he said.

We played a few competitive games at the arcade - I caught Uchi trying to let me win at first but he stopped when I got mad - and then just caught up over snacks at a diner. Uchi's mom had gotten a job as a dating counselor, and that was going well, though Uchi would be dead before he told the others.

"I just hope that she doesn't bring one of her stupid dating videos tomorrow for Yankumi," he groaned.

"She probably needs it though," I pointed out, and we both laughed. I was glad Sawada wasn't here because otherwise I would've laughed even harder if we had made eye contact knowing what we knew about Yankumi's background.

"Sometimes my mom jokes about getting remarried and giving me a younger sibling," Uchi went on, facepalming.

I cringed. What a weird thing for a parent to say to their grown, almost adult child. Was this normal?

"But I bet you'd be a super great older brother," I said. "You're so nice and good at taking care of people."

Uchi blushed and I hurriedly took a sip of my drink, looking away.

"You said you don't plan to get married..."

I was startled by the sudden statement until I remembered I had just said that at the bowling place with the others.

"I just can't imagine that life for myself, you know?" I said finally. "I'm happy the way things are."

Are you though? The thought lingered at the back of my mind until I shook them away.

Uchi looked like he was going to say something about it - something I noticed he did a lot - but then,

"So…do you have any siblings?" he asked awkwardly, changing the subject. "I just realized I don't know much about your family and stuff."

I shook my head.

"Then…what's your mom and dad like?" he asked.

I froze, not expecting this question. "…Uhhh….normal?" I said finally. He noticed my hesitation.

"Is your relationship with them not that great? Is that…is that why you live with your grandparents? ...Wait sorry I asked. I should know family stuff isn't easy."

I gave him a soft look. "It's complicated…I'll tell you about sometime."

He nodded and smiled warmly. "Whenever you want."

I smiled awkwardly and looked down at my hands. I wondered why I held back the truth so fiercely from Uchi...but I knew, didn't I? But after almost crying in front of Sawada that one time, I knew I had to be careful about letting my emotions get the best of me. I thought Uchi wouldn't be able to handle it...but that wasn't giving him enough credit, was it. I knew it was because it would hurt me too much to see him pity me. And I wasn't dumb...I knew Uchi was interested in me...I thought that maybe he had gotten over it during summer but there were times when it was still clear he saw me as more than a friend. But I pretended not to see. And I would keep pretending. For Uchi's sake and for mine.

*Oniichan, Oniisan and Oniisama all refer to older brother but Oniisama is the most polite and formal and shows a very high level or respect so it's funny that Sawada expects his friends to call him Oniisama.

Author's Note: Hello. I don't know what disclaimers to make other than wow, it seems I only update once or twice a year haha. I don't even know if people are still reading but I get random urges to write and update. Guess in the end, I just really want to finish what I started. Anyway, if anyone's still reading, let me know what you think! And sorry for those rooting for Uchi. Things are not going to be very smooth for him...