It was strange to think that I had been in a relationship with Akira for over a year now and what's more was that Sis was more than okay with it… which was still hard to believe seeing as she was the one who said that I should prioritise my studies over everything else.

But somehow, Akira had changed her mind… then again, it could be because of the curry that he leaves whenever he's over.

As the intro music to the Akira stream finishes brought me out of my thoughts just in time to hear him.

"Good afternoon everybody, how's everyone doing today?" Akiras' opening wasn't grand but it was a simple one.

After some hello's back from his chat followed by some "bits," donations and a resub or two and Akira was ready to properly start.

"It's about time we started, now, I take it that everyone has read the stream title?" There was a bunch of his emotes in chat. "I wasn't expecting this much hype for this but with how well did during our charity stream this was bound to happen."

"Granted, I would have done this sooner, but finding the right one took longer than I wanted." There was some clicking coming from him and I couldn't help but learn to the left slightly and seeing him hunched over his computer with a bunch of boxes nearby.

I look back at my laptop just in time to see his face appear on a new intermission screen. More than likely redone by Fox. "What's up everyone, it's me, your streamer, Joker."

Glancing at his chat, I was surprised to see a lot of people saying how hot he was and I couldn't agree more. I did notice several people asking when the others were going to show themselves.

"I can't say when Skull and Panther will, Oracle will probably never do it." Akira said as he twisted the couple of locks of his hair that sat in the centre of his forehead.

"You're damn right I won't." Oracle said and a bunch of hellos and more emotes popped up.

"Oracle, you're a god damn hermit, how long did it take us to become friends?"

"Two years, and?" Oracle said and Akira sighed at that.

"Anyway chat, Oracle is here as I have absolutely no tech knowledge what so ever and I wanted to build a new pc," He moves himself and the camera to show off all the boxes that I spotted earlier. "so I had Oracle pick every out and got it sent here."

"I wouldn't like to see you go and buy these." Oracle said and Akira sighed again.

"I know that I don't know a lot about computers and whatnot, and I asked for help on this, but can you not sass me as much please?" He said moving everything back to normal.

"I could, but it's fun watching you squirm." Oracle said with a chuckle and I had to agree with her there.

"Can we start, please?"

It was oddly fun watching him build a pc from the ground up with Oracle's help and it was clear that they saw each other as family.

After father died, we tried celebrating my birthday like normal, but it didn't just didn't feel right and it got to the point where we stopped doing it. So, with the fact that Akira and I were dating and Sis has opened up more, I was kinda nervous about my birthday in a couple of days.

The one thing that I've grown accustomed to whilst dating Akira was the scent of coffee and curry. So, when I could smell both of them before I even opened my eyes, two thoughts ran through my mind as I pulled my covers over me more and curled up.

Thought one was that Akira had come over as Sis was leaving and had decided to keep my company whilst I slept. Or thought two, he was currently making both items in the kitchen for some reason.

Cracking an eye open, I noticed my alarm clock stating that it was coming up to seven am. "Sis should be at work about now."

After hitting the snooze button, I rolled onto my back and tried to get at least an extra hour seeing as I had nothing planned for today. As I laid there, I couldn't help but listen to the sounds of what should be an empty apartment save from myself and hopefully Akira, but what I wasn't expecting was hearing Akira and Sis talking.

'That's not right, Sis should be at work right now… what's she still doing here?' I thought as rubbed my eyes to get the sleep out.

It didn't take long for me to get ready, a simple white blouse and a pair of black shorts were just fine in my eyes. I left my hairband and phone in my bedroom before leaving my room and walking down the short hallway to the open plan area.

They must have heard my door close as their conversation stopped and the smell of curry grew stronger with each foot. I could hear Akira humming a tune I didn't know and the clink of the cup that Sis was using.

When I round the corner, I saw Sis sitting at the kitchen counter and there was never a day that I would've thought that I would see my Sis in something other than the black suit that she always wore to work, so when I round the corner and saw her wearing a white shirt and a pair of jeans. It… it was weird, to say the least.

Even though Akira was in the kitchen and was crouched below the counter, I knew he was wearing a white, unbuttoned shirt with the sleeves rolled up over a black short-sleeved t-shirt and a pair of jeans… honestly, I've seen him wear this outfit so many times that I believed that he only has those items in his wardrobe.

I failed to notice the bunting that said happy birthday on them.

"Shouldn't you be at work, Sis?" I said as I walked into the kitchen, grabbed a mug out of a cupboard and started to pour myself a cup of coffee. I turned to ask Akira to pass the milk only to find the carton sitting there already. "Thank you, Akira."

"No worries."

"I've been forced to take time off, but the timing couldn't be better." She said as her fingers played with the handle of her cup.

'Timing…? What could she mean?… it's the twenty-third of April, otherwise known as my birthday… So, it means I get to spend my birthday with my sister and boyfriend.' I thought as I felt a smile form on my face as I lift my mug to my lips.

"It looks like the birthday girl has finally caught on, Sa-chan?" I heard Akira say as he places a plate of curry in front of Sis.

"Ah, you have no idea how long I've been waiting for this, Akira. Thank you." Sis said with a smile and it was still hard to believe that after she found out about Akira and me dating and had become more relaxed with everything.

Akira then walks over to me holding a plate of curry in one hand and a spoon full in the other and was outstretched towards me. "I can feed myself, you know, Sweety."

"True, but it is my Queens birthday, at least let me have this honour."

I had to take a couple of moments to think about if I wanted to be treated in such a manner before shrugging my shoulders and opening my mouth.

"Best be careful, Akira, her Majesty might expect this treatment more often." Sis said and I stuck my tongue out at her before resuming the position. When Akira put the next spoon in my mouth, I quickly closed it and removed the curry and I was surprised that the curry was less spicy than normal.

'Did he make it like this because I'm not as big a fan of spicy food as he is? How considerate of him.' I thought as I savoured the flavour.

"Fresh coffee and fresh and delicious curry that is being fed to me; I could get used to this." I said with a smirk as I looked at Akira before taking another spoon full.

"After this, you can open your presents."

It didn't take me long to finish both my coffee and curry with Sis finishing some time before me before we all moved over to the living room area and I was surprised to see a large wrapped gift and a few envelopes. I was informed by Akira that one of the envelopes were from his parents and the other was from his friends, the other two were from Akira and Sis.

The large gift, as it turned out was the pc that Akira built the other week and I was surprised that he was willing to part with something that cost too much yen for my liking. Even Sis was surprised about it as well.

Sis' gift was that we were going to spend the day together, which I was looking forward to the most as we hadn't had that much time together for some time. She didn't specify what day but suggested that we go sometime this week seeing as she was off.

I couldn't thank them enough and asked Sis if we could go today and with enough encourage she agreed. I had a funny feeling that Akira would want to skip out on going shopping, and with my new pc was sitting there, I knew he was itching to set the computer up but was surprised that he agreed to join us.

The last time I had that much fun was when father was alive and me, him and Sis spent the day together.

It was a shame that Sis' time off couldn't last longer, as it was nice with her around more. At least I had Akira nearby whenever I did feel lonely. Which, was not a lot of the time as I had his and/or his friend's stream on whenever they were live and Akira did seem to spend more and more time around my apartment than his own. I didn't mind it; it was just noticeable after a year.

Speaking of, it was still hard to believe that I have been in a relationship for over a year and this is coming from someone who never believed that I find love when I was younger… even my childhood friend, Haru thought it was going to be impossible and nearly passed out when I told her about Akira.

I did find it odd that throughout our relationship, I had talked to his friends via group texts, but I've never seen them. Even Akira had met Haru a couple of times when she had made an unannounced visit… Granted, I do remember Akira saying that they are at other universities, but I was sure that they met up every now and again.

So, I was scared half to death when my new pc started to ring one day when I was having a small break from studying. As it turned out, it was an app called Discord that Akira must have installed, but the thing was, I had never used it before, therefore, I was wondering why it was ringing.

Clicking on the icon on the taskbar was when I saw that Akira had set me up with an account and was the one who was calling. Clicking the green button, I was greeted with the sight of Akira, looking lovely as always.

"You nearly scared me half to death with this Sweety." I said as I felt my heartbeat return to normal.

"Sorry about that Mako-chan, I forgot to mention about that. We use this whenever we play together." He said, twisting the front-most lock of hair with his index finger and thumb.

"Just warn me next time, please." He nods his head. "Did you need something, Akira?"

"Do I need a reason to call my ever-beautiful girlfriend?" Akira said and I felt my face grow warm.

"N-n-not r-really, no. But you are just across the way, we could have just talked there."

I watch him lean back in his chair. "True, but I also wanted to see if the settings for and the camera were working fine… it should be, seeing as it's the same one I'm using."

"Well, I think you've done a wonderful job, my love." I said as I leant on my desk and rested my head in my left hand. We both failed to notice that Oracle, Panther and Skull were here.

"Bleh… will you two get a room!" Oracle said as Akira and my image moved to show a young girl with long ginger hair with glasses, an older looking female -older than Oracle but younger than me- with long, blonde, bushy pigtails and a male -who looked the same age as Akira- who had short, spiky hair and it was hard not to see that he dyes his hair blonde.

"Did you have to interrupt them, Futaba? It was fun watching Akira act like this." The blonde male said in a loud manner and I was slowly getting the urge to hit him.

"Don't tease him, Ryuji. This is his first girlfriend, remember?" The pigtail girl said, chuckling slightly as Akira groaned in annoyance.

'…Am I really his first girlfriend? I can't be!' I thought as I looked between the three new people in this call.

I gathered that the young ginger girl was Futaba or Oracle. The blonde, short hair guy was Ryuji otherwise known as Skull, so that left the blonde pigtail girl as Panther or Ann.

"You'll be like that when you find someone you love wholeheartedly, Ryuji." Akira said and I couldn't help but feel my face heat up again.

"I honestly think it rather nice, the next time we've free, we'll have to double date with me and Shiho." Ann said with a smile that seemed to reach her ears.

And the prospect of a double date sounded nice.

"Anyway bro, I know you said she was hot, but I wasn't expecting her to be this hot." Ryuji said and there was a collective groan from all of us.

"Dude!"

"Really, Ryuji?"

"Even I know that that's bad."

"What!?" Ryuji said with a clueless look on his face. "You know I have no filter when it comes to hot chicks."

There was a few moments of silence before Akira speaks up. "So, anyway, these are my second family. As you've probably guessed, the man with no filter is Skull, or Ryuji."

"Sup."

"He was the first person I met in Tokyo and is probably the only person I know who's on the same wavelength as me."

"It feels like we've known each other longer than we have." Ryuji said with a smile and scratching the back of his head.

"The more attractive of the two blondes is Ann, otherwise known as Panther." Akira said with a gesture (for me that is) towards Futaba.

"Hello, Makoto." The smile she wore still reached her ears.

"I technically met Ann before Ryuji as we bumped into each other near Central Street, in Shibuya. If I recall, I had just made it above ground when I got wiped lashed by her hair." Akira said as he twired his front locks of hair again.

"Oh, I remember that, I was running late to a photoshoot that day so I could stop to apologise." I raise an eyebrow at her mentioning a photo shot and she must have noticed it. "I've been a part-time model for the last five years, you've might have seen me in some fashion magazine."

"Now that you mention it, I do recall seeing you on the front cover of a couple." I said as I remember seeing her on the cover of a magazine when I was in Taiheido bookstore.

"Yeaah, you would have seen my "rival" Mika as well."

"Speaking of," Ryuji interrupts. "did that ever get resolved?"

"What thing?" I asked looking at everyone.

"It's nothing bad, Makoto," Ann said with a wave of her hand. "Mika tried to get me to quit modelling some time ago, but it fell through when Ryuji and Akira helped me look into it."

"Are you really gonna leave the best character till last?" Futaba pipped up and I thought it was strange with how quiet she was being, seeing as whenever I've watched them, she was almost as vocal as Ryuji.

"Sorry Futaba-chan, we didn't mean to leave you out." Ann said in a gentle tone and it was clear that everyone treated Futaba like a little sister.

"Makoto, meet Futaba or Oracle, she is the second little sister I have, honestly, if you put her and my actually little sister next to each other the similarities are very close."

"Wait, wait, wait?" I watched Futaba wave her arms about. "You're saying that there's a clone of me?"

"Yes, there is… she should be around your age too." Akira said as he brought a hand up to his chin.

At that, we watch Futaba jump out of her seat and slam her hand down on her desk. "Right, the next time you plan on visiting your family, I'm coming to and there's nothing you can do to stop me."

"Ooh, I wanna go to, I haven't been on vacation in a long time."

"Same, the last time was with my fam a few years ago."

"Whoa, hold on! Don't I have a say in this?" Akira said looking a bit bewildered.

"You did, until you told me about my clone." Futaba said with the same energy that she brought when she steamed.

It was fun to watch them laugh and joke and it was clear how tight of a bond they had… made me kinda envious of them. We talked some more before I excused myself as I wanted to continue with my studies, Ryuji laughed at that briefly before I said my goodbyes.

As I sat there looking at my monitor, I couldn't help but wonder what my life would have been like if it was like a normal girl. Would I have had a large group of friends and been more socially aware of situations… it would have made some situations more manageable.

I nearly fall out of my chair when I heard a tapping against the balcony door. I knew it could only be one person but he could have at least messaged me before so. Getting up and walking the short distance to my balcony door, I saw Akira retract the pole and wave at me.

"I'm sorry about Ryuji, Mako." He said as I was opening the door.

"It's okay Akira, I'm used to people making fun of me on how I study."

"Still, I'll tell him off later." Akira said as he rubs the back of his neck.

"It's kind of you to do so, but there's really no need." I said as it really didn't bother any more. After being teased about through most of secondary and tertiary schools, I leant how to block most, if not all the negative comments.

"If you so sweety. I believe he does it as he never liked studying."

"It makes sense then."

"The next time I visit my folks, you are more than welcome to come with me, I mean, Futaba and the rest invited themselves so…" Akira said as leant up against the railing.

Leaning against the railing opposite him, I couldn't help but let a smile grace my lips. "I think that, that sounds like a lovely idea, my love."

Authors Notes

It's strange to see a couple of small paragraphs becoming over 3k in words but it's great to be back writing and to flex the old grey matter again.

As stated at the top, I want to add the two scenes (Akira building a pc/Makoto's birthday and meet the others) into the main story, but I didn't know where to put them, yes, I could have put them at the end, but to me, it felt like they wouldn't have worked well there.

I'm just glad that I get to share them with you more than anything else.

I will, at some point get back to writing Beneath the Rose-Tinted Mask and How I Took Down a Goddess, but with two many one-shots floating about in my head, makes me want to write them instead.

For those of you who somewhat care and want to ask stuff, I have Twitter (Under the same name,) so come say hi. At the current moment, I'm trying to post most, if not all the photos I've captured when playing games.

If you do like my work and you have an idea for a story that you want to write, then please, feel free to comment/review and I'll see about writing it at some point.

Walk Tall and Be Fierce, my Friends.