"Onee-chan! Kazu-nii is here early for our archery lesson."
Shiro and Kazuto were earlier than usual with getting ready for the archery lesson of the evening. Shino seemed to be in a strange mood ever since Kazuto nursed her back to health a few weeks before. She would be the cause for being late instead of him.
When she finished quickly making her way down the stairs, slipping a little on the floor in her socks, Kazuto caught her before she fell to the floor. His hand under her back, he nearly fell over as well. He managed to catch himself and pull her up with himself.
"No need to hurry. We're usually late anyway."
"If we can come home early then it's good to be early. Sorry Kazuto..."
She looked away as soon as she found herself staring. Shino had become very aware of her feelings. Her and Kazuto were trying their very best not to admit their feelings. Shiro had a very different idea for the times they were trying not to admit their feelings when they were strongest.
"Oh, just a little longer and you might have kissed. Darn~"
They both shot him a glare which might have been enough to cut through something. When they gained their composure, they left him behind in the house.
"If we hurry and leave him behind, he can get stuck with the cleaning alone."
Kazuto and Shino laughed and ran to leave Shiro behind. They made it all the way to the archery hall, while Shiro still wasn't used to the weight of the uniform when running. He didn't have their stamina. Kazuto and Shino made it to the archery hall a little early while some others were still arriving. Shiro arrived later, after everyone else when the lesson had already started instead of barely late like they usually were together.
Everyone laughed at him when he did arrive, covered in sweat from trying to run without the stamina to wear the heavy clothes. Not very many students did have the stamina to run in the outfit. Especially carrying the equipment bag.
"Let's have Kazuto and Shino help you clean up after today's lesson for being late Shiro. Better to not fall from tradition at this point..."
The teacher ended up putting them together anyway. It was probably more in concern to keep everyone together. After all, for the last week, there was rumour of a frightening middle aged man going around to small stores in the area and robbing them at gun point. It was best to go from place to place with an adult or by vehicle, but otherwise, it was better to at least be in as big a group as possible.
The lesson and night went by like normal. Kazuto was one of the better students, finally scoring a dead centre shot, and Shino managed to as well. She also finally gained the strength to steady her hold of the bow when she drew an arrow. Only those shots were impressive, as everything else was only close to the centre from them. Shiro was sloppy and only barely managed to stick a single arrow to a target the whole night. Probably from being exhausted. He was normally at least decent enough to hit the target most of his shots.
After the lesson, Shino and Kazuto cleaned up for a little, focusing just on restringing bows with new string for the next lesson while having Shiro wipe the floors by himself. When they were finally told to go home, Shiro was ready to drop with how tired he was.
Shino took Shiro's equipment bag, and Kazuto carried Shiro on his back while holding his own bag. Kazuto seemed much more masculine when he showed how strong he had become. He could carry the heavy equipment bag and another person and still walk fine without issue. Such strength made Shino more nervous to talk and look at him. When Shiro woke up close to home, he noticed the tension right away.
"You'd much rather be carrying Onee-chan home, wouldn't you. She's grown y'know."
That made both Kazuto and Shino angry. Kazuto dropped him on the grass of the yard, and Shino threw the bag on his stomach. They were getting fed up with him pestering them about getting into a relationship.
Shiro felt bad about it, not just because of how much it hurt when his head hit the ground and the bag felt crushing his stomach. He felt pushing them so far they would hurt him. They never hurt him before, even during kendo lessons. That night, he began reflecting. Was it really worth it to push them so far?
The next morning, a day off from school and lessons, Shino ignored him completely and left him at home alone to go with their mother for some shopping. Even Kazuto ignored him, practising most of the morning at his balance and consistency for kendo strikes. The yard was too small for Shiro to join in and Kazuto only ignored him either way.
Shiro ended up feeling depressed that he was left alone on a day off. He wasn't interested in doing training on a day off, video games felt boring without Kazuto or Shino to play with...he decided he might as well wait at a nearby park for some other kids his age to show up that he could play with. He knew a place he never went to, but some kids from his class sometimes went there on a day off from school.
He looked up at the sky on his way walking over there, noticing that it looked like rain would start coming down. Since he had already walked most of the way there, he didn't bother walking back home to grab an umbrella. There wasn't a single person at the park, either because it wasn't a usual day from school, and because rain was in the forecast.
He sat down on the middle of the swing set and started pushing himself back and forth a little, trying to get over his boredom. When he thought about what put Kazuto and Shino in the mood to ignore him he returned to reflecting on what he was doing. Of course...it was fun for a long time for him to bug them about how nice it would be for them to be in a relationship, but maybe he really did take it too far.
He knew it was still early for a relationship to form, but it was so obvious to him they were in love with each other. They were eleven and he was only eight. To him, they were in love with each other and ready to start a relationship. Heck, some of his classmates were already getting into relationships. It was strange for someone his own age, but when it was them, it felt right.
The rain seemed to almost feel it was going to pass by without falling when the sun pierced through the sky and he stood from the swing set. He decided to go home and read manga or something else until Shino and their mother would return home. When he reached the crosswalk, he checked and noticed that a large goods transport truck was coming, and another car, a familiar car with Kazuto's parents having an argument it seemed was coming from the other direction. At exactly the worst time, some classmates walked out onto the crosswalk in the path of the Kirigaya car.
"Back off! Get off the cross walk!"
The classmates stopped where they were and waved with a bit of anger at the way he talked to them, but then the scene suddenly became a disaster. The car Kazuto's parents were in swerved to miss them and flipped right up against the front of the transport truck. The cab of the car was destroyed on impact, and Shiro's vision was filled with red. Anger at what his classmates caused, and the sickening red fluid that spread to the ground around the impact zone. He fell to the sidewalk and screamed and cried at the horrific scene in front of him. Kazuto's parents were like another family to him, and he just saw them die.
The other kids ran away to not get caught up in it, screaming which contradicted their retreat. Shiro curled up and shook in terror as his mind was filled again and again with the seconds which were the last of Kazuto's parents. He cried and sobbed, and not only the rain fell that afternoon.
