After their success in passing exams and doing well in class. Their parents allowed them on the trip with the agreement of calling them once they got there.
As expected, Amane's parents wanted Tsukasa to go along with him. As Tsukasa had planned he lied and said he was going and was planning on what clothes to take with him. They were relieved to hear this as they wanted Tsukasa to have a healthy social life.
Amane stared at Tsukasa packing his bag, they were getting ready to leave for the bus station where everyone agreed to meet up. He couldn't help but feel bad as Tsukasa had that fake smile of his. He'd been wearing that fake smile of his ever since graduation.
He cried a lot when he said goodbye to Sakura at the airport as she flew away to Tokyo in order to attend college there. He went out with Natsuhiko and came back really late at night looking extremely depressed.
Amane was getting concerned for his brother.
They walked out and got into the car and drove to the bus station. Once there the two boys waved goodbye to their parents.
"Take care of each other okay?" Their mother said as she had tears in her eyes.
The twins sweatdropped. "Yes, Mom." They said in unison.
They drove away satisfied that they would be okay. Once they were out of sight Tsukasa grabbed his suitcase and was about to leave until Amane grabbed him.
"Tsukasa wait!"
Tsukasa stopped and turned around to look at Amane. "What's up?"
Amane gulped, he was sure the others would probably get annoyed but… "Just come with us." He pleaded.
Tsukasa went wide-eyed and immediately shook his head. "And mess the trip up? No, let me go Amane." He was about to walk away but Amane had a tight grip on his arm. "Amane let me go!"
"No!" He yelled. "Please Tsukasa…" He felt stupid for feeling like this all of a sudden but he felt like if he didn't then he'd probably be abandoning his brother.
Tsukasa sighed in frustration, he could just book a separate hotel room for himself, he had the extra money anyway. "Fine."
And with that the twins greeted the group of friends together, Amane explained why Tsukasa needed to come with them and everyone just accepted it because there wasn't any time for protests and it would also be rude.
The whole bus ride there was awkward for Tsukasa, he didn't expect to be coming at all. He figured he would crash at Natsuhiko's place but then again probably not a good idea since he's extremely upset about Sakura leaving. He has been too but Sakura told him to be strong, that they would meet again someday.
His group of friends is no longer…
He really had nothing going for him.
Coming along to the couple's outing only made him feel worse as they all talked amongst themselves not even bothering to include him for just a little bit.
Why did Amane even bother dragging him along? He would have been fine on his own, it's not like he can't handle a month of pure solitude…
He can!
He totally can!
Once they arrived at the hotel they were staying at- everyone went their separate ways in order to get settled. The girls would be in one room while the boys stayed in the other. Tsukasa was about to get himself a room but was stopped when the boys dragged him into the room with them.
When they entered there were a total of two beds.
"Alright, Akane you take the couch," Mitsuba said as he looked at Akane smugly.
Akane glared. "I'm sorry what? No, you take the couch, if you sleep with Kou who knows what you guys will do."
Mitsuba and Kou blushed.
"Get your mind out of the gutter you pervert!" Mitsuba yelled while his face was pure scarlet.
Akane snickered. "It's whatever I'm just joking, I'll take the couch, it's big anyway and it looks comfortable." And he wasn't wrong when he set his things down and laid on the couch it didn't feel that different from a bed.
Mitsuba and Kou settled for the bed on the right and the Yugi twins took the bed on the left.
As the day progressed they all spent some time together just doing their usual antics and making stupid jokes.
Tsukasa looked at his phone trying to distract his terrible thoughts.
You're just an outsider here.
You shouldn't have come here, you ruined everything.
Amane only pities your lonely ass.
He groaned internally at that one as it was probably true, he probably didn't like seeing his twin all lonely while he had friends and a girlfriend. He didn't hate Nene, in fact, she's really nice and deserves to make Amane happy but… it was still annoying.
He thought he got over it but it's impossible.
He doesn't like to be alone…
Even if it's been years since their real parents left them, Tsukasa just never wanted to let go of his older brother. He'd follow him, do everything with him, dress up the same way.
He sighed as he realized those days really were over and nothing will ever be the same no matter what.
He didn't notice the boys changing their clothes in order to go to the beach until Amane got his attention.
"Hey Tsukasa, we're heading to the beach with the girls, want to come with us?" He smiled at him obviously hoping he'd say yes.
He was about to decline until he noticed Kou carrying a volleyball and had a very devious idea in mind.
"Sure… let me get ready." He snickered as he grabbed his bag.
Time for some overdue revenge.
…
The boys were preparing a volleyball match just to pass the time. The girls sat on their chairs, Mitsuba decided to be the one to sit out and merely keep tabs on the score.
The Yugi twins were on one team while Kou and Akane were on the other. They readied their positions, Amane serving first.
He hit the ball over, Kou quickly countering it. Tsukasa hit it back without fail, Akane was too slow and missed the last second.
"Point for the Yugi twins!" Mitsuba announced.
Amane and Tsukasa high fived each other.
Immediately the match started and ended with another point for the Yugi twins. Akane was starting to catch onto their dynamic and began countering it. He finally managed to score a point in the next round. They went back and forth like this, eventually ending with the Yugi twins being one point ahead of them.
But truthfully Tsukasa didn't really care about winning, no, you see he was planning on letting Akane lower his guard around him in order to strike.
Once the ball came over to their side he quickly pushed Amane out of the way and hit the ball as hard as he could, semi jumped up the air while smirking at Akane evilly and hit the ball towards his face…
Hard.
Akane went down immediately clutching his throbbing face, his glasses on the ground, broken. Everything was in chaos.
"AKANE!" Aoi ran to his side and quickly made sure he was okay.
He wasn't all that okay, he had a bloody nose. "Nope, I'm not fucking okay right now!" His hissed as he continued to try and contain his bleeding.
Aoi and Nene quickly took him to the nearby hospital, Kou and Mitsuba in tow. Amane lagged behind as he glared at Tsukasa.
"What the hell was that for!?" He asked him, upset that they were having so much fun but was ruined by this whole fiasco.
"What do you mean? Are you forgetting Akane pissed me off a couple of months ago?" How anyone could forget how vengeful he tends to be is beyond him.
Amane felt his anger get the better of him. "Tsukasa, grow up already! That was months ago, he apologized! I thought you stopped being that way but of course, you haven't! You always have to find a way to ruin everything!" He yelled but immediately regretted his words.
Tsukasa looked extremely hurt.
"Wait no Tsukasa I-"
Tsukasa immediately pushed past him and ran away. Amane wanted to chase after him but he knew apologizing wasn't going to help right now.
2 hours later…
After the hospital visit, the teens decided to quickly walk back to the beach before it got dark. Truthfully Akane wasn't even mad, he commented on how he really should have seen that coming, it was the perfect opportunity after all!
Seeing as how he wasn't mad they decided to not scold Tsukasa for his actions. It's not like they don't know how he is anyway. When they got back they saw Amane by himself looking down.
Nene immediately ran up to him. "Amane what's wrong? Where's Tsukasa!?"
Amane immediately hugged her tightly as he fought back tears. "I'm an idiot Nene, I said hurtful things to him."
The teens stood there in shock. In all the years they've known them, while they did have fights before they were never this bad. Nene had noticed some unresolved tension between the two, perhaps if she had talked to Amane about it this could have been avoided.
Tsukasa was nowhere to be seen and nobody knew where he was.
They went back to the room but he wasn't there at all. They felt some relief when they saw his stuff still there so he didn't run away to god knows where. Most likely he didn't come back to the house and ran off somewhere.
He couldn't be that far, right?
The teens did their usual routine while trying to keep an eye out for Tsukasa. A part of them thought he would eventually come back on his own while they were out but he never did.
It was now 8 pm and Amane was getting restless as he spammed Tsukasa's messages wanting to know where he was and that he's getting concerned. Heck, he even thought about calling the police! But he didn't want to cause a scene for something that could be minor so he opted not to- that and Nene kind of convinced him to calm down.
When Amane woke up the next day Tsukasa was nowhere to be seen. His messages were unanswered and his last seen on the messaging app they tended to use dated to yesterday before the volleyball match.
Had he not taken his phone with him?
Did it run out of battery!?
If he came home without him his parents will flip the fuck out. In fact, he's already losing his mind himself! He might as well punish himself for being a horrible sibling!
He spent half of the day looking for him while the other half was spent taking Nene out on various dates since this was originally a couples outing. He couldn't concentrate on having fun knowing Tsukasa likely slept on the damn street without money on him and is likely cold and hungry.
A week passed by and this officially deceased Amane. No signs of him, the front office never saw him at all, his stuff was still intact and he won't answer his phone either. His parents had messaged him how they were doing and Amane didn't have the heart to tell them that Tsukasa was missing.
So he lied to them.
And it felt terrible!
Nene was getting worried as well, Tsukasa was her friend after all. While the others went out to the beach for some surfing, Nene and Amane went out to look for Tsukasa again.
Still no results.
Amane couldn't find it in himself to enjoy anything. It was a shame since the festival was coming up and they were all looking forward to it. Even Nene felt discouraged to go, it just didn't feel right. However, because they had already spent money on the outfits they had no choice but to go.
A day before the festival they were playing at the arcade nearby the hotel in order to take their mind off the stress.
"He wanted to go to the festival now that I think about it… maybe he'll be there?" Nene said as she played some air hockey with Amane.
Amane sighed. "Maybe? I'm not sure… I really shouldn't have said those awful things knowing he's been kind of unstable lately." He scored a point but couldn't find it himself to cheer about it. "I've been trying to get him to talk to me but he wouldn't and before Sakura left she said I needed to watch over him and make sure he doesn't lose himself." That last bit concerned him, Sakura had commented about how Tsukasa seemed less and less happy lately, almost as if whatever was on his mind was draining the life force out of him.
Nene looked at her boyfriend in concern. "Honestly I noticed it too… had I said something maybe I could have avoided it." She really did feel guilty. It's almost like she didn't learn anything from her past mistakes of hiding important things.
Amane noticed this and immediately stopped her. "No, don't you dare blame yourself, if anything it's my fault, I knew and yet didn't insist or at least let him know I knew something was wrong." He felt a migraine incoming as he thought of his stupid words.
Why did he say that?
Those were the same words their old parents used to scream at him…
How could he be so cruel? Tsukasa has done a lot for him these past few months and yet when he needs him the most he just… gets mad.
He hoped everything was alright… wherever he was.
Tsukasa's location…
When Tsukasa ran away he didn't expect himself to be panting and to be as far away from the beach area as possible. He didn't want to see anyone, he didn't want to talk to anyone, he just wanted to be alone!
He can be alone too!
And he has grown up! He's done everything to make sure Amane was happy, especially in his new relationship. It didn't matter how Tsukasa felt, nope! If Amane was happy so was he!
But he wasn't… he hasn't been in a while. His friends were also gone too. Sakura left, Natsuhiko is a mess and he's just… by himself. He doubted Amane's friends even cared about him or how he felt. He was the chaotic one, the rowdy one, the mean one, the stupid one, the violent one. There was nothing worth remembering about Yugi Tsukasa.
He didn't have anything of his own, everything was handed to him by Amane. Even joining the broadcasting club was Amane's idea! There was nothing he's ever done that wasn't influenced by Amane.
And now that he's on his own ready to start making his own decisions, ready to try new things, maybe even try and make friends… he can't…
He can't move on…
He can't let go of Amane.
He slid down the wall he was up against and hugged his knees to his chest as he tried to calm himself down.
Why was it easy for Amane to be on his own and make friends and even get a girlfriend?
Why can't he do those things? Why can't he be like his brother? Cool, confident and more friendly. He was right, all he does is ruin everything. Akane is probably mad at him for that, sure he was really mad back then but it was months ago, he's meant to let it go.
It was what any sane person would do right?
Or was he crazy?
God is he going crazy!?
No, he can't be, he's fine… he's not like his old parents, he's perfectly fine and able to rationalize things!
He could just call Natsuhiko… maybe ask him to come pick him up and spend time with him. When he dialed his number he didn't get an answer. He continued calling four more times but nothing. He sighed and just opted to try and text Sakura for a bit of reassurance.
From Tsukasa:
To Sakura:
Hey, have you settled down yet :D
He waited for an answer but didn't get one as a minute turned into an hour. He had no idea for how long he had been sitting in that same spot waiting for some sort of sign. His stomach began to growl, thank god for his pocket money. He ordered a ramen bowl from one of the nearby shops. He kept looking at his phone but still no answer, not even a call back from Natsuhiko.
As he ate he noticed his vision getting a little blurry.
Was it raining for something?
He didn't feel any rain on his way in- it must be his imagination…
When he finished eating he counted his money, he had a bit for a room for a few days… he just had to find a cheap one. He sighed and laid his head on the table as he looked at the wall. He noticed some nice looking art pieces were decorating the whole establishment. He couldn't help but admire them, especially one that seemed like a fantasy tower of some type.
"They're so cool." He said to himself, unbeknownst to him someone actually overheard him.
"Why thank you."
Tsukasa stiffened as he turned around to see a girl around his height, green hair and glasses giggling at him admiring some art on the wall. He felt himself blush, that was embarrassing.
She sat down on the chair across from him. "I'm always glad when customers like my artwork." She smiled at him as she set down the stack of menus she had on her.
Tsukasa's mouth dropped in shock. "You drew them!? They're so cool!!" He beamed like a child at a candy store. He didn't know why but art stuff was always so cool, you should see his room.
The girl giggled. "Yeah! My parents wanted to hang them so they could tell the whole world that I'm their pride and joy." She rolled her eyes playfully. "They're so embarrassing."
Tsukasa chuckled. "I can relate to that, I once made a paper crane and my parents took it to work just to show it off to their colleagues." He felt happy as he recalled that memory. His adoptive parents really were the best.
"Oh my god, that's adorable." She cooed. "My dad spent a whole day showing off to his friends a painting I made of a vase, a vase!" She exclaimed with a joking tone.
He laughed. "Really? They must really love your paintings."
She nodded. "Yeah."
There was a bit of silence after that nice conversation. Tsukasa wasn't sure what to say- does he tell another story or…?
"Shijima Mei." She introduced herself.
Tsukasa blinked before realizing he should probably do the same. "Oh! I'm Yugi Tsukasa."
"Nice to meet you Yugi-kun."
"Nice to meet you too Shijima-san."
…
So we're nearing the end nowThings changed around so instead of 17 chapters it'll be 16
But don't be sad! Even when this story is done I still have a lot planned!
I was going to take a break after this chapter but I've been making progress despite my authors block so I'll just upload when the chapters are ready
Reviews:
Hiyori:
I present Tsukasa's drama lol
It's a wild ride ;)
kawaiitohruchan:
Welcome to romance is overrated lol