Chapter 9

"Happy Birthday Hachiman & Rikka!"

Yup,it's August 8 and we jointly blow out candles on our cake as we received well wishes.

Father,mother and Komachi were all here together for the first time to join our little party at home at night.

I knew our parents were very busy at work but apparently they had worked overtime so they don't come late at night as usual,which was very touching.

As for our other guests,I invited Totsuka Saika while Komachi invited her classmate Taishi-kun who coincidentally was younger brother of Hachiman's classmate Kawasaki so we invited her as well.

Hachiman on the other hand so against the party in the first place that he didn't bother to invite anyone,what a shame.

We had compromised on the cake so one half was Hachiman's favourite,dark coffee (disgusting) while other was vanilla pineapple(my favourite!)

"Thank you so much for coming Saika-san"I said while we were sharing my side of the cake.

In fact,no one had yet taken slices from Hachiman's side (lol) other than the dark coffee lover himself.

Now we had celebrated our joint birthday before but it was obvious to me for a long time that our parents acknowledged me more than him.

Some of our birthdays were spent after my hospital visits so they were protective towards me but largely ignored him,our dad especially and even bought presents which were relevant only to me.

Surprisingly,Hachiman never showed any resentment towards me for being focus of our parents attention but it might be because he had just accepted that he would never get any attention.

But I had resolved to not let it continue any longer,telling father at his face not to bother celebrate our birthday if brother is left out of it.

Thankfully,despite his shock at first I managed to get through to him and mother also told him to at least acknowledge his only son.

"No,Thank you for inviting me Rikka-san"he blushed lightly on saying my first name like I had told to "Though I wish more of our friends could join us"

Unfortunately,nothing could be done about Hachiman's allergy to socializing (other than Saika interestingly)

I looked at Hachiman,letting him know I wanted a response

"I didn't want to bother others"he said but I knew he really meant he didn't trusted people.

"But I really wanted Yui-san and Yukinoshita-san to come too"Komachi said"You know two pretty girls but keep pushing them away."

"You talk to girls,Hachiman?"father blurted out thoughtlessly.

While I joke sometimes about him being a loner,he would like he didn't know him at all and that's just painful.

After presenting us gifts our parents retired for the night while Saika confirmed that his father would give them the ride home.

But Hachiman had to show his siscon tendencies again when he saw Komachi and Taishi having a conversation.

"Hey brat,are you sure nothing is going on between the two of you?"

He grunted as I elbowed him

"Be nice!Because you didn't invite anyone despite our insistence doesn't mean you can harass ours"

Kawasaki looked at him with annoyance

"Creep"

I second that Kawasaki-san but please don't be too harsh on my brother.

Like father,like son I suppose

Their ride arrived and we escorted them on the way out.

Saika turned to me and spoke

"Hikiga...I mean Rikka-san,I wanted to ask that if you play tennis"

Despite his feminine appearance he was passionate about sports,something I approved in guys.

"I have played some indoor tennis and baseball but I'm not good at it."

"I see"he rose his hand to his chin in thought then looked at me and smiled"If you want we could play tennis together sometimes,Hachiman can come too"

I don't play much sports myself but imagining brother playing sports in his current condition seems unbelievable.

"You'll be lucky if you drag him out of the house"I joked but not entirely.

"I heard that!"he said

"I know!"I loudly said back to him.

I swore I saw a vein popping out of his forehead.

So he cared about how Saika saw him.

This was...interesting.

We bode them farewell as they drove away and returned to the living room.

"I'll clean it up so you can go rest"

I told them but Komachi spoke

"I'll help too!"

Before Hachiman said anything I told him

"You go head.

Komachi and I are going to have a girl talk."

He grumbled but complied and returned to his room.

Then it was mostly Komachi speculating about the two girls at his school club.

I hardly ever thought about his school life,except the time during his third year of middle school when I caught him crying alone in his room and made him talk.

He had made a confession to a girl in her class and that led to his whole class and even others bully him.

I was so angry that I would have socked that b**** in the gut had he not told me to forget about it.

While we poke fun of his lack of social skills I do care for him and get angry when people judge him solely based on his appearance,including our own family.

Anyways,I gave his space regarding his school life since he clearly didn't want to talk about it.

Right now,I'm curious about this Yukinoshita person but partly because I don't want him to get hurt like in middle school.

Despite his twisted way of thinking,he was just too nice for his own good and I wouldn't keep turning a blinded eye to it anymore.