Noise and Silence

008: Date

"What happened to you?"

Atsushi stared at his sister while she remained on her spot- sitting on his bed, her arms hugging her knees as she scowled at her feet with moist, red rimmed eyes.

He sighed, setting down his bag on the bed beside her.

"Hikari, get out of my room, I'm going to change"

She pouted at him "Then change. I've seen you naked since I was six years old"

"That's when we used to take a bath together"

Hikari huffed, "It's still the same!"

He sighed again, convinced that his sister's really not her usual self- because if she is, she'd be out of the door with a snap.

"Just don't look" and she did. Hikari continued scowling at her feet while her brother changed from his University uniform to his normal ones.

'Besides, I still got my boxers on anyway'

When he's done, he sat next to his sister and wiped her still-moist eyes with his handkerchief.

"Are you just gonna sit there all day or are you going to tell me what's wrong with you?"

It took a few moments but Hikari finally voiced out her aggression.

"Takishima and I had a fight today…"

"That's not new-"

"I meant a real fight. Like a serious fight couples do"

"Are you hurt anywhere?"

"No…"

Frowning, he pulled up a chair and sat there instead so that he can fully face his sister. This way, she'll be able to look him in the eye and not miss any details.

"Okay baby sister, start talking"

And tell him everything she did.

Hikari told Atsushi about how Kei's possessiveness finally took a toll on them. How she was just helping a schoolmate from the lower class and how Kei just barged in and dragged her out of the room. She told her brother how pissed she was for what he just did and how his answers just added fuel to the fire. They argued to the point that they were really throwing each other big words and how the other members of the SA couldn't do anything to stop them.

Meanwhile, Atsushi listened to his sister's rant without interruption. As a brother, he, too, was pissed at the Takishima heir for making Hikari cry but there was also a part of him who was amused because this has got to be their first, serious argument.

"It's like he's saying that I'm not allowed to hang out with any other guy besides him!" she threw her hands up in exasperation.

When she's done, Atsushi nodded his head slowly.

"You should've seen that coming. Kei is the possessive-and-easily-jealous type"

"But he's just gone way too far this time! I am my own person and he treats me like some kind of object that he owns! Besides, I'd never cheat on Takishima so what is he so jealous for?!" She pouted more and even though he didn't mean it, he let out a short chuckle. "This isn't amusing onii-chan!"

"It is for me" Hikari frowned at him "Okay, okay, I'm sorry" he cleared his throat "So what did you do?"

"I didn't care anymore so I left him in school and went straight home"

'How adorable, my baby sister has a wildcat side' Atsushi was pleased at that thought "Are you going to talk to him?"

She 'hmph-ed', "I don't know. I'm still mad at him"

"So basically he doesn't want you spending time with other guys, huh? I'd hate to imagine when he starts barking at girls too" Atsushi thought for a minute and something dinged like a light bulb lit atop his head. "Do you want to take revenge on him?"

"Wha- how?"

"There's nothing like a good revenge than rubbing it on his face" he smiled mischievously "It's Saturday tomorrow so why don't you go on a date?"

"Ehh?"

"This is weird…" Hikari fiddled with the ends of her skirt, glancing at her brother opposite of their table sipping on his Slurpee. "When you say date… I didn't know it meant… you"

"I told you, we're going to rub this date on your boyfriend's face. That'll teach him of not allowing you to spend any time with other guys- including me"

"But you're my brother! He's not going to get jealous over you"

Atsushi raised a brow at her "Really? My sweet, baby sister, did you even wonder why he wanted to trade places with me? Remember that time when he said he wanted to be your older brother for a day?"

"I… uhh… it's because he wanted to try having a little sister?" she answered innocently.

Used to his sister's obliviousness, Atsushi only sighed "Trust me Hikari. This'll work. Besides, he won't get jealous with your other friends since they all have girlfriends on their own, right? And I'm sure they've been briefed enough already. My friends are out too 'cause I'm not trusting any of them near my little sister and I'm sure dad's out of the question"

"But…"

Leaning back, Atsushi's face immediately showed concern "It's not like you're cheating on him. I'm your brother. Think of it as a sibling-bonding moment" she remained silent "But if you're really not comfortable with this then I'm sorry. We can head back home if you want"

Hikari contemplated. It's true, this doesn't count as cheating. No matter how mad she is, she'd never do that to Takishima. Putting the whole 'revenge' part aside, now that she thought about it, it's been a long time since she last spent time with her big brother.

With her thought made up, she looked up at her brother's equally-obsidian eyes and smiled.

Throughout the day, Hikari recalled back the times when she and her brother were very little. They went to the zoo, the aquarium, and lastly, the amusement park. Hikari forgot being mad or why she's doing this in the first place because all she thought was that she's having fun with her big brother. The siblings even ignored their phones when Kei called or texted them. It may seem awful but at least Atsushi's laughing and smiling a lot- something Hikari rarely sees nowadays and let's just say she's determined in seeing that smile and hearing his laugh.

By the end of the day, the Hanazono siblings were on the bus back home. atsushi smiled at his sister's sleeping form on his shoulder, hugging the Poyo plushie he won for her while adjusting the photo on his wallet- a picture of him and Hikari with wide grin on their faces, their arms on each other's shoulders with a bright text at the bottom saying 'Best Sibling Ever!"

Monday came and Hikari and Kei finally sorted things out- much to Kei's apologizing, ending their strife with a passionate kiss.

Kei and Hikari walked hand in hand as they made their way to the greenhouse.

"By the way Hikari, why didn't you answer any of my texts or calls last Saturday? I was really worried. What were you doing?"

"Oh, last Saturday? Well, I was on a date" Hikari smiled innocently at him.

Meanwhile in Aokori University, Atsushi suddenly sneezed while he was answering a complicated physics question on the board.