The Three-Way
Chapter Three
By KellyQ
Kaito walked up the steps to his condominium. He opened the door and was greeted by a three-foot tall android on wheels called Orbital-7. The robot had a long neck, a small round head, a pair shaped body. Its eyes were in a shape of binoculars and a metal mouth that moved up and down when it spoke. Sticking out from the side of its head were two yellow speakers.
Behind him in a wheelchair was his little brother, Haruto. He didn't have the same appearance Kaito. Haruto was small and frail. His short frosty-blue hair curved around his cheekbones like a vine; His lime-green eyes held a spark. Haruto wore a black shirt with matching pants.
"Welcome home, Kaito-sama," Orbital-7 said, moving out of the way.
Kaito stepped in and smiled when he saw his little brother. Haruto's face lit up and he giggled. Kaito leaned over and hugged his little brother, as Haruto tried to hug back when he was having tremors. Kaito pulled back and kissed Haruto on the forehead after he moved some hair away from his little brother's face.
Kaito got up and made his way to the front of the classroom. He took a deep breath, before he turned to face the students. "My name is Kaito, and I live with mitochondrial disease. I was diagnosed a couple of years ago. The symptoms I had before I found out I had it was feeling nauseous, not having energy, loosing bone mass, and I couldn't digest my food properly. What helped me was changing my eating habits, taking vitamin D supplements, and knowing all I can. My little brother has it too, but worse …" he paused for a moment, "He has Mitochondrial Encephalopathy. He can't walk or talk, but he's happy and that's all that matters."
"Kaito-sama …" Orbial-7 called out watching them.
Kaito blinked and stood up. He sidestepped the wheelchair as Orbial-7 rolled backwards, took hold of the wheelchair and rotated the chair. Orbial-7 followed Kaito into the living room. Orbial-7 watched Kaito carefully lift Haruto out of the chair and laid him on the floor.
"Do you want something to drink Kaito-sama as you do homework?" Orbaial-7 asked.
Kaito nodded his head, as he got comfortable on the floor in-between his brother and the coffee table. Orbaial-7 rolled out of the living room, and came back with a tray of natural Orange Juice. Kaito had pulled out his D-Gazer and placed it over his earlobe by this point. Three holographic images of computer Windows displaced the Internet. Orbial-7 carefully moved to the coffee table and placed the drink on the table.
Across town, Yuma glanced at his cousin to see that he wasn't paying attention to homework. When they got home after school Yuma and Astral pulled out their textbooks and station themselves in the large spacious living room to work. It didn't take long for Yuma to know what Astral was thinking about. Can a disease really be that bad? Yuma thought. The way Kaito described mitochondrial disease, it sounded like your life was robbed. They were so deep in thought; Yuma and Astral didn't realize that Hikari–Yuma's older sister, and Astral's older cousin came in with a tray of gluten-free/dairy-free snacks of crackers, cheese and Turkey slices.
Hikari was five-foot tall seventeen-year-old with dark lavender hair pulled back in a high ponytail. Her Highlights in her long side bangs helped shaped her face. Hikari ware a vest over her frosty blue shirt and hip-huggers white pants.
Yuma looked up to see the tray placed next to him and Astral. "Food!" Yuma took two crackers a slice of cheese, and turkey. He put it all together and started to eat.
"Astral, aren't you going to eat?" Hikari asked, sitting across from them. She took a piece of turkey and munched on it.
"There's this student in class," Astral shared. He paused for a moment, wondering how he was going to explain things about school.
Hikari blinked a few times. "Oh, that's right. How was your guys second day?"
Yuma swallowed the last bite. "Great! I met this guy by the name of Shark at lunch. I tried to sit next to him but he left before we could know each other. The health teacher gave us homework all about the mitochondrial disease."
"A Student in class even has it," Astral said, taking a cracker and munching on it with a thoughtful expression.
"It sounds like the school is going to be a good one," Hikari said, getting to her feet just as their grandmother walked in.
She was no taller then three-feet. Her gray hair was neatly tied back in a bun. Her wrinkled old face showed a lot of love and compassion. The old lady also wore a dark red vest over her pink kimono.
"So … my two grandsons are enjoying the school I take it? Any new friends yet?" Their grandmother asked.
"Not yet, but I'm hoping to! Tori and Bronk go to the same school too! When I first saw them, I was happy to see them!" Yuma said enthusiastically.
The grandmother smiled. "I'm happy for you." The old woman was. She loved to see her grandsons be happy, and she was going to make sure of that.
To Be Continued ..