Author's Note: The actions in this chapter went a little bit too fast so I did my best to shrink the first part of this chapter and expand the second part. As promised, the breakup happens here. The breakup is a loosely derived from several YouTube videos so hope you enjoy it.
I also feel that Kodaka is being too much like a 'dad' over a 'brother' to Kobato.
Published 9/2/2014
Chapter 7:
The Ultimate Clash
"We're here." Stella calls out to Kodaka and Sena on the interphone in the limousine. They both look out the window and see a large department store.
"Wow! This department store is huge!" Kodaka is impressed by the immense size of the store. There are 15 floors of shopping space. As Kodaka and Sena walk inside the department store, they are greeted by a large 100-rank organ with over 10,000 pipes spanning 7 different floors. Kodaka could feel the sound waves rumbling under his feet.
"This is a little too much for me," Kodaka starts to back out.
"It's my first time here as well," Sena replies.
"Over here, this way." Stella guides Sena and Kodaka to the large map in the middle of the atrium. As they look through the map, Kodaka's eyes are focused on the 9th floor, the Cellar Hall which is dedicated to selling cookware, silverware, glassware, and other kitchen utensils. As Kodaka reads through the list of items sold on that floor, he could feel someone gripping him very tightly.
"Kodaka, we're here to buy clothes, not kitchen supplies. Also, you are not cooking so there's no need to go to that floor."
"Oh… I'm sorry, Sena. I just have an interest in cookware. I just wanted to try the new Calicon pans that many chefs are talking about on TV."
Sena is unsatisfied with Kodaka's response. "Oh well… It's just weird for guys to be so fascinated with cooking. If you want it, you should wait until your home remodeling is complete."
"Yeah, I guess I should wait on that," Kodaka agrees.
Sena points to one place on the map. "We're going here, Kodaka!" Before Kodaka can see what Sena was pointing to, Sena pulls Kodaka and Stella into the elevator. When the elevator doors open up on the 2nd floor, Kodaka gets a sense of Sena's thoughts.
"So, these are the types of clothes you want to buy for Kobato?"
"Absolutely! This floor mainly sells merchandise and accessories from popular anime and manga titles. The next floor has the actual manga and anime videos. It also has video games and accessories. We should check that floor after we're done with clothes shopping."
"That's Sena for sure. She completely ignores stuff she doesn't like but gets engrossed so deeply in her interests."
Sena has Stella hang on to some of the clothes she has picked. Then, she asks Kodaka to wait for her in front of the dressing room. As Kodaka takes a seat at a nearby bench, his cellphone buzzes. Kodaka picks up the phone and finds a new text message from Yozora.
"Kodaka. What's your reason for not coming to the clubroom today? You gave no advance notice of your absence. What are you doing right now?"
Kodaka sends a reply. "Did I have to send you an advance notice? Plus, it's break time so I should be able to do my own activities."
"What activities do you have? We agreed to meet together at the clubroom during break time. We do all activities together. Instead, you sent your little sister here and have us help her with her homework. Is this how you treat your club members?"
"No, I'm sorry Yozora. I had to run some errands so I cannot come to the club today. We don't do much in the clubroom anyways." Kodaka promised Sena not to tell anyone else in the club about their shopping trip today.
"Running errands? That's sounds suspicious. I'm still confident you and meat are running a secret operation behind us. Your little sister keeps crying about it."
"Yozora. I have said so many times. We're not doing anything harmful or criminal to Kobato. Kobato is just being spoiled, complaining about everything that doesn't follow her way."
"Is that so? I should report this matter to the police and request them to monitor both of you."
Kodaka closes his phone and thinks to himself. "What? I can't believe Yozora is this persistent. Why does she believe every word that Kobato says? Sena and I aren't doing anything wrong towards Kobato. Kobato seriously needs to understand the situation we're in and respect the people who gave us a place to stay. Sigh."
As Kodaka tries to overlook Yozora's threats, another text message arrives. This time, it's from Rika.
"Kodaka-senpai. You agreed to come to club more often. Rika is so lonely without you around."
Kodaka replies. "Don't you have your games and BL mangas?"
"It's more fun if you join along too. There are some questions Rika wanted to ask you too."
"I'll pass." Kodaka knows what Rika wants to ask. Rika replies by sending an unhealthy image to Kodaka. The image is an illustration scan from one of her BL manga. She edited the image so that one of the characters looks like Kodaka. Kodaka cannot handle the obscenity of the image and quickly deletes it. A message from Rika comes shortly after.
"How is it Kodaka-senpai? Doesn't that get your attention? Maybe you can answer it here via text message."
"NO! I'M NOT GAY AND I WILL NOT DO ANYTHING IN THAT IMAGE!" Kodaka harshly replies back at Rika.
"Rika had a question with that particular page. If you don't want to help Rika, then Rika will show this to other men."
"NO! DON'T DO IT."
"Then come to the club and chat with Rika then." Kodaka receives another order to come to the Neighbor's Club. Before Kodaka could put away his phone, other members of the Neighbor's Club send messages to Kodaka as well.
Yukimura: "Aniki. I feel so lonely without you. Without you around, I feel very useless. As I have no more presence in this world, I must move on to another world."
Maria: "Hey dear brother. I am hungry. You haven't been serving me for days and I am stuck with potato chips once again. Please help your little sister. It says in the Bible that we must never be selfish and must help everyone around us."
Kobato: "An-chan! Come and help meeeeeee! (Message transcribed by Yozora)."
As Kodaka tries to respond to all the messages, someone else interrupts him.
"Hey Kodaka! How do I look? Does it look nice?" Kodaka does not pay attention to Sena and continues to focus his attention on the text messages, thinking of good replies to calm them down.
"Hey Kodaka! It is rude to leave a girl waiting. What is it with the phone?"
"Umm… It looks nice," Kodaka gives a vague reply to Sena. Sena responds by grabbing Kodaka's cellphone away. Soon, Sena does not realize that she too is focused on the messages. Suddenly, Sena's phone vibrates and Sena also receives a flood of text messages from The Neighbor's Club. Her messages are more insulting with Yozora and Yukimura accusing her of abducting Kodaka and Rika and Maria requesting to see dating photos of them. Yozora even threatens to send viruses to her cellphone. As Sena attempts to fight back with her wave of insulting text messages, Kodaka stops her.
"Don't do it, Sena. Those replies are only going to cause more trouble."
"Why not? I want to make Yozora look bad and this will be my chance."
"You seem to enjoy challenging Yozora."
"That's because Yozora is the first person ever worthy of being my opponent. Other people are just foolish commoners who could never hold a candle against me. I just need to flash a taste of my powers to scare them off."
"That's Sena for you…" Kodaka thinks to himself.
"Well, anyways, we need to hurry up. Kobato-chan must be desperately waiting for me. But first, you haven't told me about this outfit yet."
"Oh yeah, I'm sorry. Anyways, I think your shirt looks weird. Why do want these graphic images? This looks suspicious." With Yozora out of the way, Kodaka now can give a proper critique over Sena's choice of clothes."
"Suspicious? Nonsense! This shirt shows my appreciation for Kurogane no Nercomancer. With this new T-Shirt, I will become a bigger fan. Kobato-chan will be surely impressed."
"So, this is another of Sena's attempts at attracting Kobato. She is sure persistent." Kodaka thinks in his mind. Then he gives Sena a good suggestion.
"Sena, let's get other Kurogane no Nercomancer merchandise instead of T-Shirts. First of all, this T-Shirt doesn't fit you too well. Second, if you wear this too much, the colors will eventually fade away and the image will disappear forever."
"Then, leave it to me." Sena quickly goes back into the dressing room. As Sena tries different clothes on, Kodaka looks for clothes himself.
"Hmm… This looks interesting. Maybe this could work for Kobato too. After all, Kobato should try more styles instead of that Gothica-looking dress. Some light blue looks nice on Kobato. She's about to enter high school and she can't go looking like that."
Kodaka looks at other middle school girls walking around the store and tries to get an idea of what he should buy for Kobato. Then, someone suddenly walks in front of him.
"Hey Kodaka, how do I look now?" The moment Kodaka looks at Sena, he freezes. Sena looks so attractive that she could star in any modeling magazine. Her clothing deeply emphasizes all of her physical features.
"Don't look at me like that. It makes me nervous," Sena responds to Kodaka's expressions.
"Umm… I'm sorry Sena. I'm in the middle of something so I'll just go over there." As Kodaka walks to the checkout counter, Sena grabs him by the arm and asks a question quietly.
"Kodaka… is there anything wrong with it?"
"No, it looks great. It's so attractive that no man is able to resist it."
"Kodaka… I feel happy when you give me a compliment like this." Kodaka turns around and finds Sena looking down on the floor. As Kodaka tries to come up with a response, he finds Stella staring at them from the dressing room.
"My, my… I guess I chose the right outfit. This is perfect for Kodaka-sama."
"You're the one who did this! You're unpredictable."
"Based on your reactions, you have got a lot to see," Stella smirks at Kodaka.
"Huh?" Kodaka is puzzled by Stella's expression.
"You'll see it eventually."
Later that night, Kodaka tries to show Kobato the new clothes that he bought for her. Kobato, suspecting that Sena picked her clothes, refuses to try them on, thinking that Sena wants to embarrass her and make her feel uncomfortable.
"Hey Kobato, check this out. This pastel yellow shirt looks perfect on you. Try it on."
"I refuse. As the vampire of darkness, such clothes are too bright to fit me. They will also drain my dark powers away."
"Come on Kobato, you should try something new. Don't you think your dark clothes get too hot in the sun?"
"Ku Ku Ku. I must withstand every trial that I encounter. That's how a vampire retains its strength."
"Not this again. Don't be selfish and spoiled. Do it for me and Se…"
"It's for that monster, right? Go away." Kobato throws the clothes at Kodaka and runs away into her room. Inside her room, Kobato makes negative thoughts about Kodaka.
"An-chan is stupid. He's neglecting me too much. He only cares about that monster. I am his real sister. Why does he choose that monster over me? That girl is so scary to be with. I tried many times to tell him about my problems and he doesn't want to listen. I hate him. He likes it when I am being tortured by that girl: Clothes, TV, Games, Food, School, Shower, Club, Homework, Gifts, Everything! He used to buy me lots of games, but now he buys games for that monster. I wanna go home with An-chan. I wanna go back to how we were. I don't wanna stay here anymore."
Next, Kodaka tries to enter Kobato's room but finds it locked. Kobato refuses to open the door. Kodaka responds by sliding several pieces of papers underneath the door.
"Kobato, don't forget to finish your homework. You have a test coming next week in your remedial classes so you should study too."
Kobato refuses to respond. Instead of doing homework, Kobato throws her assignments into the trash can and starts going through her games. Kodaka hears game sounds and becomes furious.
"Kobato! Listen to me! If you don't finish your homework, I am going to come in!"
"You're not welcome." Kobato pushes the door shut. Sena uses the master key to unlock the door. As the door swings open, Kodaka is invited to a horrific environment. The room is a complete mess with blankets and pillows all over the floor. The lights fixtures are also tipped over and Kodaka and Sena can both see shards of broken glass all over the floor. There are also doodle marks on the walls and the bookshelf.
"Oh! Kobato-chan! You're going to make your big sister cry. She put all of her effort to making this room pristine for you."
"Kobato! Come over here. What is this about? You've brought this too far." Kodaka demands Kobato to stand in front of him.
"I hate this place."
"What?" Kodaka asks Kobato to repeat her words.
"I SERIOUSLY HATE THIS PLACE!" Kobato screams at Kodaka while throwing punches at him.
"Ok! That's it. I have reached my limits. WHAT IS IT THAT YOU WANT KOBATO?"
Kobato responds by throwing her stuffed animal at Kodaka. "I don't like here anymore! I want out of this place, now!"
Kodaka walks over to trash can and points at it. "I only wanted to remind you that you need to finish your homework. You also need to study the exams if you don't want to face expulsion. Instead, you locked the door and ignored me. When I come in here, this is what I find. Do you know how much harm you have inflicted on all of us lately?"
"Nobody here understands. You only care about that monster. Everything you do is just to make her happy. You never ask what I want and you give every treat to that monster. It's not fair."
"I've said it many times. We're living in someone else's home so we should give them respect."
"You give me no respect! You let that monster harass and molest me."
Kodaka knows he is unable to convince Kobato and decides to go back on topic. "Alright Kobato, you're grounded. I am taking away all of your anime and PS4 games. Until you finish your homework and tests, I am going to keep all of your possession."
"Hmph, I still won't do it."
"Then, I guess I will sell them." As Kodaka slowly unplugs Kobato's game console and TV, he feels an aura of rage from Kobato.
"AN-CHAN IS AN IDIOT! IDIOT! STUPID! IDIOT! STUPID! I HATE YOU AN-CHAN! I HATE YOU! I WILL JUST GO FIND SOMEWHERE ELSE TO STAY. GOODBYE!"
Kobato runs out of the Sena's house in tears. Kobato runs so fast that Kodaka and Sena could not catch up with Kobato. Stella helps by using her limousine. Despite her limousine's two large spotlights, Kobato is nowhere to be found. At the entry foyer, Kodaka and Sena are both arguing.
"Kodaka! You're the idiot. You scared my little sister Kobato-chan away! You're a horrible brother."
"Well, there were no other options I could think of."