Victor restrained himself from stepping back. His mouth opened and closed, wanting to say something but he couldn't think of anything. It made him look like a gaping fish. The news was all too shocking. He never thought Shindou and Kirino had a kid! And an adopted one like him!
"W... Wow." Victor choked out, holding his head, ignoring Hiromi's sigh of relief. He was still taking this new and shocking information slowly, "J-Just... wow. I... I would never have thought they had a kid." His choice of words made the brunette look at him coldly, "Adopted! I would never have thought they adopted!"
She didn't stop giving him the cold glare. Victor sighed. He didn't mean to offend in both ways, "...I'm sorry. I-If you're their daughter, h-how come I've never heard of you or even MET you?"
Hiromi moved her head to stare at the night sky in thought, "...Honestly, I don't know either." She said, "I've never met any children of my parents' friends, but I've always heard about them." Her eyes fell on the navy haired boy, "It's childish when they said I would have LOVED to meet them. But I never did."
Victor looked at her with pitiful eyes, "Urk, don't give me that look." Hiromi said, disgusted, "Just because I never met any of you, doesn't mean I should be glum about it. I already have enough on my plate." She shoved her hands into her pockets as Victor stared at her, something clicking in his head about what she said.
"What do you mean, you have enough on your plate?" He approached her slowly, noticing her eyes widen in realization, "Is there something bothering you Hiromi? M-Maybe I can help?" His mentally slapped himself for sounding weak. But can he blame himself? Some girl he meets today tells him that she's the daughter of his parents' friends and they hardly know each other. Victor swallowed, patiently waiting for her answer. He inwardly hoped she'd tell him, 'It must be a lot of pressure by keeping to herself' He thought.
Hiromi looked away in thought. Damn it! She wanted to punch herself for not realizing her own mistake. But... could she really tell him? She hardly even knows him other than the fact they're the children of their parents who were friends with each other. Hiromi glanced at the navy haired boy. He seemed worried about her. Maybe she should tell him.
Hiromi inhaled, "...Fine." She ignored his relief and beaming smile. She couldn't believe she was going to pour out her problems out, "I think something fishy is going on. And I think it has something to do with me." She continued before the new forward could say anything.
"The fact that I don't know anything is what I'm suspicious of." Hiromi said, she hated how weak and desperate she sounded, "You remember what happened in the field earlier right? When we introduced outselves."
Victor rubbed his chin in thought, trying to solve the puzzle she was giving him, "You mean your introduction? Now that you mentioned it, you didn't get a chance to introduce yourself. The coach did it for you." He stated, looking at her in realization.
"And here comes the suspicious part. He knew my name and I have NEVER met him in my entire life before I joined." Hiromi said.
"You mean you didn't introduce yourself before we came tumbling down the stairs?"
"Nice choice of words you chose there." Hiromi complimented with no sarcasm intended, "But no. I didn't. I don't think I've given anyone my name, let alone surname to anyone but your friend Sora."
"She's yours too-"
"I didn't want you to turn green with envy, so DROP IT." Victor felt offended she would say that to him but refrained himself from talking back. He felt there was a hint of sarcasm in this one, "So now you know what's been bugging me since yesterday. I told Sora I'd find out-"
Victor cut her off with a stern look, "I'm not going to let you. I'm going to help you." Hiromi looked at him like that was most ridiculous idea he had ever suggested, "Just hear me out okay? We don't know each and we've just met today. But I have a feeling that someone we know is involved in this."
"Like who?" Hiromi asked, feeling a pang of fear hit her inside. Victor bit his lip.
"Well, we can start with those who you suspect. I think the coach is just as suspicious if you're saying you've never told him-"
"I didn't," Hiromi growled dangerously with overconfidence.
"I'm just saying," Victor raised his hands in defense, "Look, we'll continue this another okay? It's really late now and I don't want to get my parents worried." He glanced up at the night sky with bright white stars twinkling from miles away in the universe.
Hiromi sighed, partly relief that their conversation ended, "Okay. We'll find another time to discuss. I'll see you tomorrow." Hiromi said, turning away from the navy haired boy
"You too!" He called out, watching her walking farther and farther from him. Victor turned his head to his road, about to walk back home.
"HEY VIC!"
"WHAT!?" Victor shouted back, unable to see the brunette's figure in the dark.
"DON'T YOU DARE INVOLVE SORA AND KUROYAMA IN THIS! YOU HEAR ME!?"
Victor's eyes slightly widen. He was planning to tell them tomorrow morning, but if she didn't want them involved then...
"SURE! I HEAR YOU!" Victor shouted back in reply, waiting patiently for her to shout again. Fortunately, it took less than a second.
"'KAY! NIGHT VIC!"
"YOU TOO!"
Victor began walking straight back home, no hesistation and no turning back. If she was going to call him again, he would ignore her and-
'Wait a minute.' The navy haired boy stopped himself short, 'Did she just call me Vic?'
"Hiromi come on!" Sora yelled with a big grin as she pulled the brunette by the wrist. Hiromi wasn't aware she had fallen back since she was so preoccupied with her own thoughts. Not a second later, they both arrived at the entrance of the meeting room where club meetings took place. Hiromi noticed that Victor and Kuroyama were already there waiting patiently for them.
"Let's go in." Kuroyama said. He moved his hand to the doors, but before he could even touch the surface, the doors opened automatically and revealed only the managers to be inside.
"Where's everyone else?" Kuroyama asked, stepping into the room as the others followed him to meet up with the managers.
"Not here yet," Miwana replied nonchalantly. She was wearing an orange tracksuit with her sleeves rolled up and was wiping a dirty soccer ball with a cloth, "We come here early to make sure everything's clean and tidy for the team." She threw the squeaky clean ball in with the rest of the tidy balls in the basket, "Done."
"I knew it was too early to come here." Hiromi muttered to herself as Kuroyama and Sora blushed. After all, they WERE the ones who dragged her and Victor here. Hiromi lost count of how many times Sora had to pull her out of her thoughts here because of slight sleep deprivation. She didn't get enough sleep because of the questions that haunted her mind last night.
"Well, since you're here, why not we give you your uniforms." Kimiko suggested. She was wearing a light green tracksuit and walked away to bring them their uniforms. Hiromi decided to take advatage of the short time frame and look around.
The room had lockers at the back and seats for the whole team in the front. And at the very front of the room was a gigantic white screen and a projector stuck to the ceiling to project projections onto the screen.
"Here you go." Hiromi blinked away from the lockers at the back and noticed the greenette standing in front of her with her jersey and jacket in her hands. Hiromi assumed she had already given to the boys, "There's a girls changing room next door, I can bring you there later."
"Thanks." Hiromi said, taking the clothes. She glanced at Kuroyama holding out his goalkeeper uniform and shoving it in the forward's face excitedly. The design was similar to the original uniform, but the colour scheme was different with blue on the top and brown on the bottom. Same white socks and green cleats.
Hiromi turned away to focus on her uniform. Curious, she set aside the rest of the uniform (which Kimiko generously offered to hold) to get an eyeful of the yellow jersey. It was identical to other players' jerseys; yellow on the top, blue at the bottom and collar and light blue stripes. The only difference was the number on the back when Hiromi turned it around.
"Number 8." Sora breathed from behind Hiromi's shoulder which made the latter shiver from the close presence. Sora, Victor, Kuroyama and Miwana crowded around the brunette to catch a glimpse of the number in blue, "Isn't that the only position left that the team doesn't have?"
"Only position left? What do you mean by that?" Hiromi inquired, stealing a glance at the bluenette who backed away along with the others to respect her privacy bubble. Hiromi turned to the greenette for an answer who smiled innocently.
"You know how there's only ten members who play on the team right? Before you guys joined." Sora asked, about to answer her own question, "Well, turns out they were missing another teammate to complete the entire team and that's yours."
She pointed to the jersey in the brunette's hands, "If I'm not mistaken, I think the previous player was a midfielder. And you fit the position perfectly!"
Sora did a happy skip as she took in the stares from her friends and managers uncomfortably.
"So... I'm wearing someone else's clothes?" Hiromi asked deadpanned with a slight feeling of disgust.
Sora turned red, about to correct her while the others laughed loudly.
"No. Of course you're not." Kimiko said before Sora could, "The other jersey was too big, since our last player had a big build. This one was entirely made for your size."
"How do you know my size?" Hiromi asked skecptically with her brows furrowed at the green haired manager. Kimiko looked equally confused as Hiromi.
"Didn't you say so on your form?" Hiromi's eyes widen. Form?
"What form-"
Hiromi was cut off from the sounds of the door opened and revealed the captain of the team striding in with his hands shoved in his pockets. He was followed by Namayaki and Yamada into the room.
"Oh hey, you guys are here early." Namayaki said, walking up to the group as Omiwari and Yamada went to a connected room leading to the boys changing room. Hiromi growled softly to herself for being interrupted, "I see you guys have your uniforms. Better change into it now, the others will be arriving soon. Come on, I'll show you the boys changing room." He said as he motioned Victor and Kuroyama to follow him.
"Come on, we'll show you the girls changing room." Kimiko said, "You come too Amemiya-san, we have a tracksuit for you."
"Please, just call me Sora." Sora replied with a smile, ignoring the irritated brunette as they followed the two managers to another connected room.
"Then you can call me Kimiko and her Miwana."
—
"What do you mean I filled out a form? I never did!"
"Hiromi, calm down-"
"I'm just as equally confused as you are! I really am! We were given the form with your name on it, a-and almost everything else about you! Even the back of the paper had a very detailed decription of you! And I thought you just had a sore eye for detail-!"
"Hiromi!"
Hiromi stormed out of the changing rooms and found Victor and Kuroyama seated together in the first row. Their jackets were similar to the one Hiromi wore. On the higher half of the jacket was light yellow and the bottom light blue. The sleeves were in the colours of dark blue on the outside and yellow on the inside. The pants were dark blue as well with two yellow stripes just above the hems of the pants. And the turtleneck of the jacket was striped with light yellow in the middle.
Hiromi also noticed a few more members of the team were there seated; Minowari, Ichijuu and Hamano, but she was too enraged to care about them.
With her hands shoved into the pockets of her jacket, she begrudgingly sat beside Victor. She caught a glimpse of Sora, in her light blue tracksuit, scurrying over to the big screen along with the other managers.
Victor noticed the brunette's anger, "Did something happen in the changing rooms? I heard someone shouting-"
"I could ask you the same thing." Hiromi interuppted rudely, hearing vauge shouting coming from the boys changing room.
"Yamada-san and Namayaki-san had a bet. Now tell me what's wrong." His eyes shifted over to Kuroyama who was obvious to their conversation, "I promised I'd help you."
Hiromi pursed her lips, "Fine... I- What happened to you?"
The three seniors had returned from the changing room and Namayaki had a towel draped around his neck and his albino hair was wet. He sat behind the duo, "I lost a bet and to put my face in a bucket of water." He replied, drapping the tower over his head.
"Hiromi..." Victor began sternly, partly caring whether she had asked the goalkeeper on purpose.
"I-"
"You guys have to watch this!" Nishiki pulled the trio out of their seats and over to crowd with loud laughter. Apparently, Hayami was showing the team the video he had taken of the captain eating the spicy ramen and they had gathered around him to watch it.
Forced to watch, Hiromi couldn't help but still laugh before shutting her mouth when she felt someone bump into her. It was the captain.
Hiromi had never wanted even more than to pull herself out of the crowd and avoid him. But nooo, she was stuck there with the captain by her side.
Hiromi heard the captain grouse. His eyebrow twitched irritatedly until her eyes involutarilly drifted to the sleeve of his jacket. Hiromi could see a large badge with the Raimon symbol clipped onto it and wondered about it's importance. With one big push, Hiromi was able to free herself from the crowd. As for her friends... let's just say they weren't so lucky as her in escaping.
"Hey Hiromi!" Hayami called cheerfully, bouncing up in her face, "I can call you that right? Great! Remember what I said yesterday? I wanna give you the video as a reward."
Hiromi formed an O-shape with her mouth.
"Uh, actually Hayami-senpai-"
"Don't have to call me senpai." He cut in amiabley.
"Uh, right, Hayami-san. I don't think I want the video anymore. You can keep it." Hiromi backed away.
"Oh." Hayami said, his smile deflating before giving a sad smile, "But I still wanna give it to you. You don't even have to watch it!" He added hastily, praying hard she would accept by mustering up the biggest pouty face he could. Hiromi attempted to turn away, but the redhead's face always inched itself closer to her face.
"Fine." Hiromi sighed in defeat. She ignored the victory face Hayami made along with a fist punch as she snatched his phone away from his grasp and begrudgingly entered her contact.
"There, done." She said, handing back the phone to Hayami, "By the way, why is it pink?"
"Oh, this belongs to my sister. I lost a bet to Yamada-san and had to swap phones with my sister for a month." Hayami answered, waving the phone.
"I see everyone's here?" A loud voice called out. Everyone whirled their heads over to the source and saw the coach and a strawberry blond woman with a clipboard standing at the entrance with smiling faces.
"Coach!" Nearly everyone yelled as they dashed back to their seats while the managers resumed to their position beside the big screen. The coach and the strawberry blonde woman walked up to the big screen. Hiromi had never seen the woman in the club before and assumed she was the tactical advisor of the club.
"I know we've done our introductions, but I want to introduce the new members to our tactical advisor, Naomi Kanon." Naomi waved at the three first years with a smile, "Let's get started then, shall we? Naomi?"
The strawberry blonde woman nodded and took off her red glasses. And at that very same moment, a hole opened up on the floor and out came a small, white table. Hiromi, Victor, Kuroyama and Sora all gasp in amazement. Naomi then walked up to it and placed her glasses on top of the table; the table glowed a bright white and a projection was projected onto the big screen.
"The table's connected to the projector, but you can't just put anything on it to make it activate. The table's programmed to accept Naomi-san's glasses, the coach's keys and the captain's badge. The one clipped onto his sleeve." Hayami whispered to the trio. He was sitting beside Namayaki on the second row.
The projection showed a logo that said Holy Road.
"Holy Road." Hiromi whispered to herself, leaning forward and eager to listen.
The coach smiled at the faces that lit up the whole room, "So, as you all know, the Holy Road is coming up soon. And I know this may be a rush to the new ones, but it's a golden opportunity we can't miss!"
The coach pulled out a small remote controller and pressed a green button. The screen showed a picture of the Holy Road Stadium, "For those who don't know about the Holy Road, it's a soccer tournament where soccer teams will have to go against each other."
The picture changed into a bird's eye view of the stadium.
"The stadium is besieged into a Russian Roulette. Two teams will be chosen to go against each other in any of the stadiums and the one who wins will get to advance to next stadium with their next opponent and so on."
The coach pressed a big red button and the projection offed with a silent zap.
"The Holy Road tournament is about in a week's time and I've already registered our team to join."
The team cheered. Even Kuroyama joined in before his smile turned upside down to which the coach caught sight of.
"And though it's a rush to the new members," He added, nearly missing Kuroyama's head that shot up, "I'm confident you'll get through this full week of soccer practice." The coach flashed a smile in Kuroyama's way who felt reassured, "And I hope everyone will get along, especially you Omiwari." All eyes looked upon the captain of Raimon who had his eyes closed. A few snickered as Hiromi smirked. It was going to be fun taunting him during practices as the coach continued, "Now that's that, let's practice!"
The whole team thundered again; most of them sped off to the changing rooms once Naomi took back her glasses and the table whirled itself all the way back into the floor.
Victor who was the last to enter the changing rooms stopped himself to see Hiromi walking straight up to the coach and Naomi. It sparked his curiosity and expectancy.
"Is there anything wrong Hiromi?" The coach asked, noticing the brunette walk up to them. Hiromi's right eye twitched at how freely he called her name. She refrained herself from asking about her name.
"I... I actually wanted to see my form." Hiromi said, noticing Naomi's eyes widen, "I was told I filled out the form, but-"
"You never did, did you?" Naomi finished. She started to fevereshily flip the pages on the clipboard until her heart stopped at a certain paper, "Here! Look at it!" Naomi shoved the clipboard into Hiromi's alerted hands. Like she expected to see, a neat application form was filled from top to bottom, with her full name being the first thing she laid her eyes on.
"I found it on my desk in the staff rooms. None of the staff had seen anyone come to my desk and put it there."
Hiromi's heart stopped when she unclipped the form from the clipboard and turn it around. There, staring back at her was a neatly written and long description of her. But it wasn't written in first person, like someone had been stalking her with a good eye.
'A girl with brown hair and blue-green eyes. She posses both the abilities of a good midfielder and defender, thus making her very strong against her opponents. As a midfielder, she is a very agile runner and can make close calls when it comes to stealing the ball or preventing an out once she's bounded across the field of the opposing team. While as a defender, she has eyes like a hawk and can scan the field in a few minutes. She also has an eye for watching how a team plays and their players' every movement and uses it to her advantage to figure out their plan.'
Hiromi couldn't handle it and pulled away from the form, "Naomi-san, I think I'm going to hold onto this." Naomi nodded understandingly, clutching the clipboard, terrified and looking as pale as a ghost.
Hiromi stuffed the form in her pocket and ran off to the changing rooms where the girls were waiting for her. Not knowing Victor had been watching, the navy haired boy hastily joined the boys in the room before he could be caught red handed by the adults.
"Keep your pace up Kuroyama!" The captain shouted at the shorter boy who struggled to keep up.
Once everyone had gathered outside, the captain had made them run three laps around the field as it was a daily thing to do during the start of every soccer practice. Kuroyama, along with Minowari and Ichijuu (he fell back to accompany Minowari) were at the very back of the team and the captain just frighteningly behind them. Hiromi was just in front of Victor and behind Nishiki. The brunette tried her best to avoid the captain during the run but he was either behind her or by her side when she jinxed it.
"This is a daily thing right?" Sora asked Naomi after turning away from watching Hiromi run away from the captain. She received a confirming nod.
"We're doing offense against defense. Kuroyama, you'll be the goalkeeper for the defense team." Omiwari said, being the last to join the team crowded around the bench. Kuroyama nodded with his chest puffed out. Namayaki wished him good luck and sat down on the bench, "Akashi, you're swapping places with Victor for forward." Begrudgingly, the silent redhead went to join the albino goalkeeper, "Since today's the first day for the new members, I want to see how well you all play when you're in a team. We're starting!" He called out to the coach who nodded knowingly as the captain started telling the positions to the new members.
Victor was placed in front with Nishiki of the offense side; Hiromi, Omiwari, Hamano's and Ichijuu stood behind them. The defenders, Minowari, Hayami, Yamada and Ookami stood in front of when Kuroyama stood as the goalkeeper.
The coach stood up and blew the whistle, signaling the game to start. Nishiki passed the ball to Victor as they sped off with the midfielders in pursue. Victor was stopped short when Ookami and Minowari came near and blocked him.
"Hiromi!" He yelled passing it to the brunette behind him. Hiromi caught the ball and like Victor was blocked almost in an instant.
"Captain!" Hiromi passed the ball to the captain who was blocked too. "Nishiki!" It kept on going; whenever someone was passed the ball, at least two of the defenders would be there to block them.
'So that's their plan.' Hiromi concluded as she watched Ichijuu pass the ball to Hamano who got blocked by Hayami and Ookami. Hiromi looked around. Her blockers had left her open to deal with the others. Yamada and Minowari, who were far from where she was standing, were currently busy blocking the captain and Victor. So that only left Nishiki, Ichijuu and herself open.
Hiromi's eyes averted to the where the boundaries were and yelled out to Hamano, "Hamano-senpai! Over here!" She waved her hand to grab his attention as she ran to the boundaries. Hamano hesitated to kick the ball.
Making up his mind, Hamano shouted out, "Hiromi!" He passed the ball to the brunette with a long kick.
"Nishiki-senpai! Get ready!" Hiromi yelled as the ball neared her. Nishiki gave a goofy grin.
"Get ready for what?" He asked jokingly as he ran passed the distracted defenders and towards the goal. He knew where this was going. He had seen that move countless of times.
Meanwhile, the ball continued to roll just right in front of Hiromi. Just when it was about to hit the ground and bounce out of the boundaries, Hiromi headed in for a slide. The ball barely touched the ground as the brunette caught it with the tip of her shoe, swung herself around and kicked the ball towards Nishiki's direction.
"Nishiki-senpai!" The ball swiveled passed the defenders and to Nishiki who gave her a thumbs up.
"Alright!" Nishiki yelled exuberantly, "Let's see what you've got Kuroyama!"
Nishiki squat down with his arms spread out at both his sides. A bright light promptly shone from behind him, making his figure look like a shadow from the front. In a flash, a golden dragon appeared and circled around him before twisting itself into a spiral behind the dark haired boy.
"Dragon Night!"
The spiraling dragon behind him turned into a bright full moon and a night sky. As Nishiki kicked the ball; a trail of burning flames followed after it and not a moment too soon, the golden dragon reappeared and made loops around the ball.
The ball zoomed passed Kuroyama, missing him by the ear as it earned the point for the offense team. The offense team roared with victory... mostly Nishiki though.
"Sorry I couldn't catch it. It was too fast for me." Kuroyama apologized to his fellow defenders in shame.
"Don't sweat it." Hayami reassured, pushing up his glasses. He placed his hand on Kuroyama's shoulder. "We didn't expect you to catch Nishiki-san's shoot-"
"But I still think that was overdoing it." Minowari cut in, glancing over to an over excited Nishiki bear hugging Ichijuu and Hamano.
"Yo Milo (pronounced MY-lo) head, don't interrupt." Hayami said, pursing his lips at him.
"I told you Hayami, stop calling me that!"
"But in the meantime, there's always room for improvement. We've still got a week to practices before the tournament." Yamada said, blankly ignoring his juniors' bickering. Kuroyama nodded in agreement, a sad smile on his face.
Hiromi who stood afar looked behind her and smirked.
"Nishiki-san... I think you can let go of us now." Hamano was choking under Nishiki's hug. His face turning from blue to purple and so was Ichijuu's who was desperately gasping for air. Hiromi couldn't help but snicker as she casually walked over to the trio, "It's just a shoot. You don't have to get so worked up about it."
Nishiki laughed wholeheartedly, "I know, but I haven't used my hissatsu for ages! Yo Hiromi! Nice pass there!"
Hiromi nodded her head with little acknowledgment, "You know, your pass reminds me of someone. We had a match with their team just yesterday before school started."
Before Hiromi could ask who, the captain's voice came booming from across the field.
"Everyone, get back to your positions! NOW HAYAMI!"
Hiromi amused herself by watching Hayami who dance around, easily dodging the fearful hits and kicks the captain was sending him.
"Nice pass there Hiromi." Victor praised, appearing from her side. Hiromi sent him a smile, "Thanks Vic." Hiromi purposely ignored the pink colouring his face while he muttered out rather loudly.
"Don't call me that."
Hiromi mouth curved into a sly grin. She loved finding victims to make fun of, "Why? Is there a special person who can call you that, eh Vicky?" She asked, teasing him by poking his shoulder. Victor had his face in a shade of deep red as replied instantly, "No!"
"Then I don't see a problem."
"...But don't call me Vicky."
"Whatever you want." Hiromi told him off as she stormed off back to her position when the captain pointed and boomed at her to stop flirting. She wanted to shoot back harsh swear words but bit back her tongue. He was their captain AND her senior, meaning you'd have to show them respect. But just because he WAS that, Hiromi wasn't going to let him have his way with her. Oh hell no, she wasn't.
Once she had stepped back into her position, the loud, high pitched sound of the whistle blew.
"She is also quite flexible as she is seen to be able to stretch her legs far enough to reach the ball. Not to mention, she has impeccable timing-"
Hiromi crumpled the form into a ball and angrily tossed it in the empty bin across her bed. Huffing, Hiromi fell back, sprawled on her bed sheets as she stared at the ceiling with her brows knitted.
That form had way too much information about her. It felt like having a stalker stalk you 24/7.
Hiromi knew it was a bad idea to read that form, but she so badly wanted to know who wrote it. She doubt it was the coach, since he looked just at shocked as her, or was he just faking it?
Hiromi sat up thoughtfully as she grabbed a pillow and rest her chin on the soft cushion.
'It doesn't seem like Ryoji wrote it either. His writing is much more messier.' Hiromi thought as her anger came bubbling back when she stared at the bin. Out of rage, Hiromi threw her pillow and it crashed into an empty bin, knocking it over to the door.
"If only I knew that person." Hiromi grumbled guiltily to herself before grabbing another pillow and screaming her head off into it.
"Hiromi? Are you still awake?"
Hiromi jumped at the voice. She glanced over to her door with a frightened look as she heard thumping footsteps climbing the staircase. Her dad was coming.
"Shit." Hiromi cursed softly as she immediately tucked herself into bed. While in a fit of panic, Hiromi reached out under her pillow and pulled out a small remote controller. She pointed it to the main light above her bed and with a push of a button, the light automatically turned off, right before the door opened with a click.
"Hiromi?"
Hiromi sank deeper into her sheets as she felt her dad walk into the room. She had her head facing the opposite direction and was trembling under the sheets. She felt her dad's presence near her bed and shut her eyes closed to make it look like she was asleep.
When all of a sudden, the lights switched back on and caused her eyelids to fly open. And that wasn't the only thing that flew. Hiromi felt her entire body was flung off the bed and onto the carpet covered floor.
"OW! That hurt!" Hiromi lashed out angrily at the person sitting on her bed, laughing his head off. That person happened to be a pink-haired man who had his hair tied into pigtails by the name of Kirino Ranmaru.
"I knew you weren't asleep yet." Ranmaru said, tears in his eyes as he watched his daughter climb back on the bed, murmuring, "I thought you only do this when I sleep in."
"I couldn't resist myself." Earning the pink haired man himself another laugh. Hiromi didn't find it funny one bit as she grumbled under her breath, "Alright, alright. I'm sorry. What's wrong sweetie?" He ruffled her brown hair affectionately as Hiromi dug her face deeper into the pillow she had grabbed.
"Nothing."
"Don't you 'nothing' me now young lady. Something's up." Ranmaru walked over to where the thrown pillow was and picked it up, "Else this wouldn't be on the floor." Hiromi turned her head away, huffing. Ranmaru sighed as she sat next to her on her bed again.
"Hiromi. What's wrong? You can tell me." But to no avail did his daughter give him an answer or reply back. Ranmaru desperately wanted to help his daughter with whatever problem she was facing.
However, Hiromi had grown to be secretive and distance from him and Takuto and Ranmaru couldn't figure out why; he asked her numerous of times but it seemed that girl had acquired a new personality; she had grown to be as stubborn as a rock.
"Go to sleep sweetie. You've got school tomorrow." Ranmaru told her, defeated as he reached out to the remote controller laying on the bed. With a press of the button, the room was engulfed in darkness just like it was earlier. The only source of light coming from the opened door.
Ranmaru kissed his daughter's head and made his way to the opened door before casting her one long look.
He heard Hiromi murmur a goodnight, then quietly and sadly, he walked himself out of the room.
"Goodnight Hiromi."
OMG! This is my first time I included one of the InaGo characters! And there you have it folks! Kirino Ranmaru, Hiromi's adopted father!
And a fun fact about Hayami. His mother is a Chinese; she travels around the world to learn about the different cultures and knows how to speak over 20 languages. And the nickname Hayami gave Minowari was the nickname his mother was given because of the similar hair colour.