Hello everyone! I managed to update sooner this time but there are some bad news I gotta tell you:

I'm on a school tripoutside the country for a week from this friday and I can't take my notebook with me so yeah, no update for a week and half. I will update as soon as I return though so pleaaaaaaaaaasee forgive me and be patient, ok?

Either way, I love you, I love your reviews, reactions, opinions and yeah, your squeels XDDD Good luck with anything that you are doing right now and HANG OOON!

See ya, love ya, byeee~


Karma's P.O.V.

I looked over to my brother who was reading a book again. This time at least it was a normal novel, no stupid encyclopedia about some fucking Pigeonhole principle. He had lots of time before even starting that matter at school so why the hell was he learning it out now? Though this one was alright, the principle was easy to understand just kind of hard to use.

Gakushu has always been like that. Way too serious. Overworking himself. As if he wasn't enough. Damn and hell, he was.

Yesterday when he brought all of the stupid textbooks from his bag, he seriously killed the mood (and so did he now). As for why: First of all, I wanted his full attention, call me a baby or attention whore, I don't care. But it feels nice to have someone look after you after being ignored since childhood.

Second, the whole 'student' part of him seemed so wrong. I don't know how to describe it. It's just that at school, he was a completely different person than normally. Too perfect, too smart, too powerful. Cold, unsensitive, superficial. Fake. He wasn't my brother, he was just Asano-kun, son of the chairman and the council president. It felt as though he was trying to be someone the world would accept, regardless of what he wanted or needed.

But of course I was the only one who thought that. Everyone saw but a flawless, inteligent and handsome prodigy.

His father brainwashed him to be the best and to control everyone else. He never told me about that and still acted the same way before me, if it is because he could believe me enough to be himself or unconsciously, that I don't know. But once he was with someone else, he switched personalities. Gakushu became the ruler. However with that, he also developed some bad habits. Excessive studying is one of them.

I noticed the fact long ago and it still bothers me. He likes to stay up late to learn. All he does is read or train sports or instruments. And it drains him. You could say "but that's good!" or "he's so passionate!" or even "everyone should follow his example". But I didn't see it that way. To me, he didn't look passionate but desperate.

Ridiculous.

Just by the way, his overworking himself is going to take its toll and and it's not like it hadn't already. Like yesterday - All I needed was play a lullaby on my phone and he fell asleep (more like collapsed) right there and then.

Ah, this was giving me a headache. I would say that having such a troublesome elder brother was the exact reason I got sick so often - stress! Gakushu gave me too much to worry about. His head was no good and his personality either.

But really, my brain hurt. I was trembling too. What have I done to deserve such a shitty immune system? Indeed an irony - not even dozen of thugs could beat me and just a fucking cold got me spinning with the whole world.

Suddenly, I had another blanket over my bodx. The shivers didn't seem to cease though. Gakushu was sitting by my side, uknown to me until now, his face somehow concerned. He touched my cheek, muttering something about my fever going up and then he pinched me (?!). Washing the towel in a super-freezing water he put it over my forehead. I shrudded - way too cold for my liking.

"Are you okay?" For some reason, the strawberry blond frowned. I blinked three times to get my eyes working and nodded, not in the mood to talk.

"Doesn't seem like it. Sit up and drink some water, you need to stay hydrated."

But I was way too tired to even move a finger. Not to mention that my vision was pretty much distorted.

"Karma," the elder guy called out, waiting for me to straighten up and take the glass he was holding.

"I'm dizzy," I confessed, making Gakushu's eyebrows narrow even more.

He sighed and rised himself from the sitting position, slipping a hand under my neck. It surprised me but as he lifted my head and the glass touched my lips, I internally thanked him for being so helpful.

This was what I was talking about before. Was I wrong for longing for someone to take care of me when I need it? Having a person who shows love, concern, a person to let you know that you mean something to them. Someone to make my chest feel warm. A family. No matter how much I loved class E, how well I got on with Nagisa-kun, Nakamura or Okuda, Gakushu was special. He was my brother, part of my very existence.

"You know, you mean a lot to me."

Crap. Did I say that aloud? Judging from the shocked face of the latter, the answer was yes. This was bad. Whenever I ran a high fever I got into this 'completly-out-of-it' state and babbled all kinds of shit and all of my thoughts without even being aware of it. But about this one particulary - I didn't mind (unlike one time I told him he's a brainless dipshit tyrant because he forced me to drink some really bitter medicine).

The strawberry blond ruffled my hair (he really liked to do that) and his face formed into such a beautiful smile it made me happy I forgot that we had a serious fight just a few days ago.

"Go sleep, little idiot." He laid his head on the bed, looking straight into my eyes.

No need to tell me. It's not like I could stay awake any longer. But at least I drifted into Dreamland with his affectionate words lulling me:

"You mean the world to me."


Asano's P.O.V.

I was smiling. I don't know why but it felt so right that it made my eyes water. Seeing his cute sleeping face, hearing his gentle breathing, feeling safe and all alone with him. Nothing to fear. No screaming like when we were kids. No psycho father or ignorant mother. Just us.

"Nii-chan, are they fighting again?"

I hated it when he asked. Because that's when the lively eyes of a five-years old went completly cold, uncaring and defensive. And every time this question came out, the answer was same:

"Yes,"

"Why?"

It was simple. They hated each other. They couldn't stand hearing the other breathing, not to mention having each other on eyes. That was the truth but my reply to the child had always been just a deceit:

"I guess it's just another stupid thing."

And he just stared at the direction of shouting without a word. I never noticed, or more like I didn't want to, but his face would always scream liar. Because he knew. He has always been a smart kid.

"It's okay though, as long as we are together!" He was the one declaring that, every time the mood dropped as the two adults went after each other's neck and we locked ourselves in a bedroom. In the only place we were allowed to be happy. It was quite hard to tell if he was just forcing the smiles or if really meant his words, but I did:

"Yeah. Forever together."

These kinds of promises are never easy to keep. More like they exist in order to break.

"From today on, I will take your brother into my care. You will stay with your father."

That was the final decision of the court. I went with the chairman because I resembled him a lot and mom had enough of that man. Karma from that time used to have slightly red to strawberry blond hair so she didn't mind. Also, the older he got, the more reddish they got. At least he didn't have to worry about the appearance now.

I have always worried about him living with mom. She wasn't the type to take care of someone and Karma was still a child back then. In my case, there was no problem as the chairman wouldn't even touch me and made sure to raise me into a strong person with all skills and knowledge. He had his servants to cook, wash the clothes - we didn't have to do much.

Karma was different. The woman we used to call mom spent all of the time with her boyfriend Akabane, leaving the kid alone for most of the time. Mister Akabane wasn't a bad person - he sometimes looked out for him to make sure the redhead didn't get into any danger but couldn't do much as the two of them didn't meet a lot.

There was one time when Karma tried to cook for the first time and got himself injured. He was lucky enough that I decided to visit. While trying to make a simple curry, he cut himself deep into a palm and hissed in pain. It was the first time I felt my heart beating so fast and my head so messed up. I was scared with all the blood around. What scared me even more though was the fact that redhead was not crying, just dully watching as the the red liquid oozed from his injury. As if he thought it didn't matter. As if he thought he didn't matter. After recovering from the shock, I cleaned the wound with water and went for bandage.

Since then, I started learning cooking from our chef to make food to the kid and teach him myself.

Though he didn't accept the lessons and got better than me.

Damn brat, to reject my tutoring after all the effort!

But well, seeing the face now - to think this was the cute little child running after me, laughing so innocently and cheerfully - I couldn't help but think it suits him just so much. Both the mocking, rebelious Karma now and the small, smart boy who liked to play all games - from the table ones, video games or just sports.

And yet, even in that age, he understood the important and serious stuff.

I hated it.

The fact he was deprived of his childhood.

That he was forced to mature so soon.

Because if he didn't, how would he survive? In this hostile, dangerous world?

Either way, the past is the past. We live in presence and I will make sure to give him a perfect life without things to worry about. Karma is still an immature kid so he can't know what's really good for him. To be swayed by those failures of E class - I wouldn't let that happen. Even if it meant forcing him, even if it meant fighting, I wouldn't let him do things he would surely regret later.

But seriously, I needed to get his fever down. Medicine didn't work out that much so if it comes to it, I guess I will have to drench him in cold water. I actually did this once when he was nine and had more than 40 degrees celsius (104 Fahrenheit). He cried so hard, shouting that he was going to freeze to death and I didn't know whether I should have laughed or felt guilty. Maybe both.

What was left for now was to pray there wouldn't be any need to undertake that kind of treatment. And if yeah, hopefully Karma wouldn't be crying a sea of agony.