Welcome to Chapter Seven. Since this is the seventh chapter, I'm ready to introduce Suguha Kirigaya to Origin Story, and Sophia will get her first physical appearance. Also, for Crimson Warrior Chronicles fans, Joshua will get an appearance soon, but not in this chapter. As always, thank you for reading this and please review and PM me to give me constructive criticism if I need it, or really, just tell me your thoughts about the story. I'm sorry if I'm not posting chapters as fast as I can, but I've been stuck with writer's blocks and stuff like that.

NOTE: In the Eastern (Japanese/Chinese) naming system, the first name comes last, so don't be confused if the names are backwards when a character introduces themselves to a Japanese character.

Translations

*#1: An old sailor-suit style school uniform, mainly used in junior high schools in Japan.

*#2: Nice to meet you.

*#3: Yes

Kawagoe, Saitama Prefecture

Japan, Real World

May 22, 2022

Ian Becker

Ian woke up at 10:12 A.M. to the sound of water boiling and Allan whistling. How strange it was to not be awoken by a big fat orange cat or a large-bosomed girl who he regarded as one of the most important people in his life, the boy thought, brushing his brown hair out of his face as he sat up.

"Looks like you still sleep in, little bro." an amused voice commented as the black haired man Ian knew as his older brother crouched beside his brother with a bowl of oatmeal in his hand, offering it to the younger boy.

"Yeah, when I'm not being bothered by a fat cat named Grif." Ian told him, taking the bowl.

"Or a big-breasted girl named Nikki." Allan smirked. "You already told me about her sneaking into your bed and pulling your face into her chest."

"It's not my fault that our sister has such a large bosom." Ian shot at his brother, taking a bite of oatmeal. "Although, I kind of do miss that for some reason."

"Huh, that seems wierd." Allan commented. "You visibly show displeasure when you do have it, but you miss it when you don't."

"It's interactions with her, that I miss Al. She's my twin, and we're very close to each other, so I'd even miss the interactions that involved suffocation by bear hug."

"That makes sense." Allan said, standing up to get his own food. "What are we going to do today?"

"I dunno." Ian replied. "I think I might try to make some new friends if that's possible, but exploration's definitely in order."

"Yeah. Don't want you to get lost again, so make sure you know where you're going." Allan reminded him.

"Ugh." Ian groaned. "I know."

Nikki Becker

Becker Residence, United States

"Damn it!" Nikki cursed, bringing her arm up to examine the fresh cut on her thumb as it began to bleed, the crimson liquid staining her hand. "So much for me handling the cooking without screwing up."

Since the Autumns were heading to the Becker Residence to visit them, Nikki was asked to cook food for them. Unfortunately, she had cut herself during that time and instead of cutting food up, she was now tending to her bleeding hand.

Grabbing some paper towels from the counter, Nikki pulled two of them off of the roll and meticulously wrapped them around her hand, making sure to cover her thumb up with it. Afterwards, the stubborn girl went back to work, paying more attention to her left hand as to not cut it again.

"Nikki, are you alright?" her mother asked as she walked into the kitchen half a minute later.

She must've heard me shout "Damn it!" at the top of my lungs after cutting myself. she thought.

"I just cut myself by mistake, it's nothing." Nikki replied, showing her mother the injured hand. "I took care of it."

"That isn't nothing!" her mother exclaimed. "How could you possibly neglect something like that?!"

"Like I said, I took care of it, Mom." Nikki continued to cut up cucumbers while listening to her mother worry about her. "Besides, accidents happen, and Ian and Al had the same thing happen to them before, but they sucked it up and moved on. It still hurts, mind you, but I'm fine."

Her mother sighed, knowing full well that the brothers had indeed harmed themselves by mistake before and moved on, acknowledging the fact that accidents happened.

"I know, and it seems that I was totally unaware of how much you are like your brothers."

"Maybe it's because I've spent so much time around them." Nikki said, pushing the perfectly sliced cucumbers aside and putting some carrots on the cutting board.

"Maybe. Do you need anything?"

"No. Not really."

"Okay." Nikki's mother left the kitchen, leaving Nikki alone again.

I'd love to call Ian, but he's probably in bed already, since it's around 10:00 A.M. over here. Time is such a silly thing, it seems.

An hour later...

After her unfortunate mishap, Nikki had finished up the cooking and cleaning, leaving her to simply pick out something nice to wear and wait for the Autumns to show up. Multiple outfits were drafted and tried on, but once again, she ended up in a dress. This time, however, it was a shorter red one.

It really seems like life is trying to make more feminine everyday, Nikki thought as she waited at the front yard. Like, the girly kind of feminine. And that's bad, to me at least.

Unlike her twin, who paced whenever he was waiting on something or thinking, she was capable of standing still, as demonstrated by her perfect statesque. After a few minutes of standing perfectly still, Nikki and her parents saw a silver sedan roll into the driveway and park behind the minivan the Beckers used.

The sedan's door opened and a family of four stepped out. They all had some shade of red in their hair, but the one with the boldest and longest red hair was the teenage girl who stepped out of the left passenger seat. She was a person the Becker twins wanted to see for a long time.

It's really you, Sophia. Nikki thought, tears of joy welling up in her eyes as she and her parents approached their longtime friends and embraced them, with Nikki hugging Sophia so hard that the air was being squeezed out of her.

"Oh, my gosh, it's been far too long!" the overexcited brunette yelled while the much more reserved redhead tried to breathe, despite the pressure her friend was exerting on her torso.

"Yeah, I know, it's great to see you, now can you please let me go so I can see Ian?" Sophia asked, trying to pry Nikki off of her.

"About that..." Nikki let go of Sophia at last, allowing her to breathe. "Allan went abroad and took Ian with him."

"Abroad?" Sophia asked, saddened by the news of her friend's absense.

"Yeah, to Japan. They're living together until they're ready to come back, and that's gonna take a while, so you'll be able to see him soon."

"Wait, really?" The redhead asked, relieved.

"Yep. Also, I think he told Mom to check on us if we ended up in a room together, but he was probably joking about that."

"He what?"

"I think he's had enough of my shipping attempts."

"Or more accurately, your teasing."

"Aw, come on."

"What happened to your hand?" Sophia asked, looking at Nikki's bandaged hand.

"I was cooking and the knife slipped. I took care of it myself, so don't worry."

"You two, let's get inside so we can eat!" Nikki and Sophia's mothers called to them.

"You sure you're alright?"

"I'm fine, Soph."

Ian Becker

Kawagoe, Japan

After eating breakfast, the brothers left the apartment and began to explore Kawagoe, performing small jobs for the citizens. After a few hours, Ian had familiarized himself with the area around the apartment and was already moving beyond it.

While running around the edge of the residential neighborhood that he got lost in on the first day, the younger brother was paying attention to his surroundings, basically mapping out the ways to the apartment.

I am not going to let myself get lost again... Ian kept telling himself. That was far too idiotic and lame, so if I get lost again, I'm gonna--

"Ow!"

"Ouch!"

Ian was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't see the girl from around the corner that ran straight into him, sending him falling onto his butt while following suit.

Scratch that. That was ten times dumber than getting lost.

Ian rubbed his head, trying to recover from the collision he just partook in. He had just cleared his vision when a hand was extended to him; the girl he bumped into had recovered first and offered assistance to Ian.

"I'm sorry about that? Are you alright, mister?" the girl asked him in Japanese.

"Uh, yeah, I'm fine." Ian reached out and took the girl's hand, allowing her to pull him up. The girl had short black hair, dark grey eyes that looked a tiny bit bluish, a short nose, and a pale complexion. She wore a grey seifuku* with a black collar, a black skirt, and a yellow bow, along with a long case that hung on her shoulder, by the looks of it.

"Are you sure, because I hit you pretty hard."

"Yeah."

"Um, I'm Kirigaya Suguha."

"I'm Becker Ian. Hajimemashita*." Ian bowed at a 90 degree angle while Suguha did the same.

"So, is there anything I can help you with, Ian?" Suguha asked.

"Um, geography lessons." Ian joked, although he actually did need them. "I did all kinds of research on your language, culture, customs, etc., but I didn't bother to research the geography."

"That sounds silly. If you're going to go to another country, then you should brush up on geography."

"Yeah, I know. Pretty stupid of me."

I am actually talking to a girl... that isn't Sophia or Nikki. he thought.

"Where are your parents?" Suguha asked, checking if her case was unharmed.

"I'm with my older brother right now." Ian answered, stretching out. "My parents are still in the US."

"Why?"

"My brother wanted to take me with him to Japan, so he got permission to do so."

"Was it...?"

"No. I wanted to come here. Is your case okay?"

"Hai*."

"What's in it?"

Crap, that was too nosy, you idiot!

"My shinai." the girl replied. "I've been taking kendo classes for years."

"That explains why you weren't as disoriented as I was." Ian said. "Wait, you take kendo?"

"Didn't I just tell you that?"

"You did, but I've been wanting to take kendo classes for years."

"Ahhh, I see." Suguha turned to the right and for the first time, Ian noticed just how well-endowed the girl was, and she even looked more so than Nikki.

Ian looked in the same direction as Suguha and he sighed, trying to clear that last observation from his mind. They stayed silent for about a minute until Ian spoke up.

"Um, were you late to anything, Suguha?" Ian asked.

"I was heading back home when we bumped into each other." she replied.

"Do you need to leave, because if you're late, I'm not going to keep you here."

"It's fine, we're right outside of my neighborhood right now."

Ian didn't say anything for a second, but he had a feeling that Suguha lived at the old-style house he waited for Allan at. That would've been a little funny, since that would've meant that he was right outside of her doorstep.

"Um, how old are you?" Suguha asked, breaking the silence.

"I'm fifteen, but my brother's twenty two."

"Two years older, huh, Ian-san?"

"Yep."

Should I ask about the house? Ian thought, not wanting to ask a sensetive question like that. However, Suguha took the lead on the conversation.

"We should get away from the road." Suguha began to go into the neighborhood, motioning for Ian to follow with her hand. "Come on, Ian-san."

Ian followed the younger girl deeper into the neighborhood, looking at the various buildings around them. After a moment, Ian decided to start another conversation.

"So, what do like to do, Suguha?"

"I like to practice kendo every day, and I like cooking too. What about you?"

"Exercise, drawing, cooking, learning stuff, etc., etc."

"Um, my brother's a bit antisocial, but he used to practice kendo too." Suguha stated. "I don't know what happened, but we had a bit of a falling out."

"Oh. I'm sorry." Ian felt bad for prying too much.

"It's fine. Do you like playing video games, because you could possibly make friends with my brother."

"Oh, I like to do that, but I'm not sure if he plays the same kinds of games as I do."

"Well, maybe you could help him out with his antisocial problems."

"You trust me that much?"

"I can tell that you're honest, Ian-san, so please?"

"I'll help you, but I should get to know you better."

"Okay."

Under Cover of Night played from Ian's phone, alerting him to a phone call.

"Uh, hold on a moment, Suguha, I've gotta answer this." Ian told her as he pulled his phone out and answered the call.

"Uh, hello?" Ian asked in English.

"Hey, little brother." Allan said. "How're you doing?"

"I'm okay." Ian said.

"Where are you right now? I don't want you to get lost again."

"I'm in that neighborhoid again, but I'm not lost."

"Still fixated on that house?"

"No, Al." Ian answered, not sure if he should tell his brother about Suguha.

"So, does that mean that you're talking to someone who lives there?" Allan asked.

"Um, yes, actually." Ian said, exhaling. "What about you?"

"I'm talking to people about my lure business right now, so I've got to go."

"Okay, take care."

"Bye." Allan hung up, leaving Ian feeling a bit awkward.

"Was that your brother?" Suguha asked.

"Hai. He wanted to know how I was doing."

"Oh, okay."

"You want to talk some more?" Ian asked.

"Tomorrow. I need to go home. You can follow me."

"Um, okay."

After some more walking and talking, Suguha and Ian ended up at the house Ian was curious about. At that point, Ian finally decided to ask about it.

"Um, Suguha?"

"Hai?"

"Do you live here, because I ended up waiting for my brother to pick me up here last night."

"I do. Um, thank you for keeping me company, Ian-san. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay, sayonara." Ian watched as Suguha ran up to the front door and opened it, entering the building and closing the door behind her.

Wow, that was cool. I actually got to have a nice conversation with someone around my age. Ian thought as he left the neighborhood. And it was a really cute girl too. Ugh, why am I thinking about this?! I should get back home!

After leaving the neighborhood, Ian broke into a sprint and headed back home.

Nikki Becker

Becker Residence, United States

After they ate lunch, Nikki and Sophia were dismissed so the adults could talk about adult stuff. Right now, they were in Ian's currently unoccupied room, talking about their time apart.

"So, all in all, I missed a lot of stuff." Sophia deadpanned after hearing about the past year's experiences from Nikki.

"Yep. Oh, check this out."

Nikki grabbed her phone from off of the dresser and turned it on, going to the gallery to show Sophia the photos Ian took in Japan.

"Here's some of the stuff Ian's seen over there." she said, handing Sophia the phone. The other girl took it and examined the photos, a look of wonder in her vibrant grey eyes as she looked at the photos.

"Did he really take all of these?" she asked.

"Yep. He's a really good photographer."

"Cool. Did he do anything else over there?"

"He did a video call so I could see everything in real-time."

"Okay. Does he not know my number or something?"

"He doesn't know it and Allan got him a new phone."

"Oh, that makes sense." Sophia decided to look around his room, which had the stuff he left behind in it. "He didn't take his stuff with him?"

"He only took clothes, money to convert to yen, his drawing stuff, and his photo album, which we copied." Nikki answered, picking up his pocket knife from the dresser. "He left this so he didn't raise questions at the airport or anything."

Sophia didn't say anything to continue the conversation, her eyes focused on the girl next to her, whose slender curves and impressive bosom seemed to catch her attention. She wasn't interested in girls as romantic partners, but she seemed really interested in her childhood friend's twin for some reason.

"What is it, Soph?" Nikki asked, noticing her staring.

"Uh, nothing."

"Don't bullshit me. I know when people's eyes go south."

"Fine. It's just that I feel like I'm... physically inferior to you, that's all." Sophia answered self-consciously, patting her smaller, but still nice bust.

"Seriously?" Nikki inquired. "If you're meaning what I think you're meaning, then you're not inferior, just balanced."

"Balanced?" Sophia was confused.

"Yeah. I might have an impressive bust, but you've got a softer face, you're a bit slimmer than me and you've got a nice hourglass figure. People are also suckers for redheads, namely my idiot twin brother."

"That's a relief."

"Uh. you know... I've been going at it wrong." Nikki suddenly asked.

"What?"

"All these years, ever since we've gotten to the teens, I've been trying to pair you two all wrong."

"With your teasing?"

Nikki nodded dolefully. "I should have just set you two up on dates and stuff, you know, instead of being a bitch. I could have done it so much better, but instead, all I've done is cause damage to our relationship..."

"You were always mischievous, so we assumed that you were just poking fun at us, besides, I'm cool with you." Sophia put her hand on Nikki's shoulder, then pulled her into a hug.

The brunette was surprised at first, then she returned the hug, setting her head in the nook between Sophia's shoulder and her soft bosom.

"No wonder he was so into you that day." Nikki murmured, relishing the comfort her friend's shoulder provided.

"Wh-- oh, seriously? Is my shoulder that soft?"

"Yeah, it is." Nikki disengaged herself from the hug and looked at Sophia, her brown eyes traveling up and down the redhead's body.

"Okay, now you're staring, Nikki."

"I know. What do you want to do right now?"

"I dunno."

The Destiny 2 soundtrack "Inner Light" played from Nikki's phone, alerting the girls to it.

"I've got this." Nikki assured, picking up the phone and checking the caller. Seeing Ian as the caller, she answered the call.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Nikki." Ian said over the phone. "Day Two's over, and I met someone new."

"Who?"

"A young kendo practitioner named Suguha Kirigaya." the boy replied. "I didn't want to notice it, but she even beats you out on the chest department."

"Whazawhat?" she spluttered. "You've met a girl already?"

"Yep. You have competiton, Nikki."

"You butt."

"Can I talk to him?" Sophia asked, itching to hear the boy's voice again.

"Um, Ian, can you hold on for a second?"

"Sure thing."

Nikki handed Sophia the phone, smirking.

"Yeah, you can talk to him."

Sophia put the phone on speaker and said "Hello?"

"Sophia?" Ian asked. "It's good to hear from you."

"Same goes. How is it over there?"

"I love it. I wish Nikki could be here, too, but she's got to stay in the US until I get back."

"Oh. Nikki asked about a girl. Did you meet another girl over there?"

"I did. She's a kendo practitioner named Suguha Kirigaya."

"A kendo practitioner?"

"Yeah, she's been going at it for years. I think she might be able to teach me some stuff about it."

"That's cool. Nikki called you a butt for some reason, but she didn't say why."

"I think it's because I told her that Suguha has a larger bosom than she does."

"Really?"

"It might have been the seifuku, but it looked a bit large. Not something I wanted to notice, mind you."

"Huh." Sophia lowered the phone and turned to Nikki. "You want to talk to him some more?"

"Eh, why not?" Nikki answered.

"Hey, Ian, I'm going to hand you back to Nikki."

"That's fine."

"Here, Nikki." Sophia handed the brunette the phone.

"You know, your photography isn't half bad. Sophia was totally amazed at the photos you took yesterday."

"That's nice to know. I'm really tired, so play nice, Nikki."

"I have been. I spent a good few minutes telling Sophia how much of a bitch I was to you and her."

"I never minded that." Ian said. "I just got revenge on you when you were too much."

"Like yesterday." Nikki said.

"Actually, is Mom in there?"

"No, she's with Dad and the other Autumns. Why?"

"Oh, because I wonder how long the makeout session lasted."

You're kidding me. Nikki thought.

"There wasn't a makeout session, Ian! Just a friend moment, that's all."

"I'm just yanking your chain. Anyways, I've got to go. Goodbye." Ian hung up, leaving the two girls alone again.

"Sooo, I guess I'm not alone on Ian's friends list." Sophia said.

"He didn't say that he made friends with her, just that he met her, silly." Nikki told the redhead, flicking her shoulder.

"Right. Okay, what do you wanna do?"

"I don't know, play Halo Reach 1v1s or something, I dunno." Nikki nonchalantly replied.

"Sounds good. We've got to ask, right?"

"Yeah, don't forget that. Let's see if our parents are done with the adult stuff."

"Yeah."

The girls stood up, brushing their clothes off and heading to the living room, where their parents resided.

"You know, you shouted 'There wasn't a makeout session, Ian' during the phone call. Why?"

"He was just getting payback."

"For the teasing?"

"You know it."