Please check out the notes at the end, I have two important announcements!
Once again thanks so much for the reviews, Aryssa :3 And to everyone who's reading too!
"Since how long have you and Akabane been brothers?" Koyama asks and the idiocy of that question makes Gakushuu cringe.
He barely stops himself from giving him quite the disdainful look: "Since he was born?"
Yet even such a simple answer seemed to baffle the boy terribly. He opens his mouth, then closes it again, and when it appears he finally found the words, gets beaten to it by Seo:
"Are you sure though?"
Once again, Gakushuu takes a deep, really deep breath to calm down and smiles: "Yes. I'm sure."
The virtuosos look at each other, helplessly trying to make sense of what is being said. When they flocked him after the second period, during one of the longer breaks, he really didn't expect this to be the topic. Though he supposes he can commend them for holding out and not doing so the very first time they found out the news.
Sighing, he pulls his phone out. They follow his fingers but the screen is too tilted and far for them to see him open a certain external app with an encrypted file. He finds what he is searching for, albeit he hesitates visibly before turning the screen to them.
"That enough of a proof?" Gakushuu asks, a photo in his hands. It's an old picture from about ten years ago of him and Karma on the first day of kindergarten (or in his case, the first day of his second year of kindergarten). The siblings both hold a single gerbera daisy each, grinning from ear to ear while being carried in their parent's arms. It's one of the few photographs of his whole family together, a beautiful capture of spring and warmth and to a certain degree, it holds importance to him. Showing it to his classmates (friends, they were friends) leaves him exposed, in a slightly uncomfortable and vulnerable way, but he tries to tell himself that's only the remnants of all the years of keeping it a secret. There is no reason for him to hide now anymore, after all.
The virtuosos gawk at the screen.
"Oh my god," Ren is the first one to recover, covering his mouth in shock. "First of all, that's... really cute. Never thought I'd see your baby photos. Second, I can't believe you're really brothers."
"Yeah, I gathered that," Gakushuu snickers and that seems to loosen up the atmosphere a little bit.
"So he really is-" Seo starts, voice raspy, "you really are siblings."
"For the last time, yes."
"You actually look like twins," Koyama comments upon closer inspection of the photograph. "You're alike even now. Never would have guessed though. Considering your personalities and stuff."
Gakushuu admits that they do have some similarities but never knew they were that alike. It's quite a surprise then, when apparently not only Karma's classmates find them almost identical, but also the virtuosos. However, they do say that family members never notice these things since they see each other all the time.
"Do you guys get along? You were really at each other's neck every time we met," Ren asks, remembering particularly the trip they had to share with class E. To be exact, the terrible pranks the redhead pulled on them haunt him to this day.
"We do, most of the time. We put on an act at school just to not raise any suspicions from the chairman. We do fight a lot, although we always sort it out in the end."
"Actually sounds like a healthy sibling relationship," Araki notes, fascinated.
Gakushuu rolls his eyes theatrically: "I love him but can't stand him at the same time, he likes being an immature brat."
Well, it's not exactly wrong. Still, something in the back of his head reminds him that Karma has actually been nothing if not reliable and strong recently, and his heart sinks a small bit.
"Wow. I don't think I've ever seen you this genuine, Asano," the other boy points out again but upon realizing what he said, startles: "Sorry! I didn't mean it like that, it's just-"
"You actually have feelings," Seo finishes for him. Gakushuu raises an eyebrow at that, awaiting an explanation with a rather sharp glare. The dark-haired boy senses his life might be in danger and raises his hands in defence, clarifying: "Sorry! No offence! It's just that it was hard to see you as another human with emotions since you've always been this pitch-perfect student council president that everyone looked up to. So we- I just- It's nice to see that you can smile and love and feel exasperated."
Ren immediately cackles into his elbow, which is the only thing that jolts the strawberry blond back to reality. The others look at the brunette, confused and probably a bit annoyed at the reaction.
"Sorry, it's not what you said. I just find it funny because I literally told him the same thing a while back. The whole being the untouchable perfect student," Ren confesses after calming down.
"See? It's true! Right?" Seo exclaims, carefully glancing at Gakushuu as if afraid the latter was going to bite his head off.
The strawberry blond is feeling quite gracious today though, so he lets it slide with a half-hearted scowl. His gaze falls back on the photograph and for the first time in achingly long, he allows himself to fully take it in. Bits of that day still flicker in his mind, but he can barely make out anything before and after the moment they captured here. He remembers Karma being excited to finally attend kindergarten with him and even has a faint recollection of his father initially holding both of them until mother complained about looking out of place. He recalls wanting to be carried by her too, but letting his younger brother cling to her instead.
"It's so strange seeing the chairman laugh like this," Koyama suddenly proclaims, which earns him agreeing hums from the others. "He looks so young too."
Gakushuu nods wordlessly. In his memories before the divorce, his father smiled wide and often, while his mother was the calmer parent. But no one would believe that now. Probably not even Karma.
Then, the dreaded question comes. He wavered about showing them the picture because of it in the first place before arriving at the conviction that it was time to open up. Still, even if he expected it, having it be voiced out knocks his breath away.
"Is that your mother, Asano?"
It should be simple. So he exhales steadily and replies:
"Yes."
Innocently, Ren joins: "She's really beautiful. You actually take after her too, especially your nose and lips."
"Oh yeah, I see it now," Seo agrees, taking a glance at him and then back. "You look more like her than the chairman, somehow."
Gakushuu raises an eyebrow at that. He's lived his whole life believing there was an even and strict separation in their family: Karma who took after their mother and Gakushuu who resembles his father. In a way, wasn't that also why they stayed with each parent, respectively?
"Really?" He manages, though his voice sounds strained. "Everyone always said Karma looked like her."
Ren hums in contemplation: "Maybe because of the eyes. Also, I feel like his hair in this photo isn't as red as it is now, it used to be pretty light so it was close to her colour, maybe that's why they said so? But overall you have more of her. Especially when I look at you now-" he scrutinizes the strawberry blond's face, "yeah, splitting image."
Something inside of Gakushuu moves and he dares call it something akin to joy. But he doesn't get to dwell on it for long, because another difficult matter surfaces:
"What does she do? I don't think we've ever got the chance to meet her," Koyama wonders out loud.
As a morbid joke, he considers saying me neither. Probably wouldn't get him the desired reaction though so he scraps the idea.
It takes Gakushuu longer than he'd like to admit to formulate his response. His resolution suddenly falls flat in the face of reality and he finds, he really can't say it. Not in the open like this, not yet. He opens his mouth but struggles to let out any words.
That doesn't go unnoticed by the virtuosos. Ren, thank god for Ren honestly, immediately gets the message. He claps his hands loudly, which snaps everyone's attention to him and declares: "Alright! Enough questions for today, we need to prepare for next lesson, don't we? What did you get in your homework?"
"We had homework?!" they collectively scream and scramble to the seats to fish out the textbooks.
They don't and Ren is well aware of it. Thanks to him, Gakushuu's sitting by the desk on his own, mercifully spared from the embarrassment. He sends the brunette a grateful smile.
A bit later into the class, he starts typing a message. Initially, he only wants to thank him, but after a minute of contemplation, he adds the whole (shortened) story: My parents are divorced. I don't have contact with her because she's overseas and remarried. It's kind of difficult to talk about. Thank you for not forcing me to say it.
Ren finds his gaze and offers a soft, reassuring smile. It does more for Gakushuu than he cares to admit.
The end of the day rolls around faster than expected.
The last bits of sunrays peak through the blinds and Gakushuu relinquishes them on his skin. It's a temporary peace, a modest victory in the midst of the calamities as of late. Unfortunately, even this precious time has to end, as all his classmates as well as virtuosos bid him goodbyes.
"You coming?" Ren stays behind. It's a small gesture but one he's never had the luxury of receiving (unless his classmates needed favours) and it warms the strawberry blond up. He supposes he's not that hopeless yet when it comes to friendships.
"Yeah," he stands up and they head toward the exit.
It's gotten considerably cold and Gakushuu dully wonders if his little brother has packed enough layers. That idiot would probably get sick again, considering his terrible immune system. Speaking of, he hasn't heard from him the whole day. The phone screen remains unperturbed, with no new notifications begging for his attention even as he directly opens their chat. It's not exactly strange, but the redhead has been diligently sending him memes and videos lately, so it does make Gakushuu wonder what came up.
Suddenly, the brunette in front of him comes to a halt. Gakushuu slightly bumps into him due to not noticing it fast enough and looks up, only to see the boy frozen.
"Ren? What's up?"
Instead of an answer, he gets swiftly dragged around the corner. The strawberry blond protests when there's a hand over his mouth until the other boy beckons him to stay silent. He tries to crane his neck to see what it was that disturbed his friend so much, but Ren towers over him and effectively blocks the view.
"What the hell?!" he quietly screeches, not shying away from showing his displeasure.
"Asano-kun," the brunette stresses, both hands landing on his shoulder. "I'm sorry for being rough. But I just saw something and I might be wrong but in case I'm not, I need you to calm down, okay? There's-" he stops, unsure of how to break the news."See, there's... something. That I don't think you're going to- I don't know the situation of course but from what you told me, maybe it'd be a bit difficult for you to, uh... It's-"
"Just spit it out already," Gakushuu snaps, growing more anxious with each sentence Ren fails to finish.
"Right, sorry. I just wanted to warn you so that you wouldn't be shocked. Okay?" He asks, worry apparent in his eyes.
The strawberry blond doubts anything can surprise him anymore, considering he felt pretty dead inside at this point but nods. With that, Ren sidesteps and grants a free view of the hallway.
There, just a few steps from the entrance stand only two people. He can easily recognize the chairman and the stoicism in his face. Interestingly enough, the man's gesticulating and that's a telling sign for Gakushuu that whatever he's saying, he's serious about.
Opposite to him stands a woman.
Rather tall for Japanese, reaching the chairman's temples without any heels. Short, light hair that goes well with her smart and put-together dress.
In Gakushuu's memories, she's taller and has longer hair. He remembers her more as a constant, soothing presence rather than the petite figure in front of him. Still, even if she had cut all of her hair and he had grown taller than her, even if it was ten, twenty, thirty years later and she'd show traces of time passing, he would never fail to recognize her.
And it takes all self-control in him to not call out to his mother.
Gakushuu wills his heart to calm down. He senses Ren's concerned gaze on him before he even speaks up:
"So I was right. That's your mom."
He's really, truly grateful for many things Ren has done, but this wins by a landslide. It's rather safe to say that had he not received a heads-up, he might have screamed in horror right then and there. The forced smile he gives the brunette back says just as much.
Instead, Gakushuu now has the opportunity to listen in and find out what the actual hell is going on.
Their voices are faint, barely audible. Both of them strain their ears to be able to even make out any words.
"-was the deal. You don't interfere with Karma and I don't interfere with Gakushuu. That was the only reason I stayed away. If you intend to break that agreement, then I'm going to fight for Gakushuu too. Do you think I didn't miss them?"
"I'm not sure how true that statement is, considering you left our youngest alone in that house and disappeared to Singapore."
"I did that for his own good. You don't know what he was like after you left, you have no right to criticize me."
"Maybe, but I know that he could have at least stayed with me if you weren't ready to take responsibility for him."
"You think I wanted to leave Karma behind? I tried to take him with me but he refused and cried about wanting to be with his beloved dad and big brother again. At some point, he hated me for separating from you. When I was home, he'd stop talking, he wouldn't play or even eat. Was I supposed to drag him against his will?" she fired back at him with furred brows. "Take responsibility? Don't make me laugh, Gakuho. You're the last one I want to hear that from. You were the one who decided to run away from us and bury yourself in work."
The chairman has no answer to that. He looks down in a manner uncharacteristic of him and it's the first time Gakushuu marvels at how docile he behaves in front of his ex-wife. Even the fact that he spoke calmly jarred him from the moment he heard them talk. It's not every day that the man just lets himself be condemned without retaliating harshly.
"As I know you, I can guess what kind of parent you turned out to be to Gakushuu. Karma doesn't tell me much but I have no doubts he's in contact with Gakushuu. The fact that you weren't aware of it until now shows that they don't trust you any more than they trust me. So don't go around spewing rights and wrongs about our children."
Behind the strawberry blond, Ren silently hisses. Gakushuu almost forgot he was there and it almost makes him laugh when the boy mutters "Burn"- if he himself wasn't the cornerstone of said burn.
"I have my reasons and you have yours. We can settle this in court." Gakuhou concludes after an uncomfortable staring contest which he, to both teenagers' absolute terror, seemed to be losing.
"No can do. I don't feel comfortable dragging our children into this mess but this is not something the two of us can just decide and force onto them. Sooner or later, we will need to tell them what's going on and I'd prefer it to be sooner," she suggests, her tone firm but tired.
The man's face tenses and he protests: "Actually, they already know-"
It's then that she turns away and stops him right there: "We can continue this conversation later in your office. I want to see Gakushuu first. Where is he?"
Having his mother specifically search for him makes the boy start sweating buckets. He's missed her and wishes to talk to her again, but the circumstances are wrong. His traitorous body shakes in apprehension and he's not sure if he can move from the spot.
"Asano-kun," Ren suddenly grabs him by the shoulder, the weight grounding the strawberry blond. "Calm down. What do you want to do? Do you want to leave or-"
"No," he answers a bit too quickly. "No, I want to meet her. I'm just..." he swallows hard. "I haven't seen her in ten years, you know?"
Ten years is a lot of time. Enough to grow distant, to become someone else than the boy she once loved. He wouldn't even know what to say in the first place. Would she? Would she even recognize him?
"You're overthinking. I can hear the wheels turning in your head, Asano-kun. If you missed her and don't hate her, then go and speak to her. Just don't forget what's really important to you," his friend interjects, his brown eyes warm and supportive. Gakushuu finds strength in them and it's probably the very reason he regains control of his limbs and steps out.
The instant his parents spot him, it's like time stops. All three of them were at a standstill, unmoving and caught in their own world. His father seems fairly surprised but it's the way his mother's eyes widen and suddenly turn watery that moves the strawberry blond. She recognizes him after all, he thinks. She does.
"Father," he greets out of politeness, tone steady and neutral. Then he turns fully to his mother, unsure of how to call her. Before he even gets to say hello, she's running to him and engulfing him in a hug so tight that he almost falls down.
"Gakushuu," she breathes into the back of his neck, hands running down his hair and caressing them. Then, as if shocked, she pulls away, though hesitantly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. Do you remember who I am?"
He blinks.
How could he ever forget?
"Mom," the strawberry blond says softly and watches as her face lights up.
"Yes. Gosh, you're so big now. I can't believe it," she mutters wistfully while brushing the hair out of his face. Gakushuu feels like a fish out of water at the affectionate touch and she probably notices it.
"What is this?" she suddenly taps at the gauze on his cheek, lightly, but it still makes him wince.
Oh right. He's been developing an ugly bruise there and kept the white dressing on his to hide it from the world.
His mother seems to catch on quickly. It's both eerie and poignant that she reads him so well, better than most probably, despite being gone for most of his life. Has she always been this observant?
The woman turns to the principal, her stare icy cold: "Gakuho,"
His father does a good job hiding it but Gakushuu knows that he stiffens.
"Have you been hitting my son?"
Regret washes over the chairman at that question and he casts his eyes downwards: "It was lamentable and shameful of me. It happened once but won't ever again."
"I'll be using this in my case against you," she threatens and Gakushuu gets chills listening to her despite not even being at the receiving end. Somehow, he's never known that his mother was equally fierce and witty as his father, though he supposes it makes sense. He can't imagine the chairman settling for anyone meek, after all.
"If you touch him or Karma ever again, I will personally come for you. Don't test me."
And with that, she returns her attention to the strawberry blond once again. She talks to him a bit more and ends up giving him her phone number. We can talk later, she promises and he nods, feeling like a child that she left behind all those years ago.
Caressing him for the last time, she bids him goodbye with a sad smile and walks away with the chairman towards his office.
He stands there, watching them walk away.
"Are you okay?" Ren asks at some point, joining his side. The sun had set by now and they were all alone in the school building.
"Yes," Gakushuu replies on instinct. He really should get going now, put one foot in front of the other before they took root and soaked up any more of the turmoil brimming on this ground.
And in the middle of this all, Karma was still nowhere to be found.
(that's because he's busy fighting Nagisa)
Anyway! Two big announcements!
1. I have an account in ao3. It's called Ms_Lovepoem (because it's actually a wordplay at my real name) and I've actually posted some things there already. I intend to rewrite and improve the first half or so of this fic, since I wrote it long time ago and am not very happy with it anymore and then I'll update it on this website as well as share it on ao3. So if you're interested, make sure to follow me there. Once I finish this fanfic, I'll probably be active only there.
2: I don't know if I ever mentioned it but I also paint :D I felt compelled to draw the photo Gakushuu showed to the virtuosos (to get a better idea of who his mother was, looked like, what they were like as a family). Thought it would be a shame to just delete it afterwards so I decided to make an Instagram page dedicated to my drawings. Expect me to post things related to my fics and also just random fanart. Would greatly appreciate it if you checked it out :) The account is of the same name " Ms_lovepoem"
Love ya!
Next update: Saturday September 2nd
