Childhood Part XV – Confusing Feelings – Start

The words "Game Over" flash on the screen as Komaru spins her light gun on her finger and smirks. "Pretty good aren't I?" She turns to face her brother with a smile on her face.

"Wow." Makoto replies blinking. "Since when are you that good at this type of game?" He asks and the brunette girl shrugs.

"Don't know." She gazes towards Chiaki with a competitive stare. "Maybe I'm just a natural at this."

Chiaki turns her head to the side, clearly uncomfortable.

Makoto notices it and turns to face Tsumugi. "Would you like to try?" He offers the fake gun to the otaku, who shakes her head negatively.

"No, Onii-sama. I don't like those types of games." She says and the boy nods understandably.

"Well, how about we grab something to eat?" The brunette asks, partially because he was getting hungry, but also because he felt that Komaru's strange behaviour was starting to make the atmosphere uncomfortable.

"T-That sounds great… I think." The mauve-haired girl still not looking at her friends.

"Well, all that dancing did make me a little hungry." Tsumugi replies, completely oblivious to the situation at hand.

"But I wanted to play some more!" Komaru pouts, then crosses her arms. "But fine, if you all want, then let's go." She is quick to grab onto Makoto's arm.

Okay, now Makoto knew something was up.

Komaru, not wanting to go eat right away?

As everybody starts to go out of the arcade, Chiaki distances herself a bit front the group by walking slightly ahead.

Meanwhile Komaru speeds up, leaving Tsumugi slightly behind.

Makoto watches as everybody gets their food and sit down at a table.

The silence between the group of friends is deafening to the older Naegi, the normally chatty group is now just awkwardly averting their gazes and staring at their plates.

Makoto looks towards Komaru, who normally would be chewing down at her hamburger, but now is just staring at it. "Hey Komaru?"

The brunette girl looks towards him and smiles. "Yes, Onii-chan?"

Her smile disappears once she sees his serious expression. "Can we talk?" He points to somewhere just outside of the food court. "Alone, I mean?"

The younger Naegi nods reluctantly. "O-Of course." She gets up and the two turn to their other friends.

"Excuse us for a second, me and Komaru have something to talk about." The brunette boy smiles softly. "We'll be right back."

"Okay." Tsumugi replies, raising a eyebrow.

Chiaki just silently nods.

The two siblings make their way into a more secluded area outside of the food court.

"Komaru." Makoto calls and the girl shudders.

It was his disappointed voice.

"Y-Yes?" She replies, averting her gaze.

"What's going on?" The brunette asks, sounding worried. "You've been acting weird since we got here."

Komaru shakes her head. "I-I don't know what are yo-" She is interrupted.

"You've been ignoring Tsumugi since earlier today." Makoto approaches. "Not just that, but you have been pretty rude to Chiaki-chan for absolutely no reason." He sighs. "So, don't try to act like nothing is going on."

Komaru doesn't say anything, she simply tightens her fists.

After some seconds of silence, the boy sighs again. "Please Komaru." He puts a hand on her shoulder and smiles softly. "I'm your brother, if something is bothering you, please, tell m-" Before he can finish, Komaru slaps his hand away from her shoulder. "Ow!"

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" The brunette girl yells, while closing her eyes shut. Luckily there isn't anyone around them. "YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!"

Silence falls as Komaru opens her eyes and sees Makoto holding his hand with a shocked and confused expression. "K-Komaru?"

The girl opens her mouth to apologize, but the only thing that comes out is a faint. "Onii-chan…"

After some seconds of the two siblings staring at each other, Komaru does the only thing her mind could think of.

She runs.

Makoto extends his arm and yells. "KOMARU, WAIT!" He tries to run after her, but his luck decides to strike right now and the brunette trips on his own feet and falls to the ground. "Ow!"

Komaru runs past a worried Tsumugi and Chiaki that heard her yell and came to see what was happening.

She heard the two calling her name, but the grip in her heart stopped her from turning back.

After running without any direction for a while, Komaru finds herself close to a fountain.

The brunette girl sniffs, before sitting down at the bench just in front of that fountain.

She felt horrible.

While running, she thought back on her actions today and just like her brother said, she was been such a terrible person to her friends.

She ignored her friend, of whom was already bullied at school.

She was acting rude to Chiaki, of whom Komaru knew had a problem with making friends because of her talent in games.

And she even slapped her brother, who was just trying to help her.

The brunette girl felt tears form in her eyes. "I really screwed up didn't I?" She held back on her tears, after all, there are some people walking around the fountain, and she didn't want to deal with anyone right now.

So, for several minutes, Komaru just stared at the fountain behind her and sniffed silently.

"Hey." A voice calls.

"Huh?" Turning her head to look towards the voice, Komaru sees the blue-haired otaku standing there, looking at her. "Tsumugi-chan?" The brunette quickly wiped her tears away and watched as her friend stopped in front of the bench.

"Can I?" She asks, pointing to the empty space by Komaru's side.

The brunette nods slowly.

Tsumugi sits down and silence falls as the two girls just look away from each other, both searching for what to say.

After some more minutes of silence, the two finally look at each other and bow.

"I'm sorry!"

"I'm sorry!"

They say at the same time.

"T-Tsumugi-chan?" Komaru quickly looks up with a shocked expression. "W-Why are you apologizing?"

The blue-haired girl pulls a strand of hair behind her ear. "Well, after you run off, Naegi-san explained what happened." She smiles sadly. "As I was looking for you, I thought things over." Turning to face Komaru, she continues. "I was being a weirdo wasn't I? Calling your brother 'Onii-sama', clinging to him and all that." Tsumugi adjusts her glasses and sighs.

"N-No, that wasn't-" Komaru starts, but is interrupted by Tsumugi.

"No, I understand." She smiles. "I'm sorry for clinging to your brother at the first opportunity." Tsumugi bows again. "If you don't want to be my friend anymore, I'll understand."

Komaru blinks in shock.

Seeing Tsumugi bowing just made her feel even worst with herself.

"No." The brunette says, getting the attention from the other girl. "That's not it."

"H-Huh?" The blue-haired otaku looks up with a confused expression.

"You shouldn't be apologizing. I should." Komaru smiles sadly. "You didn't do anything wrong Tsumugi-chan."

"I-I didn't?" The other girl asks, still not understanding anything.

"Yes, you didn't." The brunette approaches the other girl and grabs her hand. "I was just feeling bad and decided to lash out at you, Chiaki-chan and even Onii-chan." She laughs sadly, before turning to face Tsumugi. "So, I'm sorry Tsumugi-chan, for being such a awful friend." The brunette sniffs.

Tsumugi is quick to grab onto Komaru's hand. "Friends fight sometimes right?" The otaku asks, before scratching the back of her head. "At least, in anime they always do." That comment makes Komaru giggle. "So don't worry about it okay?"

The brunette nods, wiped the last of her tears. "Okay." She offers her pinky to the blue-haired girl. "Friends?"

Tsumugi's eyes shine behind her glasses and she nods furiously, before joining Komaru's pinky with her own. "Friends!"

The two girls giggle, before getting up. "Oh, and you shouldn't worry about calling Onii-chan like that." The brunette smiles. "Unless he doesn't like it, then I'll have to scold you!"

Tsumugi giggles. "Okay!" She then takes Komaru's hand on her own. "Onii-sama and Nanami-san are waiting for us!"

As the two girl start to run, Komaru smiles to herself. ' I should apologize to Onii-chan and Chiaki-chan!'

Tsumugi and Komaru get back to the food court, the two wait there for a short while, until Makoto and Chiaki come running towards them.

"Komaru!" Makoto calls with sweat running down his face.

"H-Hey!" The brunette girl waves shyly as the other two stop in front of her.

Makoto puts a hand on his chest. "Do you know how worried I was?" He says in a angry tone.

"Sorry." Komaru replies, looking down at her own feet.

"I-" Makoto sighs, then takes a deep breath to calm himself down. "-J-Just don't do that again, okay?" Komaru nods and the brunette pulls her into a hug. "I was so worried."

Komaru closes her eyes and smiles, before wrapping her arms around her brother. "Sorry Onii-chan, not just for running away but also for hitting you." Her smile grows as she feels Makoto's hug get tighter.

"It's nothing, just try not to do that again." He replies, finally letting go of her.

Komaru turns to the mauve-haired girl that was watching the scene with a soft smile, just as their eyes cross paths, Chiaki's smile disappears.

Komaru gulps. "Chiaki-chan?" She calls and the other girl simply nods. "I'm sorry!" The brunette bows, making the older girl look at her with a confused expression.

"H-Huh?" The mauve-haired girl blinks.

"I was rude because I was jealous of you and Onii-chan." Komaru looks towards her friend. "You didn't deserve to be treated like that. So I'm sorry!" She bows again and closes her eyes.

"Oh, so that was it?" Chiaki asks and Komaru lifts her head. "I'm glad!" She puts a hand on her chest and smiles with relief.

Now it's Komaru's turn to look at her confused. "What do you mean?"

Chiaki shakes her head. "I thought you're angry at me for something I did."

"No!" The brunette girl exclaims. "I was just being silly, you didn't do anything wrong." Komaru looks down at her feet again. "So can you forgive me? I-I'll understand if you don-" She is interrupted when another par of arms wrap around her.

"Don't worry about it." Chiaki replies as she hugs the younger Naegi. "We wouldn't be friends if I got mad over something so silly… I think."

Komaru sniffs and hugs the other girl back. "Y-Yeah!"

Makoto smiles, seeing that things are getting back to normal.

Suddenly, a growl is heard between the group of friends. "U-Uh." The brunette girl blushes, before letting of Chiaki and turning to her brother. "I-I haven't eaten yet."

Makoto's smile grows.

Now things are back to normal.

Childhood Part XV – Confusing Feelings – End

Hey, its been a while.

Damn, time kinda flies doesn't it? I didn't even noticed that the month is almost over.

Anyways, as I said before, the jealous arc of Komaru was just a short little distraction, of course that plot will come back in the future, but I'll have thought of something more interesting with it by that point.

Hopefully.

Anyways, hope ya'll enjoyed the chapter and see you around!