"Were you out with a girl?"
I froze.
Big Sis's words were lingering in the air.
"How would you know?" I questioned her instead. "I smell like sweat."
"There's a girl's scent on you," She released my tie.
I pushed open the door and guided her in.
"I won't deny it, I was with a girl, but we're just friends."
"Fine, just because everyone praised my braid today, I'll let you off the hook," Big Sis acted like I had cheated on her or something.
"Why do I need your forgiveness? You're making it sound like I cheated on you," I sighed, hanging my jacket on a nearby chair.
"Maybe you did," Big Sis whispered.
Huh?
I looked down to see Big Sis looking away, her head lowered. There were no tears in her eyes, but I felt that those three words of hers were not a joke.
"But I'm not yours, so you don't need to get mad—" I bent down a little so that our eyes could meet. I hate to admit it, but I felt a little sorry for Big Sis. I don't know why.
"You are mine!!" She hugged me tightly, tears now freely streaming down her face.
My eyes widened.
Was she really that upset over me?
"Wait, what? How?"
"You're my precious little brother," She said through tears. "And remember? Your first time was with me," She sobbed.
Oh.
"That doesn't count, you forced me down."
OOPS.
Big mistake, I shouldn't have said that. She's going to be really mad now.
"Yeah, I know." She pulled away from me. "But a first time is still a first time, right?" Something felt off. Other than her last sentence, everything else seemed…
"Stop it."
"Eeep! I can't believe it took you this long to figure out I was acting, haha! You should've seen your face when I was crying!!! It actually had the slightest hint of concern!! HAHAHAHA!! I can't believe you fell for it!! HAHAHAHAHA!" She rolled around on the floor.
Ughh.
Girls are the worst.
"Lift your arms."
She did as she was told.
I held both her wrists tightly with one hand and pinned her to the wall.
"Eh? Ace? What are you doing? Eh? Sorry!! Please don't do this to me!! Eh?" Big Sis begged.
"After all you've done to me, I'm going to make you pay!!" I reached out my fingers to her…
"NOOOOOOO!!! Stop it!!! That's my weak spot!! NOOOOOOOOO!!!"
~~~~~~~~~~
"How'd you like that?" I sat comfortably in my leather chair. "Now do you understand what I felt when you took my first time?"
"*Hic! Yeah, sorry. I think I might get *hic! Pregnant from this," Big Sis sighed as she looked at her body. "I feel so violated."
"Pregnant? Violated?" I asked, my fingers intertwined. "All I did was tickle you; this is nothing compared to what you did to me three, four years ago! You're lucky I only tickled you today."
"I felt violated that night you pinned me against the bed!!"
"Eeep! I told you not to start something you couldn't finish!" Big Sis defended herself. "Plus, you were looking really…alluring that night," She blushed, her ears turning pink. "Eeeep! What am I saying?"
"Let's all remember that you started it first when you asked me to wipe the water spilt on your shirt," I completely ignored her weird sentences after she defended herself.
"No, you started it when you spilt that cup of water on me!!" Big Sis protested.
"Do you think I wanted to spill that water on you? If I knew what you were going to do to me after that, I would have never drunk water in the first place. Even if you were destined to do that to me, I would rather not drink any water forever than fall for your bloody trap." In my mind, I was having a mental breakdown, but in reality, I think I said it too coldly.
Art was another one. If I had another life, I would definitely avoid those two. Oh yeah, I forgot, this is my 'another life'. Sigh, too bad. My 'second life' card had already been used up.
"Really? You would rather do that than meet the true me?" Big Sis's eyes were brimming with genuine tears now.
"No, no, I apologise," I walked over and hugged her. "It's my fault for being so harsh and cold to you. I really didn't want it to turn out this way, but it's not up to me to decide that." Big Sis's tears had soaked through my sleeves, but I didn't care.
"To be honest, meeting you is like a dream come true. You're dependable and mature. And even though sometimes you don't act like it, you were the big sister I needed. To help me recover. To help me grow. To help me feel loved. When I met you for the second time, you were protecting me, just like what a real big sis would do.
And for the first time in many years, I felt as though one day, being set free isn't such a hard thing. Having a Big Sis by my side, juggling all my responsibilities as the new eldest, I felt free."
"So," I stroked her head. "I might be harsh sometimes, but," I tucked her hair behind her ear, and bent down for our eyes to meet. "Meeting you was actually the best thing that happened in my life, so bear with me, will you?"
"Hahaa, this is starting to sound like a love confession," Big Sis wiped away her tears and smiled at me. "To think your gaze will soften a little for this," She laughed. "I haven't seen you do that in a long time."
Kaori, I love you.
I love you for being the light that came into my once dark world.
But I think our definition of love is different.
Yours is romance…
But mine is…familial love.
~~~~~~~~~~
"What's wrong, Nightfall!!" Ethan, Fredrick, and Baldie gasped.
"You look exhausted!!" Fredrick exclaimed.
"Your hair looks messier than usual!!!" Ethan's eyes widened in disbelief.
"Could be that you lost in bed, that's why…?" Baldie gave me a perverted smile. "Come on, tell us what it was like."
"I didn't," I sighed. "Nothing happened, really."
"Really?" Baldie studied my face.
"Yes."
Baldie and the rest finally left me alone.
To be honest, Ethan didn't really fit into the friend group. He was the meek type of person who would be afraid to even hurt a fly. How is he going to survive in this bloodstained world in the future?
"I saw a girl going into your dorm room yesterday," Crystal said after they left, her gaze still glued to her book. How terrifying.
"That was my sister. You already guessed correctly that I had one on the first day of school."
"She pulled your tie really close to her face," Crystal added. How could she say that without blinking? What is she implying?
"What are you implying?" I glanced at her before returning to my book.
"That the relationship between you two might be closer than I thought," She flipped a page of her book nonchalantly. "She's pretty enough for you."
"Our relationship is not like that," I stated coolly.
"Besides, I have another sister," I thought to myself. "Things can't possibly go that way if I had two sisters…"
Oh well, it did anyway. At least Crystal doesn't know that.
Maybe I should get a drink to cool off my head before the club fair.
"Bonk!" My bottle of green tea dropped out of the vending machine.
Nothing beats a good cup of green tea in the middle of the day.
The moment felt light, almost effortless.
In only three weeks, we could already see groups forming in the class.
The two biggest groups in our class are Annabelle Emberhart's and Remi Aurelestra's.
Our class leader, Liam, has been dating Remi for at least two weeks now, leading to Remi's increasing popularity among the girls and Liam's popularity too. The girls in our class trust Liam the most among the guys. Sigh, if only we didn't have people like them (Fredrick and Baldie) in our class.
Annabelle has also gained quite a bit of popularity among the girls and boys. As I had thought, our self-introduction that day really decides our standings in class. Her friends in her group were a good mix of smart, popular, and strong people.
Did she calculate this?
Or is it truly a coincidence?
"Hey! Alistair, can I sit next to you?" Annabelle grinned at me. Speak of the devil.
"I don't mind," I scooted over.
Annabelle had waist-length ash-black hair with muted violet-grey eyes. Her soft, composed expression and perfect attire always gave off an effortlessly perfect vibe. She'd look like the dependable adult you can trust all your secrets with, but I think otherwise.
I stood up from the bench.
Annabelle is one person whom I definitely don't want to be left alone with. Who knows what she'll do to me?
"Wait," She grabbed my hand before I could walk away.
I glanced back at her.
Unfazed, I asked, "Yes?"
Her grip tightened around my wrist, as though she was measuring my heartbeat.
"Nothing!" She looked up at me.
Our eyes met, but I stayed calm.
I shook her hand off and prepared to walk off when she said, "Alistair, I hope I can get along with you and Crystal."
I turned my head slightly and replied, "If it's Crystal, that's out of my reach. I can't help you with that."
"But I always see you two talking. You're the only one she talks to! That's why, can you help me? I want to reach out to the two of you. Making friends with the whole class is my goal for this year. So, can you help me?" Annabelle reached out and held my hand again.
"No. I'd rather live a peaceful high school life without getting involved in these meagre matters." I walked off.
To be honest, I really just wanted to maintain a good relationship with my queen, Crystal. Who knows what she'll do to me if I offend her?
I poured the remaining green tea into my mouth.
"What are you doing?" I spun around to see Reine.
"Drinking, why?" I replied.
"You make it sound like you're drinking alcohol, haha!" Reine laughed.
"Is that so? I apologise,"
"Haha, there's nothing to apologise for,"
This is the perfect opportunity to collect information about Kael Callas.
"I heard you had an older sibling," I said to Reine. "I have one too. One older, one younger,"
"Yep," She beamed. "My older brother is really nice! He dotes on me quite a bit, and buys me ice creams even when Papa and Mama scold him!! Hehe, those were the good old days," She looked at me and asked, "How about you?"
"I have an older sister and a younger sister, we're all two years apart."
"Ehhh," She mumbled to herself. "Wow, my brother is also two years older than me. Talk about coincidences! Right now, he's a member of the student council. Cool, right?" She let out a quiet laugh, unforced and natural. "How is it? Living with two sisters, I mean,"
"It's quite chaotic." I took one last sip of green tea before throwing it away.
"DING DONG DANG DONG, DONG DANG DING DONG!!" The bell rang, signalling the end of our lunch break.
"We'd better get back to class,"
"Yeah,"
~~~~~~~~~~
"Class, please line up in twos. We will be attending the Club Fair now," Ms Seraphine commanded.
"Looks like I'm standing next to you again. What a terrible coincidence," Crystal scoffed.
"Stop being so hostile towards me. At the fair, I'll part ways with you."
"..." Crystal ignored me.
"WOW!!" Our class gasped, looking at the huge club fair in the Ignivar Hall.
There were many club stalls here. Chess Club, Occult Research Club, Basketball Club, Football Club, and many more.
"Heyyy!!" I heard a voice behind me. "Ace, is that you?"
"Kaori, is that you?" I asked.
"Yep!" She winked as I approached her stall.
"You're still wearing your braid," I commented, noticing that her braid wasn't as messy as before.
"Kaori, is he the one who tied your braid for you?" One of her friends pointed at me.
"Yep! Everyone's really impressed with your braid!!" Kaori complimented me.
"Thanks,"
"Eh? Kaori, who's that?" Another friend of hers walked over. "Maybe he is your…boyfriend?" A teasing smile played at her lips.
Heat crept up Kaori's neck, just enough to betray a hint of discomfort, and she struggled to appear unaffected. She quickly averted her gaze, hoping no one noticed the slight pink spreading across her face.
"N—no, h—he's not my b––b—b——" Kaori stuttered, clearly caught off-guard.
"We're just friends," I answered for her.
"Eh? So how did you two meet? Kaori rarely talks to any guys at all!! Let alone a guy younger than her? That's just unbelievable!" Friend 2 exclaimed.
"But she does occasionally talk to Jasper or Kael," Friend 1 countered.
Kael?
So he's really in the student council.
"If you count 'talking with our fists' as talking, then sure," Friend 2 sighed. "She just loves bullying those two poor fellas. The worst part is that every time she 'kills' them, she casts another spell to 'revive' them and beat them up all over again. It's an endless cycle of torture!"
"Sarah, stop it! Don't tell him that!!" Kaori tried to stop her, her cheeks burning more intensely now.
"And you know, this other time, Jasper and Kael were——" Before she could finish, Kaori warned her, "Sarah, would you like to experience the endless cycle of torture too?" She lifted her fist, an evil smile spreading across her face.
"Sorry!! Sorry!!! Don't hurt me!!!!" Sarah immediately kowtowed while scurrying away. "You two have fun!!" She gave me a look of pity.
"Sorry about that! I really don't know what Sarah and Katelyn were doing," She breathed out a sigh of relief.
"So what club activity are you managing?" I asked.
"Oh yeah! I nearly forgot why I called you over." Kaori pointed to the sign above her stall and smiled, "This is the Entertainment Club!!"
"No wonder you knew what you were doing when mentoring Ella and her friends that day."
"Haha, that was two years ago. How do you still remember?" She let out a soft laugh.
"I remember many things," I answered.
"Anyway, I called you here because I wanted you to join this club. There's only space for one student from each class, excluding Class S, to join the main cast, or anything here. This includes singing and dancing. So no matter what you do, you'd be placed as the 'main'." Kaori explained.
"Are there any other things you guys do other than acting, singing and dancing?"
"Yep, sometimes we play board or card games. That's why the CMP given to each student every month is the highest among all the clubs. We basically do everything here except for sports," Kaori giggled. "Recently, we've been lacking male actors. I guess our standards are too high, and acting, dancing and singing are more of a girl's type of thing." Kaori sighed.
"I rarely ask you for anything, so…?"
Although she didn't finish her sentence, I already knew what she was asking for.
My salary would indeed be 100,000 CMP each month if I were to be part of the 'main cast'. If I were any other member of the Club, I would only receive 50,000 CMP. The gap is huge.
"Okay, give me the form. You owe me one," I reached my hand out.
"Yippeee!! Thanks a bunch, Ace!" She handed me a tablet.
As I filled in the form, from the corner of my eye, I saw Sarah and Katelyn hiding in a corner observing us.
"Are you positive they're not in that kind of relationship? They seem pretty close," Sarah whispered.
"I don't know! But their relationship must be really close for Kaori not to get all flustered when Ace touched her hand just now," Katelyn was jotting down everything on her notepad.
"Don't tell me," Sarah looked at Katelyn, her eyes wide, pupils contracting sharply.
"What?" Katelun looked at her intently.
"They've already moved to the 'bed' stage!!"
"WHAT???!!!!" Katelyn dropped her pen, frozen, not able to momentarily process what she had just heard.
"You two," Kaori stepped forward, her eyes narrowing ever so slightly. The smile on her face didn't reach her eyes. "What exactly are you talking about??!!!!"
"AAAAAHH!!! The devil is here!!!" The two of them ran.
"Sigh, those two are really troublesome, thinking all kinds of lewd things," She sighed under her breath, barely containing her frustration.
"They're not wrong, though," I stated calmly.
"You can't say that now, there are so many people here! I'd rather kiss you than hear you say that right now." A faint warmth coloured her cheeks, subtle but impossible to ignore.
"Is that so?" I studied her.
"Then kiss me now."