Chapter 2: Family and Origins

"It's me, I'm home!" I exclaimed as I pushed open the front door and entered the house.

“Ah, Ryu! You’re in luck. I just needed a hand putting all this away,” said the woman, who was holding a large box in her arms.


I was greeted at the door by a magnificently beautiful woman with delicate features, Her brown eyes reflected all the kindness in the world and her long jet-black hair fell straight down her back. This woman's name was Ayaka Kirishima and she was my mother.


"Wait, Mom, let me help you."


I rushed over to help her get rid of the large box she was carrying.


"Oof!"


I was almost dragged to the ground by his weight before I caught myself. I didn't expect this box to be so heavy. And yet, Mom carried it without batting an eyelid. I almost forgot how strong she was. She may look like it, but she's by far the strongest in the family. In her youth, she participated in inter-high school karate tournaments and was crowned champion three years in a row. Now, in addition to being a housewife, she was giving self-defense classes to a few people, including me, and I could already tell you that she hit really hard.


All this to say that you shouldn't trust appearances if you don't want to have any unpleasant surprises.


"Thank you, Ryu, you've taken a load off my mind. If you don't mind, could you put it in the living room? I'll sort through the contents later," she said, smiling at me gently.


“No worries,” I replied with a smile, before walking away, carrying the box.


It was definitely heavy to carry. Even though Mom was super strong, she had to be careful about back pain. I was glad to arrive in time to help her.




It was the beginning of spring, and like every year, it was time for the big house cleaning. A real battlefield. All the junk accumulated during the year came out of the cupboards and dusty corners. We were sorting to know what to keep and what to throw away. Mom was methodical, almost military, in her way of cleaning. The house was methodically cleaned from top to bottom. Everyone had to do their part. Needless to say, it wasn't a vacation. But at the end of the day, the house shone like a new penny.


"Phew..."


I placed the box on top of the pile of other boxes. A cloud of dust rose into the air. These things had come from the attic and had been sitting there for years gathering dust.


I shook my hand to brush the dust away from my face.


"Hey! Watch out, you just dirty my glasses," a voice growled from behind a wall of cardboard boxes.


I turned my head. A boy with glasses was sitting on the couch hidden behind the tons of boxes.


Haru Kirishima. My 11-year-old brother.


"What are you doing here playing instead of helping with the housework like everyone else?"


"Work is too tiring and I'm very busy right now..." he replied, wiping the dirt off his glasses.


"Yeah, I see that," I said, glancing around him at the old toys pulled out of the attic.


How to describe him... He looked a lot like Mom, with similar features. A boy version of Mom, shota style. Sounds weird when you say it like that.


Rather cute in appearance, he was very handsome in many ways, however his character was the complete opposite of the cute and sweet little boy. He was insufferable and irritating. The archetype of the antisocial little genius. His grades at school were excellent, He excelled in every subject. However, being a genius didn't prevent him from being a pretentious little jerk because he always seemed to look down on people. If I listened to Joy's advice, he would have corrected it long ago. I would have put him back on the right path with the much-feared "big brother fist." Even though I was itching to hit him, I showed maturity and a lot of composure to calm myself down. Apart from his genius, the rest reminded me of myself when I was the same age. A poor, sad, withdrawn boy.


He put his glasses back on and added, "And have you forgotten that I'm allergic to dust? Think before you complain."


"Allergic to dust? Say you're allergic to work, you brat." I said with a nervous smile through gritted teeth.


"Geez, Haru. You could try a little harder to be nice or you'll never make any friends. Girls don't like stubborn boys who are always sulking. They prefer charming, smiling boys."


I winked at him as I said this.


"And I see it worked out really well for you," Haru said sarcastically. "That explains why you still don't have a girlfriend at your age."


"That's not true... That's not the point, II... And besides, this isn't me we're talking about here."


Haru's sarcastic remark had had the desired effect. Embarrassment was clearly showing on my blushing face. I couldn't form sentences properly anymore as I was going off in all directions.


"What I'm trying to tell you... just smile. It's not complicated, a smile. You know, they say that smile at life and the world will smile back at you." I declared, illustrating my words with a huge smile showing all my teeth.




"Tsk..."


Haru clicked his tongue violently. It hadn't been my intention to be rude, but my words seemed to annoy him more than anything.


"You're the one who knows nothing and understands nothing! I hate that about you, your two-bit morality. If you could stop acting like you're my big brother."


His words pierced like a dagger to the heart. The words of an immature child shouldn't normally reach me, but it still hurt to hear them.


I knew there was no point in arguing. I would never have the last word with him. I'd rather turn on my heel and go about my business with a dejected look on my face, as Haru gave me one last look.


I climbed the stairs upstairs, shoulders slumped, when the path was blocked by cardboard boxes. Standing next to them with her phone in her hand was a young woman who looked older than me.


"Can I ask what you're doing? Weren't you supposed to take all that down?" I asked the young woman who kept tapping on her smartphone.


“I was going to do it. Right after checking the market price. Sales took off.” she replied without taking her eyes off the screen for a single second, completely absorbed in what she was doing.


This young woman who looked a lot like my mother was my older sister, Haruna Kirishima, 22 years old. Haruna, like our brother Haru, looked a lot like our mother. It was actually an exact copy with the same eyes, the same mouth, the same facial features. The only difference was their hairstyles. Haruna had opted for a short bob.


“Are you still playing trader? This isn’t the time. Put down that phone right now, or sales won’t be the only thing that’s going to take off today.”


Haruna turned off her smartphone with a roll of her eyes and put it back in her jeans pocket.


When asked about her future career in elementary school, she always answered the same thing: her dream was to become a billionaire. And the least we can say is that she really gave herself the means to do it. From a young age, she did small paid tasks for the neighborhood, she saved her money from relatives and later she took part-time jobs. It was then that she amassed a considerable sum of money and launched herself onto trading platforms where she would spend hours glued to her screens. if it wasn't his computer, it was his smartphone's. She was very enterprising and ambitious, she had one of those lucks in trading, managing to predict market fluctuations. His future plans were to grow his money through trading and real estate investments, and eventually set up his own investment firm. His ultimate goal was to become a billionaire, it was a long-term project. But as she so often said: "You don't get rich overnight."


His stubbornness to become rich was a source of problems because, apart from enriching herself, she did nothing else and failed in her duties to family and friends. for good reason, she was considered a snob. She didn't pay attention to her surroundings.


"Okay, okay, I'll go. But carrying all that stuff is asking a lot of a frail young woman, you know..." she complained.


"So, madam lets mom do all the work," I retorted.


"It's not the same, Mom is super strong, you know that," she declared, shrugging her shoulders as if it were obvious.


"That's no reason!" I shouted after her, "now get your ass moving, you understand! Honestly, sometimes I wonder who the oldest in this family is."


Haruna sniffed and casually bent down to pick up a box. She moved forward in slow motion as if she were using her last strength, as if each step cost her a life. Fighting laziness and the urge to quit.


I shook my head, sighing in exasperation.


"Oh, it's unbelievable... There's not one of them to catch the other. I really have to do everything by myself," I muttered, lowering the loaded package.


Between the insulting and stubborn little brother and the oblivious big sister, I was the somewhat normal child in the family. I was the only one who put those two in their place every time they didn't do something right.




“Wow! Jackpot!” Haruna suddenly cried out from behind me.


“Haah…” I sighed. She never listened.


“ATTENTION DOWN!”


"Eh…?"


BOOM


“ARGH—!!”


Quelque chose me percuta dans le dos. Je chutai brutalement dans les escaliers.


"Ouch... My back... I felt it crack..."


I writhed in pain, staring at the cardboard box that had hit me.


"Haruna!!! Can't you be more careful? You almost killed me!!" I yelled, my back and knees, which had cushioned my fall, hurting extremely.


"I'm sorry," she apologized, clasping her hands in front of her. "I received a notification on my trading account, and... in surprise... the box slipped out of my hands."


"Grr..." I half-groaned in pain and half-anger, glaring at her.


"Hey hey! But look, you see, I won €500 all at once. Isn't that crazy?"


She tried to calm my anger by showing me her phone screen with the profit she had just made, but it only made it worse. The box had slipped from her hands only because she was once again too focused on his smartphone and I was the one who paid the high price. So she wasn't going to get out of this that easily.


"I'm telling you to put the fucking phone down, you fucking piece of shit!!" I yelled, pressing my hand to my back as I sat up.


"Oh, come on! No one's dead. And I'm telling you, I told you to be careful. It's not my fault you have grandmotherly reflexes," she announced vehemently.


"What?! I'm not a ninja, I don't have eyes in the back of my head!"


Nothing to do. She started typing on her screen again. Talking to her was like shouting into a well.


Haruna was like Haru, both hopeless social cases.


"Why doesn't anyone in this family listen to me?" I muttered under my breath.


I began to clean up the mess she had made. The ripped open boxes had spilled their contents everywhere. I put the items back in new boxes. Haruna came downstairs, supposedly to help me, but her eyes remained glued to her screen.


As I put everything away, my hand suddenly froze and my eyes widened for a moment before that I reached out again to grab the object that had caught my eye among everything on the floor.


Hanging from a small chain, it looked like a replica several years old. It was some kind of amulet, a metal plate in the shape of a hexagon on both sides of which were inscribed strange letters whose origin I did not know, with a green stone encrusted on one of them. The stone seemed to glow slightly under the light as I blew on it, removing the dust from the amulet. It looked new and was in good condition. With no visible rust, I had no idea what material it was made of, except that I thought that it was metal, but it was well preserved. From an archaeologist's point of view, this amulet was a masterpiece of beauty. Looking at her, she gave this feeling that she was telling a story. A rare and incredible piece that any art collector would snap up.


"Oooh, so cool! It looks like an antique," Haruna exclaimed over my shoulder, looking over with twinkling eyes.


"This amulet... It's the only thing I had when I arrived here...", I said, my voice sounding as if lost in the void.


“Oh yeah… now that you mention it… You used to carry it around all the time back then. I thought you’d lost it. Turns out it was still there.” 


"It came from my biological parents."


Haruna stared at me, puzzled. I looked absent-minded. I seemed mesmerized, my eyes fixed on the amulet swinging at the end of the chain.


Suddenly, a flash suddenly illuminated my vision, followed by a distinctive click sound that woke me from my trance.


The source of the light came from Haruna's smartphone camera lens. With a cheerful smile, she took a picture of the amulet.


"Hey hey! I'm just taking a picture to post online to see what it looks like. Something like that must be worth a lot," she said, laughing stupidly.


I put the amulet in my pocket and continued tidying up without saying anything. Haruna was speechless.


"Hey!"


Haruna was confused, expecting a comment or a disapproving look from me. But instead, I remained silent, my gaze blank.


The spring cleaning lasted all day, from morning to night. Haruna and Shouma seemed surprised by my silence for several hours already. These two were so used to being told off by me that it was strange to see me being so tacit. Even when they were doing something stupid, I didn't say anything, I didn't even look at them.


It was around 8 p.m. when Dad walked through the door.


"Hi everyone!!"


"Good evening, darling! How was your day?" Mom asked.


Father works as an accountant for a large company. While my two siblings looked like Mom, Dad and I had a lot in common. To begin with, we looked strangely alike with average faces and clumsily styled brown hair. We didn't stand out much from the crowd, unlike other members of the family. Two simple, normal guys with nothing special about them.


"Oh, nothing, just routine," he said, sinking onto the couch, exhausted. He loosened his tie and sighed deeply, looking more tired than on other days. Obviously, we weren't the only ones exhausted today.


"It wasn't a day like any other, looking at you. But that's good, I'm done preparing dinner. Come on, everyone, sit down." said Mom, gathering everyone around the dining table.


The whole family hurried to sit down, hungry. The table was laden with delicious dishes. Mom had gone all out, cooking each family member their favorite dish. She wanted to reward us for our efforts. Nothing like "the comfort after the effort."


While enjoying and tasting the dinner, everyone was talking and chatting in joy and happiness. It was at this moment that Dad had chosen to ask me the question.


"Ryu... Ryouma!"


"Huh? Uh... What?" I asked, lost in thought.


I jumped, taken aback. The whole family looked up with various looks of confusion, puzzlement, or even concern.


"Eh... Yes? What were we talking about again?" I asked, pulling myself together.


“I’m talking to you about tomorrow… You must be excited, right? The whole family will be there for you. It’s a great moment.”


"Um..." I said dryly.


Father was shocked by my weak response. Knowing full well my enthusiasm for this event, it was only natural that he would find my lack of enthusiasm somewhat strange and disturbing.


"Ryu, darling! Are you okay?"


My mother was worried too.


"Nothing! Everything's fine. I'm just tired, so I'm going to bed," I declared and moved away from the table.


"But you didn't even touch your plate. I made the katsudon you love so much."


I left the room without looking back, leaving the others behind with complicated expressions.