Chapter 2

The two walked in silence for a majority of the trip.

Jason felt slightly uncomfortable; despite how close they were before, he hadn't seen Emma for longer than a few minutes in almost two months and spent time alone with her for far, far longer.

He remembered Yuzo said something to him about her being upset about something and refusing to elaborate on it. Despite his apprehension, he decided to bite the bullet, speaking up.

“So… how's school been?” He said, awkwardly shifting his eyes to avoid making contact with hers.

Immediately, her ears perked up, looking at Jason with a sunny disposition. “It’s been good! I've been doing even better than I was before, and I’ve been making a lot of new friends recently!”

Teasingly, Jason chuckled, “Like those girls I just met?”

Immediately turning her face in embarrassment, Emma began to mutter red-faced as she played with the rings on her fingers. “Uh, yeah, like them.”

“Sorry, it's just that they didn't seem the nicest.”

"Well, uh, yeah," she murmured, "I know they’re not perfect, but since I haven't heard from Yuzo… I've honestly been a bit lonely.”

Jason’s heart began a painful ebb as her face grew glower; when she and his brother would fight as kids, it would sometimes get ugly, but it was never like this.

As the two quietly made small talk and reminisced, Jason couldn't help remembering when he would walk her and Yuzo home from school; it felt like a lifetime ago.

As they reached Emma’s house, a roomy property on a nice suburban street, Emma’s parents greeted Jason at the door, her mom even coming out to give him a hug.
“You’ve grown so big, Jae! We haven't seen you in so long!”

“Hi, miss. It's nice to see you too. I’ve been busy with basketball, but I'll be sure to visit soon.”

“That sounds wonderful; make sure to bring Yuzo, and I'll make you both a nice big dinner!”

Before Emma turned to leave, the smile on her face fell slightly as she moved to whisper in his ear, “Jae… will you make sure you say hi to Yuzo for me? Can you, um, tell him I miss him?” Her face grew red as she tried to pull her own hair into her face. ‘As I thought, just like when she was a kid.’

With his half-hearted grin, Jason nodded. He then waved goodbye to the family, starting towards home.

…

“I’m home,” Jason mumbled lazily as he turned the key to enter the apartment.

As he walked into the main room, though, something unmistakable hit his nose: the smell of ichisan broth.

Clearly, somebody had eaten his ramen. Which likely meant that his homemade shoyu eggs were victims of the thief as well. There was only one possible culprit.

‘Yuzo.’

With a heavy sigh, not even bothering to take off his shoes, Jason took off towards his brothers’ room.

…

Jason wasn’t surprised to see Yuzo just where he had left him: in his room, sitting in front of his computer.

“Oh, hey Jae. You’re home.” Yuzo turned in his chair casually, leaning back as he slurped up a final noodle from the bowl he was holding. “Congrats on your win. Everyone's been blowing up my phone with photos they took of you on the court.”

There was a tightness in his voice, but despite that, he couldn't help but smile as Jason walked closer and placed his hand on his head, rustling his long, matted hair.

“Thanks, man. I wish you could've been there. I'd rather have an afterparty and my ramen with you than drink with the team.” Jason smiled as he moved his hand onto his brother's shoulder, which buckled under the weight immediately. “Also, just ask for noodles next time. I'll buy you your own pack.”

“I got hungry, my bad. Take it up with the courts if it's that big of a deal.” Yuzo teased, grinning to himself as Jason sat down beside him.

“By the way, Emma came to every game with different friends of hers and got me to sign stuff.” Yuzo shifted in his chair uncomfortably, going quiet.

“You should return her texts, you know. She tells me to remind you every time I see her.” Jason said, sitting down on the bed beside Yuzo’s monitor as he spoke.

“Shut up, Jae. You know she just wants to tell people she knows the ‘rookie of the year.’ She couldn't care less about me.” Yuzo mumbled with a wince, moving his eyes from his screen to meet his brother's.

Jason sighed, moving his hand from his brother’s shoulder. “It’s more likely she's worried about you than anything to do with me. I mean, you haven't gone to school in a month.” He chuckled half-heartedly. “Besides, you’re my brother. Of course there are at least some girls who are into you. She's liked you since we were kids, and you know it.”

Yuzo gave him a pained smile before wordlessly returning to look at the computer.

A still silence lingered between the two boys for a while.

‘…When did it become so awkward between us?’

Attempting to break the lull, Jason coughed, “So, what have you been up to since I left, besides eating ramen? Are you talking to your gamer ‘girl’ again?” he asked, staring at the MMO open on Yuzo’s screen.

Yuzo shifted in his seat, causing Jason to grimace.

“Uh, yeah, me and my guild just cleared a level 12 raid on Terminal Illusion 2. I finally got my character to level 120—”

“Dude, I know she says nice things to you, but I think you’re just getting scammed for gems. It even happened to me; that’s why I stopped playing. You have real girls who want to talk to you; it's so weird that you’d rather talk to basement dwellers.”

Suddenly, Yuzo gripped Jason’s arm through his letterman, meeting his eyes intensely. “She’s real, Jason. She and the rest of my guild are my friends. Lay off.”

“Whoa, Yuu, I was joking. It's not that big of a deal.”

Jason, unnerved, raised his hands in a half-hearted humor, trying to regain his bearings.

Yuzo at this point had stood, teeth clenched and almost growling, before spitting back at his older brother.

“No, it IS a big deal. You always do this! I'm not allowed to just be happy if it's not “productive” or what you think I should be doing! You always barge in here and act like I'm wasting my time; I'm sick of it! My guild cares about me more than anyone out here does!”

Jason gritted his teeth.

‘His guild cares about him more? Is he serious? This little—‘

Before he could respond, fist clenched, Yuzo lunged at him, slamming him against the door before throwing him to the floor, taking his older brother to the ground.

A pale fist hit Jason in the cheek. Jason’s eyes grew sharp, inhaling deeply. He kicked Yuzo in the ribs, sending him reeling into the desk.

“I… You should be a little tired after finals…” Yuzo gasped for air, struggling to pull himself up. “You’re a real monster, you know that…?”

Getting to his feet, Jason stepped back. “What the hell? I’m not…”

An image of their father flashed through Jason’s mind. He paused for a moment before continuing towards the door.

"I'm not in the mood for whatever the hell is going on with you right now. Back off.”

As he seemed to be doing a lot more these days, Yuzo ignored him.

Instead, he once again lunged at Jason; the only thing illuminating the two was the light of the computer screen.

A left jab, parried. His right cross slipped. There was a hard crunch, followed by the thud of a body hitting the carpet.

Yuzo’s left hook was caught and countered by Jason with a knee to the ribs, sending Yuzo to the ground. A spare thought came to Jason’s mind: Yuzo still used the same moves they did as kids.

Jason’s face grew sullen as his brother fell to the ground. The ringing had returned in his ears, and his vision started to blur slightly from exhaustion. They hadn’t fought like that in years.

Yuzo lay on the ground, a thin stream of blood running from his nose onto the carpet.

In a moment of anger, Jason tightened his jaw, grabbing the collar of Yuzo’s shirt.

He quickly dropped him and headed for the door.

“Blow off some steam, and then we’ll talk.”

When did it get this bad? He’s never acted like this before, and all of a sudden he’s yelling at me and throwing punches. This isn’t like him at all… What the hell has been going on with him for the past couple weeks anyway? He's been acting so damn weird…’

From behind, Yuzo released a blood-curdling shriek. Jason snapped out of his thoughts; the air in his lungs went frigid.

Once again, his feet felt bolted to the floor.

And suddenly, the only thing he could feel or hear was the ringing in his ears.

A second thud would have been heard if there were anyone else around. But to the rest of the world, the evening was silent.