Brotherhood

Shintaro walked into the room as Kanae stood up nervously. The soft hum of the air conditioning and distant chatter filled the air. She straightened her posture, took a deep breath, and bowed her head slightly. “G-Good morning, Mizuno-San. It's a pleasure to see you again.”

Shintaro's expression was neutral, but a hint of a smile played on his lips as he nodded in response. “Good morning to you as well, Suzuki. It's been far too long.”

“Yes, well, school and training have been eating up my time, so yeah…” Kanae laughed awkwardly as sweat tracked a path down her forehead.

In that instant, she wondered, I don't get it. Why do I always get nervous when he's around? This is so embarrassing!!!

Kanae scratched her cheek as she said, her tone cracking but still soft and full of life, “Well, if you don't mind, may I excuse myself?”

Shintaro laughed a little as he murmured, “Yes, you may.”

“T-Thank you. See you later, Saku.”

Kanae left the room as she sighed deeply, her posture drooping. Then she shuffled towards the elevator.

Shintaro's gaze landed on his younger brother, who averted his gaze from him. Saku looked at his calloused hands that could have taken Takeru's life.

“She hasn't changed, has she?”

Saku remained quiet for a moment, clenching his fist, then he finally spoke, his voice cracking. “I'm sorry…”

“What for?”

“I… I broke my promise to you… I swore that I'd never lose control again, but I completely broke my promise… I hate that I always end up letting you down… I hate… I hate how weak-willed I am!” Saku uttered, his tone defeated, his eyes welling up with tears.

Shintaro stood next to him, placing a hand on Saku's head. “Listen, you are still young,” he said, his voice calm and reassuring. Seeing Saku openly admit his shortcomings to him was a first. Normally, Saku would either lie or just shrug it off, but not this time. 

“There will come times when you might lose control again, and it's not something you need to blame yourself for. Instead of putting the blame on yourself or anyone else, work on taming your anger. It must not control you; you must control it.”

Saku raised his head and looked at his brother, a sense of sadness appearing on his face. “How am I… How am I supposed to do that?”

“Unfortunately, that is something you need to overcome on your own. All I can say is, keep doing your best.”

“Right, thanks, Shintaro. I'll try with all my might.”

“Good, because the next time you lose control, your punishment will be cleaning the dojo until it's spotless.”

“Wait, what?”

“Let us hope it doesn't come to that; now then, let's go,”

“Alright.”

They both exited the room as they sauntered towards the elevator. They boarded and descended to the lobby.

“You have reached the lobby.” The digital voice announced as they walked out of the car.

Saku looked around the lobby, mesmerized by how many members the Union had, from frontline officers, crowd control, to first aid officers. 

The Union had a lot of personnel to utilize for their missions and duties of protecting the innocent while rescuing out-of-control supernaturals from themselves.

As he looked around in awe, his gaze met a man who seemed to be in disarray as he sat on the left side of the lobby, his shirt torn and covered with blood. 

This man looked as if he were dead, thanks to his ghostly pale skin; Saku wasn't able to see his face, so he couldn't really perceive who it was.

Feeling pity for this man, Saku questioned while still staring in the man's direction, a concerned look appearing on his face. “Who is that person? I feel as if I've seen him before.”

Shintaro's tone was still calm and collected. “I would imagine you have. He's the number one ranking Paramount Anomaly in the country. The strongest supernatural of the modern era. Mister Ryūnosuke Toriyama.”

Wait, Toriyama? That's the same guy I saw in my vision. I've heard rumors about him, and I've even seen him on TV, but if Shintaro acknowledges him as a strong supernatural, then I guess all the rumors are true. I wonder why he looks so beat up. Saku thought while they reached the reception desk.

Shintaro stood there and conversed with the receptionist: “Tamaki Fujiwara.”

“Good morning, Fujiwara.”

“Good morning to you too, Shintaro. Is your younger brother ready to head home?”

“Yes, he has fully recovered, so there is no need for him to remain here any longer.”

“Alrighty then, I'll let the Lord Commander know. Now go and get some rest.”

“Thank you.”

While Shintaro was talking to Fujiwara, Saku still stared at Toriyama as if he had some sort of connection to him. Even though he had never officially met him. 

But that vision meant something, whether it meant that Saku would be involved with him or not still remained a mystery.

Just then, the front doors opened as two figures walked in. The figures were Riyoka Fujita and Kaneki Nakanishi, the second and the third pillars of the S.S.U.

Riyoka noticed Saku, who was too lost in thought to even look around, and approached him as she smiled kindly, her tone friendly. “Hi, you must be Saku. It's nice to finally meet you. I'm Riyoka, your brother's right-hand woman.”

Saku turned around, intrigued as to who this was. “Uh, hello, it's nice to meet you as well. I've heard a lot about you from him.”

Riyoka's face burst into joy as she asked, “Really, like what?!”

Saku looked at her nervously. “Well… things like how you're constantly a pain to deal with and—”

“WHAT?!”

“Oh no, I might have made a mistake there, crap.” Saku thought as his expression turned fearful, having seen Riyoka's furious face.

“SHINTARO, YOU JERK!!!”

Shintaro, who was still talking to Fujiwara, turned around, having heard her yelling. “Why are you yelling, Fujita?”

“DON'T TAKE THAT TONE WITH ME, OH FORGET IT. THERE'S NO USE ARGUING WITH YOU!!!”

“What are you talking about? Am I missing something?”

Kaneki finally chimed in at the last second. “Don't worry about it, she's just hungry, you know how she gets when she's hungry.”

“What was that?!”

“Hahaha… nothing at all.”

“Uh-huh, well see you jerks later, see you Saku.”

“Uh, yeah, see you later.”

Riyoka walked towards the elevator while the three of them remained. Kaneki faced Saku, and then he ventured, his tone calm but with a little bit of energy. “Sup, little man, I'm Kaneki, your brother's best friend.”

Saku nodded in response as he replied, “It's nice to officially meet you.”

“Well, I'd better go and check if she's finished all the food or not. She can be quite the glutton when she wants to, so I'd better jet.”

“You two are hopeless; I'll be back tonight, in the meantime, you can slack off as much as you want, but once I return, we'll go on patrol.”

Kaneki sighed deeply. “Yeah, yeah, I swear you can be such a drag.”

“What was that?”

“Nothing at all, later…” Kaneki exclaimed as he ran towards the elevator.

The two brothers lingered for a while, then they made their way to Shintaro's car. They drove from the Headquarters all the way to the Mizuno residence. 

Saku was finally home after three days of being away. He opened the door and walked into the house while Shintaro followed behind him.

As Saku took a few steps through the hall, he heard footsteps thundering down the stairs. He only blinked once, and in that instant, his older sister was already hugging him tightly.

Her warmth merged with his own as she said, “I'm so glad you're home, I was so worried, are you really okay? Does it hurt anywhere? Are you in pain?”

“One question at a time, please, Shion, and also… you're going to break my spine.”

“Oh, right, sorry.”

Shion let go of Saku and turned to her older brother. “Hey, Shin, you alright?”

Shintaro smiled a little. “I'm fine, I'm just in dire need of rest. I'll be taking my leave, wake me up at 19:00.”

Shion nodded as she said happily, “Roger that, now go to sleep, sir.”

Shintaro walked up the stairs at the end of the hall while the other two made their way to the kitchen. Shion prepared breakfast for Saku while he just sat at the table, lost in thought.

***** 

Elsewhere, 15 hours later, a girl with long, dark purple hair and beautiful brown eyes stood on a balcony, witnessing the phantasmagoria of lights from the tall, heaven-splitting skyscrapers. 

The view from there was breathtaking courtesy of the myriad of light; they glowed like millions of bright, radiant, eye-catching stars. The horizon was so moving that it reflected in her chocolate brown eyes.

Above her, the actual stars burned bright like the scorching sun. Each star was more luminous than the other, as if they competed to see which burned brightest and shone the most. 

Although the stars were doing their job well enough, the moon remained the dominant one, illuminating the night sky. Its brightness was both beautiful and lovely.

The girl was wearing a nightgown made from expensive fabric. Whoever she was, one thing was for certain: she was quite well off. In her hand was a cup of cappuccino, the best in the country, or rather, the best in the world. 

She took one sip and looked towards the city, noticing the traffic was packed, as always, especially at night.

Evernight City was known as the city that never sleeps, and this just illustrated that reputation perfectly. 

The girl's lips curled up a little as she murmured, “Well, big sis, it looks as if you've found yourself quite the catch.” She chuckled softly as she took another sip. “I'll be seeing you soon, Saku Mizuno.”