Truth (Part 2)

“So, why exactly are you here?” George asks as the brunette teen sits down on the bench and snatches a water bottle. “Your brother was dismissed already.”

Shrugging, the girl says. “Yep, I can see that.” She brings the water bottle close to her face and mock analyzes it. “Wanted to check out his club. See what this was all about and all that.”

“I somehow doubt that.” Retorts the fashionista while crossing her arms. “It’s so obvious that you have other intentions, so why not cut to the chase? We don’t need the small talk.”

Ayame chuckles. “Alright, alright, you got me.” The girl throws her arms in the air mockingly. “I do have some ulterior motives.” She stops for a second and adjusts herself. “I came here to spill Hiroto’s secrets!”

“Huh?” Everyone incredulously stares the brunette down, making her giggle.

“What? Did I grow a second head?” She smirks. “I bet you’re all dying to know what his whole deal is, right? Why doesn’t a strong guy like him want to fight?”

“Isn’t that a little too personal?” Ken asks, meeting the girl’s gaze. “If Kanzaki-san wanted us to know that, he would have just told us upfront.”

The brunette scoffs. “Ah, to be that ignorant.” She waves her hand dismissively. “My bro is a complete moron. He can be literally dying and not say anything because he doesn’t want to bother anyone.” It was subtle, but her tone now had a hint of frustration. “Something about thinking that people won’t understand him, even though he’s the easiest person in the world to get!” After slipping out of her little mask for a second, Ayame puts on that smirk again and continues. “Because of that, I decided to cut the middle man and just go straight to the point. Ain’t I nice?”

Nice wasn’t exactly the word anyone would use, maybe ‘bratty’ was more to speed. There was no doubt in their minds that she was very difficult to deal with on a daily basis.

No one said anything more, but the expression on their faces told everything the brunette needed to know. Even if they denied it, the dueling club wanted to know exactly why their strongest asset was so seemingly averse to fighting.

“Fine by me.” The club advisor finally says, breaking the silence and making everyone look towards him. “Kanzaki is quite obviously conflicted about something, and we can only help him out, if we properly know what the conflict is.”

That didn’t make the situation any less awkward, but the group understood where he was coming from. You can’t really solve a problem without knowing what it is first.

“… *sigh*… Fine.” Umiko finally accepts, but she is still unsure about it.

This was a rare opportunity to know more about their most reserved club mate, they should probably take that.

“Attagirl!” The brunette winks and weakly slaps the blue-haired girl on the shoulder. “Ahem!” She clears her throat, then leans back slightly. “Well, it all began around eight years ago-“

***

-back then, my brother was still just as much of a reserved person, maybe even more.

He barely talked with any of his classmates and would play by himself most of the time, away from everyone and in his own world.

That was until one day, when he saw a girl being bullied by some boys at his school. He stepped in and fended them off, which got the girl’s attention.

Her name was Nanami, and she was from the same class as him. The next day, she approached my brother and asked to be friends with him.

From that day onwards, those two would be inseparable. She was around our house so much that I started calling her sis.

But everything has to end at some point, sadly. Those boys that were bullying Nanami came back and began tormenting her even more frequently, it was to the point where she had to ask my brother for protection one day.

That was when it happened.

The one time when they went too far and Hiroto completely snapped. I wasn’t there obviously, but from what I heard, he sent those bullies to the hospital with how much he beat them up.

Well, you can probably guess what happened next. My brother got expelled. We were kinda forced to change schools and eventually we moved out of that town all together.

***

“So that’s what happened.” Kayoko comments as the brunette nods. “But that doesn’t really answer the main question.” She points out. “I know he was quite young, but an accident like that doesn’t sound like a reason to just not engage with the club.”

“Yeah! Especially because he did the right thing!” Adds the blue-haired teen. “Those bullies probably deserved it.”

“… maybe under normal circumstances, but remember, Kanzaki doesn’t exist under normal circumstances.” Retorts the only adult, with a serious tone. As everyone’s attention is on him, the man explains. “I don’t think his outburst that day was just righteous rage or anything like that.”

“What do you mean?”

“…” George closes his eyes. “There’s a couple aspects of the star-eyes that I didn’t tell you all.” He opens his eyes and glances towards Ayame. “And by hearing this story, I can safely assume one of those is the root cause of Kanzaki’s troubles.”

“The star-eyes?” Ponders the fashionista. “What would they have to do with anything.”

“Because of how the magic circuit is constructed inside the body, it can have some effects on brain chemistry and how we react to certain stimuli.” Explains the blond, while still having his eyes locked with the brunette. “And with the star-eyes being essentially a malformed magic circuit-“

“-that means that it can affect his brain chemistry too?” Umiko concludes, making the club advisor nod.

“I’ll assume that his reaction that day wasn’t just righteous rage against some bullies, but instead a violent outburst brought out by the star-eyes.”

Ayame, that has been silent for a while, nods. “Yeah, pretty much.” She looks up at the sky. “So much so that he even hit Nanami.”

“Excuse me? That seems like a wild detail to leave out!” The silver-haired teen exclaims as the other girl just shrugs.

“So, those outbursts a common occurrence?” George asks and the brunette shakes her head.

“Kinda, but they happen a lot more when we were younger. It’s been a couple of years since he last had one.” She puts her hands behind her head. “But that was the only time that it happened anywhere that wasn’t our house.” The girl stands up from the bench. “Not that it matters. I think it’s very stupid of him to even be worried about this stuff.”

“Seems perfectly reasonable to me.” Kayoko replies before explaining herself. “From what we’ve seen, Kanzaki-kun seems to care a lot about those around him. Which is why he didn’t go all out against me.” The fashionista sighs. “I can understand his side. I wouldn’t want to hurt my friends and family out of nowhere either.”

A fair point, but Ayame just scoffed at it.

“Sure, but that isn’t an excuse to not even try to live his life!” The brunette crosses her arms and huffs, obviously frustrated. “He likes to fight and has a body that works, so why hesitate over something that isn’t even guaranteed to happen?!”

“Not the words I’d use, but I agree.” George says while patting Laura’s head. “In conditions like his, you can suppress the violent urges with enough mental fortitude, which he does seem to have at least a bit.”

An awkward silence falls between the group as they all think of what to say next.

“So, what now?’ Ken ponders with his eyes closed. “What can we do with that information?”

Ayame pulls out her phone and looks at the time. “They should be done by now.” With a smirk, she approaches the blue-haired teen and grabs her hand. “There is something you can do to help that idiotic brother of mine.” Gently tugging on Umiko’s tracksuit sleeve, the brunette smiles. “But you’re gonna need to come with me, okay?”

The shorter girl was very confused, but she really wanted to help her friend, so she nodded. “Sure.”

***

A lot was going through the young man’s head, enough to make him audibly gasp and hyperventilate.

Glancing at his wife, the older gentleman in the room says. “Hiroto.” At his name being called, the boy looks at him with a pained expression that made the man’s heart break. “Calm down. You’re not in trouble.”

That wasn’t exactly true, but also not a lie either.

“Y-Yeah, sorry about that.” He takes a deep breath and shifts around in his seat. “I-I-“

“Have you calmed down, sweetie?” Mrs. Kanzaki asks while getting up from her seat, approaching her son and sitting down by his side. “We just want to talk, okay?”

Hiroto stares at her with an expression that completely breaks the matriarch's heart. “…” He slowly nods, now seeming more in control.

But still, just to be sure, the chubby woman wraps an arm around his shoulder. That startles the brunet, but he soon leans in on her.

“…” After a couple of seconds in silence, the older man speaks up. “Ayame told us about your choice of club.” He explains, carefully watching his boy’s expression. “We already know the answer, but I’ll still ask to be throughout. Is it true that you joined the dueling club?”

Hiroto looks away from his father and nods.

Not that they expected Ayame to lie. She was a bit of a troublemaker, but she was no liar, that was for sure.

Mrs. Kanzaki bites her lower lip and unconsciously hugs her boy tighter. “Why did you join a club like that?” It was hard to keep her worried tone to herself.

The brunet nervously looked down at his lap. “… the manager asked me to join.” He closes his eyes. “I-I just couldn’t refuse her. I don’t know why.”

A very obvious lie, everyone in that room knew it, but they decided to brush it off and continue.

“But why did you lie to us, Hiro-chan?” Asked the woman while trying to sound as gentle as possible.

“…” The boy looked away from them again. “I-I just didn’t want you to get worried-“ He bites his lower lip. “-b-but I swear! I didn’t hurt anyone!” Looking back at his father, he practically shouts.

Both parents share a knowing look with each other, before Mr. Kanzaki speaks up again. “Is this really how you see us, Hiroto?”

“H-Huh?”

“If we were to be worried, we would be worried about you.”

“…”

An uncomfortable silence fills the room, with all three family members not knowing what to say.

To think that their own child would misunderstand them like that. Being a parent sure was harder than anyone could expect.

With a sigh, the boy’s father continues. “When have we ever prohibited you or your sister from doing something?” He asks, making the boy shake his head.

“N-Never.” Hiroto replies in a whisper. “B-But that’s gotta be different, right? W-What if I-“

“We trust you, Hiroto.”

Hearing those words makes the boy look up to his father with a surprised expression.

“Clearly we haven’t communicated this that well, so let it be very clear.” The tall man smiles softly. “We trust you.”

Now fully hugging her son, Mrs. Kanzaki adds. “You’re not a kid anymore Hiro-chan.” She sighs. “Also, we know that you want to fight in the club.”

“I-I don’t, it’s just-“

“We know you have a knack for fighting, no need to hide it from us.” The older man notes as the boy sighs. “Clearly you joined this club because of that, right?”

Yes, but Hiroto didn’t want to admit that he wasn’t ready, probably.

“… you really don’t mind?” He asks once again, prompting his old man to chuckle.

“No, we don’t. As I said, we trust you, Hiroto.” Quickly replacing his smile with a harsher expression, the patriarch adds. “But you still lied to us, especially your mom, so we’ll have to think of an adequate punishment for you.”

The brunet chuckles awkwardly, although he didn’t know how to feel about this new development.

Sure, his parents might trust him, but can Hiroto trust himself?

“Okay, now that this is done, we should go have some dinner.” Mrs. Kanzaki lets go of her soon and stands up, clasping her hands together. “Can you go get your sister for us?”

The brunet let out a soft smile and nodded. ‘I really need to have a talk with her too.’ Even if her intentions were good, Hiroto was still kind of mad that she went on and spilled the beans to their parents without his permission.

First he went to her room, and to the boy’s surprise, she wasn’t there. Next he checked the bathroom and once again, there was no sign from his twin sister.

For a second, panic began to take over the brunet, until he remembered something. “Urgh, that little!” He quickly turns around and runs up to the house’s entrance. “I need to go somewhere real quick!” Hiroto shouts from the door. “Be right back!”

He waits for his mom to shout back an “okay, take care” before bolting out of the house.

There was only one place where his troublesome sister could be.

The park.