Chapter 8:

The String of Fate (Part 1)

My Obnoxious Little Junior


The rest of the week went by without anything eventful happening, the few things that did happen were mostly Akemi talking to me from time to time and Yuki acting somewhat distant with me to be more precise, but nothing out of the ordinary which was a good thing.

Before I knew it, it was finally the time for me to take action, or to be more precise, do what Akemi had told me to do with her for the day.

"Are you ready, brother?"

"More or less... I'd rather not If I have the choice"

"Regardless, It's not as bad as what you might think, now is it?"

"Well..."

"It's not bad, you're just making a big deal out of it"

"..."

"Now, go on before you're late"

"I don't think she would mind..."

"Come on, hurry up!"

Before I knew it, she was had started kicking me out of the house without a care in the world and even though the house was also mine, she acted as if I was just a fly in the house bothering her.

"Would you cut that out?!"

"Not until you leave"

"Fine, I'm leaving!"

"Take care"

"Yeah, whatever"

I cursed at her under my breath and proceeded to leave the house and head towards the meeting spot where we had agreed to see each other.

Upon arriving there, I glanced around the area for a bit, but didn't see her anywhere in the vicinity of the meeting spot.

"I guess she's late..."

I let out a sigh of relief, sat down and started fiddling around with my phone. My best bet would have been to leave, walk around any places I wanted to look through and once it was a good time, I would simply head back home and tell my sister that we had cut the date short.

"That would be a nice thing, but with her, I doubt it's going to be that easy"

Knowing how she acted, I wouldn't have been surprised if she'd go ahead and talk with Akemi about the date and what not. If she was told the truth, I'd most likely end up suffering from an even more severe wound and one caused by my sister at that.

"I really don't want to have to deal with her at this point in time..."

"S-Sorry that I'm late!"

"Hmm?"

I glanced over at where I had heard the voice and noticed that it was none other than Akemi herself and when I laid eyes on her, I couldn't help but notice that she looked stunning.

"..."

"D-Did I make you wait?"

"Not really..."

"I see... That's a relief to hear"

She lightly placed a hand to her chest and heaved a sigh of relief. Seeing her do so, I couldn't help but wonder why she had gone through all the trouble of making herself look like this.

I hadn't done as much work on my clothes myself, but even then, I didn't want to look slobby, at the very least, I wanted to look decent enough for when I made my way outside.

"What do you want to do anyways?"

"I just wanted us to walk around together, just like friends would do"

"I see..."

Even if she explained things like that, it didn't clarify what her goal was for the day. Did she want to shop around? Was there a store that she wanted to go to, or did she simply want to leave the house and walk around?

The questions continued pilling themselves without a single answer, but thankfully, before I could say anything, she was the one who spoke up.

"Just like I said. I want us to go on a date, that's all"

"..."

"I know it sounds weird but..." She didn't look me in the eyes when she said those words, the only thing she could do that portrayed something of the sort was her fidgeting around in place.

"I see"

I didn't want to broach on the topic any longer than I had to for the reason that things could go south quickly with a single comment from either one of us.

"So, where do you want to go first?"

"H-Huh?"

"We might as well walk around and go to wherever you feel like going, don't you think?"

She stared into my eyes for a moment and then gave me a big nod and smile "Yeah, let's do that~"

The way she looked in that moment alone was more than enough to remind me of the Akemi of back in the day, the Akemi whom I loved very much as well as the one who had made me suffer back in the day...

I quickly dismissed those thoughts and focused on the girl standing before me "I have to forget the past... If only for a moment, I should probably go back to how I am with my sister and Yuki"

I let out a sigh and with that out of the way, the both of us started making our way around the city without anything specific in mind, but even though that was the case, she seemed to have thought up quite a few topics of conversation just in case things wouldn't go too smoothly and what not.

"I was surprised to see that Akemi managed to get into our high school"

"Yeah, she studied like her life depended on it. She really didn't have to all that far for something as simple as that, but it wasn't my place to say anything to her about that"

"But is she happy that she managed to get this far?"

"Yeah, she is"

"Then I guess it was worth all that effort of hers~"

"Yeah... You might have a point there"

I stared at her for a bit and immediately looked away from her "Is she really trying to change or is it just me?"

It was impossible for me to fall for her again. That was something that I knew deep down, but even then, just thinking about the fact that she was acting like her usual self was more than enough to make me think that we could at least go back to how we were at the start of the school year back then... As friends at the very least or even strangers if the situation called for it.

"Let's go in there, Tadao!"

"Hmm?"

Before I knew it, she grabbed my hand and started dragging me inside of a department store without a care in the world. When she did so, I wanted to immediately pull back my arm, but decided not to for the simple reason that I had promised my sister that I would try and not act like a complete ass.

Once inside the department store, she started glancing through the array of clothing and what not without a care in the world. As she did so, I simply glanced through my phone and what not without a care in the world, but as I was doing so, she seemed to have remembered what she was doing and glanced over at me.

"I-I'm sorry that I just started ignoring you, Tadao!"

"There's no need to apologize"

"But..."

"It was the same when we were dating. You would get so entranced by things that you liked that you blocked out everyone around you, or am I wrong?"

When I finished saying those words, she seemed to have been shocked and didn't say a word to me at all.

"Something wrong?"

"N-No, I'm just surprised... That's all"

"About what?"

"About the fact that you remember that..."

I stared at her for a bit and sighed to myself "You were my first girlfriend. It's only understandable that I would remember those little things about yourself, don't you think?"

"W-Wha...?!"

"What?"

"I-It's nothing!"

For some reason she was blushing at my words and looking away from me whenever our eyes made contact and what not. I decided to ignore that and simply look around the store myself as well.

Just when I thought things couldn't get even more awkward, it did "T-Tadao-senpai?"

"Hmm?"

When I glanced over, I couldn't help but notice that Yuki was standing there with some clothes in her hand, but the worst thing was the face she had in that moment.

"Hey there, Yuki"

"..."

She didn't give me an answer, she simply stood there staring at the both of us and before I could say anything else, she left in a hurry.

"..."

"I wonder what's wrong with her..."

I stared at her fleeting back and even when she had left my field of view, I still continued staring in hopes that she would be there still "That was weird..."


To be continued...