CHAPTER 2: THE BROTHER AND THE SISTER

-Year XX29-

-Monday: July 11-

-08:25-

The dark-haired boy glanced at his watch, yawning immediately after reading the time.

「How can you yawn like that when school starts in five minutes?!」

Having finally succeeded in dragging her brother out of bed, Mana should have displayed an expression of triumph.

However, seeing her brother’s utter lack of urgency, she was justifiably anxious instead.

「Calm down. We still have time, don't we?」

The brother yawns, nonchalant as he stretched his arms.

Yet, it was apparent that the sister didn’t share the boy’s sentiment.

「Class starts in five minutes! It takes at least 15 minutes on foot to get to school from home, and we haven't even been walking for five minutes!」

「Then just run.」

「You know I have a sprained leg and can't run for another week!」

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「Oh! So that's why you weren't delivering newspapers.」

「You forgot!?! Baka(1)! Baka! Aniki(2) no Baka!」

Having only woken up minutes ago, the boy continued to yawn throughout the entire exchange. However, he suddenly stopped.

「You're alwa-*sniff* always like this. Baka! Baka! Baka!」

His little sister had started crying.

Despite the harsh treatment she always gave him, Mana loved her brother, more than anyone in the world. She couldn't stand the thought of not being with her only brother, or the fact that she would be forgotten by him.

The dark-haired boy knew this.

「Sorry…」

Drawing closer, the boy stretches his hand towards Mana, her cheeks flushed red.

He would always stroke Mana's hair to comfort her, even since they were children.

His rugged hand gets closer to the tear-filled girl’s head, trying to dispel the stream of tears.

However, the kind hand that was supposed to console-

*thwick*

「Owie!」

-ended up flicking Mana's forehead instead.

「Sorry, but your act won’t fool me.」

「Ow! What was that for?!」

「Serves you right!」

Seeing as her plan to get petted by her 'Aniki' failed, Mana wiped away her 'tears'.

「But still, that hurt! Baka!」

「Deal with it.」

Cold words were being tossed between the two. However, to these siblings, it was a simple family quarrel.

No. Perhaps it was their own way of bonding.

Either way, after the exchange, the boy looked at his watch again.

This time, however, he examined it carefully in order to capture the finer details.

-08:28, Thursday, 26th June-

The boy suddenly realised.

「We have Britney-sensei first…」

Britney-sensei is one of the school's strongest and feared teachers. She is also very strict, famous for giving long, long, loooong detentions at school.

A single bead of sweat had rolled down his face. The boy couldn't afford to be held back.

Not today.

He suddenly lifted Mana's body, giving her a piggy-back.

「W-w-what are y-you doing?!」

Mana's face flushed once more. Not of sadness, but of embarrassment.

「No time to explain. Just deal with it.」

-and with that curt response, a cloud of dust exploded beneath the boy’s feet.