Chapter IX
POV: ? Unknown? — 8 Years in the past.
The classroom was particularly noisy today.
The sound of crying was heard throughout the whole room, perhaps even in the hallway.
“Kanzaki! Apologize to Cain at once!” the teacher demanded.
Tch
It pissed me off so much.
I raised my hand in the mists of the chaos.
“Miss Tanaka, I’m Cain,” I asserted myself boldly.
“Oh, my apologies Cain I am so sorry!” she said.
“Just remember, Reo is the crybaby, not me!” I spoke loudly in a rude manner.
Our teacher Miss Tanaka did not like my tone when I spoke to her that day.
“Cain! You can’t talk that way to a teacher,” she explained.
“It’s only natural for me to make mistakes dear! After all, you’re both identical!” she added.
“I think it’s best you and Reo go home for the day!” she told us.
Our mother picked us up from school only an hour after she had dropped us off.
“What happened Reo?” she asked my brother.
“He—, He—, He—,” Reo stuttered, unable to speak.
His tears kept on flowing, and his face a bright red.
Mother saw this and then looked at me.
“A kid made fun of him cuz he couldn’t read the board,” I responded for Reo.
“Geez, kids these days,” Mother said.
“And you Cain? You got in trouble as well?” she asked me.
“I gave the teacher a little attitude after she got us mixed up,” I replied.
“I see,” she replied.
“Does that bother you Cain?” she asked.
“Well I don’t want to get mistaken for my crybaby brother over here so yeah, it does,” I said.
✾❀✾
We arrived home and were forced to study the rest of the day, to make up for missing school.
Reo and I shared the same bedroom, I studied on one side, and he on the other.
It was quiet for a while.
We both knew we were in big trouble so we just kept quiet.
The room sounded like the turning pages of books and the sound of a pencil writing on a piece of paper.
Sooner or later one of us would break the silence.
“Hey Cain, can I ask you something?” Reo said.
“What,” I replied.
“How come we're so different, even though we’re twins?” he asked me.
“Cuz you’re a crybaby and I’m not,” I replied bluntly.
“How can I become like you?” he asked once more.
“Beats me, you’re just too sensitive,” I said.
“If I were you, if a kid ever called me stupid, I would just move on with my day.
You shouldn’t care about what people have to say because you're better than them,” I added.
“I’m better than them?” Reo inquired.
“Well, I’m better than them, and you're my twin, so you have to be as well,” I explained.
“I should probably work on my math if I want to be better huh?” Reo said.
I nodded.
When mother came home she had a bag full of some strange items.
“I got both of you some presents,” she said.
Presents? For getting in trouble at school?
Inside the bag was a small box with somebody's face on it, and a small box that had an eyeball on it.
The box with the face was for me, and the box with the eye was for Reo.
We then went with our mother into the bathroom with our gifts.
We would eventually find out what the purpose of these gifts was.
The box with the face was actually hair dye, and the box with the eye was contact lenses.
My mother used the hair dye on me, creating a couple of red highlights in my hair.
Following that, Mother taught Reo how to put on contacts.
We knew Reo had a vision problem, as when we went to the eye doctor, the doctor suggested glasses or contacts.
I, however, did not have the same issue.
The contacts were custom per request of our mother, and they finally arrived for pick-up today.
The custom order was made so that upon wearing them, it would make your eyes look blue.
Even with natural brown eyes like what Reo and I had.
Mother had given us both a new look.
“Just look at my cute little sons!
Cain, my son with a fiery attitude and ambitions that burn bright!
And Reo, my son who cries beautiful tears with eyes as brilliant as Ice!”
Being twins has always made it difficult to carve out your own identity.
But mother allowed us to have our own identities.
From that day forward, no one had ever mixed us up ever again.
I could never forget those words that my mother used to describe me.
My ambitions do indeed burn bright.
image [https://i.imgur.com/gmAZQmG.jpg]
✾❀✾
POV: Yamato Reo — 2 years in the past
In Junior High, I, along with my brother Cain, both walked onto the graduation stage with many medals.
We had medals signifying our overachievement in academics, sports, community service, and many other fields.
We took photos with all of our teachers, but the most memorable was taking a photo with our basketball coach, Mr. Jin.
Me, along with my brother held our championship trophy together, with Mr. Jin having his hand on Cain's shoulder, while mother had her hand on my shoulder.
It was a great photo that we wanted to get developed immediately.
Cain and I picked up basketball our first year of Junior High, as our dad had forced us to exercise more.
We were both naturals and almost immediately became the best players on the team.
In our first year, we would fall just short of winning the championship in our division.
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
Following our next year, we would go all the way and win it all.
The same for our last year, which was this year.
We both played well enough that Mr. Jin, who was an ex-professional, told us that a professional career could be an option for us if we kept at it.
In fact, he wanted to continue with our development, by moving on to the next grade with us.
He was able to get hired as head coach at Shinjo Tech Academy and offered us the opportunity to come play for him at the high school level.
We both loved Mr. Jin and we decided that Shinjo Tech would be our next destination.
At that time, I had gotten better at managing my emotions.
I cry less nowadays and smile a lot more now.
I could say that Cain had changed a little as well.
He was a lot less rude to people now, but he still had an underlying anger issue if his buttons were pushed too far.
I remembered that these were the happiest times of my life.
However….
The happiness didn’t last.
✾❀✾
After our graduation ceremony, Cain and I, along with Mother went to develop some of our photos from graduation.
She was so ecstatic about how well the photos would turn out, that she wanted to get them done right away.
We entered the parking lot of the mall, where we were going to get the photos done.
As we entered the mall, we went ahead and waited in line at the photography store.
“Do you guys want anything to drink?” Cain asked me and mother.
“I’ll pass,” I told Cain.
“I’d like some iced tea sweetie,” Mother told Cain.
“Got it, I'll be right back,” Cain announced.
When Cain came back with drinks, the line hardly moved at all.
“Looks like this is going to take a while,” our Mother said.
When it was finally our turn, everything went smoothly and we had to wait a little over a week for them to finish.
We left the mall and started heading towards the car.
“Can you guys give me a second, I have to use the restroom really bad!” Cain told us.
We agreed to wait for him as we were in the middle of the parking lot.
My mother looked over the photos that she took with her smartphone since she can view them right away.
“Wow you guys are so handsome!” she remarked.
“I think you guys took after me more than your father,” she added.
I looked through the photos with her.
“You know, just between us, I think your a little more handsome than your brother,” Mother told me.
“I think we look the same, afterall we are identical twins,” I said.
“Well it must be those eyes of yours,” she said.
“Before we gotten you contacts, I could always tell you guys apart with the looks in your eyes.
You have eyes that can see more than your brother’s,” she told me in a whispered tone.
We both laughed a little as we gazed upon the clear blue sky, with the sun shining onto us.
Suddenly we had heard a voice from behind us.
“Give me your purse,” a man dressed in black with a ski mask on.
As soon as Mother turned around to witness the man, he had put his hands on her, grabbing my mom’s purse and attempting to steal it from her.
To this day, I hated myself for it.
I hated myself because of how I froze up in the moment.
I tried to shake it off, and try and go help my mom, but I didn’t know what to do.
I tried to grab the robber, but I didn’t put any force behind my grab.
He brushed me to the side and he kept trying to pull the purse from my mother.
I stood there helpless and I shook with fear, and my eyes started to water.
All the sudden I was took aback to a similar feeling.
My wild emotions roared as tears fell from my face.
However, I couldn’t turn my emotions into anger.
I couldn’t help my Mother.
It was as though my feet were glued to the floor.
I wanted to help, I had to help, but….
WHY!
WHY!
WHY!
WHY!
WHY CAN’T I MOVE!
The robber started to hit my mother relentlessly, and eventually shoved her to the ground.
My mother lied helplessly on the floor, not moving an inch.
Blood started oozing onto the floor from her head.
And yet, I couldn’t get angry, I couldn’t avenge my mother, even though the robber stood in front of my very eyes.
However, someone would get angry. So angry that he might just kill a man with his bare hands.
There stood Cain with a face, I had never seen before.
It was then and there that I fully realized that Cain and I, although identical, were completely different people.
It was also the moment that I had realized that…
My brother will never be the same again.
Viciously, Cain struck the robber dead in the face, quicker then I could blink.
The robber fought back, but Cain ignored all of the robber’s punches.
Completely allowing them to hit because the only thing Cain cared about in that moment, was inflicting devastating pain onto the robber.
Cain tackled him to the floor, and started to pound the robber’s head to the ground with as much force as Cain could muster.
Blood spilled and the robber lost consciousness and stopped fighting back.
Cain kept hitting him however, as I witnessed Cain’s knuckles start to bleed.
After a while, Cain stood up and looked over his shoulder towards mother, still unconscious on the ground.
At that point, people in the area started coming to help, as someone held the robber down, and another called the ambulance.
A crowd started to form around the accident, and a local doctor came and tried to stop the bleeding of my Mother.
At that point, I was still shaking terribly and crying, but was able to walk around.
Cain walked up to me and looked at me with the same face he did the robber.
The way his eyes widened, and his facial muscles tensed.
I deserved what he was going to do to me.
He slapped my face insanely hard, hard enough to hear the slap enough across the parking lot.
It sounded like someone had just used a whip.
He grabbed me by my collar and looked at my in my eyes.
I couldn’t look away, I had to face it.
“WHY THE FUCK DID YOU JUST STAND THERE!!!” he yelled into my face.
The crowd started to turn their attention onto us now as well.
I couldn’t say anything, it was as if my voice box had been ripped out of my body.
I finally was able to muster a raspy sounding “sorry.”
He pulled my collar tighter, which started to make me choke.
He then threw me to the ground and went to go check with the doctor.
Eventually the ambulance arrived to transport Mother to a hospital.
Me and Cain sat in the back of the ambulance, not saying a single word to eachother.
Cains hands were bleeding so much, that the medical staff had to give him attention as well.
The cuts were so deep that they were guaranteed to scar his knuckles.
I sat their in the corner, crying my eyes out.
I had reclaimed my old identity.
Crybaby
Cain had not shed a single tear, instead was engulfed in hatred and anger.
It’s always been like this.
Cain had never cried, not once in his life.
In fact, when we were born, I was the one who came out crying, while Cain didn’t.
We were truly fire and ice.
Polar opposites, in identical bodies.
✾❀✾
My mother was put in the operating room immediately when she arrived.
We didn’t know much, but we knew it was severe.
Our father eventually left his job to come down to the hospital to check up on her.
He asked us for details on what exactly happened.
The three of us sat outside the operating room, waiting for what felt like an eternity.
It was now 10 hours into waiting, and the doctors finally came out to give us an update.
They managed to stop the internal bleeding, however she had suffered severe bodily disfunctions.
Her brain will never be the same, and because of that, her muscles, organs, and all other body parts will not function correctly.
They did not know how badly her cognition and speech would decline, but they have high hopes that she would be able to speak again.
The doctors told us that she was in good care, and they we should head home for the night.
It was already well past midnight and we were all restless.
During those 10 hours of wait, Cain had to go get stitches done on his hands.
We also got word that since the robber lived, Cain wouldn’t face any consequences for nearly killing him.
Right before we were about to head home together, Cain had another breakdown on me.
He got right up in my face and had some harsh words for me.
“You couldn’t be there for your own mother!
You fuckin’ piece of shit!” he exclaimed.
Our dad tried to cut us off and ease the tension, but Cain quickly pushed him away.
At that point, Cain and I were physically bigger than our dad now, and we had raging teen hormones coursing through our veins.
“You’re not my fucking brother!”
“You’re not my fucking brother!”
Cain kept on repeating.
“When she dies, her blood is on YOUR HANDS!” he yelled at the top of his lungs.
Everyone near us heard, but didn’t butt into it.
I was crying the whole time, however no tears came out.
I had completely run out.
All you could hear from me was a constant huff and puff.
Our dad had enough and slapped both of us on the head.
He took us home in his car, which was a completely silent carride.
When we were home, Cain started to break anything in sight.
He threw cups, plates, chairs, whatever he could get a hold of.
Our dad didn’t do anything because he was scared that Cain could be too far gone, and that Cain would hurt us, if we pushed him to far.
It was a miserable night, as I’m sure none of us got any sleep at all.
✾❀✾
POV: Yamato Reo — Present day
That was all 2 years ago, right before I had entered high school.
I was originally going to go to Shinjo Tech Academy, but it was never going to work.
My relationship with my brother is dead.
Nothing could ever mend it.
I lived at home with my dad, while Cain stayed in the dorms at Shinjo Tech.
I rarely see Cain at all, and if I do we’re like total strangers.
My mother eventually stabalized, however is permanently bedridden at the hospital, which had put a incredible financial burden on our family.
Our father makes great money, however with all of it going into hospital bills, we have assumed a pretty frugal lifestyle.
The house was a mess, nothing ever gets cleaned up, my dad’s always angry, we eat like trash, it was horrible.
For my first year at Sakura High, I damn near cried myself to sleep every night.
The only thing keeping me a float was basketball.
When I play basketball, nothing mattered anymore.
I get transported into a new world where my problems don’t exist.
I am grateful everyday that Coach Miyamura gave me the chance.
It’s the only thing in my life that brings me joy now.
When I’m not playing basketball, a thought echos in my mind.
A thought that’s now engrained deeply inside my brain.
That it’s all my fault.