Fikush-ON!

Ch. 8: Afternoon At Pool

The weather got warmer, people started wearing less clothing, and all school students switched over to summer uniforms. Yup, it was summer, alright. I, however, still kept my jeans and red hoodie on, since I didn't mind the heat that much. Also, summer vacation would begin in just a few weeks, which everybody waited for.

I flinched awake due to a noise that sounded a lot like a car horn. I rolled my computer chair around, stood up, and headed to the window to find the culprit. Two motorists shouting at each other on the intersection in front of our house, nothing serious. Soon both of them disappeared, and I yawned, massaging my aching neck. Huh, looks like I fell asleep at my computer table. I walked over to the table and shook the mouse to wake the computer from sleep mode. Seems like I was watching some movie last night. Well, I don't remember much of it, so I reminded myself of watching it again later, and closed the video player.

As I tiredly walked downstairs, I was met with the pleasant aroma of coffee. I headed to the kitchen, where I saw my brother browsing the fridge.

"There's something weird going on. No matter how many times I check the fridge, there's never anything new there."

I chuckled to his shitty joke as I grabbed a mug from a cabinet. "Go shopping, then."

"Nah, Tamiko is already handling it," he muttered, and closed the fridge.

Sugimoto Tamiko, our 14-year-old sister. If none of our parents are around, is usually her who does the cooking and such, since my brother and I are both useless. She seems to be the only one of us who has inherited our mother's traits: light hair, green eyes... she almost looks like a foreigner. She's also my most treasured person. No one, who knows me, has dared to bully her. Though, on the other hand, she might have a reputation of being "delinquent's sister".

"Hey, Eiji! Hey!" Daichi shouted.

I woke from my thoughts, glancing at my coffee, which was flooding over the edges. God damn it, I really got to stop thinking about stuff when I'm doing things that need concentration, like pouring coffee into a mug. With an annoyed snarl, I quickly began cleaning the table. Afterwards I carried the coffee upstairs to my room, and began browsing my favorite imageboard.

As I finished my coffee, I heard the front door opening. Tamiko must've returned. As I was walking down the stairs, I saw Daichi reaching his hand towards Tamiko.

"Give me the change, I need to buy something myself."

Tamiko, however, just glanced downwards, not saying a word. She walked past my confused brother, and set the grocery bag down on the kitchen counter. Something happened, I just know it. I quickly returned upstairs to grab my hoodie, since I had a feeling I'd need to venture outside, after which I headed to the kitchen, where Daichi was still trying to ask Tamiko about the money. Tamiko saw me peering into the kitchen, and flinched.

"I... I... I lost them! They fell out of my pocket!"

She looked at both of us, and quickly realized we weren't buying into that. Tamiko has never been a good liar. I walked to her, crouched down a bit, and looked her into her eyes.

"Tamiko, who was it?" I asked.

"W-what do you mean who?" she muttered, glancing elsewhere.

"Hey, eyes up here," I calmly said to her, and our eyes met once again. "Who was it? And where?"

She kept looking at me for a moment, until she glanced downwards, and started telling. Some guy, probably the same age as her, had snatched the money from her hand as she was stepping out of the store. She gave me a description of the guy and told me the direction he ran off to.