Oh, Brother!

bond

Sho's POV
With Shogo-kun finally relenting to my favor of having him watch over my younger sister Reina and one of her male acquaintances Ozaki Takumi, I spied on them through my handy set of binoculars at the nearby bookstore. Of course, I had to wear a disguise. If someone were to recognize me, it'll cause a problem for sure. After all, with JO1's popularity growing these days, I had to make sure about being safe in public.

As I glimpsed through my binoculars' lenses, I noticed Reina dragging Shogo out of the cafe.

What just happened?

Sure, I didn't pay much attention to the last few minutes of what had just occurred due to multitasking between reading a new book I wanted to buy and watching my younger sister, but did the plan fail? I was bound to find out, so I headed out the bookstore's door and walked on over to First Sight Café, which was just across the street.

Don't tell me Shogo did something he shouldn't have done!

Hurriedly, I ran to the two. I was fully aware that Reina was mad, but I tried to explain my true intentions to her. "Listen, Reina! I can explain!" I exclaimed.

"So it was you!" Reina yelled at me. Sure, she's been mad at me multiple times in the past, but she wasn't half as mad as she is right now.

"I just wanted you to be safe!" I argued. Of course, as her older brother, I couldn't help but be overprotective of her. She is my sister after all. "Reina, please don't you understand why I did this?"

"Oh, and I suppose you were spying on us at that bookstore over there, huh?" Reina pointed to the bookstore across the street. "I'm eighteen now, can't you see that I can handle myself just fine? So stop being so annoying!" With that, Reina ran away, tears streaming down her face.

"I think it's better if you don't talk to her right now..." Shogo stated, after having been silent the whole time. "Listen, I think this is between you and her. I already apologized to her for kissing her and making her friend uncomfortable, but this whole thing is between you and her. Please, just listen to her,"

"Wait! You did what now? Did you just say you kissed her?" Shogo gave me a mischievous smirk and walked off, leaving me to stand there alone, thinking about what I had just done. But he was right, this whole thing is between me and Reina. I was too stupid to have actually caused my younger sister to get hurt. Due to my overprotectiveness, I must've caused our relationship as brother and sister to be quite complicated as is. Reina is right. She is eighteen now and deserves to be treated as someone who isn't a child. Although, she technically still is one.

That night, Reina refused to come down for dinner. Instead, she secluded herself and stayed in her room, crying. Approaching her bedroom door, I hesitated to knock. "Reina," I finally stated. I sighed then continued, "Mom and Dad are worried about you. I am too. I'm sorry for what I did, but I just hope you understand that my intentions weren't to cause a strain between us. Reina, you're my little sister and I didn't want you getting hurt. However, I'm the one who caused you pain. Listen, I'm sorry. You'll probably never forgive me, but I hope you know that I'm here for you if you just want to talk..." My voice trailed off as I left the upstairs hallway and trudged down the staircase. With another sigh, I glimpsed back up at Reina's bedroom door, then slowly looked away and walked back to the dining room table.

"So, she's still not coming down, huh?" said Dad as he watched the minutes tick away on the old Grandfather's clock. The three of us, Mom, Dad and I just sat in complete silence, unable to say a word.

Takumi's POV
Hours earlier, after Shogo suddenly kissed Reina at First Sight Café, Takumi is at a nearby park, sitting down on a swing. He thinks back on what had happened earlier.

"Takumi," I began, using third person on myself. "Of course she would have a boyfriend. Pull yourself together!" Frivolously, I rubbed my head with my hands. I was far from calm. I don't understand my emotions right now.

Could it be jealousy that I'm feeling?

I guess it's true though. Shogo seems to be the laidback type of guy who has a trail of fan girls lined up to give him love letters. Meanwhile, there's me. I'm kind of shy and the only thing I have going for me is my busking gigs. Despite my overall shyness, I think that I'm pretty good at singing. Yet, I know I could be better.

I know I could be better.

"Takumi?" I heard a voice say and as I looked up, I recognized who it was immediately.

"Yumi?" I stated, taken aback. I haven't seen my ex-girlfriend since we broke up a year ago.

What could she possibly be doing here in Tokyo? I thought she made plans to study abroad in America?

"Hmm..." Yumi lowered her face to mine and gave me a look of concern. "You aren't wearing your glasses today!" She gave me a smile and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, sitting down on the swing beside me. "You look different..."

"Y-Yumi? Wh-What are you doing here?" My voiced wavered. I was honestly not expecting her to show up out of, basically nowhere. "I thought you went to study abroad in America?"

"I did," Yumi shivered, rubbing her hands together in order to warm herself up from the cold autumn wind. "But something was holding me back..."

"Eh? But I thought it was your dream to go there. You were always talking about learning English and working as a newscaster in LA..." My voice trailed off as I stopped talking midway.

Was Yumi forced to leave Japan?

"It wasn't really my dream, Takumi..." Yumi then glimpsed over at me directly, after having stared at the night sky the whole time. "It was my dad's,"

"So, what are you doing back here then?" I wanted to be direct with her without sounding harsh, but somehow my inner emotions I've been holding back for a whole year came back to me. Instead of my words coming out cool and collected, it ended up sounding like it was a demand for me to know the truth behind her departure.

"Takumi, don't you want to re-start?"

"What do you mean? Re-start what exactly?"

"Us! Don't you want to start dating again?

"Should we start dating again?"

💟💟💟

I feel like I made the story far more complicated than I had originally planned it to be! 😖 I also had to change Reina's age due to the age gaps between the characters being much greater than I had expected. I decided upon portraying Taji and Taku using their real ages, so there's that...

Anyways, have y'all been streaming 僕らの季節？It's such a beautiful song, I swear! In some ways, I feel like the song was dedicated to Sky ;-; What are your guys' thoughts on it?

Stay tuned to the next chapter update! ❤️

Cath 🌸