Short Stories

Sisters and Brothers

Summary: Nikei won't come out of his room, and he won't let anyone in. VOID decides to investigate.

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Nikei won't come out of his room. Which wasn't that strange. He usually was holed up in there working on his newspaper articles, until someone dragged him out to eat.

The strange part was that he wasn't letting anyone in.

Nikei never minded anyone coming into his room. He welcomed conversation as he typed away endlessly at his laptop. To suddenly yell at anyone who knocked or tried to open his door was very out of character for him.

It worried Emma. Something was definitely wrong.

"Guys, what are we gonna do about Nikei?" She asked the rest of their group, which had been nicknamed VOID, when they had all gathered in the living room. "He won't come out, and he won't let anyone in, either. I'm worried about him."

Hajime looked up from his book, closing it. "Yeah, I'm curious about that, too. I tried to give him breakfast earlier, but he just yelled at me to go away."

Iroha stopped painting for a brief moment. "Yeah! I wanted to get his opinion on a painting, but he wouldn't let me in!"

Mikado stopped flipping through random channels on the TV. "I do think this is very worrisome. Mr. Yomiuri had never minded anyone going in there before. I say we go find out what's bothering him."

"How?" Iroha asked. "By breaking the door down?"

"No, of course not. We'll go and ask to be let in, and if he refuses, we go in anyway." Emma said, getting up.

"And what if he's locked the door?" Mikado asked.

Emma paused. "I suppose, if push comes to shove, that's when breaking down the door will work. Hajime, do you have that covered?"

The boxer nodded. "Sure, it wouldn't be my first time."

"Alright then, now that that's settled, let's go on up." Mikado said.

The four of them headed upstairs to Nikei's room, where Emma knocked on the door. "Nikei? It's us, Emma, Hajime, Iroha, and Mikado. We're worried about you. Can you please open the door and let us in?"

"No! G-Go away!" Came the shout from inside.

Emma frowned. Was it just her, or did Nikei's voice waver when he spoke?

"Mr. Yomiuri, please. We promise, we won't judge whatever's going on. We want to help. Can't you let us in?" Mikado tried.

"Leave me alone!" Nikei yelled.

Mikado sighed. "Looks like asking isn't going to work."

"Here, let me." Hajime moved to the front of the group. "Nikei, if you don't respond, I'm going to force the door open. You can't hide in here forever. So either let us in, or we're coming in on our own."

"D-Don't come in! Just go away already!"

Hajime looked around at the others. "Well, we warned him." He grabbed the door knob, and twisted it. The door tried to open, but something on the other side was blocking it. Hajime put his weight on the door, causing the object, which turned out to be a dresser, to swing open slowly. All four of them entered the room.

At first, they couldn't even see Nikei. At first glance, the room seemed to be empty. Then Emma noticed a flattish lump of blankets in the corner of the bed.

"Nikei?" She called softly. The others had by now noticed the lump as well.

Soft sniffles were her only response.