Oh, Brother!

sugar sweet

Shogo's POV
Meanwhile, Reina's childhood friend and crush Tajima Shogo is constantly tossing and turning in his bed as he finds it hard to fall back asleep due to the fact that he's been having lots of thoughts considering what had occurred at First Sight Café with Takumi and Reina.

"Oi, Taji-kun!" I heard a shrill yell from the other side of the room. As I covered myself with my blanket over my head like some sort of hood, I watched as my room mate and fellow trainee group member Sano Yudai walked over to me. "Are you okay? You've been constantly moving around in your bed... Is something up?"

"No, nothing's wrong, Yudai," I lied. Of course something was wrong.

There's always something wrong when it comes to my relationship with Reina-chan.

"Are 'ya sure about that?" Now, Yudai was starting to get a bit nosy. Sitting down next to me on my bed, Yudai stretched his hands out towards the ceiling and then continued, "Is it about that girl that you and everyone else talked about yesterday?"

"Eh? What girl?" My face was suddenly warm. Was I blushing? This is Yonashiro Reina we're talking about! The girl I rejected two years ago. The girl that's been crushing on me since she was six! The girl that I never looked at as being more than just my little sister's friend. "I never said anything about a girl!" Now, I was playing on the defense. Yudai was bound to find out about Reina.

Damn it!

"Ah, so this girl... If there is a girl... How long have you known her?" Yudai stated after giving me a mischievous smirk.

Deeply exhaling, I massaged the temples of my forehead and began, "Fine! I'll tell you!" Finally, I relented, telling Yudai all that had occurred between me, Reina, and her older friend Ozaki Takumi-kun.

"Ah, so that's what happened..." Yudai gave out a little chuckle as he gingerly gave me a pat to the shoulder. "Well, you did kiss her without her consent... Well, technically. Does she still have feelings for you or did you develop feelings for her?"

"Eh? Me develop feelings for Rei-chan?" My eyes widened in shock from Yudai's sudden question. "Do you really think that I did?"

"Hmm..." Yudai began again, rubbing his chin in deep thought. "Maybe you have... Or maybe you haven't?" Here, he put his hands beside his head, indicating he had no idea what I was feeling at all. Of course, he's not me. And, he of course didn't need to deal with all of this crap.

"Anyways, I'm going back to my room. Also, I hope that you and this Reina-chan work things out eventually!" Yudai gave me a smile and then left the room, leaving me to gather all of my conflicting thoughts together.

Deeply exhaling, I turned to face the window, still a lot of stuff on my mind. I wondered if Reina would actually forgive me for kissing her out of the blue like that. We definitely weren't on good terms to begin with, so to suddenly talk to her concerning what had happened with Takumi-kun? Doesn't that sound too weird?

Sho's POV

Meanwhile, Sho is deeply contemplating about how his brother-sister relationship with Reina has always had a strain. It wasn't always like that, however. Growing up, the two were actually quite close.

Flashback, 2013. Nine years ago. Sho is eighteen and in his final year of high school while Reina is eleven and still in primary school. The two are conversing about the passing of Reina's pet goldfish after she had accidentally overfed it.

"Mou! But, I feed him though!" Reina exclaimed, a trail of tears forming waterfalls on her rosy cheeks. Trying to comfort the crying child, I gave her a gentle pat to the head, embraced her, and set the fishbowl onto the kitchen counter. "I don't see what I did wrong, Onii-chan... I just fed it some food and then, this happens! It's my fault!" Reina continued to cry.

"Rei-chan, it's okay!" I began, patting her fragile shoulder. "Things like this happen! Even to the best of us!" Releasing a hesitant chuckle, I watched as Reina's crying soon subsided. "There's no need to worry about it! I'm sure Fishy-san lived a fulfilling life..." My voice trailed off as I rummaged around in my coat pocket, searching for the chocolate I bought for my younger sister earlier this week. I finally was able to find it in the black hole that is my pocket. "Look what I have for you!" Kneeling down so that I could face her, I shook the small Meiji Strawberry Apollo Chocolate package in my hand. Reina's face immediately lit up and she reached for her beloved Apollo Choco. Handing it to her, I watched as she nearly devoured all of the chocolate.

"Oi, Yonashiro Sho!" I heard our dad yell at me and shake his head in disapproval. "Reina hasn't had breakfast yet... Nice job, Son!" He gave me a pat on the shoulder and sat down at the dining table, newspaper in one hand and a cup of black coffee in the other. "Wait until your mom hears about this!"

"Hear about what, Dear?" Okaasan quickly turned around from where she was standing in the kitchen, chopping green onions for the omelettes we were supposed to have for breakfast.

"It's nothing!" Reina and I yelled in unison.

Flashback end. 2022- Present day.

I don't know exactly what caused Reina and me to grow apart from another. Ever since we both started to get older, she gradually began to distance herself from me. I would ask her from time to time if there was something she didn't like about our relationship. But by then, it was already strained. Exhaling, I stared out the living room window as I watched Reina and her friends chatting. I wonder what they could be talking about. Reina used to be so open with me when she was little. However, she's almost nineteen this coming month. I understand her want for privacy and her desire to eventually have a boyfriend, but what I don't understand is why she's so angry whenever she talks to me lately.

Does she hate me?

Does she not like me being her older brother?

Am I doing something wrong? If so, what is it that she doesn't like?

🌺

Author's Note:

I'm so sorry it took me so long to update this! 😖 Life's been busy due to college life and just being generally busy in general. Besides that, I also somehow managed to get into my university's creative writing program and I'm thrilled to finally put my writing out there professionally 💗. Thank you, everyone for reading and voting! I really appreciate it and I'm hoping to receive some more comments from all of you if possible! It would be nice to get some feedback every once in a while! 😪

- Cath 🐶

(QOTD: Did you guys watch JO1's With Us MV! The quality is sooo good! Everything about the MV is amazing and so is the song itself!

Also, my fam and I are thinking about getting a small dog this summer! We're thinking about getting a Lhasa poodle! We wanted a male, but the pet center we talked to only has a female at the moment. Either way, I'm super thrilled to get a pet! 🐶💘

Do you guys have pets? Leave which one you have in the comments, if you want to! ❤️)