Distorted | Shimada Genji | g.s. / s.g.

act I: ix.

February 10th, 2058

The older male ruptures in sour laughter, "Are you kidding me?" The girl remains stone cold though she was confused by his reaction. The male clutches his stomach with one hand and places the other on his forehead as he thoughtlessly paces side to side. "All this for Genji? All this for my brother?" Neala's pupils dilate as his words endlessly and senselessly echo in her mind for a few seconds. The color drains from her face and her stance grows weak. When he is in the middle of his rant, the girl reluctantly swallows and inaudibly stutters.

"B-Brother?"

He cocks a brow and releases a chuckle of exaggerated surprise, "Yes...? Do you not know who I am? Why were you trying to threaten me?" His once menacingly, silly demeanor drastically shifts into a now terrorizing, consequential one. She slowly paces backwards as he inches closer to her. "Are you the reason for my brother's change?"

Through the walls, the Shimada brother and the Reis girl hear a door slam open and the familiar voice they both knew too well. The two make eye contact and telepathically agree to not reveal any clue of the scene with the Shimada in the front dojo. The Shimada brother hastily grabs the documents and scatters into the office. The girl, panicking as she hears footsteps from the back hallway in the dojo, rushes into a closet and, as sneaky and calmly as possible, closes it behind her. She clutches her knees to her chest and forces herself to steady her shaky breathing.

"Hanzo! I have a guest!" Genji's voice rings in a loud muffle through the painted white door, and her heart paces anxiously yet excitedly at the dopaminergic sound. She hears him scoff and talk with the supposed guest, "He is usually in there." Neala hears a feminine giggle and perks her ears up. A dark energy envelopes her heart as she hears the girl with a sweet voice reassure him in Japanese. It then processes that the Shimada she just had an encounter with is named Hanzo so she attempts to focus on that discovery.

Moments later, she hears, "Oh! Y-Yes, coming. I am just– organizing Father's desk!" Hanzo's voice, drastically further away, replies evidently panicking. Genji releases an inaudible sound and makes harsher footsteps close to the closet. Neala gently places both of her hands over her mouth with her knees still tucked towards her chest.

"Why are you in our father's office being sneaky? Aren't you the golden child?" Genji inquires and then utters a gasp. "Did you seriously look through those confidential documents?" After the slam of a drawer being closed reverberates, Hanzo replies.

"Because I was told to by Father." When there is an airy pause, Neala feels giddy inside and smiles when she can imagine the Shimada's cutely raised eyebrows, his right one being higher than the left one when he is confused, and charming gray eyes. She could see the raised cheekbones and how his tongue stuck out his puffy lips as it brushed against his white teeth. "Anyway, why is she here? Is she your girlfriend?" The green monster begins to antagonize the Filipina, and suddenly, she feels sweaty all over her skin. She curses under her breath in Tagalog then returns her hands to her lips. She looks upwards at the door knob, praying the others on the other side didn't hear her.

She hears the classic annoyed sigh from her familiar Shimada, "You always ask this. Hanzo, I met her in fencing class today. Her name is Marzia and is twenty years old. She just moved here from Russia." Neala's heart drops as she subconsciously gnaws on the skin on her palm though she was failing to discipline her anxiety.

"Hello, nice to meet you!" Marzia, speaking like a princess in her Russian accent, greets Hanzo in Japanese. Neala clenches her fist though she could not help but fall for her gentle nature. The Filipina couldn't understand her underlying aggressive nature towards the Russian girl.

"I'm Shimada Hanzo but no need to be formal. Are you fluent in Japanese or is it often broken? We can just speak your language if needed." Hanzo suggests with a laid back, silly demeanor. Neala frowns as she considers maybe the Shimada brother was purposely antagonizing and teasing her in the conversation since she could hear it all. Though, she begins to doubt it since she guesses the male didn't know she was there.

"Dude, Hanzo, just because you know almost every language does not mean you need to bring down others. You're such a snob," Genji retorts aggressively to defend Marzia as the girl releases soft, pretty laughter whilst reassuring the Shimada that she did not take it personally but better yet loves the energy.

"You are so serious, brother," Hanzo sarcastically laughs. Neala hears the groan from Genji, and all she wanted to do was tell him she was there and ready to meet his family. "Though I cannot help but ask why you brought her home? You usually never bring anyone home, especially a girl." Neala's heartbeat, that had just calmed down, quickens once again and slouches her shoulders in frustration. She couldn't help the thoughts circling around. Why did he choose to bring her home so openly but refuses to let me meet his family?

"She is into learning about what goes on in our clan and how we help others, so I thought I'd show her around," Genji beams. Neala rolls her eyes and grows angry at the male for being so overly excited to show some girl around.

"You make it sound like a charity," Hanzo dryly retorts.

"Stop being such a downer. I'm going to show her around, so if you would kindly leave us be!" Genji sings. His voice grows faint as well as his and Marzia's footsteps, signaling to the Reis girl they had left. She did not know whether she was ready to exit the tight space, though she already got her answer when the door was abruptly opened. She was picked up by the collar of her hoodie and lifted up towards the ceiling on the wall.

"You stupid stalker girl, get out of my house. He wants nothing to do with you. If you two know each other, there is a reason he didn't bring you home," Hanzo harshly disciplines the girl and releases the collar of her hoodie. Neala falls, her back against the wall and legs sprawled out. The words open one of the once closed wounds in her heart and could only feel internal physical pain. She feels the gushing blood pouring from her heart.

She does what she is told and exits through the dojo doors. The Filipina grabs the key from her pocket and locks the entrance gate behind her. She walks from the high maintenance neighborhood and ends up in the city. Neala grows disappointed with every passing minute, knowing the male is spending his time with that Russian girl. Rage consumes her and not even a strawberry milkshake could mend her soul.

After an hour of wandering, with her strawberry milkshake in hand, the girl finds herself sitting on the gritty sand on the beach near the shoreline. Her dull brown eyes gaze out towards the ocean, noticing the mixture of the warm colors colliding with the water. She extends her arm out with her milkshake in hand and stares intently at it. "Stupid girl. Silly favors lead to silly consequences," Neala mutters before she sips the straw and begins to think about her family. Though she currently never sees them, there was a time she somewhat did.

She smiles as she remembers how her father was her best friend until she was about five years old. The Reis family used to be in poverty during those years of Neala's life. Her and her father used to play outside in the sun and rain, go shopping together, attend playground dates, go on ice cream dates, watch movies on their dirty vintage screen, and go to the beach to eat strawberries and build sandcastles. The man gave her the world and also introduced her to the concept of heartbreak. The Reis girl cannot fathom for the life of her why everything in her family changed. Right before she turned five, the chemistry and energy between her parents suddenly shifted. The two could not stop getting into countless vocal fights and her mind blocked out the meaning behind all of them because she was so young. In the end, her father abandoned the relationship between them so early on. The Reis girl did not gain the chance to grieve the loss of connection because she did not understand the concept of feelings.

For her mother, she was never there. Neala always wondered where her mother was when she was always in her father's grasp. Her memory could not recount one with her mother, and for Neala, it doesn't really hurt because there was no presence really there in the first place. Not a single hug or kiss was exchanged during her childhood. It started almost three years ago when her mother attempted to fix what isn't broken between the mother and daughter duo. Her mother tries to buy her things when she is in school and lays them on her bed to come home to it. Her mother gave her a debit card about a year ago and always puts money on it. Through these gestures, Neala feels some sort of reliance on her mother but emotionally nothing is there. The girl already has a hard time with the concept of emotions, so she continues to tuck them away.

Then that is when Neala feels a temporary warm liquid streaming down her cheeks, placing her right hand on her right cheek. "Why... am I...?" She softly utters. She narrows her eyes and hums as she notices the sun setting. "That's right. The sun misses the moon and feels alone."