RETURN.

Ayano is a bully and no one likes her

You'd think that having someone like Ayano Abiko as your friend would be pretty amazing. She's popular in school, branded as someone 'mysterious', and 'aloof'. Kaori disagrees. Her best friend is an absolute dickhead, she is nothing short of a bully. Her reasoning?

Kaori specifically told her. "I have to take care of my younger sister and I can't leave."

"So? Leave her alone," Ayano shrugged. "She can stand being alone in the house for a few hours."

"It's not a few hours," Kaori sighed. "It's like, all day. And the next one, too. My parents are out of town."

"She can stand being alone for two days. Let's ditch her."

"She's 5."

"My point stands."

"What if she gets hurt? I don't know, playing knives or something." Kaori frowned.

"It'll be an important lesson for her." Ayano reasoned.

"My parents will beat me up if she gets hurt."

"Okay. That makes sense."

So, they pick the little child up from her school. Kaori wouldn't say she's the coolest oldest sister ever, but in her defense, her sister, Emi, is a brat. She always wants her way or the highway. But Kaori has to be nice to her little sister, because she's a child and she can't beat her up, obviously. If Kaori doesn't want to play with her, Emi makes a big fuss that leaves their parents scolding her, and making her drop everything for her.

"I don't want to take care of her... I'd rather be drawing or something..." Kaori complained.

"You're always complaining," Ayano teased. "Always whining like a baby."

"You wouldn't understand! She's like a little demon!"

"I don't doubt it, but your parents told you to do it, so do it. Don't be such a whiner."

Normally, Kaori wouldn't make someone stay with her while she's taking care of her younger sister, she'd hate to burden someone. But she complained about it for a good while, so Ayano offered the brilliant idea to hang out with her. That ought to be fun... Right?

Emi sits in the living room, taking her toys out and making pretty much a mess of everything that Kaori will probably have to clean up later.

The child giggles giddily as she grabs a fake cash register, which Ayano doesn't really get what's so fun about it. They're just some buttons, a little machine that beeps... Ayano is minding her own business, sitting on the couch, while Emi forces Kaori to play with her.

"Put some more energy into it!" The child says angrily, upset that Kaori is not into role-playing as a cashier.

"Ugh..." Kaori starts scanning the fake vegetables.

In Ayano's opinion, the child was being a brat. She lived mostly alone, so she would often spend days and days on her own. Part of her didn't understand why Kaori had to take care of her when Ayano spent most of her childhood alone, and turned out mostly fine.

But then again, Ayano never had a younger sibling to play with. She wonders if she'd be annoyed like Kaori is. She imagined what it'd be to have someone begging for her attention, and for some reason, she thought it sounded nice. She would've liked playing with someone instead of days without end of loneliness. She didn't have a lot of toys growing up, so seeing the living room so lively, having Kaori and Emi shouting over something silly, the place so messy without being afraid you'll get scolded, made her feel warm and fuzzy inside.

She decides that she doesn't want Kaori and Emi getting genuinely upset over this.

"I'll play," Ayano said, joining in. She sits on the floor next to them, grinning as she pushes rudely Kaori way, which earns a 'hey-!'. She gets into the role immediately. "Ahem. Miss Emi, I'll be your cashier."