Sticks And Stones

Day 15

[Day 15]

We managed to struggle past finals without much problems, and were in the mood for relaxation before the results would be posted at the end of the week. After that, everyone would be preparing to go back for a long-awaited summer break before a new year started once more.

But right now, the mood of relaxation had set in, and we definitely had more free time under our hands, hanging out in the cafeteria and the fields more often as Ronin, Kyo and I all had more frequent trainings to prepare for the National and International competitions that would start soon after the new semester started.

Things with Katsura was awkward at first, but after she understood that Ronin, Kyo and I were willing to help keep her secret to let her stay in the school, she got along doubly well with us. Rather, she began to stick along with us wherever we went, though I understood with relief that she was no longer declaring her love for me. It seemed as if getting discovered to be a girl had made her forget about her obsession over me –though I took to silent notice that she was sticking closer to Ronin, and my brother wasn't shying away.

This was a new time of our lives, for Ronin was beginning to learn to drift away from me, to find his own life. I wasn't sure what precipitated the change, but Ronin began to open up more and more, beginning to talk more and showing more expressions. It was so progressive that I hadn't even been aware of any change in my twin brother until Kyo pointed it out one day when we sat in the cafeteria, and found Ronin and Katsura discussing about Archery. Katsura was not Ronin's biggest fan with no real reason –she knew exactly what my brother was talking about, and replied in kind.

It was amazing, and even though I felt my brother drifting further away, I was glad. Glad that Ronin was beginning to change and learn; glad that his time in Heathrow was finally beginning to show results. Oh, if our parents were here, they would be gaping so much at Ronin. Though I didn't look forward to the coming summer breaks trying to cover up for the fact that I had spent my semester in Heathrow instead of Sogano, I did look forward to what our parents would say about Ronin's new character change.

After all, they had been trying the past sixteen years of Ronin's life to change his silent world, and it took only a semester to make such a big difference that even I, as his twin sister, was having a hard time believing. Still, it was happening.

The school still found nothing different. No alarms were raised at the presence of girls living in Dorm B, and there were no rumors about it at all. Katsura continued acting like a boy amongst friends, and though Kyo, Ronin and I knew better, we didn't say a word. The teasing about my being a Pretty Boy and Katsu's 'gay partner' died down, and everything was happy.

But life wasn't meant to be like that. When everything was happy, it didn't tend to continue for long. We didn't know it, but the life that we lived as normal schoolmates and friends were slowly coming to an end. Still, I spent my days happy and carefree, glad that I'd made the right choice to be a rebellious teenager.

I was still glad that I'd made friends and pretended to be a guy. Even if the guys here ended up hating me for lying to them, I would only remember the happy memories; the laughs, the times we spent together.

Most of all, I cherished the time I spent with my idol, the guy who not only changed my way of thinking, but also the guy who I helped change. Once, I was a weak girl hiding behind Ronin, afraid of what others would say about me. But from obsessing over Kyo, I learnt that words didn't matter, and that what mattered was the drive to do better, to achieve my goal.

Kyo probably didn't know it, but his words during that one interview whereby he tried but failed to break the National record was always in my mind. It had been that moment that I decided to fall in love with the man, that moment when I decided that I wanted to do something to watch this guy run and get closer to this man.