*ੈ✩₊˚▐ ❝ 𝑡𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑛𝑒𝑑
ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝒃𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒇 ❞
in which an enigmatic model student gets dropped to 3-E. as they grow to accept her, the infamous end class begins to unravel her secre...
"Are you having fun at school?" my sister-in-law, Hiyori, asked me.
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"I guess" I shrugged, as I placed a few flowers from the bouquet she bought into one of the vases beside my brother's hospital bed.
She looked at me with quite a surprised expression. "You're not going to throw them away?".
"Whaaat?" I looked at her confusedly, "Hiyori-san, did you buy them for me to throw them away?".
She laughed. Not a full blown one, but just a simple giggle.
"You've changed" she smiled at me. "I've notice that you've started earning even more expressions ever since you became part of Class E. Was it that fun?".
"Eh~ What do you mean by expressions?".
"You always have a scowl on your face, that's why" she chuckled once more.
"Did I always seem that way?" I wondered, only to hear her giggle again.
"Throwing them away right now won't do anything. You'd do the same if they wilt. It's only the timing that's different' that's how you used to say it" she mimicked.
"See, that scowl is back~" she ruffed my hair.
"Wah! Stop that Hiyori-san--- my hair will---".
"Iroha" she called my name, gently, how she always had when we were kids.
"Hm?".
"You know, even with everything that happened. Especially the thing between you and your brother" she smiled at me, "you deserve to be happy".
"Your like a precious little sister to me. It's great that your enjoying things even if it's just a little more than before" she continued, having me blush in no time.
"Hiyori-saaan! S-shut u-up" I stammered, trying to hide how red my face was being right then.
"I get it, I get it" she said, taking her bag from one of the free chairs in the room.
"I'll just go run some errands. You can wait here for awhile, but promise me you'll come back home when it gets too late. You have classes tomorrow after all" she told me.
"Yes mom~" I mocked her, earning a sigh from the woman.
"Wait--- what are these?" I pointed towards the box of photographs on the nightstand.
"Oh, I've been meaning to rearrange them in an album, I just can't find the time" she smiled sheepishly.
"You can look through them and arrange them if you want. I also brought along a couple of albums" she said, before leaving and closing the door.
I watched over my brother as he laid on the hospital bed, lines going up and down on the scale beside him.
The family albums were scattered about on the desks since Hiyori wanted me to rearrange the photo albums that always sat idly at home. The old corners of each photograph made me realize just how long it's been since the entire family reunited.
Family.
It used to be such a funny thing to hear. Whether or not it was a group of people related by blood or strangers you feel home around.
"Iroha-chan, good morning. Are you ready to get released today?" Mrs. Asano, my mother's friend, used greeted the young me.
I quietly nodded my head.
"It's too bad that your parents can't make it today. But don't worry! I promised your mom that you'll have fun with us" she assured me with a motherly smile, kinda like my own mother's.
My parents were workaholics, and it wasn't like my brother had enough time out of school, while I was there stuck in the hospital. That was how my family has always been.
Still, I had temporary releases. Even if my illness could become quite grave, the hospital made sure I'd take a break and get out of the place every once in awhile, and if my mother couldn't make it, she'd send someone to accompany me. This time, for a change, it was of her friends, the Asanos.
Now that I think of it, she most likely wanted me to feel the warmth that could come from a home, and from that desperation, came a different family.
Sometimes, my brother came by to visit, when I stayed over Gakushu's place. His mother wanted a daughter, and his dad used to think that it was good to hang around someone his age.
As a result, they liked me.
The Asanos might as well have been my very own family, was how I saw it.
That's why here I was, staring at the pictures my sister-in-law brought me as I started to reminisce about the first time Asano Gakuho ever talked to me.
︎✖︎︎●✖︎
As the silence engulfed us, the droplets of rain fell against the concrete. The 7-year old me, waited at the doorway of the hospital alongside Gakushu's father, while his mom handled a couple of papers at the hospital's front desk.
"Strength" the principal muttered to me. "Don't you ever crave for it?".
"Isn't it normal to do so?" I asked. "The weak want to be strong. The dying want to stay a live. Dad always said it's called human instinct".
"Well, aren't you a smart one" he smiled in amusement. "Then, would you like me to help you grow strong? You can be the perfect rival for my son, Gakushu".
"Eh~ Shu-chan isn't fun to fight with. He always gets mad when I tell him the correct answer" the young me pouted.
He chuckled, "thats because I used to tell him that he must always come on top. Perhaps seeing a girl your age, that actually beats him to it, frustrates him quite a lot. In fact, seeing your potential, makes me want to raise you as my own child".
Strength, huh?
Hm...
Then what if your strong? What then would you achieve?
"Mhm. Hey, mister?" I tilted my head to face him. "Do you think that acknowledging that your already strong would make you even stronger?".
He shook his head, laughing, "No, it doesn't work like that".
"Eh?"
"It's because you're weak that you want to become stronger".
