Distortion

Looking Back...

-Sotaru-

This should be fun! Sotaru thought as he proceeded to raid his first house. "Hmm, let's see what I should take~"

But when he looked around, the house was void of everything. He tilted his head in confusion. "Wha?"

He searched through all the rooms, but all of them were empty. Simply shrugging to himself, he went outside, and at the same time saw Soren coming out of one of the houses. "Hey, Sotaru. Find anything?"

"Eh, the house was completely empty~"

"What, you too?" Aua said jogging up to them.

"Weird, same here," Soren muttered.

"It seems like all the houses are empty," Sakura commented, popping her head out from the wall.

"People must have lived here before, but what caused them to just get up and move?" Aua questioned.

"So, in the end, there's nothing we can take?" Reland sighed.

That was when Sotaru felt a strange presence in the atmosphere. "Do you guys feel that?" Sotaru asked.

"Feel what?"

"Nothing~" Sotaru grinned.

"Let's just check all of them just in case," Soren said. Everybody nodded their heads in agreement.

Sotaru went to his next "victim." He saw a particular house that caught his eye. It seemed to be a bit different than the rest. It seemed older. He skipped inside the house. As soon as he set foot in it, he felt something familiar. As if he was revisiting an old friend. However, for unknown reasons, he felt a wave of sadness.

Huh? Sadness? He blinked his eyes. Why am I feeling sad? I have nothing to lose anymore. . . . Right?

He felt light-headed. The area around him seemed to fade away.

"Hey, Sotaru! Are you paying attention?"

"Huh? What?" Sotaru looked up at his brother.

Fuyuki sighs. "No wonder you're failing in school. You never pay attention."

"Ah...sorry..."

" Whatever..." Fuyuki sat down next to him on the grass and stared into the distance. "I'm going to study hard and become an Ultimate."

"Is studying really going to help you become an Ultimate?" Sotaru asked flatly.

"Maybe." Fuyuki stood up and stretched his arms. "But I'll definitely become the best Ultimate in the world!"

Sotaru looked at his brother with a mixture of exasperation and admiration.

"What are you guys talking about?" said a voice.

"Fuyuki says he's going to be the best Ultimate in the world!" Sotaru said cheerfully to his mother.

She smiled. "That's a wonderful dream. Sotaru, what about you?"

"I-I'm going to be an Ultimate, too! Like Fuyuki!" Sotaru said. He smiled brightly at his mother.

His mother smiled back with her reassuring blue eyes. "You two should go for it. I'm proud to have kids like you."

.

.

In the end...it never happened. Well of course. After all, we were just naive little children. Our home was set on fire. I saw my parents die in front of my eyes. Fuyuki sacrificed himself for me and I was the only one who managed to escape.