Your Name: The Miyamizu's Family Gene

CHAPTER 12 {BONUS CHAPTER}

It was dinner time at the Takahashi Household, which really, just meant 15 minutes of abnormal silence at the dining room. Why any of her brothers even chose to show up here left Akane frequently puzzled and confused.

But having said, the trio was currently in their dining room, eating the same Chinese takeout they had every week. A moody silence hung over the room, except for the occasional clink of the cutlery scraping against the plates and the cups. Overall, any onlooker could describe the atmosphere as calm and tranquil, like a harmonically peaceful group of children sitting around a dining table. But Akane knew the very reality was such a contrast to this ideal fantasy of others.

The atmosphere of the dining room, was not in fact, situated in any way of peace and tranquillity. Actually, Akane often thought that they were like puppets, controlled by some all-powerful and foreseeing puppetmaster, who could control their every move and actions. It was like whenever any of the three tried to do anything other than eat, a hand would muffle and smother any other impulse or thought. If they tried opening their mouths to talk, no sound would come out, shutting the mouth again. It was frustrating and stuffy, something one would feel like when they were drowning, but could not help themselves to reach the surface because of an unseeable, invisible force tugging their body down deeper into the abyss.

Tasting the food, Akane felt her tongue go sour and tastebuds cringe. The takeout tasted like cardboard to her mouth, so oily yet so dry, there was no Happy Medium, only one or the other.

Outside the window, Akane noticed the songs of the late birds, a mournful cry of an evening goodbye. Craw... craw... craw...

Akane then felt her heart constricting, her breaths getting shaker and her palms suddenly slipping with sweat. She tried gasping for air, but there was no sound, no movement from her outside body. A invisible wall she had constructed for herself was stronger than what we had meant it to be, she willed her mind, move, move, move, breathe, breathe, breathe, in and out, out than in.

No movement.

Akane felt sick, no, she was sick.

She knew it too, she'd known it for a long time.

She finally glanced up from her plate, set her chopsticks down. Quietly breathing in and out. She looked around the table, Fuyuki was on his phone, no surprise there but what made her skin jump was the pair of brown eyes she saw staring at her.

She tensed and Akane could feel a bead of sweat running down her back. Smile, tilt her head, act natural, teasing expression. She raised her eyebrows at Haruta.

Go on... go on...

Oh come on, why now...

Just go act like the fairyland boy, you're trying to impersonate all the time...

Haruta glanced away and Akane sighed a small sigh of relief.

Not now, the time was too soon, but one day she would get to him, just not now.

Akane tightened her fist, and her fingernails dug deeper into her arms.

She unclenched them and in their place were bloody marks, a reminder of her unspoken vow to her, that she would avenge that woman no matter the cost.

...

The hustle and bustle of the classroom greeted Akane as soon as she walked in. Immediately her daily crowd of admirers gathered around her, complimenting her on her new hair tie, her latest set of achievements, small worthless conversational pieces. She flashed a smile here and there, nodded her head here and there, responded here and there. Automatic, but actions she had perfected ever since she was little, just give the people what they want. However, Akane very much knew that they were as fake as her. They were leeches, leeches then snakes. They would leech onto her for popularity, for benefits, then diss her in bathrooms, in groups of small people, spread malicious rumours on her.