Out of the Ordinary by Eruanna17

Chapter 7: Shin's Secrets and Sister!

CHAPTER SEVEN!

It's almost like I'm making progress or something! Sorry this took so long, but it's a Shin-heavy episode, and thus, super-long.

Notes!

- 'Brother' in Japanese is Onii (or Nii) + chan/san/sama, (in ascending formality). '-chan' is basically cute baby talk, '-san' is more formal and polite, and '-sama' is ridiculously formal, as if you're addressing royalty or something. Hence why the boys tease Shin by calling him 'Shin-chan' and 'Onii-chan', and he responds that they can only call him 'Onii-sama'.

Sawada Shin missed being a kid. Kids were allowed to pick something ridiculous, like a fireman or an astronaut to be when they grew up. The future was exciting, when you could be or do anything you wanted.

Real life sucks.

It sucked less now that there was an interesting teacher at school, who actually listened to her students and cared about them. It had even been almost fun lately. But when Yankumi announced that Parent Teacher Conferences were coming up next week, it served as an unpleasant reminder of what his life was really like, since there was no chance in hell his parents would actually come.

His father hated him. His mother was disappointed in him. His sister… well, Natsumi was the only good thing in the Sawada home, as far as he was concerned. And he hadn't seen her in months, due to the fact that his father had resolutely forbidden all contact with the 'unwanted son'. He rarely saw her, but spoke to her occasionally, usually when something had happened that she couldn't discuss with their parents. Dad had yelled at her for getting a low grade. Mom had told her to choose new friends. They said she needed to study more if she was ever to succeed in life.

As Yankumi gave them packets to take home, he saw that the front page asked that the family also discuss the student's future, and consider what schools they might apply to at the end of the school year, or what careers they might pursue. He stared at it for a moment before throwing it in the trash. His parents wouldn't come anyway, so there was no need to tell them. His future was… well, it was different things to different people. His father would say he had no future. The teachers at his first school exclaimed his success was assured since he was so smart – why, he could get into any school he wanted! His current Vice Principal would mutter that he had the grades to get into the top schools, but the record to keep him out. Yankumi – well, if he asked her about his future, she'd be sure to say something ridiculous like, "Follow your dreams, and if you head into the shining sun, your future is sure to be bright!"

And to him… Shin sighed. He had no idea what his future held. What to do. What to want, even. He could go to school, but where? His permanent record stated he assaulted a teacher. His transcript declared he graduated from a bottom-ranked school. He could get a job, but he had no clue what he wanted to do, or where he wanted to work. He could travel, but he didn't have the money.

Stupid future with its stupid choices, he thought to himself, feeling mixed anger and depression. He looked up as Yankumi joined them, hopping into their little group like she belonged there. The other guys had been complaining nonstop about how embarrassing their parents were at the conferences, so when Yankumi asked why they hadn't gone home with their moms, all four guys were immediately offended.

"Hey, stupid. Why do we have to go home with our parents?" Kuma answered in a mocking tone. Minami was interrupted from adding something like "What are we, five?" when Noda suddenly stared at the school entrance and shouted in surprise.