We Are A Family

Aoi made her way to the hospital after she'd accompanied Arisu with her shopping. They parted ways at the mall's entrance. When she carried herself into Klaus's room nonchalantly, she stumbled upon a unique sight.

Unique was the most apt word to describe it since Aoi merely stared at Klaus for more than a few seconds.

"What are you doing?"

"Hey, Aoi! You're playing truant again today, huh?"

Klaus was doing push-ups when Aoi walked into the room. How could he be moving? Shouldn't he rest until tomorrow? Anger started to well up inside Aoi.

"Aoi!?"

"You should be resting!"

Aoi pulled Klaus's arm with both hands to make him stand up. Klaus wanted to retort but stopped at the last second when he saw the rare expression on the girl's face. Without saying a word, Klaus knew she was mad at him.

"Y-You're right. I should be resting."

"Are you trying to open your wound or something?!" Aoi said without any restraint in her voice. She was practically yelling at that point, which was bizarre even to someone like Klaus.

"Why are you being careless like this!? What if—"

"A-Aoi, I can explain! Here, look, I'm all better now. See?"

"Brynhildr got rid of the scar for me last night. So, you don't have to worry about a single thing. I'd made up my mind to exercise my body a little bit. You know what they say about young people that don't break some sweat, right?"

Aoi closed her agape mouth and stared at the spot on his body where she'd last seen the scar. This Brynhildr healed him in his sleep?

"If you want to know the details, I'll be happy to talk about it—"

"It's fine, Klaus. I'm just glad you didn't burden your body when you were doing push-ups. Sorry."

"No, no. Why are you apologizing? Your reaction is understandable. Forget about that, how's school?"

"Are you my parent now?" Aoi sneaked that insult in as if it was natural.

"I won't mind if you allow me. Anyway, any homework for today? If it's history, I can finish it in an hour."

Klaus had gone back to lying down on his bed by now, and Aoi had sat on a chair next to it.

"An hour? Your confidence is worthy of a praise. We have no history classes today, remember?"

"Why are you talking like an old man all of a sudden?"

Klaus poked her shoulder as he said his words—merely to tease her—but it elicited an entirely different response. She averted her gaze, seemingly unbothered.

"Here, I bought you a book. It's the sequel for Spirits Beyond."

Klaus took the book away from Aoi's hands and stared at it wide-eyed. Of course, Aoi told him where she'd purchased it, expecting that he'd be jealous she was the first one to step inside the new bookstore. Though Klaus was too invested in the book in his hands to care about such a thing.

"Hey, how much was this?"

Aoi waved her right hand dismissively. "You don't have to pay me back. Think of it as a gift."

"You serious? Thanks, Aoi!"

It was faint, but Aoi did smile from seeing how elated Klaus was.

. . .

Akeno Aoi walked to school by herself on this day too. She pulled her sleeve and stared at her watch. About thirty minutes before the first bell rang. Time was on her side, so she stopped by a nearby convenience store to grab a canned coffee.

She didn't start drinking until she arrived at her class. Hm? When she sat down and put her school bag away, a few girls wearing ostentatious accessories stopped talking between themselves. They shifted their attention to Aoi, as if they were expecting her.

"..." Of course, Aoi ignored them and brought her coffee to her lips.

"Hey, you don't talk much in class, do you?"

The trio approached her with a grin on their face and surrounded her desk. Even without foreknowledge, Aoi knew where this was going. She'd been particularly quiet in class to avoid attention, but some people who loved to pick on others wouldn't let her be.

To ardent extroverts, those who kept to themselves were viewed as weak and naive. There were multiple concrete reasons as to why introverts and extroverts were polar opposites. In a group, these people were like oil and water.

"Hey, I'm talking to you, ugly." The one who seemed to be the trio's leader voiced her disp.l.e.a.s.u.r.e and clicked her tongue.

"...Um—"

"When someone's talking, look at them in the eyes!"

"..." Aoi didn't remember doing anything to them for her to be yelled at like this. She pondered for few moments, before the leader put a hand on her desk.

"Hmph, you think you're so good, huh? You think that we're not worth talking to. Who are you, a minister's daughter or something?"

Aoi took a quick glance at her classmates who were ignoring her plain as day. Ah, this wasn't any different from back when she was in middle school. Whenever Klaus wasn't by her side, people would pester and bully her—just because they could.

They knew Aoi wouldn't report on them, so they took advantage of her.

"..." Surrounded by the bullies, Aoi tried to think of a way to appease them. Her lack of social skills proved to be her downfall. She hadn't talked to most of her classmates enough for them to consider her a friend.

"Give me your bag."

One of the bullies took Aoi's bag and peered into it with glee. If she was a minister's daughter, then there must be some goods worth taking!

"Look at this. She brought a novel. What a nerd."

"Haha. What's with this pendant? Is this your father's or something? Looks like an antique."

"!!!" Aoi took the pendant and book away from their hands and held onto them. Both items were precious to her. She wouldn't let anyone steal them.

"Tch. Give that to us, ugly nerd!"

"No, these are mine. Don't—"

"I said give them to us!"

A large hand pulled the group's leader by her shoulder, and everyone's attention shifted to the guy. It was Nishihara Ryota—his scowl sent shivers down the girls' spine. Ryota glanced at Aoi, and immediately, he understood the situation.

"Hey, don't you think doing this early in the morning would ruin everyone's mood?"

"Um... We were trying to teach her a lesson! She—"

"Funny coming from your mouth. How about I teach you a lesson too for pissing me off right after I walked in? Oh, it's free by the way."

"Eeek!"

The trio scrambled away from Ryota and took their seats. They hung their head to avoid Ryota's palpable scalding glare. Not too long after that, Arisu arrived with a beaming smile on her face. Her scintillating aura brightened the sullen atmosphere in no time.

She had no clue as to what'd happened. This outcome would be for the best. Aoi preferred if no one told Arisu about the incident since she enamored the peaceful school life she'd envisioned.

Compared to Arisu who sat at the front row, Ryota was a mere one seat away from Aoi's. Klaus was absent four time straight. Ryota took the empty seat momentarily to talk to Aoi.

"Did they do anything to you?" He asked from behind.

"...No. Not really."

Ryota narrowed his eyes, somewhat doubting that was the case. He'd walked into the classroom a bit late. He could've missed the major details of the incident. However, Aoi brushed the notion off repeatedly.

The victim denied the possibility with persistence. Seeing this, Ryota couldn't help but gave in at the end.

"If they try something like that again, come to me. I'll pay them back double, no, triple!" Ryo balled his fist in anger as he voiced his offer.

"Thank you. I appreciate it."

For someone to stand up for her was already a vast improvement. Compared to when she was still in middle school, she had become acquainted with more people here. A step up in every regard.