The Lie and What Follows

A Past Perspective Chapter

I haven’t written everything about how we started living together as siblings, but this is a story about the past, up to the point where Haru’s feelings became firm. The continuation of the past story will be written in the main story or from the heroine’s perspective. (Planned)

We, siblings, don’t have parents. They died in a traffic accident when I was in fourth grade and my brother was in sixth grade.

It seemed to be a head-on collision with a truck. We couldn’t see our parents’ remains.

I was filled with various emotions: sadness, anxiety, and an indescribable anger at being left behind. I continued to cry in my brother’s arms.

Our grandparents settled the matter with the trucking company through a lawyer. They said we received a substantial amount of condolence money, but no amount could bring our parents back. Seeing our grandparents, more dazzled by the compensation than distraught over the loss of their son and daughter-in-law, I refused to live under the same roof as them.

However, neither Tooru nor I had finished compulsory education. We were children and couldn’t possibly live on our own, so we were taken in by our grandparents.

I began to harbor hatred towards them, who seemed to only superficially grieve over our parents’ death. Additionally, my brother started doing chores, as if to ingratiate himself with them. He used to help out at home too, but I couldn’t understand why he would toil so hard for such people.

I started to feel angry towards my brother as well.

At school, I was treated like a delicate object. I would lash out at any thoughtless remarks from classmates.

At home, I would find my brother cleaning. Moving furniture, cleaning the entire living room, while our grandparents just watched TV.

I thought it was abnormal.

Years passed, and I was now in my third year of junior high. Tooru was in his second year of high school. We attended the same school but hardly spoke to each other.

I had grown taller, and some girls who always hung out with me said I could pass for a high school or even a university student.

Although I found the classes boring, I planned to receive the same scholarship as Tooru in high school, so I couldn’t afford to let my grades slip.

My relationship with my grandparents had grown cold, and I didn’t want to go home. I started hanging out late with my close friends.

Then, one day, as usual, I was listening to boring lectures and chatting at a karaoke place when several high school or college-aged guys entered our room. Left stunned, my friends started chatting with them familiarly. One of them sat uncomfortably close to me.

“Haru-chan, right? You’re so cute! Really a middle schooler?”

I didn’t want to respond to him. His face seemed repulsively ugly.

“Hmm, a bit too stiff, right? Yuri, isn’t she different from what you said?”

He asked Yuri, a classmate, with a light pressure in his tone. Yuri, a bit flustered, said to me, “Hey, Haru. What’s up? You seem a bit unfriendly?”

Just being near him was disgusting, let alone being friendly. Irritated by her words, I left the karaoke without a word. I ignored their calls to stop.

When I left, it was already night. It was 9 PM, so I decided to head to a family restaurant, walking down a less crowded street. That’s when the guy from earlier stopped me.

“Hey, Haru-chan. What’s up? You seem upset. Didn’t like the karaoke?”

I wanted to tell him I didn’t like him, but he was taller and bigger than me, so I kept walking, ignoring him.

“Hey, Haru-chan! Ignoring me? That’s harsh!”

Unable to bear his persistent following, I snapped, “I’m ignoring you, so don’t follow me. Just go away.”

“Hey, don’t be so rude. Seriously, don’t get cocky, kid.”

His face, which had been laughing, turned red.

“Seriously, go away. I’m not in the mood.”

I tried to leave, but he forcefully grabbed my arm.

“Hey, stop kidding around. You think you can run away?”

“Let go of me!”

I couldn’t break free from his grip.

“Maybe I should take you down once. You’re so annoying.”

He leered at me.

“No, let go!”

In desperation, I swung my bag at him, but he grabbed that hand too. With both hands held, I realized my situation and began to shake in fear.

“What’s this? Scared? You do have some cute points. Just be quiet.”

He dragged me into an alley.

“Help…”

My

voice cracked under the violent pressure of an adult man.

“Let’s go to a hotel. There was one nearby with no front desk.”

Hearing where he was taking me, I tried to brace myself against the impending horror.

“Really, stop joking!”

I kicked his leg and tried to run when he faltered, but his fist was already close to my face.

“It hurts, what are you doing!”

He hit my cheek, and I fell to the ground.

The man, now on top of me, hit my cheek again. Unable to resist, he seemed satisfied and stood up, pulling me to my feet.

“Seriously, don’t resist anymore.”

I was furious, at him, at myself. Always running away, and now it’s come back like this.

“Help me… Tooru…”

“Hey, you there!”

“Where do you think you’re taking our student?

The police will be here soon, so I’d like you to explain everything there.”

When I turned around, I saw a girl about my height with her hair in a ponytail. She was wearing the uniform of the high school section of our school.

“Huh? No, um, what? I didn’t do anything, okay? Yeah. I was just about to leave. Why don’t you go home too, huh?”

The man answered in a fluster. Apparently scared by the mention of the police, he quickly released me and left.

I almost fell to the ground again, but the senior student supported me by the shoulder.

“Oh, so you really are our student.” Her tone suggested she hadn’t believed it until now, which made me retort, even though I had just been saved.

“What did you think I was? And, about the police?”

“Ah, no. I thought maybe you were playing some cosplay role because you’re tall. And about the police, that was a lie. Well, I thought I could handle that guy alone.”

What is she saying? I was literally punched in the face. And it was a lie?

“But anyway, a middle school uniform. Hmm. Should I call your parents to pick you up?” This was a normal thing to happen. Normally, parents would come pick you up. But my home isn’t normal.

“No, I’ll go home by myself.”

“Is that so? Then let me walk you home.”

“No… please do.”

I asked her politely because she didn’t seem to be joking when I tried to refuse.

“Alright. Let’s go.”

I walked side by side with my senior.

“So, how did you end up in that situation?”

“I was deceived by people I thought were friends.”

“Hmm, I see. Why were you hanging out with that kind of group?”

Normally, I would ignore such a question or just tell her to shut up, but maybe it was because I felt indebted for being saved, or maybe it was her unique aura, but I found myself telling her everything from my parents’ death to now. When I put it into words, I really was just a child. Well, I am a child. But I was so immature.

“I see. That must have been hard for you. That Tooru guy? Your brother must have had it even harder.”

I couldn’t understand why she would think about Tooru.

“Huh?”

“Based on what you’ve told me, he’s been trying not to ruin the relationship with your grandparents since your parents died, right? Normally, someone might cry and rebel like you did. But he didn’t, and he must have been desperately taking care of you.”

“…”

“Ah, maybe I’m being too intrusive. I’m just saying, your brother might have bottled up a lot more feelings than you have.”

Her words hit me harder than the literal punch to my face I had just received.

“… Is this your address?”

Before I knew it, we were already near my grandparents’ house.

“Yes. Thank you so much. Really.”

I bowed to the senior.

“No worries. Be more careful about who you hang out with from now on.”

“…Yes.”

“Alright then. See you.”

“Wait! Could you tell me your name…?”

I wanted to thank her, but I couldn’t do anything without knowing her name. It would be difficult to find her in our large school.

“Hmm? Oh, right. I haven’t introduced myself. Rin. Hayashi Rin. Nice to meet you, junior.”

This was my first contact with the student council president.

—

I quietly unlocked the door and entered the house, trying not to make any noise. My grandparents go to bed early and wake up early, so they wouldn’t be awake at this time.

I had to pass through the living room to get to my assigned room, so I entered the dimly lit living room.

“Ah, welcome back, Haru.”

Tooru was sitting at the dining table. The food laid out was probably for both me and Tooru. He always waited for me like this, even though he must have been hungry too. Even when I said I had already eaten with friends (who are now strangers to me), he would just nod without a bad expression and start his meal. It made my heart feel tight.

“Ah, what? Haru, what happened to your cheek?”

His worried face, getting up and coming closer, didn’t have a trace of the fear of the opposite sex I had felt earlier.

“…Why?”

“Huh?”

“Why do you care? I’ve been cold to Tooru all this time! Why do you always do this?”

“…Haru.”

Once I started, I couldn’t stop.

“Tooru! Ever since mom and dad died, you’ve always been alone! Always alone in this house! Why didn’t you cry back then? I was

the only one crying! Always running away!”

Tooru’s eyes widened slightly.

“I… I wanted to rely on Tooru. To ask for help with cleaning… to say I could cook… I couldn’t stand seeing Tooru take on everything alone.”

Tears overflowed. I couldn’t sort out my feelings and just lashed out. Even the things a grade schooler could do, I couldn’t. Tooru gently hugged me, my face covered with my hands, looking down.

“I’m sorry.”

How much feeling was put into those words from Tooru? He always watched over selfish me, how much pain must he have suppressed all this time?

“Hey, Tooru.”

“Hmm?”

His eyes filled with tears.

“If you want to cry, it’s okay to cry.”

I wanted to heal him. To love him. To save him. I truly felt that from the bottom of my heart.