***
Early in the morning, a loud siren launches an attack and barges it's way into Chiaki's ears. Her eyes open wide and she rushes out of bed still not fully dressed and her hair a mess. After turning off her phone's rather peculiar alarm, she runs to the front door in nothing but a T-shirt and a pair of pajama shorts. The sun was brightly beaming and the sky clear. There was a wind, but the breeze wasn't so much of a hassle as to where Chiaki felt it imparative to bundle up in anything. It was instead quite the appealing weather conditions.
With gusto and an exuberant smile, she opens the door. Quickly, she takes a step forward so that she can line herself up in-between the door frame and lean against it to assist in helping her strike a dramatic pose. She mimicks one of the heroes from one of the kid's cartoons she had watched from her early childhood where the hero had his head tilted down as he pushed his back against the wall with bent knees almost doing a proper wall sit. "So, you've come." Those words come from her purposely strained throat to sound more theatrical and finish her little skit.
Ame was standing on the patio yet to even touch the door bell or knock the door. She was at a loss for why Chiaki would be posed like that with the door wide open, but quickly removed it from thought knowing there was no meaningful explanation to that question.
There are sensors set in place that notify if someone is at the doorstep. It can distinguish who it is who stands there and sends a signal directly to Chiaki's bedroom and if her phone is within the room, it redirects the sound to her phone as an alarm. She set it up to sound a different alarm for each of her friends with a slightly different pitch. The building has many other weird, yet useful trinkets within it that add to its secret base kind of feel. On the other end, the house smells like the fresh aroma of hazelnut coffee and sugar.
"What's up, Ame?"
"You called me here."
"I'm just messing with you. Come here."
Chiaki leads Ame into her room. It's shelved with a lot of gadgets and broken electronic components are seemingly tossed to pile up in the bottom left corner of the room. It looks like a lot of scrap, but aside from that bleak corner, the rest of the room provides a cutesy or cheerful vibe. The walls have a lot of magical girl posters and there's even a violin case leaning against the sliding closet door on the right wall. The walls are painted a light orange hue while the ceiling remains white. The two windows show the outside from the left and the back wall and let in copious amounts of light. Curtains are put up but their transparency could only dim the light in the room instead of erasing it.
Chiaki pushes her rolling chair with a small yellow seat pillow on it over to Ame who was inspecting the mess to the left of her.
"Did you make something new recently?"
Chiaki excited to show off her latest invention walks over to her wall shelf installed on the right side of the interior wall next to the exit door which is also within two steps of Ame.
"Yeah, I built this turtle scanner. It can detect a turtle from at least a meter away and pinpoint its location from analyzing the components within it's breath... I was a bit bored since you've been super busy the last few days."
Ame shoots a frown asking, "What's up with everyone and turtles?"
Chiaki looks back unsure of the answer to that herself. "Forget about the scanner though. Wanna go shopping? I need new clothes. I've been working so much recently wearing that same uniform everyday," She points to her work uniform hung up on the door. "I want to wear something new the next time I go out!"
Happy she asked, Ame passionately responds, "Yeah! I need to beat someone who's been getting a little too comfortable with my brother."
"You mean that Imai girl you can't stop ranting about? I have like ten voicemails from yesterday alone. She's really got you pissed."
"It's not that I'm pissed. I just don't want her to trick my brother so I have to stay vigilant. I can't let anything happen to him again."
"You're worried about that- I get that you feel responsible, but maybe you should ease up on yourself a little. You were just a kid."
"Even still..."
"I care about you both so I'm not going to tell you spout the obvious, but I really do think you should let him grow up a bit on his own instead of trying to keep him away from every woman who gives him attention. Life is all about taking risks and new challenges. He can't always have you babying him. For Kaze's sake, If he doesn't get to experience life, how will he ever be able to defend himself if something does happen and you're not around?"
"I get it. I'll think about it more. Just give me some time."
"Now c'mon we have to get some pictures of you in a dress at the very least. Today's the day I get to dress you up in something cutesy. How is it that you hate wearing adorable stuff?! You're such a knockout!"
Chiaki starts to get ready dragging clothes from out of her closet with a beaming smile. Ame stays seated in the chair and helps Chiaki pick out what clothes to wear for their shopping trip.
***
Carrying her textbooks in her arm, Suzuki Imai walks through the halls of Kure-Inu Daigaku to get to her locker. Being rather popular for her physique and athleticism, clubs would often approach her to try and get her to join them. Having to avoid several guys and girls, her irritation swelled leaving her with a tempered face. Opening the door to her locker, she looks in the mirror attached to the inside of the door noticing small dark circles under her eyes from lack of sleep. The situation with Kaze bothered her still so she had been a little quieter than usual today. Most days she would tell people, 'No.' politely, but today she held an annoyed face with furrowed brows and walked by leaving others ignored. Thinking back to a few days before, she recalls a conversation between her and her mother.
After coming home from an early morning jog, I climbed the stairs to the living quarters on the second floor. From the last step onward, the area split into three different small sections separated by thin walls and measly doors with little for securing privacy. The bathroom door in particular looked like it'd fall off its hinges at any moment. It was a stark contrast to the floor below which seemed decently maintained at the very least. I stepped into my mother's bedroom. There wasn't a light on in the room except the flickering flame of a candle almost out of wick to keep it going. My mother sat up in her bed wearing some large circular framed glasses to help her read a book she had been holding. The candle sat beside her on a plate on her side table while the shadow on the left side of her face covered up the burns on the side of her face.
"Good evening, Mother. I brought you some ointment from the convenience store."
Even though the blank expression on her face doesn't shift in any particular way, the aggressive tone is enough to make rocks crumble into pebbles.
"You are not my child you blight of a woman! Why can't you do what I tell you?! Enough with your foolish games! BRING ME THE BOY!"
Imai shakes her head rapidly and snaps out of the daydream. She continues to her next class after exchanging her books and walks onward with pained steps and sweat permeating through the pores on her skin. In her heart she vows to herself, "I won't let you harm him!"