I Have How Many New Brothers?! (Brothers Conflict fanfiction)

Chapter 31 - Nightmares and Thank Yous

When I entered the house, I found Ukyo staring at me disapprovingly. His arms were crossed over his apron, a scowl on his face. I managed to figure out quickly that he was mad at me because I was late, considering. I had called him and told him about the beta test being cancelled. And there was also the fact that I had pretty much spent the whole day with a stranger.

I closed the door softly and stood in front of Ukyo, awaiting being yelled at or grounded.

"Why didn't you call me straight away? I thought you were at the company, when you were actually roaming the streets with a stranger. Do you know what could have happened to you? If something had happened, we wouldn't even know were you were." My hands trembled as he spoke. He wasn't speaking that much louder than he usually does, I guess I just wasn't used to having an adult there to worry about me.

It felt... Nice.

"I'm very sorry, Ukyo-nii," I bowed as sincerely as I could. I was really, genuinely regretful. 'Sorry' was the only response I could give. The majority of the reason I was as late as I was, was because of the panic attack I had. But I definitely couldn't tell anyone about that. Sora and Natsume-san were pretty much the only people who knew that I did have attacks. No one else, not even Ema, knew. And I would like to keep it that way for as long as humanely possible.

"Since this is the first time, you won't be grounded." As he saw me brighten up, he continued, "However," I held back my relief a little, "next time this happens, you're in big trouble."

"Yes! It won't happen again!"

He nodded and let me off, and I started off to my room. As I walked past Ukyo, he spoke again, with a much gentler tone. "Please be more careful. All of us get worried if we don't know where you are and who you're with. You're family, and you mean a lot to us..."

I smiled, even though I had my back to him and he couldn't see it. "I will. Promise."

I felt him give a nod of approval and I ran off to my room.

I flopped onto my bed and laid there for a while. I was very grateful to Natsume-san for reaching out to me at that time. His presence was like a golden ray of light shining through the clouds and God knows what I would've done if he hadn't been there to help me.

As I considered buying him a gift for his troubles, my phone chimed, telling me I had a message. I was glad to see it was from Natsume-san.

Did you get home safely? it read.

I did. Thank you so much for today. I typed back.

No problem. was the response I got.

I debated on starting up a conversation with him, but it was getting quite late and I was getting quite tired. Days where I had to carefully navigate my way through densely populated areas took a lot out of me.

I'm very tired, so I'm going to go to sleep now. Goodnight, Natsume-san. I typed with heavy eyelids.

Goodnight, Yui.

And I drifted off into an unpleasant dream.

I found myself in a desert. I felt like I was being melted by the heat. My shirt was plastered to my back, soaked in sweat. The sun shone down, reflecting off the sand, nearly blinding me with the light. I shielding my eyes, using my hand as a visor.

Everywhere I looked, I saw massive dunes of sand, unable to tell any of them apart in the slightest. I started walking. Onwards. Walking further and further. The desert seemed endless. After I'd walked a good distance, I turned to face the direction I came.