Astrophile

098

A grin made way to his lips as he bobbed his head, "Yup! It's-" Poor man got cut off by [Brother Name] obnoxiously beginning.

"Since I'm a kind older brother, I'll tell you!! I am attending the University of Tokyo! Todai, for short!" He declared proudly and you teased him by flinching away in disgust.

"Oh, so you're like those creeps who are unhealthly obsessed with their universities and consider its history more vital than oxygen? Man, didn't think my brother would grow up to be such a loser..." Before your brother could screech at your mockery, your father pushed the brakes and stopped in front of a familiar house.

The house that you used to live in until your parents got divorced. Suddenly, your mood became grim, mind flashing every memory you had of this place.

None of them were that good. They all consisted of your memories of you locked up in the attic, crying yourself to sleep with no one there with you.

You unconsciously clentched your fist, knuckles beginning to turn white at your grip. It didn't go unnoticed by [Brother Name] as he opened his door and got off. You also got out of the car and stood in front of it, staring ahead at it's architecture.

Suddenly, a hand was placed on top of your head and your hair was ruffled. You looked over to see your brother peering at you with an uncharacteristically soft smile, "Wanna go in? Or do you wanna walk around the area a bit?" He suggested, knowing that you probably weren't ready for this.

But you shook your head with a kind smile. You've dealt with much worse and a little bit of melancholy won't be able to do much to you. With a gentle smile, you walked forward and up the stairs of the house. Your father and brother were right behind you, letting you have the liberty of exploring the place yourself.

You walked over and slid the door open, revealing the entrance of the house. At the beginning was the small area where the shoe compartment and a small cabinet were placed. You took your shoes off at the entrance. Just ahead of it, was a small hallway that led into an open space.

At the left of the open space was the living room, just like how you recalled. And at the right, the kitchen. Up further into another hallway that was connected to the open space, was the door to the backyard.

And at the side of that hallway, were the stairs. You could recall the numerous times you had cried loudly just because you were too scared to jump down the last step.

With a monotonous look taking over your face, you began to walk up the stairs. The minute you reached the top of the stairs, you were hit by a wave of nostalgia. It was almost as if you saw your younger self running behind [Brother Name], falling several time and crying loudly.

How weird it all was... Your younger self could never have guessed what she grew up to be...

With a deep sigh, you walked in the direction of a path that was led purely by muscle memory. Standing outside a door, you peered at the wooden sliding door, not turning to look when you felt your brother and father standing beside you.

They both placed a hand on your shoulder and you wondered why? You weren't scared or anything, it was just a lot to recall and you wanted to remember each and every place before you entered it.

With slight confusion evident on your face, you turned your face forward and held onto the built in handle of the sliding door.

With a sigh, you slid it open, to reveal a newly cleaned room.

Your old room.

It still had your old bed and your unhealthy amount of stuffed animals. But the childish stuff that you had like toys and your hiragana and katakana posters that you used for learning were gone.