“ 𝑲𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒊 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒂 𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒊𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒐 !”
.
𝟏
It was a bright Sunday.
And Kotei was currently roaming the streets of Tokyo, holding hands with Kazuma, Miwa's former boyfriend (chapter 10) who wanted to fulfill his promise of taking her to the zoo.
Kageyama was definitely not happy to leave his sister with the crazy bastard and even threatened to break all of his 206 bones if something happened to her. Miwa didn't mind observing how desperate the boy was to turn over a new leaf and as Kotei and Kazuma had often gone out together to places, before their break up, she gave her consent.
“ Kazu-kun, Kotei won't go inside ?” She asked pointing at the entrance to the zoo.
“ Sorry, Ko-chan, but apparently my cousin is here in Tokyo. And he wants to meet up. You don't have a problem if he tags along, right ?” He asked glaring at a passerby who was eyeing Kotei.
“ No. But Kotei wanna see Mr tiger !” She said impatiently.
He chuckled.“ Wait a bit more.”
Instantly his glare fell on a group of girls who were staring at them.“Whatchu looking at, hah ?” He barked at them, angrily.
The poor girls who were just admiring the cute brother-sister duo quickly bowed their heads in apology, flustered, before escaping the scene as fast as possible.
“ You have to be cautious around people these days, Kotei. You never know what their true intentions are. So stick close to me, okay?” He said pulling her behind him as the girl nodded, confused. Why was he acting like an overprotective brother right now ? No damn clue.
“ You really shouldn't be scaring girls off like that, Kazu-kun~”
The foreign voice led Kotei to look at the newcomer and her lips formed a surprised ‘o’ when the face revealed himself to be—
“ Sachiro, you jerk ! You're late !” Kazuma yelled grabbing his collars.
“ Is this how you greet your dear cousin meeting him after ages ?”
Kazuma glanced at Kotei and cleared his throat to regain his composure. He must not be a bad influence on her. He has promised to be her future role model. Now that Miwa and him were back on good terms, he didn't want to ruin their friendship.
“ Aha ! It's you !” Hirugami exclaimed motioning towards Kotei.
“ Mr saviour !” She beamed up at the enthusiastic male.“ And Umi !” Her smiled broadened at the sight of a white haired short boy, peeping from behind his tall friend.“ And....who are you ?” She pointed at the very very very tall boy, with a muscular build, dressed in casual clothes, his top part of the hair styled up while the lower part was shaved off.
“ The name's Hakuba Gao, kiddo ! And it's rude to point. Don't you know ?” He grinned already exhibiting his fiery and cheerful spirit. And since he seemed like a nice guy, Kotei introduced herself too.
“ Oi, oi, oi, wait a damn minute. How is it that you know Ko-chan ?”
Kazuma grabbed a protective stance in front of the child who waved at Hoshiumi, optimistically.“ And what's with these guys ! I thought it's just you and me.”
“ These are my dear friends and teammates, as you can see. Please take care of us,” Hirugami said in a sly voice wrapping two arms around Hakuba and Hoshiumi’s shoulder,“ Kazuma-nii-san.”
“ Nice to meet you, nii-san, I'm Hoshiumi Kourai and I'm the ace of Kamomedai,” he introduced himself rather eagerly and proudly. His own brother has not been too kind to him in all these years so he hoped to gain some form of acknowledgement from Kazuma.
“ We'll be in your care, brother !” Hakuba yelled out of nowhere and Kazuma flinched.
“ Ahem....well, I guess I can do that,” Kazuma said pleased at having been called so.“ Come on, Ko-chan. Let's go.” He smiled prettily at the youngest, tugging at her hand lightly while the others followed close behind.
...
“ Hirugami the immovable,” Gao said uttering his name to Kotei who had identified the older till now by ‘Mr Saviour’.
“ Immovable ? What's immovable ?” Kotei asked.
“ Opposite of movable.”
“ What's movable ?”
The three shared looks when Kazuma kindly explained the meaning in simpler words.“ You do know what move means right ? Movable means something that can be moved while immovable is the opposite.”
“ She's kind of dull,” Hoshiumi commented.“ Maybe I can tutor her just for today to widen her vocabulary knowledge,” he grinned at his brilliant idea.“ And in return, I'm gonna charge her brother ! Kageyama, get ready to empty your wallet! Heheheh !!”
“ You're kind of dull too. So I'll suggest against it.”
“ What'd you say !”
“ So Mr saviour cannot be moved ?”
Kotei asked with raised eyebrows. Before she could get a response, using her hands she pushed the said person with all her might thinking he must be stuck to the place or something. Hirugami, caught off guard, tripped but managed to regain his balance with the help of a lamp post nearby.“Look ! Kotei made Mr saviour move ! Kotei is so strong !” She yelled proudly.
“ Uh....”
“ Yeah...”
Hirugami glanced back at the child with an unmoved expression and the always calm smile settled on his face once again. He approached the kid and patted her on the head, emboldening her conscience.“ Good job, Kotei. You really did move me. I'm impressed. You're so strong.”
“ Hehe....Kotei is ? Kotei knows,” she smiled shyly rubbing her nape.
Something clicked in Hoshiumi’s head and tried to place to puzzle pieces together while Kazuma pushed the boy away from Kotei, growing mildly overprotective of the child.
“ Ah ! Sachiro, don't tell me that day during the Nationals the kitten that you saved from being bullied.....,” the white head dragged on.
“ Oh ? Kitten ?” Gao tilted his head in confusion.
“ Yes, of course. Isn't she an obedient one ?” Hirugami smiled patting Kotei affectionately on the head. To demonstrate, he extended his arm and said,“ hand.” Kotei, not understanding, went along and rested the palm of her right hand on his.“The other one.” She did so.“ Good, good,” he ruffled her hair.
“...”
“ The hell ! She's not a cat !” Kazuma yelled pulling her away from him.
“ Can I adopt her ?”
“ No !”
“ Last time he brought in an alligator to house it in our storeroom,” Hakuba muttered fearfully.
“ What !” Kazuma had a horrified look on his face yet Hirugami remained unmoved, with his same innocent smile.
“ Indeed, he's Hirugami the immovable.”
In the Tiger enclosure.....
The big glass panes rumbled as the large creature roared, his low grumble of annoyance visible in his voice. Kazuma was shocked yet felt proud when Kotei watched the animal, mesmerized, not afraid of him in the least.
“ It's so big ! I'm scared !” Hoshiumi cried, facing away from the tiger, crouching down, his arms shielding his head and ears from the intimidating creature.
“ You're a scaredy cat,” Hakuba chuckled.
“ Like you're one to talk !” Hoshiumi yelled glancing at his friend who cowered in the other corner, equally afraid.“ And you're taller than me !”
“ What's that got to do with anything !”
“ It's got to do with everything, you giant !”
Hirugami was eyeing the tiger with nothing more than pure adoration.“ Hey, do you think I can take him with me ?” He asked Kazuma pointing at the creature who seemed (weirdly) baffled too.
“ You're an idiot,” Kazuma muttered, nonchalantly.
“ Are you insane ! Where do you plan to keep it !” Hakuba yelled, incredulously.
“ In our gym, of course.”
“ You wanna get kicked, you punk!” Hoshiumi’s right eye twitched.
“ Kotei wanna bring mister tiger home too ! Rawr !”
“ Right ? We really do think alike.” Hirugami picked her up to bring her upto level with the tiger's eyes who was till now gazing down at the weird child who wouldn't run away, scared.
“ Ko-chan wants a tiger ? What should I do ? I wonder if I can ask them....,” Kazuma went deep in thought.
“ They're all insane,” Hoshiumi and Hakuba chorused who had thought atleast the oldest of the group would have some brains.
“ I'll teach him volleyball.”
“ I'll break all your bones before that.”
𝟐
“ Elephant !” Kotei giggled waving at it.
The elephant seemed an enthusiastic one as it raised and extended his tusk for them to reach out to and as Kotei was too short to properly greet him, Kazuma held her up by her armpits and she giddily leaned forward to touch him gently. But they had to back off when an attendant called out to them to move back.
“ A giraffe !” Kotei pointed out next.“ So tall !”
“ What the heck ? Why are you so tall ?” Hoshiumi grumbled shoving his hands into his pockets and glaring up at it. Strangely, the giraffe seemed to meet his eyes and somehow the boy perceived it as taunting.“ What ? You wanna fight ?”
“ Who is Umi talking to ?” Kotei asked dumbfounded, pointing at the boy who engaged himself in a staring contest with the animal.
“ It's rude to point, Ko-chan.”
“ I like this one too. Can I bring this one?” Hirugami asked Kazuma who finally snapped and smacked his cousin on his arm.
“ Kourai will go feral if you do that,” Gao said pulling his teammate away to prevent the commencement of a one-sided war.
“ Umi can talk to Mr giraffe ? Woah ! Awesome!” Kotei beamed with starry eyes.“ Teach Kotei too !”
“ Don't you dare look down on me !” Hoshiumi yelled at the creature who looked away losing interest in the yelling seagull.
“ Umi ?”
Hoshiumi eventually calmed down to look towards the child. He immediately brightened up to see her. The reason was simple. Since Kotei was much much shorter than him, he felt a lot better. Anyway his venting session was yet to be done when they got back. So she was the only one to bring up his mood.
“ Kotei, wanna get icecream ? My treat !” He offered, pleased and wanting to reward her although she did absolutely nothing.
“ Yes ! Kotei gets icecream !” She cheered as the two happily ran towards the counter, Kazuma following close behind yelling to slow down while the others caught up soon.
Later that day....
“ Did you have fun today ?”
“ Kotei had lots and lots and lots.....,” she stopped mid sentence to yawn loudly and continued,“....and lots of fun !” Feeling her energy giving up, she slumped against Gao’s head who had balanced her on his shoulders. Since she wanted to be ‘at the top of the world’ the tall boy couldn't deny it.
“ Why are you carrying her ? Don't tell me you're looking down on me, Gao,” Hoshiumi groaned with an irked face,“ I'll gouge your eyes out, damn it !”
“ Dude, it's got nothing to do with your height,” Hakuba reprimanded.
“ Height ? I don't remember mentioning anything about my height. I just said ‘don’t look down on me’ and you just took it literally—”
“..uh...because you did mean it literally......?”
“—that means you really were looking down on me, literally !”
“ Oi, stop it. We're on streets,” Kazuma scolded them.
“ Kids these days,” Hirugami sighed, shaking his head.
“ Shut up !”
Soon they reached the inn they were residing in and some of the Kamomedai students were seen standing at the entrance, awaiting their arrival. This would mark as a celebratory outing in honour of the retiring third years. Thus, they promised to make the most out of it.
“ There they are,” said Nozawa Izuru, a former member of the Kamomedai volleyball team as he pointed out the four figures approaching them at a slow pace. What's more, Gao seemed to be carrying something or someone on his shoulders.
“ That must be Kazuma-san and Kageyama’s sister,” Suwa Aikichi, another former member, responded remembering Hoshiumi’s earlier text.
“ Sister ?” Nozawa muttered to himself before his eyes lit up.“ So it's a girl !”
“ Don't act like girls are a different species,” Suwa smiled correcting his posture.
“ That's right. I've been wondering this for about a while now but I don't feel the sole of her shoes. Was Kageyama-san not wearing shoes since the beginning ?” Gao asked Kazuma.
“ Shoes...you say ?” The latter gazed at Kotei's feet only to see her shoes missing.“ Ko-chan! Where are your shoes ?!”
“ Kotei's shoes gone ?” Her lips parted in shock and amazement.
“ You don't remember ? Back then......,” Hirugami started pointing at a small flashback.
“ Ko-chan, you should not get up on the seats with your shoes on.” Kazuma scolded the girl lightly and carefully took off her shoes to keep it on the ground.
“ Sorry, Kazu,” Kotei apologised with a sad pouty face.
“ It's okay. Do take care from the next time, okay ?”
“ Right !”
“ Cue, flashback ends. And that's what had happened,” he ended with a cool smile.
“...”
“...”
“....”
“....”
“ Why are you saying it just now, bastard ! You should've said it earlier!” Kazuma yelled grabbing him by his shirt collar.
“ Now, now, let's not get physical. There's a child here,” Hirugami said with the same calm demeanor of his.
“ Sachiro, why didn't you say something?” Kourai asked.
“ I forgot.”
“...”
“...”
“...”
“ This jerk ! I'll kill you !”
“ Calm down, nii-san!” Both Hoshiumi and Hakuba held him back to prevent him from committing homicide. Kotei stared between them and back at her feet. Shrugging she leaned back to slump against Gao’s head.
“ Sorry, we're late. It took time to get Kazu-kun to get to spend his wallet,” Hirugami said nonchalantly.“ Well, being stingy is not foreign to his nature.”
“ You better not start with this again, brat ! I am definitely telling Shouko on you !” Kazuma picked up his phone but Hirugami held his hand in a rather tight grip, a strained smile on his face. The former smirked.“ I have the upper hand here.”
“ You're the oldest ! So you're supposed to spend on us youngsters right ?” Sachiro grumbled, his cool outlook slipping off for the first time.“ You're so mean, Kazu-kun.”
“ After everything I did for you.....”
As the duo quarelled back and forth, Kotei had to finally get off her ride for the day as she thanked Gao for his generous act. The latter dismissed her with a smile.
Nozawa, a bit hesitant at first crouched before her to introduce himself. When he backed up, his persona had entirely changed due to the glittering atmosphere around him.“ I talked to a girl,” he said in awe.
“ She's a kid,” Kourai stated, bluntly.
“...and a girl,” he replied. Facing Kotei who was observing his hair, he extended his hand towards her,“mind shaking hands with me?”
“ Someone stop him. He's embarassing himself,” Gao whispered mainly to Suwa who remained indifferent to the situation.
“ I shook hands with a girl !” Nozawa fussed looking at his hand, all enlightened.“ And what's your name, cutie ?”
“ Kageyama Kotei. And Kotei is six,” she said proudly standing in a brave posture to pose brightly.
“ Can I call you Kotei ?”
“ Kotei likes to be called Kotei !”
“ Yes, I'm so happy ! Now I can brag to everyone that I talked and shook hands with a girl !”
“ She's literally six, dude !”
“ And a girl,” he smiled giddily.
“ Can Kotei touch yer hair ?” Kotei asked and the latter immediately complied, bending down towards her. She thought the style was cool and gasped to feel the soft perm.“ It's so fluffy !”
“ Right ?” He grinned.
“ It's like Tora~”
“ Who's Tora ?” Nozawa asked, excitedly.
“ Our neighborhood cat.”
“....”
“ You didn't see that one coming, did you?” Hoshiumi and Gao laughed but the older didn't pay attention. Instead he basked in the glory of being patted by a girl. Well, technically....
“ A girl complimented my hair. Now I can die peacefully.”
“ Can I hit him unconscious already ?” Hoshiumi asked pointing at him as Suwa lightly shook his head, left to right.
“ Like you know a thing about girls, Kourai,” Nozawa glared at him from the corner of his eyes.
“ What's that, hah ? You're looking down on my height again, aren't you ?”
“ Bro, that's got absolutely nothing to do with your height!”
𝟑
“ Kotei !” Kageyama ran towards the sleeping girl to almost snatch her from the blonde. Miwa was not yet home and he's thankful for that. At least he could break some bones in the absence of her supervision.
“ Welcome back to me, Kazuma, too,” Kazuma said sarcastically, stepping inside.
“ What the hell are you coming in for ? And why is Kotei not waking up ? Did you drug her !”
“ You know what ? If you weren't Miwa's brother I would've disciplined you by now.”
“ It's Kageyama to you,” Kageyama corrected him.
“ Whatever. I'm not leaving without meeting her.”
“ She's not home yet.”
“ Okay ? So, I'll wait.” He gave the younger an apathetic look before taking off his shoes and walking into the living room. Kageyama glared at his retreating back, not saying another word for Miwa had asked him to invite Kazuma inside.
“ Kotei, wake up.” He slapped her cheek, showing not an ounce of modesty.
“ Hey ! What do you think you're doing ! Can't you see she's sleeping !” Kazuma peeked from behind the wall.
“ Stay away from my business ! She's my sister so I'll do whatever the hell I want with her !” He groaned, dragging Kotei by her shirt collar upstairs.
“ How rude can he be,” Kazuma shook his head still not believing this brat was Miwa's sister.
And then he remembered his first year in University and the way she had greeted him.
‘ Dumbass, look where you're stepping! I'll shave your head off !’
On second thought, they're much alike. Precisely, that was the moment he had fallen for the girl.
This brat...Kageyama let out a grunt as he laid her down on her bed. The girl just turned over, nestling in the warmth of the bedsheets. I'll let her sleep for now, he thought ( it's a wonder how she's still asleep after that slap) gently taking off her socks.
Wait, I don't remember taking off her shoes.................................well whatever.
He's not that comfortable with the fact that Kotei was dirtying the sheets and she's not even taken a bath yet. A nerve twitched in his brain when the girl kicked him to move away so that she could keep the bed all to herself.
Kageyama sighed slamming the door loudly behind his back. (Don't worry, Kotei sleeps like a log)
“ This sucks.”
Thankfully, Miwa let Kazuma off the hook for the shoe incident with a smack on the head. He had already apologised a million of times before. However, the girl shut him off saying it was Kotei's fault too for being careless.
“ I'm sorry, Miwa.”
“ Shut up, already. I've heard you the first time.”
“ Get out of the house, already damn it !!”
“ Tobio !”
🅱🅾🅽🆄🆂
He was successful in getting Kotei to take a bath and tuck her back to bed. Miwa had to leave early for work next morning hence she was fast asleep. Kageyama was pulling the covers on the his sister when her eyes suddenly shot open.
“ What happened, Kotei ?”
“...”
“ Kotei ?”
“....”
He stared at her blankly as she gazed up at her ceiling with a stupefied look. He couldn't pinpoint what was wrong when the girl uttered in a very feeble voice,“....wanna go....outside....”
“ Outside ? Where do you wanna gonna go ?”
“....”
He flinched when she suddenly sat up on her bed. Not looking at anything in particular she got off in a slow manner and dragged her feet outside the room. The boy followed still not understanding what was happening.
She wants to go outside ? Now ? Why would she want to go outside in the middle of the night ? Did she hit her head or something ?
As his train of thoughts speeded up with no restraints, the opening of a door caught his attention and watched Kotei enter the toilet. What's this ? She just wanted to use to washroom ? But he didn't let his guard down.
After the sound of flush was heard, the girl stepped out still looking out of it.
“ Kotei, are you alright ?”
“...”
Her eyes were open. Yet she didn't say anything. Without a response, she walked away at the same slow pace, entered her room, got under the covers and fell asleep again.
“ Ko...tei....?” Kageyama asked, a bit scared. He shook her by her shoulder but she didn't budge. The girl was fast asleep.“ What....was.....that ?”
What just happened ? She walked with her eyes open ? Was she sleepwalking ? Are people capable of using the toilet while sleepwalking ? She even answered me the first time ! Then... don't tell me.....
“ Neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-san !”
Kageyama rushed to his sister’s room at once. Miwa groggily looked up at his figure, a black outline against the light in the background, standing at the doorway, in a dishevelled state.“Kotei's possessed!”
“ Get the hell out of my room, dumbass!”
Kageyama ducked just in time to avoid a flying slipper and he quickly closed the doors before she could throw the next closest thing to her which happened to be the bedside lamp.
Amidst all this commotion, Kotei slept peacefully in her room, a trail of drool down her mouth, looking quite cozy in her bed. Just to be sure Kageyama slept that night in her room, laying a futon on the floor because Kotei would surely kick him off her bed.
He didn't sleep that well at night.
______________________________________
“ 𝑇𝒉𝑎𝑛𝑘 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔.”