Shiniko is now in fourth grade, she still hangs out with her 'best friends' and is still in the same class with Gakushuu.
At this point, she has surpassed her brother, and her 'best friends' aren't as 'close' to her as they were back then.
They would talk during breaks and lunch, but it would always be about answers to homework or her brother, and everyday Shiniko would ask, "Why don't you ask him yourself?" The girls would reply with, "Because he's your brother and he might be creeped out that we're asking him a bunch of questions all the time!" With that said, Shiniko just sighed in defeat, it was the same back then too. Now, she was sick and tired of listening to her 'friends' talk and ask about her brother, but she had no one else to turn, so she just stopped hanging around them.
She would sit alone at her table thinking about life while staring outside. Her so called 'best friends' got angry that she stopped talking to them, and started bullying her both physically and verbally while Asano and his friends weren't around.
Sometimes she would be a little productive and study, draw, listen to music or multitask. It would either be in the class, on the roof or anywhere quiet and shady outside.
Even though she was bullied everyday, to hide her pain she would always put on a fake smile, especially for Gakushuu and Uncle Asano.
No one else knew about her pain, Gakushuu started to worry because she wasn't talking to anyone anymore and she would always be by herself.
He decided to spy on her one day, but what he saw left him eyes wide and speechless. He witnessed his own sister being bullied. He watched with horror, but was frozen like a statue. When the bell rang, he heard what the girls had to say to her.
"Stay away from Asano he's ours and you've been stealing him away from us!!!"
"Yeah! So do us all a favor and go die already!!!"
Gakushuu was stunned. He ran back to class, pretended like nothing happened, but he was going to talk to Shiniko about it after school.
Everyone already left the classroom, leaving Shiniko and Gakushuu behind.
"Shiniko, can I talk to you."
"Sure Shuu, what do you need?" She asked with a fake smile on her face.
"I saw what happened to you at lunch, how long has this been going on?" He asked seriously.
"What are you talking about Shuu?" She tried to play dumb and pretend like she didn't know what he was talking about.
"You know what I mean, I saw you getting bullied at lunch."
The fact that he knew what happened, shocked Shiniko. She looked down to the ground, "...it started ever since I got here..." her voice started to break and she face the other way.
"Why didn't you say anything, you know Dad and I care about you...seeing you like this doesn't make me happy, you're my little sister after all..."
"...I know...."
"Come here."
Shiniko walked over to Gakushuu, and he gave her a big, warm teddy bear hug. Shiniko started to cry silently, once she finished shedding her tears, she returned the hug.
"Thanks Shuu, I needed that..." she smiled and gave Gakushuu a genuine smile.
"No problem, that's what I'm here for... Come on let's go, Dad's probably mad at us for taking so long."
"Yeah..."
When they got outside, Uncle Asano wasn't there, so the two of them walked home together. Someone was watching them from a far, but neither of them noticed. When they got home, they finished their homework and both of them made dinner.
~Flashback~
"Teach me how to cook Shuu~"
"Sure, I have the time."
After teaching Shiniko how to cook, Gakushuu tasted her food.
"Wow! This is delicious!"
"Really?!" She tasted her own creation.
"Wow, it is good! It might be tastier than yours!"
"You think?"
"Yeah!"
"We'll see about that. How about we make the same dish, using the same ingredients for father and he can be the judge."
"Ok!"
They finished their dishes right when Uncle Asano got home and they set it on the table.
"Father, we made dinner, but you have to decide which dish is tastier."
"Alright then."
After Uncle Asano finished both dishes, it was time to announce the winner.
"I think the winner is the one on the right."
"Yay! I made the one on the right! See Shuu, my cooking does taste better."
"Fine, you win."
"Shiniko, is this your first time cooking?"
"Yup!"
"Impressive." Uncle Asano complimented.
~End of Flashback~
When Shiniko was cooking, she couldn't help but smile because it reminded her of her first time learning how to cook and she was a natural at it.
After dinner, the two siblings finished eating, they got ready for bed, but before that they played a card game and Shiniko won as usual. After the game, they both turned in for the night. Shiniko was having a hard time sleeping because she was having a nightmare.
In her dream were floating heads, but only the mouths were seen, they kept telling her:
"go die"
"kill yourself already"
"Asano is ours"
"stay away from him"
"you're good for nothing"
"Loser"
"You don't deserve to live"
"Worthless"
"You're just a piece of garbage"
Those words, as well as other derogatory remarks were echoing in her dream.
Shiniko woke up mortified,as tears started to stream down her face once again. She was too scared to go back to sleep, so she sneaked into Gakushuu's room and slept there.
The next morning, the alarm went off, Gakushuu was about to slam it, but there was a big lump in the way. Gakushuu opened his eyes to see yet again, a sleeping Shiniko.
"Shiniko..." he muttered as he poked her cheek."Wake up..."
"Hhmmm..." Shiniko hummed tiredly.
"Why are you in my room?"
"...I had a nightmare..."
Gakushuu sighed, "Figures...I hope sleeping here helped, now get out and get ready."
"Yeah, yeah, I know..."
After the two of them finished getting ready, they had breakfast and left for school.
Uncle Asano leaves earlier now because he is the principal of Kunugigaoka Junior High School, the symbol for Kunugigaoka was designed by Gakushuu and Uncle Asano, and Shiniko gave it its name Kunudon.
Despite the fact that he needs to leave early, he still makes breakfast for the two siblings at home.
At school, Shiniko would hang out with Gakushuu and his friends, but she still gets bullied and she didn't allow her brother or his friends to say a word to anyone.
As a result, everyone, especially the girls, hated her because she was always with the smartest people in the class.
She couldn't keep up her fake happy act anymore, so she slowly changed into an emotionless person, even the way she talked changed. It was more cold, harsh, and monotoned.
She never thought she would change like this...
She never cracked another smile again.
Shiniko was starting to fall into oblivion.
～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～
The more exciting parts will hopefully be in the next few chapters.😅