CHAPTER 1

After I put my clothes and get ready I rushed down to our front door, putting my shoes on while saying "i'll be going now"

I heard my mom said "take care dont be out so late", then i replied "okay" 

My dad is overseas working, so he's not really at home. My older sister is still sleeping since it's her day off from work. 

My mom is a housewife. She's been taking care of us since my father is not with us. 

Now I'm waiting for the bus. I'm going out with my friends we're going to the anime/game store near the train station. 

I'm planning to buy a new game if I find something interesting, while waiting from the bus there's this girl staring at me. 

I'm not good at talking to people so I didn't even bother asking her why she was looking at me. Then the bus arrived and I got into the bus. I sat at the back next to a window. 

I was shocked because the girl who is staring at me is now sitting next to me. I'm starting to panic, asking myself "why is she following me?" "Did I do something wrong?". 

I feel nervous. I don't know what to do, I can't relax until I reach my destination. 

Now I need to find my friends. I saw my friends in front of the station so I immediately ran into them "Ken! Sora!". 

I decided to shout they're name in this way. The girl should stop following me. We talked a little bit, but the girl is still staring at me. 

I decided to ask my friends if we can go now. My friends agreed with me. I decided not to tell my friends the situation because Sora and Ken are so pushy and always have the guts to talk to people that they don't even know. 

I didn't know that the store was so huge. It's like a mall but full of games and anime only. It's like heaven, we looked around, and I picked up a popular anime series

"hmm should i buy this one?" I'm thinking so seriously, Sora said "you should try that anime ryuu, that's a good one". 

I looked at him a bit and looked back in the anime cd case, I replied: "I know it's popular and a good anime but I'm not sure if I'm going to buy it or not". 

Ken said: "i think you should buy it, but you can just hold into it while we're looking around and you can decide whether you're going to buy it or not, we can just always go back here to put it back" 

I think Ken's got a point on that one so I decided to hold into it while we're looking around. I have a feeling that she is still following me because I can feel a stare from behind. 

I want to tell my friends about the situation but when I always look back there's no one there, they might think that I was joking around and making up stories and laugh at me. 

That's why I still decided not to tell them. The time has passed and we're finally going home. I completely forgot about my situation and we're now walking to the station. 

I don't feel the gaze or stare anymore. I think I'm safe now, "bye bye!" Sora said, "Bye Bye! see you!" We both replied back to Sora. 

"So did you buy the anime ryuu?" Ken said, "yeah, i did, but i don't think i can watch it later. I'm a bit tired because we looked around the whole area" I replied. 

"alright then I'll be going now, bye bye! see you!" Ken said, after that I wave back to him and proceed on going to the bus waiting area. A couple of minutes had passed since the bus arrived. 

I got on the bus and got home safely, "im home" i said, "welcome back" my mom's reply, after that i did go straight to my room "are you not going to eat?" my mom asked, "i'm going to eat later" i shouted and ran into my room. 

I put the bag of games and anime on the side and lay down on my bed. " *sigh* I feel so tired, walking in that whole game store is pretty tiring. My body feels so heavy". 

After that the girl accidentally comes to mind. I completely forgot about her, who she is, after thinking for a couple of minutes I found myself sleepy, so I decided to sleep. 

"ryuu" "wake up" "we're going to be late" i heard my mom say, but i'm still sleepy so i decide to go back to sleep, then I suddenly remembered we're going to grandpa's house. 

I immediately woke up, and got ready, after all that now we're now in the train station. 

" *yawn* i'm still sleepy" i said, "ryuu, you have to be ready or else grandpa and our cousins are going to beat you again" my sister said. 

We always go to our grandparents house every year, my grandpa always teaches us kendo, as for my sister he's not so strict to her since im the boy, I'll be the one who is a candidate to be the next owner of the dojo. 

but to be honest i don't really want to be the owner of the dojo, i don't think i am suited to have it, i think my cousin is the one who suits to be the next owner of the dojo. 

Then here we are at my grandparents house. Next to it is the dojo. "Ryuu!" I heard someone shouting, "ohh it's my annoying cousin who always challenges me to a match" . This is what I'm thinking after I saw my cousin Hiroki running towards us. 

"Whats up hiro-" i didn't even finish what i am saying he throws me a wooden sword and rushes towards me i immediately catch the sword and block his attack. 

"you're still as sharp as ever, ryuu" he said, "don't always do that whenever we see each other!" I replied. 

"Hiroki, Where's your little sister Hana?" My sister said, "Ohh she's at the dojo practicing," Hiroki replied. 

"she's hard working as ever, maybe she wants to be a candidate to be the next owner like you hiro-" i didn't even finish what i'm saying my sister suddenly smack me with a punch in  the back of my head "you're so dense ryuu, i feel bad for hana" my sister said and my mom laughed. 

"What is she saying? i don't really get what girls are thinking" is what i'm thinking while they laugh at me. 

They decided to go to meet grandpa and grandma while I decided to go to the dojo to check how Hana is doing. I opened the door of the dojo and went to the corner watching her practice. 

I sat down and I think she didn't notice me, "wow! you're good enough to be a candidate to be the next owner" i said while clapping. 

she looked at my direction with an embarrassed and shocked face, i laughed. 

"you don't need to be shocked, it's just me ryuu" i said, "r-ryuu how long have you been there" she said, "not so long, anyways you improved a lot" i said, "w-well i need to be suitable wife for the next owner of the dojo" she replied with such a low volume of voice so i couldn't hear it properly. 

I decided to ignore what she said, it was night when we arrived "practicing this so late you must really want to be the owner of the dojo" i said and i smiled "let's go back at the house, i haven't greeted grandpa and grandma yet" i said. 

She agreed and we went back to the house. "we're back" i said, "did you practice a bit ryuu" i heard while im removing my shoes off.

"ohh, grandpa, not really i just checked how hana's doing" i replied "i need you to woke up early tomorrow to train" grandpa said, "alright alright, how's grandma i said while we're walking on the direction to the living room," she's well, do you train daily ryuu? " Grandpa said,"Yes, I go jogging every night, and practice my technique in the school club." i replied "i see" that's the only reply i heard from grandpa. 

Normally he's going to rampage and chase me while scolding me because I'm for sure the next owner since Hiroki never won against me even once. while hana is a girl so she had no right to be the next owner, the same as my sister.

Grandpa always has these energetic vibes. But right now I don't feel any energy from him. 

The next morning I woke up early and got ready for my morning jogging. When I was about to go out I saw hana in the doorway. 

"goodmorning hana" I greeted her with a smiley face, "g-good morning ryuu" hana replied, "you're going for the jog as well?" I asked. 

because as far as I can see, she's wearing jogging pants and looks like she's ready to do some jogging, "yes, I hear-, i always do jogging so my stamina can increase" she said.

she's about to say heard, but heard what, so i decided to ask her if i can join her and she agreed. 

While we're jogging, I noticed that she keeps looking at me from time to time. Maybe she wants to ask something so I decided to ask. 

"do you need something?" I said, "c-can we take a break?" Hana replied, i didn't realise that we're running for so long it's the sun is up. 

we stopped at the park near the house, "i brought some lunch" hana said, she opened it and i was surprised. 

"woah! it looks delicious, can i have some?" i said, "sure, here grab some" hana replied, the sandwiches look so delicious i feel like i can eat a bunch of it. 

After we ate we decided to go back to the house. I was about to enter the house when someone threw a wooden sword at me. He's at it again. 

"haaaaa" I heard hiroki shouting while charging towards me. I can't really dodge it because if I dodge it will crash into the hana which is beside me. 

to avoid it i blocked the sword and instantly attacked him in his belly, he dropped on the ground and his hands were in his belly, i think i did go overboard i hit him with too much force. 

"s-sorry hiroki" i said, "i-its o-okay!" Hiroki replied while smiling and gave his thumbs up . I smiled forcefully because I felt so bad that I didn't know how much strength I did put on it. 

We brought him to his room so he could rest a bit. After that I went straight to the dojo. When I was about to open the door, I had this feeling that if I opened this door, I would be knocked out instantly. 

I opened the door then stepped back instantly to avoid the strike and I was right, my grandpa was waiting for me. That's why I didn't see him in the house. I knew this was going to happen eventually, thank god I'm ready. 

Grandpa suddenly stopped and smiled at me. He invited me inside the dojo and we sat face to face. 

"Ryuu, I don't have much time now, based on what I see, you're not slacking off and you still have the techniques that I taught you, I want you to transfer school near here and live here at the house" grandpa said. 

I was shocked. I want to say something but my mouth won't move. I feel so much pain hearing this after a minute of silence. 

"b-but why grandpa?" i asked even if i know already the answer to my question, "my health is in not good condition anymore, im hospitalised so many times before you guys came here i just got out of the hospital" grandpa said, "okay" the one and only word that came out of my mouth. 

After that grandpa went out and went back to the house while I remained sitting there, my tears were about to come out, I tried to hold it. 

*Hana's POV*

Hiroki falls asleep and Hana stands up and silently goes out of the room. 

Hana decided to follow Ryuu to the dojo. She's happy that she and Ryuu went out to do some jogging early in the morning and eat together alone. 

She's walking while humming. You can see on her face a big smile, when she was about to open the door, she heard someone talking. 

She ran silently through the side where you can clearly hear the conversation, she looked down and slowly you can see that the big smile on her face is now gone. 

She heard everything, after the conversation she heard someone went out, and she saw her grandpa, she checked Ryuu inside and she opened the door a little bit so she could peek. 

She saw Ryuu sitting inside looked down, and then she can clearly see ryuu is holding his tears, but when she's about to open the door and rush to him, he suddenly cried in silence