1 Prologue: Vol. 1
A few notes and how to read the story before reading~!
-Dialogue: [Person: Blah blah blah]
-Thoughts: {Person: Woah I smell bad}
-Flashback Words: [~Person: Don't forget to shower sonny boy]
The first fifteen-ish chapters are a prequel to the main story, which I'm calling Arc 0. Arc 0 has a lot more slice of life and drama elements than in the main story, which is Arc 1 and onward. Arc 1 and onward has lots of action and world building unlike Arc 0.
Every prologue and epilogue are really short compared to the chapters. Prologues and epilogues tend to be 2-4 pages, while the actual chapters are around 13-17 pages. (This prologue is actually a lot longer than a normal prologue or epilogue-- it's a whopping 18 pages)
This story's setting is based on a fictional country next to Japan, so the story is influenced by Japanese culture. This story was also written with the intention of it becoming a manga or a webtoon, so try to picture things in an anime-type format. (or not, that's cool too)
The story is shown through several people's perspectives-- not so much in Arc 0, but in Arc 1 and later there are many perspective shifts.
Also, if you aren't up for gore, extremely dark elements, and profanity, then this book isn't for you.
Lastly I really enjoy feedback, so leave some comments if you ever feel like it, or let me know if there are any mistakes. If you want to keep up with story updates and see a bunch of art based on the story, follow me on Instagram at reikito.art~
Now onward!
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6:32 P.M.
Hiro sat at a wooden dinner table in his house, with his parents and sister.
Hiro was a teenage boy with raven black hair. His eyes looked like they were deprived of sleep, most likely from staying up late.
To his right, his sister wolfed down what was on her plate. Yumi was quite the opposite of her brother-- the elementary school student had long white hair and teal eyes; looking no older than eight years.
Sitting on the opposite side of the table were two adults, the parents of these children. The father, still in his work clothes, chowed down his food.
The mother watched them eat their meal while she observed her family at the dining table.
Hiro was just picking at his food, seeming to be lost in thought as he stared into space.
Besides the sounds of munching, the family was unusually quiet. Wanting to break the silence, the mother went ahead and asked–
[Mom: So, how was your day?]
Her question wasn't necessarily directed at anyone, but her eyes were aimed at her son.
With chipmunk-like cheeks, Yumi responded excitedly.
[Yumi: It was great! We made balloon animals, drew pictures, and laughed at these really funny jokes by our teacher! She's really funny!]
[Mom: Well that's great honey.]
Yumi grinned.
[Yumi: Mhm!]
She quickly went back to devouring her food.
With a tired but happy expression their father replied next.
[Dad: It was such a long day at work today, I'm so glad that I don't have work tomorrow--]
He rambled on, looking exhausted. Hiro could tune him out.
[Dad: Anyway, did you know there's a full moon today–– ]
[Mom: What about you Hiro?]
His dad's eyes had a dejected look after his wife suddenly ignored him like he was an annoying fly. He slumped into his chair, continuing to eat his food with a sad-puppy expression on his face.
The boy looked up from his trance and saw his mother smiling at him, patiently waiting for his response.
With a little shrug, he replied--
[Hiro: Oh, it was good I guess.]
His mother raised an eyebrow.
[Mom: You guess? You graduated from junior high today you know.]
[Dad: Oh, that's right! Sorry Hiro, I forgot to tell you congrats!]
[Mom: Aren't you supposed to be a little more cheerful?]
[Hiro: Thanks, I guess you're right…]
Hiro paused for a little bit, making yet another silence.
His mother's eyes clearly showed her concern, but she stayed silent.
[Hiro: I, I don't know. I just have some things on my mind I guess... Thanks for the food.]
Hiro said this as he got up from his chair; even though his plate was only half eaten.
His mother looked at him worryingly and with concern. Noticing his wife's expression, Hiro's father stopped eating as well and looked at him the same way.
Hiro left the table and walked to the stairs. As he walked up the stairs, he pulled out his earbuds and started listening to music.
Down a short hallway, he opened a door to his room.
His room was quite plain, though it didn't lack what a normal teenage boy would have. On the walls were a few posters of mages and video games. He had a bookshelf with a bunch of unread novels, old video games, and an hourglass. A small, but comfortable bed in the corner next to the window, a wooden desk with paper scraps sprawled all over, and a decently-sized desktop computer.
Right under the desk was a trash can overflowing with crumpled paper balls, inkless pens, and other things of the sort. He sat in his rolly chair and let out a tired sigh.
He glanced at the various papers unorganized on his desk. Just old homework, bad sketches, and unfinished plans.
Deciding that he didn't feel like doing anything, he sighed and checked his phone. A message from his big brother, Kobu Hiroto.
Seeing this message, his heart beat with excitement, but quickly died back down.
The words displayed: "Kobu: hey little bro, sorry about the late notice but I should be there by 8 P.M. Make sure you save me some of mom's cooking! love ya, see you soon."
6:44 P.M.
After reading the message he leaned back and looked at the ceiling, lost in thought.
[Hiro: I'm a high schooler now, huh?]
Flashes of his childhood flew by as it all led to the present, but one memory stuck out to him. It was only yesterday. The face of his crying younger brother, Shuuki.
Hiro sighed again and rolled his chair to his desk, leaning his face onto the wooden surface. He deemed thinking about this subject wouldn't better him and he closed his eyes.
What felt like seconds turned into minutes.
Soon enough, his heavy eyelids engulfed his tired eyes; sleeping the minutes away.
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7:38 P.M.
An ear-curdling scream woke the troubled mind of Hiro. Hiro opened his eyes, realizing that he fell asleep.
{Hiro: What was that?}
He lifted his face from his arms and wiped the drowsiness from his eyes.
The full moon peeked through his window, and he stood up, stretching.
He slowly walked to his door and opened it, silently and cautiously, to the little figure of his sister.
She was standing in the middle of the hallway in front of his door, unmoving. Yumi was in her penguin pajamas, wrapped in her soft, light pink blanket.
The first thing he noticed were her terrified eyes. She was usually very upbeat and happy. Her eyes were staring into the narrow hallway, engulfed by darkness. Her tiny hands seemed cold, trembling as they tightly clenched the blanket around her.
[Hiro: Hey, Yumi?]
His sister jumped at his whisper, and once her eyes met his, he suddenly felt a cold shiver go down his spine.
[Hiro: Yumi, did you hear that?]
Yumi was almost hiding in her pink blanket as she nodded.
[Yumi: Brother, I'm scared.]
Hiro squinted his eyes to try to see past the darkness in the hallway, but it didn't help.
[Hiro: Stay in your room, I'll check it out.]
Yumi nodded again and slowly walked into her room and with a loud creak, she closed her door.
Hiro began to walk down the hallway. The ceiling lights seemed to flicker on and off, and darkness enveloped him.
Hiro had trouble seeing farther than a few feet in front of him, so he walked slowly, still half asleep.
He wondered why his vision was so limited as he walked down the stairs, but dismissed it.
All of the lights were visible, but seemed extremely dim. His house never looked like this before.
{Hiro: Why is it so dark?}
He reached the bottom of the stairs and his vision improved, but only by a little bit. With his vision slightly better, a horrific sight greeted him.
In the kitchen, the bright white ceiling light shone on a mangled body, nearly unrecognizable. The body was pressed into the broken kitchen wall, through the sink. There were two massive chunks missing that looked as if they had been twisted off of the body's torso. It's clothes were in tatters where the missing chunks of flesh were, and blood was still flowing from the wounds. It's face was void of emotion, someone who was dead.
It was Hiro's mother.
A wave of emotions overcame Hiro, and he didn't know what to do.
He threw up everything in his stomach. Tears burst out of his eyes– they continued streaming down his cheeks, making his vision even worse as he stared blankly at his mother before him.
Blood was flowing out of his mother's wounds and mouth, and he felt his mind going blank.
Before despair could fully overtake him, loud, ear-piercing bangs echoed throughout the house.
They were gunshots.
Hiro walked past his mother's body and looked out into the living room, where he could see his father kneeling behind the couch, with white and gray rocks covering one of his arms.
Further back in the living room by the front door he could see two silhouettes dressed in black, moonlight shining behind them. One of the silhouettes had a gun pointed in Hiro's father's direction and–
bang bang bang!
Three bullets flew in the direction of Hiro's father, but Hiro's father was able to deflect them by blocking them with his arm.
[Hiro: Dad!?]
Hiro yelled without thinking as he saw his father being shot.
His father turned his head to see Hiro. His face was in agony, and that shocked Hiro even more as he had never seen his father look so deep in pain.
[Father: Hiro?!]
His father said with a look of desperation that seemed to be saying, "Why are you here?!"
His expression clearly told Hiro to run away. Hiro's father did not want to lose another one of his family.
However, Hiro was frozen with fear. His mother was dead. His father was currently fighting for his life. His home was being attacked.
bang bang!
Two more shots flew at his father. His father put his arm in front of him, and was able to block one, ricocheting to the carpet; however, the other bullet penetrated through the couch and hit him in the right side of his abdomen.
His father cried out in pain, and then yelled--
[Dad: Hiro, run!]
The message was clear. He needed to get away.
Without a magical ability or a weapon, clearly he stood no chance against people who did. Especially people heartless enough to kill his mother and skilled enough to battle his father.
Despite this, he couldn't move. Fear had overtaken him. His legs were jello. Bullets were still being fired at his father, and he could do nothing but watch. His father stood up and turned to face Hiro.
[Dad: HIRO! RUN!]
Those were his father's last words to Hiro as he used the last of his strength to shake Hiro out of his fear rather than defend himself from the next incoming barrage of bullets.
bang bang bang bang bang bang!
Every single bullet hit its target, and his father fell backwards; however, he fell back onto a tall man that was behind him, hiding in the darkness. The man had dark blue hair and donned a black trenchcoat.
The man grabbed Hiro's father's head, extended his arm away from him, so that Hiro's father was farther away from the man's body.
The man looked down at Hiro's father, who was somehow still breathing, with a look of disgust.
He dropped Hiro's father onto the ground.
The man with blue hair started walking away from Hiro's father towards the front door.
On the floor, Hiro's father started crawling. His body bleeding and his limbs twitching, struggling to move.
[Dad: Not… yet…]
Hiro's father coughed up blood as he said this, and lifted his head towards the attackers with a look of determination and rage. The man with blue hair stopped and turned around.
Suddenly, Hiro's father's head started to twist as he screamed in pain. Around, around and around; then his head exploded into a distasteful mess of brains on the floor.
His headless and bullet-filled body was left on the living room carpet, soaked in his blood.
A bit of the splatter got on the attacker's coat, which he brushed off with his hand. The attacker showed no emotion in killing Hiro's father.
[Black-Haired Attacker: Hahahahaha!! DAMN that was cool! Did I ever tell you how cool you are Ishiyaka-kun?]
Hiding behind a small wall in the kitchen, Hiro was deep in fear. The sight of his father dying made him gag and puke up the nothingness in his stomach.
He tried looking away from his father, but then the grotesque view of his mother's dead body met his eyes once again.
Hiro's pain was immeasurable.
Hiro tried to stay as quiet as he could, holding his hand to his mouth.
The blue-haired attacker walked all the way to the front door, and before he left, he stopped and asked a question to the other attacker who held a gun.
[Blue-Haired Attacker/Ishiyaka: I trust that you can take care of the rest?]
The black-haired attacker grinned.
[Black-Haired Attacker: Of course.]
Ishiyaka left the house, closing the door behind him. The black-haired attacker began walking towards Hiro with a devilish smile.
[Black-Haired Attacker: Come out, come out, I know you're there~!]
The corpses of his mother and his father were burned into the back of his eyelids, and couldn't think of anything else but survival.
Even though his thoughts were jumbled, he knew one thing for certain-- he didn't want to end up like them.
His father's words empowered him as he ran as fast as he could back up the stairs, back to his room, away from the attacker. He rushed into his room and slammed the door.
He didn't know what to do. He took chairs and various things in his room to barricade the door.
He heard footsteps, then a loud creak of a door opening.
Hiro prepared himself.
The creak of the door lasted for what seemed like an eternity, but the door of Hiro's room never even budged.
Where did the creak come from..?
!!!
The life drained out of his body once more, as he realized with horror that it wasn't his door that was being opened-- it was his sister's.
In his blind panic, he forgot about Yumi.
bang!
Screaming. High pitched, guttural screaming.
{Hiro: Yumi. Please. Yumi, hang on, please.}
bang!
Hiro frantically removed the barricades from his door, hoping that he could reach her in time, but deep down he knew it was too late. Hiro couldn't do anything. Hiro let out a cry, his cry filled with the pain of letting his sister get murdered.
bang!
There was no scream this time. The silence was more deafening than the gunshots.
{Hiro: Yumi please! Yumi please hang on! I'm coming--}
bang bang bang!
Screaming. Inhuman screaming.
It didn't come from the opposite side of his door, but from Hiro himself. His mind was so cloudy-- he couldn't think straight.
{Hiro: Yumi. Yumi. Yumi. Yumi I'm so sorry. Yumi please forgive me--}
bang bang bang!
With all of the barricades removed, Hiro swung his door open; weakness and near-blindness overtaking him.
Manic laughter echoed throughout the hallway.
Hiro had trouble taking even a few steps, and could barely see what was in front of him.
bang bang bang!
Darkness enveloped every inch of his vision. He staggered down the hallway, each step feeling like a marathon. Hiro set his hand on the wall before he turned the corner to go down the stairs, but two demonic eyes and a wide grin met him.
The murderer was right in front of him.
[Black Haired Attacker: I like that look on your face.]
Hiro quickly turned around and began to run away, but was kicked in the side by the attacker.
From the impact, he recoiled onto the side wall of the hallway and fell down. He stumbled back to his feet and limped as fast as he could– with the pain in his side and the weakness in his bones it was all he could do. It felt as if twenty-pound weights had been strapped to every part of his body.
[Black-Haired Attacker: Oh? That's interesting… That's very, very interesting...]
He was almost at his door. Maybe he could reach his window and run away. He knew well what would happen to him if he got caught.
He didn't want to die.
[Black-Haired Attacker: Whoa, is that really what I think that is..? Hahaha!]
Hiro looked behind him, and saw the man talking to himself and laughing like a maniac. The attacker noticed Hiro looking at him, and he stared back. His eyes were a deep crimson, and they seemed to glow in the night. He still smiled.
[Black Haired Attacker: C'mon, what are you running away for?]
Chills went down Hiro's spine as the attacker began approaching him.
The attacker was catching up. Hiro used the walls as a surface to boost his speed and regain balance, and finally made it to his room; in which he slammed the door, locked it, then rushed to his window.
He opened his window, and the refreshing, chilly night air blew into his room. The full moon in the sky shone beautifully.
Hiro hesitated before jumping out-- down two stories onto his yard. His sister, mother, and father were all dead, and he couldn't do anything about it. As much as he was scared to jump, the person beyond his bedroom door was many times more terrifying.
Thus, forcefully closing his eyes, he threw himself through the window. His body crashed onto the roof of the first story-- tumbling down and landing in the bushes in his yard.
Every part of him ached. Despite this, Hiro's body didn't feel weighed down anymore, and his vision returned to normal. The prickly bushes he laid in were almost comfortable compared to how he had felt before.
He lay upward, looking up at the night sky looming above him. Hiro could see the moon more clearly now; white dots of light sprinkled across the sky. It was a beautiful night.
Hiro didn't want to leave that spot, but the unshakable image of his dead parents shook him out of it.
Tears had been pouring out of his eyes this whole time, and his eyes seemed to have reached their limit. He wiped the moisture from his eyes and rolled out of the bushes.
Hiro ran as fast as he could, but didn't make it very far. Weakness and nausea overcame him once more, and he stumbled and fell onto the grass.
Hiro looked behind him, and the black-haired man in the trench coat strolled out onto the yard from the front door of his house. Darkness seemed to emerge from him, covering the night sky and everything around him.
A voice in Hiro's head kept telling him he had to live, and go on. Hiro had to keep telling himself to live, just to motivate himself to move further.
{Hiro: Survive. Please, you have to survive!}
Hiro could no longer see anything; only a few feet in front of him and the man by his front door.
{Hiro: Survive! Survive! You can't die here, Hiro! You're better than that!}
The man, still with his smile, casually walked toward Hiro. Hiro used all of his strength to crawl away, but the weakness was too much. He should just give up. He had no chance.
{Hiro: SURVIVE! You can't die yet! You can't die yet!!}
The attacker was closing in on him. The attacker stood over Hiro and knelt down; his eyes shining with an evil glimmer, as if he was amused by this.
[Black-Haired Attacker: Oh, haha! Well this is fucking great!]
The black-haired attacker laughed to himself.
[Black-Haired Attacker: What a coincidence! I knew something would happen along this escapade, but who knew I would be this fortunate?! HAHAHA! The Crescent is going to love this.]
The attacker's hysterical expression became grim as he looked at Hiro, even though he still had a grin on his face.
[Black-Haired Attacker: I guess it'd piss them off the most if I killed you.]
As the attacker began to take his gun from inside his trenchcoat, the sound of a car speeding down the street grew louder and louder. The attacker, drifting his attention off Hiro, looked up towards the street.
The attacker's smile grew even wider, and the sound of the car grew frighteningly close.
Suddenly, an explosion of light blinded Hiro. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes.
He could see!
He lifted his arms and sat up. He didn't feel weak anymore.
Hiro looked to his right, and there was a red car plastered with stickers. The front door of the car swung open, and a man wearing a white college shirt with a fresh haircut stepped out. He was tall and slightly muscular.
It was Kobu Hiroto, Hiro's brother. In the frenzy, Hiro completely forgot that his brother was supposed to arrive today, and he was overwhelmed with relief as he knew Kobu could save him.
Kobu, his big brother, would save him from this hell.
[Hiro: Kobu--!]
[Kobu: Hey Hiro, haven't seen you in a while.]
Kobu looked at Hiro and gave him a smile. A smile of kindness. Just seeing his brother made Hiro burst into tears. There was so much to tell him. Too much.
[Hiro: M-mom… Dad… Yumi… they're-- they're all dead. Kobu, I--]
bang bang!
The attacker had stepped back near the house, firing bullets at Kobu. In an instant, Kobu extended his arms and blades of glowing light appeared on Kobu's forearms. Kobu slashed both of the attacker's bullets in two, leaving him unharmed.
The attacker looked a bit surprised, and tried to use his darkness, but only small puffs of darkness appeared at his feet before disappearing.
The attacker looked at Kobu.
[Black Haired Attacker: Light magic, huh… This might be a little difficult.]
[Kobu: Hiro, run away. Make sure--]
bang!
Kobu blocked another bullet that was shot at him. Kobu looked back at Hiro and nodded before focusing on the battle.
Hiro nodded back, but he wasn't sure if he could do what Kobu wanted him to do.
Seeing that he had to shorten the distance, Kobu sprinted towards the black-haired attacker, keeping his body low and his light blades ready.
The attacker shot at Kobu--
bang bang bang--! click click--
Kobu was able to block two of the shots, but the third hit him in the shoulder. He winced, but it didn't slow him down.
The attacker realized he had run out of bullets, and with Kobu closing in on him he tossed his gun aside and took out another from his coat.
Kobu unleashed a barrage of slashes on the attacker, which the attacker skillfully dodged, backing him up to the porch. During this, the attacker shot a few bullets, but was unable to hit Kobu, as Kobu was able to block and dodge the shots.
Some of the attacker's clothes became tattered, but he bore no wounds. The attacker waited for a precise moment to grab and throw Kobu, and found it. The attacker swept under Kobu and flipped him over the porch fence, Kobu landing in the bushes by the house.
While putting distance between Kobu, the attacker quickly pointed and shot multiple times at Kobu. Kobu rolled out of the bushes onto the grass and was able to dodge all of them.
The attacker shot more times at Kobu, and a shot hit him in the leg. Kobu did not fall however, and began to limp at a frightening pace towards the attacker.
Hiro looked at Kobu in awe, and watched. Only for a moment he forgot about what happened to his family, but the images quickly presented themselves to him again.
A realization hit him-- he absolutely could not run, he must avenge his family. He shouldn't hav even considered running away as an option!
His brother was out there fighting for his life, and he absolutely cannot let his parents' and sister's deaths be meaningless.
However, the attacker, still backing up, shot more times at Kobu, almost all of the bullets hitting its target.
Hiro watched in horror. No one could survive that. Another one of his family, dead.
Unless…?
Kobu was still standing, even after being shot at least five times.
Suddenly, power seemed to emanate from Kobu, and his eyes began to glow-- streaks of light whizzing out of his eyes. Kobu's wounds began glowing as well, and they began healing and closing at a rapid rate, pushing some of the bullet shells out of the flesh.
The atmosphere in the yard shifted.
The black-haired attacker showed some unease. His smile bent into a tense one.
[Black-Haired Attacker: What are you, some monster?]
Kobu sprinted towards the attacker, with what seemed to have been even more speed than before. In the heat of battle, time slowed, and both of their eyes interlocked.
[Kobu: Not the kind of monster you are.]
The attacker shot more times at Kobu, and every single shot hit its target, it didn't seem to faze him at all. Each shot from the attacker was becoming wilder, like he was becoming more and more nervous.
bang bang bang bang bang! click--
A look of fear washed over the attacker's face as he realized he had run out of bullets in his mag.
Kobu sliced the attacker's chest, and with that, Kobu had won.
The attacker collapsed on the ground, with a gash in his chest. For good measure, Kobu slashed his throat.
He was dead.
A tired, bullet-filled Kobu limped towards Hiro with a warm smile. His eyes stopped glowing, and his wounds stopped healing. Relief seemed to wash over Kobu.
[Kobu: Hiro, are you all right?]
[Hiro: Kobu! I should be the one asking you that question! You're-- you've been shot!]
Hiro looked at Kobu, not knowing whether he was okay or not. Tears were ready to fall.
Kobu looked down at his bloody white t-shirt.
[Kobu: Yeah, I've been shot. So? Nothing your big brother can't handle.]
Hiro blinked a few times.
Kobu burst out laughing. Hiro began laughing a little bit too. It was so absurd that he was still pretending to be okay, even though he was filled with metal.
The brothers laughed a little bit, happy to have finally been reunited; happy they had gotten out of that impossible situation.
However, the laughter was tense, and certainly only came because the boys needed something, anything, to distract themselves.
[Kobu: Well, this was quite the reunion.]
[Hiro: Yeah…]
The brothers knew the gravity of what they were left with, and that they're parents and sister were no longer with them. The mood darkened once again.
After a minute, Kobu broke the silence.
[Kobu: Hiro, go-- go and find a hospital. I'll check out what's left inside--]
bang!.. bang!
Gunshots. The sound that Hiro had heard way too many times that day. Kobu had a hole straight through his forehead, collapsing onto the ground. The attacker was standing right behind Kobu.
Hiro was speechless. The sharp pain in this leg didn't compare to the pain of losing another one of his family.
The attacker's body lying on the ground dissolved into smoke.
Moreover, the attacker standing right in front of him had no wounds, and showed no signs of battle. There was no gash in his chest, and his clothes were not torn in the slightest bit.
Hiro fell backwards, and wildly in fear, he backed up until his back hit the mailbox, trying to get away from that murderer in a panicked frenzy.
The attacker stepped over Kobu's dead body, and lifted his gun towards Hiro's face; still with his demonic smile. The attacker sighed.
[Black Haired Attacker: Well, that was fun while it lasted.]
Were those the last words Hiro was going to hear? Rage boiled within Hiro.
Hiro's life flashed before his eyes, but some images in particular were burned into his memory. His mother's mangled body, his father's headless corpse, the sounds of his little sister screaming as she was being shot, and his brother's face bursting open as he was killed right in front of him.
Another image, an image of a white-haired boy crying, looking at Hiro in disappointment as he left his room.
8:14 P.M.
The attacker pointed his gun at Hiro's face. Everything faded to black, as Hiro was shot cleanly through the head.
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Memories flew by.
A toddler walked about; it was Hiro. To his surprise, he was picked up by a younger looking version of Hiro's father. His mother watched and giggled to herself. Hiro's father swung Hiro around, both of them laughing and smiling.
Another memory.
A party for Hiro's birthday. His house was filled with his kindergarten classmates, all of them standing around a table. Hiro, sitting down behind his birthday cake, blew out the candles.
Another memory.
An older Hiro, an elementary schooler in his early grades, stood in the middle of his room, punching and kicking the air, pretending to fight someone. His older teenage brother, Kobu, watched him from his door, laughing at him.
Hiro, noticing that someone was watching him, got flustered. Kobu went in and offered to spar with him. Kobu taught him some moves, and day by day, Hiro got better and better.
Another memory.
Hiro, standing at his front door with Kobu, watched it open slowly. Behind it were his parents, and two unfamiliar faces. There was a white-haired boy with pale skin, about the same age as him, and a baby wrapped in a blanket that looked very much like her brother.
Hiro's parents looked so happy, and his brother too… Hiro wondered why.
The white-haired boy waved and smiled at Hiro, and Hiro timidly waved back. The white-haired boy hugged Hiro, and Hiro felt a warm wave travel through his body. Hiro hugged him back, and embraced him.
More memories flew by, but it was mostly a blur. These were the best of times, when nothing really mattered, and the only worries were what they were going to do the next day.
The white-haired boy and the baby were now Hiro's siblings, and they lived with him. Hiro now understood that they were part of his family now, and that they were going to live together from now on.
More memories.
The white-haired boy helped him with his homework, the white-haired boy played video games with him, the white-haired boy even saved him from some school bullies.
He was so smart and cool-- Hiro wanted to be like him.
The white-haired boy even had magic-- spatial magic. He made portals all around them, and they walked through them. They played tag and hide and seek, and it was awesome. He was so cool.
That boy's name was Shuuki, and he was Hiro's brother, and closest friend.
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The white haired boy and Hiro as older elementary schoolers watched Kobu in awe as he used his light magic blades to cut fruit. The blades were transparent and glowing-- sharp too.
[Kobu: Hyah! Hyah hyah hyah hyah hyah!]
[Shuuki: Whoa!]
[Hiro: So cool!]
Kobu put the sliced fruit onto two plates and gave one to each of the kids. He served the dishes with an accomplished and chef-like smile.
[Kobu: One for Shuuki, aaaand one for Hiro.]
Both Shuuki and Hiro ate their sliced fruits with enthusiasm. Hiro finished his food. Hiro held his plate back up at Kobu.
[Hiro: More please!]
Kobu made an expression that clearly showed that he didn't want to make more, but attempted to hide it with a half smile.
[Kobu: More?]
Hiro nodded enthusiastically. Shuuki finished his plate and nodded as well.
[Kobu: You too?!]
With a sigh Kobu walked over to the fridge and opened it. He took a cantaloupe and laid it on the cutting board. Blades of light appeared on his hands. Hiro and Shuuki watched intently.
However, a voice yelling from upstairs pierced their ears.
[Mother: KOBU! YOU BETTER NOT BE USING MAGIC IN THE KITCHEN!]
Kobu was startled and his blades of light disappeared.
With another sigh he took out a kitchen knife and started cutting the fruits with less energy. Shuuki and Hiroto still watched Kobu intently.
The brothers looked up to him. Kobu was on vacation from college. Kobu always wanted to become a combat mage, and pursued his dream. Both Shuuki and Hiro saw him as a role model, and also wanted to become combat mages.
Shuuki and Hiro were always very close brothers, regardless of them only partly being related by blood. They were both the same age, and were always in the same classes at school.
Shuuki unlocked his magical abilities at a very young age, and was considered a prodigy. Hiro never unlocked his magical ability, but still looked up to Shuuki as well as Kobu. Both brothers always had each other's back, supporting one another.
Shuuki and Hiroto were both talented academically and physically. They always got good grades in school and excelled in sports. However, Hiro never unlocked his magic ability, and Shuuki's ability only grew stronger. Hiro had a bit of trouble making friends, even though he was likable and outgoing, while Shuuki became very popular in junior high, being talented in nearly everything he did.
Throughout junior high, Hiro began to become jealous of Shuuki. Shuuki was always being praised by his teachers and parents, and everyone around him loved him. Hiro began to see this disparity and he grew bitter day by day. It was a slow, and gradual change; an inevitable hate. Without realizing it, he began to hate his brother.
Hiro would avoid Shuuki, and whenever his brother would talk to him, he would brush him off. Despite this, Shuuki always stayed kind to Hiro, and tried reaching out to Hiro on a regular basis.
Because they both wanted to become combat mages, they trained nearly every chance they had. Shuuki honed his spatial magic, and because Hiro couldn't use magic, he trained his physical body and learned martial arts.
Even though he couldn't use magic, he still chose to attend a magic-focused middle school, where the students learned about magic in addition to general studies. Kobu attended this school in the past, and Shuuki attended the school along with Hiro.
