CHAPTER 2.6 - TOO FAST!
"Holy crap, what the hell is that?!" Shinji exclaimed in disbelief.
His ears were still ringing for crying out loud. It should be illegal to sing a song THAT bad. Looking at his sister and her new friend, Shirou, they looked mortified as well. This Shirou guy looked like he would faint, and his sister was stunned.
Sakura literally looked like she was already dead inside.
This girl, Shirou called her Eliza, right? Need to stay the hell away from anything singing-related.
"How's that?" Eliza puffed her chest, looking very proud.
"Awful, you tone-deaf psycho," he said bluntly.
Shirou's eyes widened with surprise.
"What?!" Eliza retorted angrily. "Say that again, you pig brat!"
"Have you ever heard your own damn voice?! I'm pretty sure it broke several Geneva Convention rules!"
"Y-You, it's not that bad! Right Puppy? Kitten?"
Shirou sweatdropped while Sakura averted her eyes away.
"It's uhh, you just need more practice, Eliza," Shirou said, trying to ease the tension.
This Shirou guy was too nice. In a case like this, you needed to be on point, not enabling her!
"See? Puppy here said it's not bad, only need a few more practices," Eliza remarked. "You just don't understand art, Pig."
Shinji looked at Shirou, who replied with body gestures. Just play along. Shinji clicked his tongue.
"S-So uh, Shinji, I initially asked Sakura to play with me. Wanna join us?" Shirou asked.
Shinji didn't have any reason to refuse. It was also worth mentioning that Sakura stared at him with expecting eyes.
"Sure, why not? What're we going to play?"
"Well, at first we wanted to play at the slide—"
"Slide? What are you? Four?" Shinji clearly wasn't interested.
Shirou meekly laughed. "Uh, you've got a point, then..." Shirou thought for a moment. "How about tag?"
"That's okay, hey Sakura, is tag okay for you?" he asked his sister, who answered with a nod.
"I'm fine with it, Nii-san."
"Then it will gonna be the three of us with one being It. Also, you're not allowed to run outside the park, is that fair?" Shirou said, laying down the ground rule.
"...Yes."
"Sounds fair enough."
Eliza then raised her hand. "Oh! Oh! I want to play too."
The three kids looked at each other.
"I mean, I'm fine with it as long as Sakura and Shinji agree to it?" Shirou looked at the other two.
"...I don't mind."
"Fine by me, but," Shinji turned to Eliza, smirking, "Because you're the last to join, you will be It."
Shinji was clearly trying to rile up Eliza.
"Hoho, you will regret that," Eliza smiled smugly. "I'll give the three of you one minute headstart."
Shinji silently laughed inside. She may be older than him, but he was actually quite athletic for his age. It would be easy for him to outrun her.
"Then, the countdown starts... now!"
Shinji, Sakura, and Shirou immediately rushed out. They looked at each other before nodding. Tag 101: always split and run in different directions. Shinji ran to the north, Shirou to the west, and Sakura to the east.
It was gonna be so easy, that's what Shinji thought, or at least that's what he thought before.
Mistakes were made! Mistakes were made!!
Upon the one-minute mark, Eliza immediately started chasing the three of them. She caught Sakura within the first ten seconds after that. Then Shirou was next, and it only took her an additional fifteen seconds to catch him.
Shinji was the sole survivor now. Not because he skillfully dodged or was faster than her, but because Eliza was clearly playing around with him.
"Hey, Pig! I'm behind you~" she taunted him. What was she made of? How in the world was she so fast?
It was obvious she could go faster, but she maintained her current speed to both taunt him and to make a point that even at his best, he was nothing to her. Shinji couldn't take it anymore. His legs, which he forced to move as fast as possible, gave up, and he stumbled through the ground.
Eliza, who wasn't far from him, then lightly bopped his head.
"Y-You monster," Shinji weakly muttered with uneven breaths.
"Cry me a river, Pig," Eliza snickered.
"Eliza, Shinji!"
"Nii-san!"
Shirou and Sakura ran towards them.
"Nii-san, are you okay?" Sakura walked closer.
Shinji grunted a bit before pulling himself back up. "Yeah, got some bruises, but that's all."
"Seriously, Nii-san, you should know better than to overdo yourself."
"You too, Eliza," Shirou chastised. "Was it really necessary to do that?"
"Nope," Eliza answered nonchalantly. "But the pig deserved it after talking mean about my singing!"
Shinji huffed. "Maybe, just maybe, if someone had enough self-awareness..."
"Nii-san...don't." Sakura pleaded.
"Urgh, fine."
Seriously, he wasn't the weird one here! When you see someone sucks at something, you tell them they suck. He was the honest one here!
After resting for a while, all of them then moved to sit on a bench. Eliza then went ahead and brought each of them drinks, which Shinji accepted with some grumbling.
"Huh, so you're the same age as me?" Shinji said.
"D-Do I look that old?"
"More like you act too mature, like an old man," Shinji replied.
Shirou didn't know if it was a compliment or not.
"I-I think being more mature suited Shirou-san more," whispered Sakura.
Shinji stared at his sister, then at Shirou. His sister, whom he had known for a while, was now acting bashful and meek around this guy. On one hand, his sister deserved some semblance of a normal life, and he knew damn well she really needed it after all his grandfather did to her. On the other hand, as her brother, things were moving so damn fast!
They had just met, like what? Two hours ago? How could they be so chummy in that time period?
Shinji just sighed. As long as Sakura was fine with him, he would just go along with it.
"So you're going to transfer to Homurahara, Shirou-san?"
"Yeah, school year starts in three days, right? I'll be in the second grade."
"Ah, then that would make you my senpai, then," Sakura noted. "Should I just call you senpai?"
Shirou patted Sakura's head. "If you want to."
"Then..." Sakura nodded. "...senpai." Her face slightly blushed.
Shinji's jaw dropped.
Too fast! Too goddamn fast!! What the hell, Shirou?!