Scene 14.

"Kotsuzuka Ao II."

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"Mystery."

[Domino City, Japan. Friday. 12/21/1990. Morning. Hongo Orphanage, Kitchen].

There he went again. "I told you to call me Ao! Ao! You, bastard!" I shouted at Hotaru and immediately tried to punch him in his ugly face.

Obviously, I failed; the damn guy had the reflexes of a trained cat. Saying he went to the karate club was definitely not for show.

He easily caught my fist before I could land my punch.

#Thwack#

And then he rapped me on the head to satisfy his stupid ego, that jerk. "Ow!" I complained in pain.

For over a month now, he had been calling me by my last name, and it was really annoying. I was sure he did it to get on my nerves, but I would make him pay one of these days, I had some good pranks ready in my arsenal for that specific purpose. 'Kekeke!' I inwardly smiled, aware of my impending revenge.

Unfortunately, my good mood vanished the very next second as I noticed that same smug grin I had been seeing on that bastard's twisted mouth for the past two weeks.

Blood boiled in my veins like a geyser.

"Urgh!" I gritted my teeth in fury while simultaneously rubbing the bump that the stupid idiot had given me on the head. Which reminded me in greater detail of what had been annoying me the most lately.

Hotaru had also signed up for the National Championship, and he had done so without telling anyone.

Not only that, he had managed to reach the district finals just like me.

My world had definitely been turned upside down after that.

Because for starters, I thought he hated games. He was always saying they were a complete waste of time; he had made that very clear every time I asked him about it in the past.

Back to the present.

"This stubborn brat," Hotaru muttered as he passed by me, aiming to leave the kitchen.

But I wasn't going to let him get away that easily. Not today, not now. He had been dodging me like that for too long, and I was fed up. This time, I would definitely get a few explanations from him.

"Uoooh! Attack! Hyaaah!" I yelled, tackling him around the waist by surprise while he was still facing away from me.

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To be continued...