Chapter 9: Two Bowls of Cereal.

With the break of dawn seeping through the curtains, Hiro woke up to the sound of a door bursting open.

[Mom: Shuuki! Wake up!]

This was their mother's near daily routine, breaking into their rooms and waking them up.

[Mom: Shuuki… you stayed up playing video games?]

Shuuki was always very conscientious of school days, and rarely stayed up late. So naturally, this was a surprise to his mother.

Shuuki sat up and rubbed his eyes.

[Shuuki: Hah?]

Shuuki was clearly tired, as his response stretched into a yawn. His mother shook her head and sighed.

Just as she was about to leave the room, she saw something unusual from the corner of her eye… another one of her sons sleeping on the floor!?

[Mom: Hiro!?]

Hiro rolled over and made a long groan, signifying his refusal to get up.

His mother didn't say Hiro's name to wake him up, but more as an exclaim of surprise. She hasn't seen Hiro with Shuuki in an eternity!

She remembered the sweet memories of them as cute elementary schoolers doing everything together… They used to act like they were best friends.

She was glad that they presumably hung out together. With a smile, she left the room.

Shuuki swung his legs over the bed, and stretched his arms. In a tired manner, Shuuki patted Hiro on the shoulder.

[Shuuki: Hiroooo, it's time to get up; we don't wanna be late for school.]

Hiro didn't move. He mumbled.

[Hiro: I didn't get any sleep… five more minutes...]

[Shuuki: Yeah, neither did I, now let's go.]

Hiro groaned.

[Shuuki: C'mon, up you go--]

Shuuki tried lifting Hiro by the arms, but realized he was too heavy-- ending up just dragging him across the floor. Shuuki stood there and tapped his foot as he thought to himself.

An idea came to his head, and he snapped his fingers.

[Hiro: Woah--! Whaa--?!]

Suddenly, the ground underneath Hiro opened up, and the next thing he knew, he was standing up, still hugging the pillow he had when he was laying on the ground.

That was one of the scariest things that had ever happened to him. Hiro was startled-- he couldn't move.

Hiro was still in his just-woken-up-state, and was extremely confused.

His bed head hairs covered his face. Hiro pushed them out of the way.

[Shuuki: C'mon Hiro, let's go!]

[Hiro: Am I dreaming?]

[Shuuki: You should get going, or you'll be late. You don't want to lose your perfect attendance~]

Shuuki closed up the portals he had opened up to wake up Hiro, then walked out of the room.

Shuuki was usually extremely kind and gentle to Hiro, so he did not expect Shuuki to be forceful.

Even though waking up through means of "portal" wasn't exactly his cup of tea, it actually felt good seeing Shuuki do something like that to him. Shuuki wasn't holding back or being fake. He was being genuine.

After fighting over sink space while brushing their teeth and washing up, the brothers went downstairs.

At the breakfast table, the two boys ate cereal. Hiro poured his cereal in first, then poured his milk. Shuuki poured his milk in first, then––

[Hiro: WAIT!]

[Shuuki: What?]

Hiro stared viciously at Shuuki's bowl of cereal, some flakes swimming on the surface. He laughed to himself.

[Hiro: What is that?! What are you doing? You're doing it backwards!]

He laughed at how revolting it was.

Shuuki put down the cereal box and looked at Hiro's cereal, soaking in the milk.

[Shuuki: What do you mean??? What is thaaaat?! You put the cereal first?!]

The brothers laughed; this truly was the renewal of an ancient friendship.

[Hiro: Of course! You put the cereal first, then the milk. What are you, a psycho? Nobody pours their milk first, then their cereal.]

[Shuuki: Haha, no. You're the crazy one. If you put milk first, the flakes will be at peak crispiness once you get the spoon full of cereal to your lips. However, if you put the milk after, the flakes get all soggy and disgusting. You lose a key part to the experience of eating cereal.

Shuuki looked at Hiro in the eyes with a serious face, holding his index finger up.

[Shuuki: Plus, only psychos like soggy cereal.]

Hiro mustn't lose this argument, the weight of the world depended on it. Milk does not go before the cereal. Shuuki was the one that was psycho.

[Hiro: Objection! Even though it is true that soggy cereal is nasty, the milk does not leave your cereal soggy; unless you're a weirdo and leave your cereal soaking in milk for hours. My cereal is always crunchy, tasty, and in perfect condition once I pour the milk.]

[Shuuki: Understandable, understandable. However, unlike you, a barbarian, I like to take my time eating my food instead of rushing. That way, I can enjoy the tasty goodness of unhealthy sugary greatness.]

[Hiro: You're calling me a barbarian?]

[Shuuki: But that's not all! I'm also calling you a disorderly diner, because I know for a fact, that if you try to pour milk after the cereal has been poured, the milk will reflect and splash in all directions! The angles of each flake and the trajectory and distance of which you pour the milk can't be measured accurately, so you will always get rogue drops of milk that will splatter onto the table, your shirt, your homework-- everything! And I can tell you that that is not something to be enjoyed.]

[Hiro: What?]

[Shuuki: However, when you pour milk into an empty bowl, the outliers are spread much thinner. The splatters of the milk are many times more predictable because of the less variability between the outside sources, the outside sources being the varying surface areas of each individual flake. In other words, pouring milk before the cereal is the optimal choice.]

Hiro laughed. That was absurd.

[Hiro: What are you talking about? Are you some sort of master chef or mad scientist or something? Nobody thinks of that while pouring milk. There's no need to flex your intellectual superiority over me, because your claim is false in the first place! Anyway, even if I did have to defend myself, how the heck are you pouring your milk? I don't know what you're doing wrong, but if you're pouring milk in some unholy way that makes it splash in all directions then you need to get some help. Like, there's something called being careful, if you've ever heard of that.]

Hiro could feel himself taking more and more ground. He was winning this battle.

However, Shuuki had a smug face.

[Shuuki: Ha! Ha! Ha!]

{Hiro: But why?! Why is Shuuki laughing? Why does Shuuki look like he has something up his sleeve? Could he possibly have more reasons and evidence to overcome mine?}

[Shuuki: You fool! All of this conversation was a ploy to build my argument even further! You may have had some good points, but you didn't realize that the longer this argument went on, the weaker you had become. Tsk tsk, you didn't think ahead! I take control of the game now--! I may have lost a few of my troops, but they were necessary sacrifices to win~]

Sweat rolled down Hiro's face.

[Shuuki: The fact is--]

Shuuki laughed again, keeping up his villain persona. Shuuki dramatically pointed at Hiro's cereal bowl.

[Shuuki: --you're cereal is now soggy! And it has only been a few minutes!]

[Hiro: WHAT?!]

{Hiro: How could I let this happen to me? The whole time, I was playing into his hands. Dammit… DAMMIT!!!}

[Shuuki: You may have had the upper hand for a little while, but I know you can't do anything against evidence right in front of you. Evidence that disproves your statements, and evidence that I am right, and you are wrong.]

Hiro stared pitifully at his cereal bowl, soggy flakes floating at the surface.

[Shuuki: Mwahaha-- now eat your soggy flakes, like the barbarian you are.]

Hiro reveled in sadness at the poor bowl of cereal: proof that Shuuki had won the argument.

[Hiro: My cereal…]

Hiro slumped down dramatically and began slowly eating his soggy cereal.

Shuuki laughed triumphantly, somehow still keeping up his evil villain persona, then poured the cereal on top of his milk, and began eating.

Their mother, sitting in the living room, was secretly listening to their conversation; she was trying her best to conceal her laughter, but it was too funny.

Normally the first thing she would have done was scold them for staying up late just to play their useless video games, and scold them to hurry up and eat, but she guessed this time was an exception.

The brothers seemed so distant the past couple of years, and she didn't know why. She was glad to see them together again.

Her sons' renewed playfulness and laughter made her day.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

After eating, Hiro and Shuuki rushed to get ready for school and reach the bus. They scrambled to put on their clothes, brush their teeth, do their hair, and things of the sort.

They wasted so much time chit-chatting that now they faced the chance of both of them being late to school.

Typically, this situation would not be a good one, but the company of struggling with each other made it worthwhile; fun almost.

The bus had already passed their stop-- they had to make it to school on foot.

With the power of sprinting and a sprinkle of good luck, they made it in the nick of time, and gave each other a nice little fist bump.

Making it to school, Hiro expected him to depart like always, leaving to go with his friends. However, this time Shuuki asked Hiro to come with him, and Shuuki introduced him to his group of friends.

They turned out to all be cordial people, and each of them had their own unique trait which made them interesting.

Hiro blended in with them perfectly, spending all of his classes hanging out with each of them, along with Shuuki.

This was the one time Hiro was happy that him and Shuuki had the exact same schedule.

This was great! Why hadn't Hiro done this sooner? School was so much more fun with more friends... Too bad they were graduating in three days…

All the people he had just met would split off into different high schools, and he would have to make new friends again.

At the end of the school day, Hiro and Shuuki walked home together, talking about random things. Shuuki skipped the last day of archery club for this, even though he was president!

Shuuki decided spending time with his brother was more important.

When they got home, Hiro and Shuuki played a video game, the one they attempted playing the day before, and nearly beat the campaign. After a disappointing repeated loss against the final boss, they came to the conclusion that they should take a break.

They worked on possible topics for next year, both Hiro and Shuuki learning lessons and concepts together.

All of this was like old times, and the brothers enjoyed being on good terms with each other again.

What was Hiro thinking for the past couple of years? Why did he avoid him? Hiro was frustrated with himself that he didn't do this earlier, but was happy nonetheless.

After dinner, Hiro and Shuuki gave another go at beating the infamous video game boss again, but failed miserably multiple times.

Realizing they should probably sleep and not repeat the night before, they decided to go to bed. Hiro left to his room, hopped onto his bed, and swung the covers over him.

He stared at his bumpy ceiling, very dimly lit by the moonlight from his window. Almost a full moon.

Laying in bed, Hiro thought about the past two days, and was truly thankful. He was thankful to Kami-sama that he finally got Shuuki back. He was thankful for the smaller things as well, like the dumb cereal argument.

It still made him laugh.

Hiro wished for the rest of his life to remain this way, and with warm and cozy thoughts, he fell sound asleep.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Hiro's door burst open.

[Shuuki: Hey sleepyhead, wakey wakey.]

Hiro groaned, and attempted to do a roll for dramatic effect, but ended up rolling too much, face-planting off his bed.

[Hiro: Aggh!]

Shuuki laughed.

[Hiro: Ow.]

Shuuki went silent, but then Hiro lifted his face from the ground to look at Shuuki, and they both started laughing; what a way to start the morning.

They ate a hearty breakfast: cereal once again!

They woke up at a reasonable time today, so they made it to the bus stop with plenty of spare time. No need to worry about being late.

The brothers arrived in their homeroom, and socialized with their friends. Hiro especially– now that he made so many new ones.

Kaori sat in her seat in the back, unnoticed.

Suddenly, the bell rang, and Hiro, Shuuki, and their big group of friends went to their seats.

The announcements came on.

[Announcements: Gooooood morning Taiko Junior High, let's have another wonderful day today. Last warning to turn in your signed report cards to your homeroom teacher, and students rejoice! After today, there's only one day left of school! Isn't that crazy? Didn't junior high fly by? I know it did for me, even though I'm not even a student and get paid minimum wage! Hahaha-- enjoy your youth while you can! Hahaha--]

Besides the announcement that it was their second to last day of school, it was all the normal, overenthusiastic, boring jargon. The pledge, some birthdays, and things of that sort.

Once the announcements ended, the speakers shut off, and the attention shifted to Ku-sensei, who was just about to speak, but then the intercom came on again right after.

[Speaker: Shuuki Hiroto to the principal's office, Shuuki Hiroto to the principal's office. Thank you.]

Shuuki stood up, looking around at his friends, smiling and making hand gestures, and his friends, including Hiro, wished him luck. Shuuki left the classroom.

Huh, that was weird. Hiro wondered why Shuuki was called. It couldn't be for anything bad-- Shuuki had never gotten into any trouble before, like Hiro.

The class went on, and for the whole hour Shuuki didn't come back.

The next class went by, and he didn't come back there either.

After a few more hours, school was over, and Hiro was a bit worried about what had happened to Shuuki.

He went up and asked his last period teacher, but they claimed they didn't know anything.

Hiro walked home alone that day, wondering why Shuuki was called to the principal's office. Another thought crossed his mind, and it hit him.

Kaori. He wasn't walking with Kaori today… and he didn't walk with Kaori yesterday either… He didn't talk to her for two whole days… Oh man.

Hiro hoped Kaori wouldn't hold it against him, and made his way home.

Approaching his house, another thought hit him, a devastating realization.

Out of nowhere, he remembered, and it tore him from the inside out. He hoped with all his heart that it wasn't the case. If it was, it would've been the biggest mistake of his entire life.

Hiro ran to his door, but hesitated before opening it. His hands were shaking, and his head felt hot. Taking a deep breath, he turned the knob and pulled.

The sight confirmed that what he feared came to fruition.

Both of his parents were standing in the living room. With angry expressions they were reprimanding his brother, Shuuki.

Their mother had a furious look on her face, rapidly gesturing with her hands while yelling. Their father looked disappointed, standing next to his wife, looking down.

Shuuki was sitting on the living room couch, looking straight ahead of him, avoiding eye contact with his parents.

His eyes looked like he had just been betrayed by someone close to him. His eyes looked like someone he had trusted had come and stolen his heart, then ripped it in half right in front of him.

It was all Hiro's fault.

Flashes of his fight with the bullies flew through his mind, and the memory of him convincing Kaori to frame Shuuki reared its ugly head.

It was all Hiro's fault.

Because of him, Shuuki would get into serious trouble, and even worse, their relationship would get destroyed.

Why…

Just when Hiro thought he had made up with his brother, he got into this shit situation.

The thing that troubled him the most was that it was all Hiro's fault, and that's what made him feel so frustrated and angry with himself.

Why did he hate Shuuki back then?

It seemed so crazy it dumbfounded him. How much of an idiot was he?

Why did he go out of his way to sabotage Shuuki… even when Kaori was saying it was a bad idea?!

Hiro almost wanted to laugh at his absurdity. He framed Shuuki, so now he was going to be blamed for nearly assaulting three other students.

This was bad… It was terrible…

Hiro didn't know why it was so hard to repress a smile, but he had to force it down. The imbecility of his actions was so mortifying that it was laughable.

Hiro stared at the three of them in the living room, and didn't know what to do. His mind was cloudy; everything his parents were saying to Shuuki all became a blur of noises and sounds.

It was as if he was underwater.

Despite his hearing, his eyesight seemed to have sharpened.

All of the noise… the expression on Shuuki's face… Hiro couldn't stand it any longer. He had to get away. He didn't want to deal with this.

Hiro, trying to hide his guilt, began walking. To get to his room-- no, his safe space.

However, he had to pass by the couch to go up the stairs, which was where his parents and Shuuki resided.

Time moved so slow. Hiro took a deep inhale. Each step took hours.

Hiro avoided eye contact at all cost, looking to his right, away from the couch when walking past.

{Hiro: Don't notice me. Don't notice me. Don't talk to me.}

After he passed the couch, he walked behind a wall next to the stairs, so that his parents couldn't see him.

Hiro exhaled in relief. However, without giving it much thought, he stuck his head around the corner of the wall, giving one last look at the scene of Shuuki and his parents, burning it into his mind.

Maybe he wanted to see what had happened because of him, maybe he wanted to let the guilt sink in, or maybe he wanted to see Shuuki in a disadvantaged state for once-- to see that Shuuki was finally getting what was coming to him.

That was what troubled him the most. His thoughts. Even after proving that Shuuki wasn't out to get Hiro, that he was actually a trustworthy brother he could rely on, he was still having these thoughts, and it disgusted him.

Hiro was disgusted with himself.

What made it worse, was that Shuuki, instead of looking down, had now turned his head around to look at Hiro, making eye contact. Shuuki's face was grave; one that had the appearance of disappointment and despondency.

He knew.

Shuuki was smart, he knew what had to have happened.

Time seemed to have stopped, and the boys' souls left their bodies; traveling and blending and tearing each other apart-- showing their inner feelings just with that one look that lasted only a moment.

Hiro looked away as fast as he could and got out of there. Hiro climbed the stairs as fast as he could, ran to his room and slammed the door, shock overtaking him.

Hiro was hyperventilating. He hated this... He hated himself.

Their reformed relationship had to be torn after what Hiro had done.

There was no excuse or defense Hiro could make to justify his actions. There was no going back.

Hiro wasn't sure what to do or how to act. Sitting on his bed, deep in thought, he--

Hiro's door burst open.

It was Shuuki.

Hiro forgot to lock his door.

Hiro's blood pumped through him, his heart feeling like it would break out of his chest.

Shuuki locked the door behind him, and with a visage of anguish on his face, Shuuki looked straight at Hiro.

[Shuuki: Hiro, please tell me you didn't do this.]

Shuuki's voice trembled, desperation in his eyes, hoping with all of his mind, body, and soul that he wasn't wrong.

Hiro couldn't lie to him. Neither could Hiro muster the courage to say anything.

He looked downwards, away from Shuuki, wishing he could go back and change things. But of course, that was impossible.

The hourglass on the top of his bookshelf began glowing.

[Shuuki: Hiro... please…]

Shuuki's voice became even shakier.

[Hiro:...]

[Shuuki: Hiro… The look on your face when our eyes met…]

Shuuki shook his head.

[Shuuki: Hiro, how did you… no, why did you do this?]

Hiro looked straight at Shuuki.

[Shuuki: Did I do something wrong? Did I do something to hurt you? Please, just tell me, tell me there was some reason for this!]

[Hiro: I- I don't know.]

Shuuki's face contorted into a tense smile.

[Shuuki: You don't know..?

[Hiro: I don't know--]

[Shuuki: You don't know?! Haha! What do you mean you don't know?! High school, college, m-my whole life could be ruined now because of you..! What the hell were you thinking?]

Hiro stood there, taking in his words.

[Shuuki: And you're not going to say anything?]

Hiro kept standing there... in silence.

Shuuki grit his teeth and wiped away the tears starting to well up in his eyes.

[Shuuki: After everything we did together… After these two amazing days, spending time with the brother I thought I had lost… That I thought finally trusted me-- had betrayed me…]

Shuuki clenched his fist and looked downward.

[Shuuki: I should've known. Apparently it was all a waste of time, and you never cared anyway.]

[Hiro: Shuuki, no--]

[Shuuki: No! Hiro, I've worked so hard to become friends with you! Every single day I would talk to you, hoping we could be closer brothers, but you always ignored me! Every single day you would ignore me and push me aside! Not only did you not care, you hated me!]

Hiro was shocked at his words. He didn't know Shuuki knew this much.

[Shuuki: You hated me! You hated me! And I didn't know why! I even wanted to hate you at one point, but I didn't have it in me to! I just wanted to be close brothers again…]

Shuuki looked right into Hiro's eyes.

[Shuuki: I'm not even that mad that you framed me, I'm mad about all the trust I gave you; that you would just throw it away like it was nothing! I'm mad about all the time I spent with you, that you would just drift away for two years, then come back just to backstab me!]

The words Shuuki said hurt him, because he knew they were true.

Hiro well understood where Shuuki was coming from, but all of this made him mad as well. All of the pent up anger made him realize why he hated Shuuki in the first place.

Hot coals seemed to burn his back, and it felt like his head was steaming.

[Hiro: Shuuki, you know what? I'm mad too--! I'm mad at myself! I hate myself..! I know I hurt you-- I'm an idiot, I'm dumb, and I've made some horrible, horrible decisions!]

Shuuki stared, awestruck.

Hiro somehow directed all of the anger he was feeling onto himself. He was speaking from the heart, without the need for thought.

[Hiro: But you're wrong about one thing-- all of that time wasn't wasted! I loved playing video games with you. I loved eating with you. I loved arguing with you. I loved the time we spent together-- it was like we were kids again! You don't know how much I long for those days… when we would do everything together. You don't know--]

Shuuki clenched his fist.

[Shuuki: I do know! Do you know how many times I've waved to you or said hello, and you didn't even bat an eye? Do you know what longing even is? I've wished so desperately for so many things, and you've destroyed so many of them! I just wanted my brother back! You were just too dense to get that through your thick skull!]

[Hiro: You know what?! You may be right! You've might've wished more than I have! You might've tried to rekindle our friendship more than I have! But you know what I do know?]

Hiro made his attempt at reconciling, but after getting shut down once more, he wasn't having it. Hiro let go of all logical thought, and said whatever came to his heart.

[Hiro: I did hate you! Hell, I still hate you! I hate you so much you have no idea! You're always so cool and awesome, I could never be like you. You always do better in school than me, you have magic, and everyone loves you! They fawn over you. At school and at home… Only because I'm a slightly worse version than you, I get nobody! Actually, I would even say life was fine before you came, I had Kobu, and Mom, and Dad-- and after Kobu left for college, all I had were my parents-- but then you came and you took them away from me! I know Mom and Dad love me, but they cherish you! You're like a treasure they found, replacing me with you! I'm just their second-rate son with less of a future than his younger brother!]

Tears were streaming down Hiro's eyes. He didn't know when they came, but they were there, dripping down his chin onto the floor. Hiro took a deep breath-- he couldn't see Shuuki, his vision was too blurry from the tears, but he knew Shuuki was crying too.

Hiro knew he had crossed a line, but kept going anyway.

[Hiro: You don't know how lucky you are, being loved… being talented in all these things… your magic too!.. Since I was a kid, I wanted to be like Kobu-- we wanted to be like Kobu... A great combat mage, out there, saving the world, stopping bad guys, doing some good… but I never got any magic-- and you did. I spent so much time struggling, trying to unlock my ability, but it never came! I spent day after day training, even going to junior high for magic, running away from the thought that my magic ability might never come... Imagine going to a middle school for magic, and not even having magic?! I even applied for a high school for magic. How stupid is that? I struggle and struggle and struggle, while you-- you have your portal magic… It's like you were given an instant ticket to becoming successful the moment you were born!]

Hiro had torn all of the grudges he held against Shuuki from his head, and lay it bare in front of him.

In the moment, Hiro had forgotten the past few days, and the memories and thoughts that had writhed in his mind for the past few years came to light.

[Hiro: It's not fair… It's just not fair…]

Hiro cried in desperation. He didn't even know what he was saying anymore.

[Hiro: Shuuki, you're going to be a great combat mage, but me? Ha! How can someone be a mage without any magic? I'm just a boy chasing empty dreams and aspirations because I just wanted to be like my brother. I just wanted to be like Kobu… I just wanted...]

Hiro closed his eyes, and said what his soul was leading him to say.

[Hiro: I just... wanted to be like you, Shuuki.]

Hiro said what he felt before he even realized he felt that way. It surprised Shuuki, and it even surprised Hiro.

Hiro tried to find a fault in the things he said, but they were all true. It was scary even, letting someone know things about yourself that you yourself didn't know.

He kept his eyes shut in preparation of some retaliation from Shuuki, but nothing was said.

The silence was scarier than anything Shuuki could have responded with.

After a long pause, Hiro opened his eyes. Shuuki was still standing there, listening to the whole thing.

Hiro couldn't get a grasp of how Shuuki was feeling. He could tell he was in pain from the things Hiro had said, but he couldn't tell if Shuuki still felt resentful because of what Hiro had done.

However, at this point, Hiro couldn't blame Shuuki if he didn't forgive him.

Hiro unquestionably said bitter things that could not be taken back, his actions in the past displaying his spite; however, Hiro still yearned for them to become closer brothers.

Hiro still wished for their connection as friends to remain intact, but considered that the chance of it being severed was more likely than not.

The boys stood there, facing each other; confronting each other's inner feelings with tears streaming down their eyes.

How long were they going to stand there in silence?

Shuuki looked away from Hiro, and turned his back on him. He unlocked and opened the door slowly and calmly, then exited the room, closing the door along with him.

Before the door closed all the way, Hiro heard Shuuki say something quietly, almost as if it was to himself.

[Shuuki: I guess I had that talk I wanted, huh…]

The door shut.

Now the room was only occupied by Hiro, with almost no trace of Shuuki ever being there. It was like nothing had happened.

The only proof of the argument's existence were the teardrops on the wooden floor and the memories that would accompany the both of them forever.