Interesting Encounters

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"Speech"

"[Different Language] - Speech"

'Thoughts'

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"Alright, you guys get one thing you each want. Nothing more."

At the present time, Kil was currently walking through what appeared to be the supermarket as he pushed along a shopping cart. He wasn't alone though as two younger males were with him, one that appeared to be twelve and the other was nine or so.

The one that was twelve had smooth black hair that was swept to the right, along with a pair of slightly sharp eyes of the same color as Kil's. The youngest had shorter neat black hair, and much rounder eyes, though they were a bit sharp at the corners.

These two were Ren and Kei, the younger brothers of Kil. The reason they were at the shopping mall was to buy some ingredients for dinner, and despite their fridge having all kinds of things, they weren't really feeling for anything in the fridge for tonight.

Both Kil's mother and father were busy and weren't going to be back until tomorrow, so they had asked for Kil to pick both Ren and Kei up from school after he had finished for the day. Speaking of which, the day had ended with both him and Ryu had ended up joining the music club.

Aoko had gotten her hands on the application sheets for the club, which were an easy quick fill-in for both the males. It just asked for basic information such as their names and their homeroom class, a very simple registration procedure.

Anyway, both Ren and Kei split off from Kil as Kil continued to drop the items they needed for dinner into the cart. Kil knew he could trust Ren to take care of Kei while he was busy with this, the guy was far more mature compared to normal kids his age.

Despite being twelve, Ren took the initiative to take responsibility for things in the house and to take care of Kei when Kil couldn't. With how their older sister was off doing whatever the hell she was doing, Kil was the one that had to be the adult around the house since their parents also were always usually busy with their work.

"Isn't that an Ashun uniform?"

"It is..."

'Oh man...' Kil sweatdropped as he continued to get the groceries they needed. Since they came to the store directly after Kil had picked both his brothers up, he had yet to change into his casual wear. He may have his hoodie on, but his school uniform was still very much visible as his hoodie was currently unzipped, though the hood still put up.

It was just efficient for them to go shopping now as Kil and plans with Ryu to go hang out together, they were thinking of getting a bite to eat after school at around four-thirty. It was currently three-forty, so he had enough time.

"Kil?"

"Eh?" Kil heard the voice of an older male speak out to him as he turned his head to the side to see who had called out. When he did, he saw that it was a male who appeared to be in their mid-twenties. Messy spiky black hair and a pair of spectacles. Kil tilted his head slightly as he then voiced in small surprise. "Taihei, right...?"

"It is you! I knew I recognized that hoodie from somewhere." The one known as Taihei responded with a smile as he walked on over to Kil. With pleasant surprise, he then added. "I certainly didn't expect to run into you like this. How have you been?"

"Not bad I guess. Bit of stress every now and then." Kil shrugged as he shook hands with Taihei. Taihei was someone he had met by accident a year or so ago, they have had a few run-ins every now and then, the last being a few months ago, not including this meeting. "What about you? Is Umaru still giving you a hard time?"

"Like you wouldn't believe..." Taihei sighed as he responded. Umaru was Taihei's younger sister, someone the same age as Kil. Kil had ended up finding out about how she was a rather lazy damn bum, especially after having accidentally run into them when she was throwing a tantrum... In other words, the girl was a himouto. "You're still wearing that hood like always. Why don't you take it off?"

"I'm used to wearing it at this point. Don't really want to stop now." Kil shrugged. Taihei may not have been able to see Kil's face that well, but he could easily recognise the signature hoodie that Kil always wore, so he could tell who he was instantly when he saw him. "I assume you're buying groceries?"

"Yep. Need to buy some ingredients for next week, Umaru had already eaten through quite a lot of the groceries, along with all that junk food..." Taihei sighed as Kil just gave a small chuckle. Taihei then smiled. "Why don't you visit sometime? It would be nice to have you over."

"Sure, I'll call you when I can." Kil gave a simple nod as he exchanged numbers with Taihei. He hadn't ever been over to Taihei's apartment, but he was curious to see this lazy Umaru in true colors. He had seen her while in public, but not at home. Was she as bad as Taihei made her out to be? He didn't know just yet.

"By the way... Isn't that uniform...?" Taihei decided to ask as he turned his attention down to Kil's clothes. His right eye twitching as he took notice of the design. "Th-That's an Ashun uniform, isn't it? You actually made into that crazy school...?"

"Yeah? Is something wrong?"

"I-It's just... what are you?"

"Huh?"

"Nevermind..." Taihei sweatdropped and sighed as he looked at Kil. If there was one thing that he had known Kil for, it was the fact that the guy didn't really understand too well how crazy his accomplishments are. Treating them as if they are normal. "Anyway, you're also busy with taking care of your brothers, aren't you? Are you okay with handling that and school?"

"I'm fine. I just need to balance out the time I have for studying and other work as well."

"Just don't exhaust yourself like crazy..."

"You know, you can always just leave that stuff to me while you focus on school, big bro." Both Taihei and Kil turned their heads to see both Ren and Kei walking back over. They each held a type of sweet snack item in their hands as they did. The one that spoke was obviously Ren.

"Maybe, but I have to keep an eye on you as well. I'll be fine." Kil responded as both his brothers dropped the items they had into the shopping cart. Ren then blinked as he turned to look, to which he saw Taihei standing beside his older brother.

"Oh, Mr Taihei. Nice to see you again." Ren gave a small polite bow as he said this. Taihei smiled and nodded his head as he then also gave a small bow before responding with. "Nice to see you as well, Ren. You as well there, Kei."

Kei had walked on over to Kil and gripped onto Kil's hand as he gave a small shy nod to Taihei, which the male gave a small chuckle in response. Kei was shy when it came to strangers, though he was mostly fine with kids his age.

"Seriously though, big bro. You should leave some of the chores to me, you need to focus on school. Mum and dad won't be exactly happy if you end up overworking yourself." Ren frowned as he crossed his arms over his chest. "With going to Ashun now, you're probably as busy as mum and dad now."

"Maybe, I don't know. I should be fine though, I'm not feeling too stressed with it."

"Still though..."

Taihei just watched as the two eldest Shinmara brothers talked back and forth, with the youngest of them just silently listening while still holding onto Kil's hand. Taihei couldn't help but smile as he saw their interaction, it was truly a sight.

'Ren really is a responsible kid, unlike Umaru... I swear, even Kei does some of the chores according to what Kil's told me.' Taihei couldn't help but think with envy as he knew how responsible and mature Kil and his brothers were. His sister always just lazed around when at home, it could get insanely annoying most of the time...

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After having bought everything, Kil had taken his brothers home and dropped off the groceries before quickly getting changed into his casual wear. Of course, keeping his hoodie on him as he then quickly made his way to the place that Ryu and him agreed to meet up at.

Kil had now just arrived at what appeared to be a rather busy street area as he looked around to see if he could spot Ryu, which he soon did as he could see the guy standing and leaning against the wall of one of the buildings.

"Oh, Kil! You're here!" Ryu took notice of Kil as he quickly pushed himself off of the wall and ran on over to where Kil was. When he did, he froze in surprise as he slowly pointed at Kil. "Wait, you're actually not having your hood up today?"

"Dude, it's like thirty degrees. Even I know when to not wear my hood." While Kil didn't have his hood currently on him, he was carrying it over his shoulder just in case. His current attire was sleek long black pants, black and white running shoes, and also a tight white t-shirt with a black horizontal line and black collar.

"I guess that's true, and it'll only get hotter after the exams... Anyway, I've never seen you without your hood, so I've never noticed this..." Kil blinked as Ryu walked over and curiously poked his arms and his stomach. "You have really good muscles, dude. What sport did you say that you played?"

"Hm? Well, I didn't play any sports seriously, but I did play basketball and soccer like you. Though, I mostly like to exercise by working out at the gym and doing some running." Kil answered as he gave a small shrug.

True to Ryu's words, now that Kil's body was more in display due to the thinner clothing and no long sleeves, his powerful compact muscles could be seen on his arms, and with his strong frame being prominent due to the tightness of his shirt.

"Well, you certainly get a lot of attention from people." Ryu smiled nervously as Kil looked around with a raised eyebrow. True to Ryu's words, pretty much everyone in the area, mainly females, were looking directly at him. Kil seemed confused and uncomfortable by this.

"Do I look that weird? This is why I usually wear a hood..."

"Weird? Oh boy, you are one dense dude..." Ryu deadpanned as he stated this. Kil just blinked in confusion before shrugging his shoulders, it probably wasn't too important whatever Ryu meant by that sentence. "Let's get going. There was this one restaurant that caught my attention."

"Really? Is it expensive or something?"

"Nah, it's nothing fancy. Not sure if it's any good compared to the restaurants in school, but it looked pretty chill. Nice place to relax from what I could see." Kil just nodded as he followed Ryu, both of them talking calmly as they made their way to the restaurant.

The things they talked about were mainly about school and such, though more so about the music club. The both of them, along with Aoko, had decided to make a group chat to more easily decide when they want to meet up at the club. Along with basic discussion about music and more.

"Eh?"

"I-I'm sorry!" Kil blinked as someone had accidentally backed into him as they were walking. The person appeared to probably be around their age, or maybe a bit younger. Maybe somewhere in the final year of middle school or early high school like them.

The individual was a young girl that was a head or so shorter than Kil and had long light purple hair that was tied into long twintails that reached down to her waist. Straightening herself, the girl gave a full ninety degree bow as she apologised to him.

"It's fine. You okay?"

"Y-Yeah! I was just a bit distracted..." The girl responded in an embarrassed tone as a deep blush appeared on her face out of shame. Kil looked to see that the girl was distracted by what appeared to be a female suit that was on display in front of a shop, causing him to raise an eyebrow.

'Why is she looking at a suit? Meh, maybe some kind of formal party or whatever.' Kil was confused by why the girl was distracted by the suit, but didn't really care much as it really wasn't his business. He just gave the girl a small soft smile. "Don't worry about it. Be careful now."

"Right..." The girl's blush seemed to deepen a bit as Kil then gave a small wave before catching up to Ryu, who had stopped to wait for him a few meters up ahead. The girl continued to watch as the both of them walked off, though her attention was soon caught by a voice calling out to her.

"Aoba!"

"C-Coming, mum!"

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