A Fault Between Us

Once lunch rolled around, I quickly ran towards the faculty room where the teachers would be. Midori did try and get my attention but I ignored her as there's just something I need to do first.

"Brother!"

Not even knocking, I swing open the door as I immediately grab all the teacher's attention from inside. Their faces mixed with confusion, surprise and anger.

"Ah- Luna!"

Before one of the angry looking teachers was about to scold me, my brother came from around the corner with a bright smile on his face, holding a cup of coffee in his hands.

"Sorry. I'll be just a moment."

My brother walks out of the room, joining me before we walk up to the roof of the school building where no one would disturb us. My other classmates were asking so many questions to him that I couldn't find the right time to ask the things I needed to, but I'm glad that I can do it now.

"Haha. You know, you shouldn't be shouting out that I'm your brother while I'm here."

"Huh? Then what am I supposed to call you?"

"Mmm... Mr. Iwasawa?"

"See? Even you're questioning it."

"Well it's only when we're at school, okay?"

I get it. It's not everyday that you attend a class with a family member being the teacher.

"...So-"

Not wanting to waste anymore time, I steady myself with the big question on my mind.

"Do you know where Reina is?"

"...No, sorry."

"I see..."

I'm not too surprised... But I just wished that I was wrong and that maybe he did know something. It's not like this news hurts, but it is upsetting knowing this void in my heart is still there.

"Hey, I'm sure she's fine."

"...Do you know if she's still with our grandparents?"

"As far as I know, yes. I couldn't figure out how to get in touch with them though."

That's the thing that bothers me... You'd think that maybe my sister and I could reunite several times by now, but with how things turned out, my current guardian never knew our grandparents well, so I never got to figure out their address. And it seems like my brother was also been dealing with a similar problem.

"Khh!"

With my body moving on it's own, I end up slamming the side of my fist against the wall out of frustration as I quickly grit my teeth to block out the pain, but its no where near as painful as this.

"H-hey! Luna, calm down."

"How can I be calm?! She's out there! And I can't do anything about it!"

Ah... It's been a while since I've felt this anger before... But amidst my sudden outburst, I feel my body get pulled into an embrace by my brother, as if he's now soaking up all the anger that I'm letting out.

"Please... I hate to see you like this."

"But-!"

"Listen. I'll try my best."

"Eh?"

"It's why I took this job in the first place. I've been going from school to school, trying to find you two."

What? Wait, our brother has been travelling from school to school in order to find us? Don't tell me that the sole purpose of him being a teacher is "just" for this... Thinking that, I can't help but cling to the back of his shirt as tears continue to drip down my cheeks.

"I was honestly getting scared, knowing that you two will be close to graduating... But I'm glad I found you, Luna."

"Nn..."

"You're not alone anymore. We'll find her, okay? The next opportunity I get."

"Nn."

He says as he gently seperates from me as he bends down a bit, matching my eye level as he gently pats me on the head. Unlike me, he's smiling brightly, not a shred of sadness on his face.

"You have a phone, right?"

"Yeah... I do."

I gently pull out my phone from my bag as I show it to him. It's then that I'm reminded how unfortunate I am. If I had gotten this phone earlier, before we got seperated from one another, then perhaps maybe I could be texting and calling my sister every day. At first, when my guardian got this phone for me, I didn't know what it was used for, but when I found out it's purpose, to this day I have never texted or called anyone as I only really use it in case my manager needs to contact me for work or when my guardian wants to check in on me. For the most part though, he only really calls me once every few months.

"I'll add my contact to it so we can keep in touch."

He then puts his details into my phone before handing it back over to me. I notice that for his name, he simply put "Brother." I couldn't help but smirk at it as I never imagined something like this happening.

"There's that smile, hehe."

"Wait, so then are you not staying here long?"

"Yeah. I'm only here temporarily after all."

"R-right..."

"Hey, that's why we have our phones, right? Even when I do have to go, we can still keep in touch."

"Nn... You have to go out and find Reina after all."

"Exactly."

He says as he once again pets me on the head before standing back up right. I might not have gotten what I wanted, but at least with this, I have a way to contact one of my lost family members. But again, I just wish that this could be my sister. I love my brother to death, but my sister and I... She was my whole world. Doing anything without her feels dull and lifeless. Even now I can still remember seeing the look on her face as she smiles at me, like I'm looking at myself in a mirror. It was rare for us to ever be apart. Hell, we still shared the same bed even after our parents went out of their way to buy seperate beds for us.

"Okay, now hurry up and enjoy your lunch with your friends."

"Huh? But I-"

"I'm not about to have people think that your a bro-con, so come on~"

"Eh?!"

Before I knew it, I was in the cafeteria just like any other day as my brother went back to the teacher's faculty room to have his lunch. Normally I'd just grab some food and eat outside alone, but-

"Ah- Luna! Over here!"

Seems like today is different as I soon spot Midori waving me over to a table. I guess it's fine... My brother thinks I have friends so I don't want to trouble him with things on my end. So, thinking that, I take my seat at the table with Midori, Shin, the new transfer student, along with another guy and a girl.

"Luna, this here is Nicole. She's my friend that I was planning on staying with last night."

Midori ends up introducing me to the other girl at the table. I swear I'm not going to be able to remember these names...

"Oh? So Luna is the person you stayed with last night?"

"What?!"

And with Nicole's revelation, both Shin and the other guy yelled out in surprise, attracting the other people around us as they too seemed to have heard it... Not good.

"H-hey, Nicole. I told you to keep that a secret."

"Ah... Opps."

"Wait, Midori. You stayed the night at Luna's?!"

Shin is the first to speak up as the transfer student just sits there in wonder. He's probably confused as to why this is such a huge thing.

"I-I did... Ahhh~ I'm really sorry Luna!"

"Haah~ It's fine."

Wanting this to just blow over, I go back to eating my food after dismissing the conversation. I don't blame Midori, she doesn't seem like she planned for things to turn out like this.

"So the Ice Queen isn't so cold after all? Haha."

The other guy speaks up as I make eye contact with him while eating my food.

"Ah, Luna. This here is Nicole's boyfriend, Kai."

"Yo!"

"Nn..."

Not caring about the current conversation, I simply nod before moving onto the egg omelette. I love eggs, but I always feel like the cook who cooks this omelettes never really seasons it right. That said, I like to study these things when I can to better improve my own cooking.

"Uh... Maybe not, haha."

"No! Luna's very kind!"

To my surprise, Midori ends up speaking up to Nicole's boyfriend, almost as if she's trying to defend me. I don't really agree with her though, saying that I'm kind. If I was kind then I wouldn't have ignored her earlier when I was running to find my brother.

"She... She saved my life. So I think calling her "that" is wrong."

"Ehh? She saved your life?"

"Mhmm! She was like- WHOOSH! And, BAYUM! Taking out two grown men in front of my eyes."

"What?"

"Yeah! It was like out of a movie or something!"

"It's just basic Judo. I'm not all that impressive. If those guys had an idea of how to fight then I would've been screwed."

Wanting things not to escalate, I try to downplay what I did last night, but everyone's reactions remained the same. Their eyes filled with excitement.

"You know Judo?!"

"Y-yeah?"

Surprisingly, the tranfer student speaks up to me, catching me a bit off guard.

"My father used to take martial art classes. It's pretty scary."

"Hmm... Yeah, it can be."

Just thinking back during the time when I first started training with my guardian. I remember feeling quite a bit of fear as he taught me. Overtime though, I started to get more confident with my actions, allowing me to properly take in what he was trying to teach me. It's the reason why I didn't feel much threat from those two guys last night. In their defence though, they probably didn't expect me to do what I did. If they were prepared it would've been a different story.

"Haha. Your boyfriend will have to be careful not to piss you off."

"No. I don't have someone like that."

Nicole's boyfriend reminds me of those love letters again. I seriously hope that with all of this commotion that there won't be more letters in my locker...

"For real?"

"Nn. I don't have time for that."

Saying that, I finish the food on my plate before standing up from the table. And almost as if right on que, the school bell rings out, signaling us to return to class.

School continued on for the rest of the day and it seemed like Nicole and her boyfriend are in a different class than us as we end up splitting up before heading back.

My brother said that he'll be searching for my sister, but that still won't stop me from doing the same. I envy him however, being able to go from different schools in hopes to find her, meanwhile I'm just trapped here as all I can do is look out the window, just like I've always done... Nothing's changed.

My thoughts would soon be proven as when I head towards the shoe lockers in order to change shoes, I find yet another love letter inside as it slides out onto the ground towards my feet.

"Oh? Could that be?"

I didn't notice, but it seemed like Midori has followed me, along with Shin and the transfer student. I guess we all share the same class so it's not that surprising.

"Nn. It's another love letter."

I simply state what it is as I go to pick it up from the ground after changing my shoes. But it was when I opened it that the three of them looked on in surprise.

"W-wait! You're reading it here?"

"Yeah?"

Not waiting any longer, I open up the envelope to read it, and once I figure out the location, I scrunch it up before tossing it into the trash not too far away.

"You're not going?"

"No, I am, but I'm not going to accept."

"That deadpan reaction... Wait, and you said "another" right?"

"Nn. It's honestly quite annoying."

"Well, we'll wait for you by the school gate."

"Huh? Why are you guys waiting for me?"

"'Cause we'll walk home together!"

Is Midori seriously thinking that I'll let her go back to my place? Along with Shin and the transfer student?

"Sorry, but I have plans."

I say as I close my shoe locker. Even if I didn't have work after school, I'm still a bit hesitant with the idea of walking home with people. That just gives more room to the possibility of me opening up again...

"Hmm~ Then why don't we exhange contact info?"

"...Why?"

"'Cause we're friends~"

"And again, I don't think I agreed to that-"

"Oh come on~ Just give me your phone for a sec."

This girl... She's not going to let this go is she? I'm already wasting time as is, I may as well just humor her. It's not like I'll be calling her and stuff anyways.

"Fine."

"Yay~"

"Oh! While you're at it, why don't we also exchange contact info?"

Now Shin's also asking? I guess now that it's come to this, I may as well... This'll probably save time in the future anyways.

"Sure."

"U-uhm... C-could we also, exhange contact info?"

"Okay."

I end up doing the same for the transfer student, much to my displeasure, but after finally getting the three of them off my case, I finally make my way to the location stated on the letter.

After turning down the guy, just like yesterday, I made my way outside the school gate. I was curious if those three were waiting for me, but it seems like they went on their own. I'm sure it was Midori's doing as I've noticed how she picks up on the subtleties, just like how she didn't press me further about my past last night. I can totally see Shin wanting to wait for me, but Midori dragging him along, I can already imagine it.

Making my way all the way to my apartment, I quickly get changed, putting on my eye make up and wig in order to disguise myself before setting off to the library. Looking up in the sky, it doesn't look like it'll rain, but considering how hard it was raining last night, maybe I should bring an umbrella just in case. So, after going back inside to grab my umbrella, I set on out to work.

During the walk, I hear my phone ring as I quickly check it, expecting that the message is from my manager, but it was then that I saw the sender that I relaxed.

Midori: "Hey!~ Just checking to see if this works. Did you make it back home okay?"

Luna: "Yeah, but I'm out right now, so don't try and come to my pla-"

"Huh?"

As I was typing out a response, I look up from my phone as I thought I saw someone on the opposite side of the street, but as I check, I don't see any sight of them.

"Am I hallucinating now?"

With that talk with my brother earlier, I thought I just saw... No, there's no way. Even as I double check once more, there's no sign of my sister, and as if to bring me back to reality, my phone buzzes once more.

Midori: "You think Nicole and I can come over to your place? It's okay if it's a no."

Right, I didn't end up sending that message. Hah... Now what?

Luna: "I'm out right now. I won't be back home until 7:30pm."

Almost immediately upon sending that, I get a response.

Midori: "Cool! I'll let my parents know!"

Wait!

Luna: "Hey, I didn't say you could! Don't worry your parents so much!"

But while I was walking, after a couple minutes, my message was still left unread...

"Haah."

I swear... Why does Midori even want to hang out with me? We're nothing alike and she's got to be annoyed with how distant I'm being. What's her deal? I end up thinking about it as I walk until I eventually make it to the library, beginning another day of work.