KOF School

Meeting Yashira

Iori parked the bike in the garage and waited as Aiko entered the house. It was obvious that Kazuhiro was in the living room since he heard his sister start talking as soon as she stepped out. He gathered everything that they bought and slowly made his way towards the door that led to the living room to listen to what's going on behind the door.
All he heard were murmurs and giggles. But the sound of voices soon grew softer so Iori slowly opened the door and poked his head out to take a peek to see if Aiko had diverted Kazuhiro just as planned. He spotted his sister loudly talking to their uncle as she led him to the kitchen, telling him long stories of what had happened in school the week before.
Iori took the chance and ran straight to his room, carrying the bags of stuff they got earlier. He hid the stuff he got for Aiko under his bed and left the rest under his desk, where it's still easily accessible.
After that, Iori left the room as if nothing had happened, closing the door behind him as he took his winter coat off and hung it beside the front door. He decided to go to the kitchen and see what his sister was doing to disturb Kazuhiro.
Turns out, she had seated him down at the kitchen table while she boiled some milk at the stove, chatting loudly all the while.
"I'm asking again, what's with the sudden milk?" Kazuhiro asked when she paused for breath.
"Because it's cold outside and hot honey milk will be nice," Aiko grinned as she left the milk to boil before joining him at the table.
Iori snorted and joined them as well. "Hot milk on a cold day?"
"Yeah," Aiko smirked knowingly. "Anyway, what are our plans for Christmas?"
Kazuhiro shrugged. "WFC is gonna be crowded. How about we make our own chicken?"
"That actually sounds fun," Aiko grinned. "Oh! Can we also make a fruitcake?"
"It's been a while... I don't even remember the recipe," Kazuhiro frowned, scratching his head. "Maybe your father remembers?"
"We'll just have to ask him, then," Iori smirked. Just then, he spotted the milk rising above the rim of the pot. "The milk!"
Aiko gasped and rushed over to turn the stove off. The frothy milk immediately descended back into the pot, making her heave a sigh of relief. Iori then washed a few glasses and took out the bottle of honey so that they can enjoy their honey milk.
Which Kazuhiro still thought was very random. But he didn't question it since he still liked some hot honey milk.

Iori and Aiko snuck out of the house once again, this time saying they wanted to check out the new branch of Posiden Coffee that had opened in Shibuya. It was half true, but they actually had other plans.
Chris managed to send Yashiro's address to Aiko's phone, allowing her to navigate her brother over to the Nanakase house.
We're hiding in the bushes right beside the house
Iori looked up from his phone and tried to search for said bushes. He soon found them since a bush with odd-looking branches, which were actually human arms, stood out among the rest.
"Go on, go speak to her," Yashiro urged. "Chris and Shermie tried the other day but she simply shooed them off."
"She even shouted at us and called us stupid worms!" Chris added. "We were genuinely worried at the time since we didn't know that Yashiro was missing yet. That was until he showed up at my place, at least."
"That's mean," Iori remarked, turning to look at the house for a moment before turning back to them. "Aight, let's see how she reacts."
The siblings made their way towards Yashiro's house and rang the doorbell. Yashiro and Chris snuck away from the bushes and went closer to the house in the dark to listen in.
Yashira answered the door, looking as if she had been running. She seemed disheartened when she realised that the caller wasn't her son but these two red-haired teens instead.
"We're... we're Yashiro's friends?" Iori said with a smile.
"Yes, and you should know that Yashiro is... is not here," Yashira informed, her voice cracking slightly as if she was trying to hold back something.
Iori nodded. "We know. That's why we just came to... check on you."
Yashira contemplated for a moment before telling the two in. They glanced at where Yashiro and Chris stood a little way off, hiding beside the house, and stepped in.
Aiko noticed that not a single one of Yashiro's golden trophies were on display, aside from a few of Yashiro's old certificates, framed and put on the walls. The two of them sat down while Yashira went over to the kitchen before returning with a few glasses of water and cookies.
"Thanks, Auntie," Aiko nodded as she took a glass of water. "But it's not really necessary."
Yashira shrugged. "It's nice of you to come by. Did Yashiro tell you anything before he disappeared?"
Iori spotted a swift movement behind the semi-transparent curtains and turned back to Yashira, shaking his head. "Nope. He didn't say anything. We... we aren't really sure why he disappeared too."
"It's... it's partly my fault," it was evident that Yashira was trying to remain as strong as she could as she spoke to them. "I've been too hard on him."
'You have...' Aiko wanted to say, but refrained.
"Yashiro's actually pretty popular at school," Iori remarked. "He isn't in my class, but we meet each other in Band."
Yashira nodded. "Yes, I saw you two the other day during the ceremony. You received awards too, if I'm not mistaken."
"We did," Aiko nodded. "I received the highest in my form for Science while Niisan got awarded for Maths."
"Yashiro was second in his class, right?" Iori remarked. "That's amazing, I've never actually been among the top three personally. I got fourth place during the last exam."
Yashira's eyes glistened with tears as she smiled at them. "He was also the champion of the national level swim championship last week."
Her gaze then turned towards the TV cabinet to look at something, not realising that a drop had escaped her eye. There were pieces of glistening shiny brown plastic strewn about the top, evidently what used to be a stunning bronze trophy that was supposed to be kept for pride and recognition. Now, it was just pieces of shattered plastic.
The Yagamis decided to just ignore it and turned back to Mrs. Nanakase.
"You must be proud of him," Iori finally said. "Good in academics, a sportsman too. He's also an amazing guitarist, I know because I've seen him in action."
Yashira suddenly looked ashamed of herself. She quietly excused herself, saying that she wanted to go to the bathroom, and left.
"Should we just leave too?" Aiko asked her brother.
Iori frowned awkwardly. "Feels kinda mean to leave without telling..."
"It does," Aiko agreed, nodding as she picked up one of the cookies. "Let's wait for a few minutes."
Yashira eventually returned, strands of wet her hair clinging to her forehead. She sat down and gave them a smile.
"I think we should get going, Auntie," Iori said, getting up after finishing his water. "Thank you for the cookies, they were really good."
"Thanks, I actually made them for Christmas," Yashira smiled slightly. "It's nice of you to come by, I appreciate it."
The siblings bowed.
"It's been a pleasure talking to you too," Aiko smiled.
Iori nodded. "I'm sure Yashiro is fine, Auntie. Don't worry too much about him."
Yashira wordlessly nodded and saw them out. The two of them got onto their bike and rode a little way off to meet Yashiro and Chris.
"She seemed genuinely worried about you, Yashiro," Iori informed. "I think she had been crying too since she left us for a moment to go to the toilet."
"Her face was wet when she came back," Aiko added. "Looked like she had washed her face."
Yashiro said nothing as he averted his gaze.
"We also saw the trophy she broke, it's still on the TV cabinet," Iori said. "Anyway, we should really go."
They bade farewell and rode off.