Is This Your Love, Sister? (これは貴女の愛ですか, 姉?)

CHAPTER FOUR

"And that's where we'll end for now." Tachibana-sensei stacked his books and fixed the glasses atop his nose. "Please enjoy the rest of your day."

Everyone stood and bowed, it was a customary tradition to say "welcome" as well as "farewell". The class stirred into a ruckus of laughter and chatter as soon as the teacher left them for the lunch period. It was always like this but Masato could hardly care about the noise around him. His father hadn't said a word to him for a full week now and he was getting pretty worried. Luckily, Sora and Akari kept asking him out giving him a good reason to avoid talking to Rui at home who was not happy with his late coming-ins.

"Oi, Masato." Kazuto brought himself down on the seat next to him in the most clumsy way possible. Throwing his legs up and almost fell, it very merely made Masato want to laugh.

"What is it now?"

He leaned forward but still talked like he was at a baseball game. "You two do make a good pair, y'know."

Masato's brow furrowed. "What?"

"You and Sora-chan."

"What are you talking ab..." he stopped when he felt a slap on the back and another boy joined them. Then another, then another, then another until he was completely surrounded.

"No need to hold out on us, Isayama," said one of the girls.

Masato cringed. "What's this about?"

"You make me jealous," said someone else.

What the hell! He screamed in his head. "What are you guys talking about?"

"You boys are all dense," said a girl.

"Come on, give us all the juicy details," said another.

Masato could feel his cheeks slowly getting warmer but lucky for him a familiar voice dragged the attention away from him for a second.

"Maso-kun?"

He had been avoiding her for a week but never before had he thought he'd be glad to hear her voice. "Rui!" He said, feeling relieved that he finally got a chance to escape the crowd. "I thought you'd be late again."

Rui looked confused. "What do yo..."

Without letting her finish, he took her by the hand and started pulling her away. "Just play along," he whispered.

They reached the outside of the building not long after when Rui finally got tired of him dragging her. "What was that about?"

"Nosy classmates," he answered flatly. He looked back to make sure no onehad followed them then turned back to her. "What were you coming to me for?"

Rui smiled and moved closer to him. "I wanted to know why you were keeping distance between us."

He chuckled nervously. "I wasn't, I'm just busy with some stuff."

"You're lying, Masato." Her expression fell a little and for a moment she looked worried. "Have I been a bad girlfriend?"

"No... not at all." He smiled at her but she frowned at him.

"Is father knowing about what we're doing still bugging you?"

He looked away and in a crackled tone he replied, "no."

Rui put her forehead against his chest. "Stop lying to me, Maso."

"Tsk!" He pushed her away from him. "Rui, I don't want dad to think bad of us."

"So you're just going to blindly follow everything he says?" She took his face in her hands. "Don't you want to be with me?"

He put his hands on her hips and placed his forehead against hers. "Of course I want to be with you."

Rui's smile returned and she turned and ran away from him. "I'll come to your class after school, okay?"

Masato smiled to himself. So what if dad doesn't like seeing us together? We don't have to follow what he says. His thoughts suddenly cleared until a certain voice surprised him.

"You know, if I didn't know she was your sister, I might have mistaken her as your girlfriend."

"I... Ishikawa-san!"

The girl moved her hands behind her and flashed him a smile. "I told you before, just 'Sora' is fine."

He rubbed his neck. "Un."

Akari put a finger to her chin. "But even if she's your sister, just seeing you hold her like that makes me jealous."

"Huh? Why?"

Her smile brightened. "Because that's how I always picture you holding me."

It took a moment before his brain could process what she just said. "Me holding you?"

Sora sighed. "Now you just ruined my confidence."

"Ruined your confidence?" He was now beyond confused. "What are you talking ab..."

Without letting him finish the girl held his face in place and kissed him. "I love you, Masato."

He was frozen in place and that dreaded feeling he feared returned to him full throttle. What was he suppose to say? Without putting much thought in it he held her by the waist and this time he kissed her.

"Isayama-san! Ishikawa-san!" came a very familiar but annoying voice making its way towards them. "I knew it!" Kazuto said with a smirk. "And here you two were trying to hide it from us."

Masato and Sora turned to see Kazuto walking quite boastfully with a very shocked Akari trailing behind him.

"How could you hide stuff like that from me, pal?" said Kazuto dramatically, hugging onto Masato.

"Hey, hey, calm down."

"So this is why you two keep sneaking off?" Said Akari, her tone no way resembling her expression.

Sora chuckled nervously. "Well, we've never actually done this before."

Akari stepped between the two, shoving Masato in the process. "This pervert didn't touch you, did he?"

Masato's shoulders drooped. "Why do you always have to say bad things about me?"

Sora was still blushing but she waved her hands. "No, he did nothing." She took Akari by the shoulder and brought her face to face with the boys. "See, I'm Ma-kun's girlfriend now."

Akari cringed. "Girlfriend?" After a short delay she shot Masato an angry stare. "You dare hurt her and I promise I'll make you regret it." She said nothing else but just walked away.

"We should go out and celebrate!" said Kazuto, excitedly.

"What do you have to celebrate?"

Kazuto gave him a playful punch on the shoulder. "Don't be so high strung, buddy. If you're gonna have a girlfriend then you can't be so protective of  Rui-chan anymore."

Masato frowned. "What kind of a man are you?"

Sora laughed at Kazuto who's shoulders hung. "I really like her, stop trying to make me feel bad about it."

Sora threw her hands around Masato's neck. "Are you coming out with us, Ma-kun?"

He clasped his hands together and bowed to her. "I'm sorry, Sora. But I have to get home early today."

For a moment the girl looked disappointed but she didn't stay down long. "I understand. That means you'll go tomorrow, right?"

Masato nodded. "Definitely."

Kazuto stuffed his hands in his pockets and peered at the two awkwardly. "How come you two keep going out and never inviting me?"

Sora chuckled nervously. "Please forgive me. You can come with me and Akari if you want."

The three looked up as the bell rang, alerting them it was time to head back to class.

"Well, looks like lunch period is almost over," said Kazuto. "We better get something to eat before I starve."

Masato and Sora walked off leaving him. "You keep harboring that appetite of yours and you're gonna be fat someday."

"Oi, oi Isayama-san," he said, runnimg after them. "Stop being so harsh."