To Fix a Broken Heart

The Najimis' Warm Welcome

Soon, the quartet of teenagers reached a small hill with pavement along it. The little pathway was lines with beautiful blossoming cherry trees.

"Oh man," complained Taro. "I hate this hill."

The other three laughed at his apparent laziness. Ayato playfully slapped him on the back. "If you want, I could carry you up."

Ayano forced a grin. Her brother was a lot taller and more muscular than anyone else in the school. Well, all except two people but the emotionless girl had never spoken to them.

"Hey, don't baby him, Ayato-kun," Taeko ruffled her brother's hair with one hand and massaged her addressed's arm with her other. "He'll never learn to man up if you do."

Huffing out a sigh, an idea lit up in the younger Aishi's mind. Walking to stand just in front of the already panting boy, she offered her hand. "Want to climb a mountain? It'll be an adventure."

Taro blinked, mesmerised by her innocent smile and warm eyes. There was a certain distance to them that he had never seen on anyone else before, and it only drew him in more. Suddenly shaking awake, he grasped her outstretched hand.

"You two as well," Ayano called, holding onto an imaginary rope.

Ayato almost cried seeing his sister learn to act playfully. She was usually so mature, people would mistake her for a college student. It was refreshing to see her behaving like her age. He instantly grabbed onto Taro's hand, just as Taeko soon did to his.

Then, the four of them pretended to climb a dangerous mountain while attached to each other by nothing but a brittle rope. They were laughing the entire way up, and even though Ayano's was fake, she was able to see for the first time why people played pretend: it was fun.

Before long, they reached the metal gates of Akademi High School. Standing there to greet them was a familiar blonde in a red jumpsuit. Miss Taiso, the gym teacher.

"Good morning, Ayato, Ayano," Miss Taiso always had a soft spot for the Aishis. "Well, well! Friends with the calm-as-a-breeze Yamada twins!"

Ayato grinned and high-fived his favourite teacher. "Good morning, Miss Taiso. Yes, my little sister and I are quite happy to have two new friends."

Ayano bowed. "I actually have made that my main goal this year: Make more friends."

Miss Taiso wiped a tear from her sky blue eye. "Our little Ayano is growing up."

Ayato nodded adoringly.

"You dummies are late!" interjected another voice, scaring the five of them.

"Oh no, here he comes," sighed Taro.

They all turned to see a boy with short, fluffy hair as orange as fire and amber eyes storming towards them. A girl about Ayano's age was yanking his arm and digging her heels into the pavement. She was trying to be a human anchor for the boy.

Ayano and Ayato knew exactly who they were: Osana and Osano Najimi. The hotheaded tsunderes of the school. Well, at least that described Osano. From what she'd heard last year, Osana was more of the mom friend in the school, though she still could be standoffish.

"Sorry we're late. Osano-kun," Taeko smiled sheepishly. She placed a hand on Ayano's shoulder, making her jump. "Taro bowled Ayano here over on our way here."

Osana pinched the bridge between her eyes. "Honestly, Taro, how hopeless can you be? You could've hurt her!" she scolded the now embarrased Yamada. She then turned to smile at her childhood friends' new friend. "I'm glad to know you weren't, though, Ayano-san. It's also nice to know you're making friends this year."

This caused the emotionless girl to blink. "You... know me?"

The Aishi brother was also confused. His sister wasn't exactly popular.

"I always saw Ayano by herself last year. She seemed like she'd be scared of me so that's why I never approached her," explained the long-haired orangette upon seeing Ayato's expression.

"Oh," The taller student smiled warmly. "My sister is quite shy. But she would've been glad to befriend you, Osana-san."

Osano sighed gently before letting his expression soften. "At least school is still a good while off."

Ayano stared at the group with a soft smile. "Well, if you excuse me, I'm going to book a locker before heading to class."

As she turned to leave, she felt a hand on her wrist. "Wait, Yan-chan." The raven-haired girl glanced back to face the orangette who had spoken to her. "Let's go together. I want to make up for not trying to be your friend last year."

"We can all go! That way, the Aishis can hang out with us now." Taeko exclaimed happily, throwing her arms over the girls' shoulders.

Osana's face flashed a deep red color before fading back to his skin tone. "Y-yeah," he stuttered. "I guess that's a plan for this year. But-but don't think it's because I want to be your friend, though, A-Ayano-s-san!" He pointed accusingly but shyly at the broken girl.

She rolled her eyes in response. "Sure, Osano-san," she replied.

Then, after waving goodbye to Miss Taiso, the group of students walked into the school building to book their lockers and start their first day of a new year at Akademi High School.

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(A/N: What's orange and pink with white polka dots all over? (XD) Okay, Osano is still a typical tsundere. Osana, I changed to be more caring with a mother-hen kind of attitude. This is solely because I don't want both twins having the exact same personality; it makes them appear less like identical twins and more like genderbent clones. This OOCness will be a common trend so stop here if you don't like it. Thanks for reading. Signing off. )