Alone Together - Zetsuen No Tempest FanFiction - 1215

Episode 19

"You're doing this for the chick who dumped you?" Mahiro said, looking rather annoyed.

"Talk about unreasonable." Megumu breathed, "I don't want to hear that from someone with a sister complex like you!"

My breath hitched, and everyone else in the room froze. He actually said that... to Mahiro's face?

Not going to lie, it was pretty impressive. I had a feeling everyone wanted to say it, even I wanted to say it more than anything. I wanted to punch him really hard and tell him that I've been here the whole time, so why would he be more interested in someone who's supposed to be his sister?

I wanted to be angry about it too, but I couldn't. And while Megumu having the strength to say it made me proud, it also made me feel a bit upset. For some reason, being reminded of it hurt a lot.

Mahiro smashed his foot into Megumu's face again, "Who has a sister complex?! For starters, Aika and I aren't related by blood. So she may legally be my sister, but she actually isn't my sister at all. So I don't have a sister complex!"

Really, you want to argue something like that with me sitting right here?!

"That's not even a sister complex." Megumu countered, "It sounds like your in love with her."

My eyes bulged. Sure, I always knew Mahiro favored Aika... I was scared that if the situation was different, then they would be together and I would lose him to her... but in this world, did he actually love her?

"Love?! Yeah right! There's no way a brother would fall in love with his younger sister!"
"But you just said that she wasn't you're sister-!"

"We're taking a break." Mahiro interrupted, walking off, I quickly got up to follow him.

I followed a few feet behind him all the way to a back room with a vending machine, where the both of us knew no one would interrupt. He turned to glare at me, clearly not liking the fact I followed him when it was so obvious he wanted to be alone.

"What do you want?"

"You know what I want." I narrowed my eyes, "Well, is it true? Were you in love with Aika?!"

He scoffed, turning towards the machine, "No."

"Don't mess with me!" I yelled, grabbing his shoulder and shoving him back around so he'd look at me, "Sure I've always known you'd cared about her as a sister, I knew you'd pick her over me any day, but to be in love with her?! That's- That's not fair!"

I grunted as he grabbed my shoulders, spinning us around and pressing my back onto the machine, looking down on me. My guard shot up and I glared holes into him.

"What do you mean it's not fair?! So what if you loved me and I didn't love you back! Doesn't mean I was in love with Aika instead, you idiot!"

"Asshole!" I shoved him back, "You keep avoiding the question. I spent years loving you, trying to dress cute, trying to be myself and hoping that you'd fall for me all the same. Hoping you'd see me over all those other stupid girls who asked you out just for money. I was always by your side, even when Aika wasn't! So why her over me?! That doesn't make any sense! How could you even dare to look at her like that?!"

"Shut up!" He yelled right back, and suddenly my body shut down, freezing in place at his tone, "You don't actually know anything about me! I could have cared less if you were by my side or not! You coming up to me like this and getting mad at me for the possibility of me loving Aika, when you don't have any real proof! Just cause I haven't reciprocated your feelings?!"

"I-I have a right to be upset-"
"No you don't!"

I flinched as he moved his arm and he paused. Suddenly our breaths were quiet and slow and he slumped in front of me.

He sighed, shoving his hands in his pockets, "I cared about Aika, just like you did. I'm still going to do everything it takes to find her murderer. Maybe you should find something to do other than think about me. It's pathetic."

"That's what you think?" I dared to continue, "That my feelings are pathetic?"

He just looked at me.

"Fine. We'll see how cool of a guy you are when I stop giving a shit!"

-

An hour after I'd stormed off, Megumu came to check on me and we had dinner together. After that, I felt a lot more refreshed and relaxed from our conversation.

Despite Megumu seeming weird and definitely being so weak, he was nice and helped me get my mind off things. Unlike Mahiro, who barged into my room without warning.

"Why were you eating dinner with the creep?"
I rolled my eyes, "Why are you in my room? And without knocking?"

"We used to sleep in the same room, didn't think you cared anymore." He replied, shutting the door behind him and walking over to me as I laid on my back with my legs crossed, trying to read a book. He paused when he took me in,

"Why aren't you wearing any pants?"
"This is my room, I can dress however I please."

A simple "tt" came out of his mouth and he plopped himself onto the edge of my bed, "Look, I'm sorry for yelling earlier."

I put my book down and turned my body to face the wall, curling up and pursing my lips as I took in his words. I told myself just after the fight I'd be done with him. I'd give up and move on because he would never run after me... but is he proving me wrong?

"I thought about what you said." He continued, "You've always been by my side. I guess... I have taken advantage of you."

I swallowed, "Ano... who are you and what have you done with Mahiro?"

"Shut up! I'm trying to be honest with you, stupid." He took a deep breath, "The thought of us hating each other now is pretty unsettling. I can practically hear Aika scolding me."

I breathed a laugh, a picture of her angered and disappointed face flashed through my mind so vividly, I could pretty much hear her scolding me too, "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"So I just had one question." He continued, "Why have you never left me?"

I contemplated for a moment, before sitting up and letting myself admire his features once again.

"Because when I look at you, I feel like every things gonna be alright. It's the same feeling I got from Aika too. There's a lot of reasons, really, why I've stuck by your side, but I think one of the main one's is I've always felt like I was protected if I was near you. That's probably how I fell for you in the first place. I knew you were a good person even though you acted aggressively, and that you'd protect me if I needed it. Eventually that turned into actual romantic feelings." I explained,

"When Aika died, I felt like I had to be even closer to you. Like if I didn't stick by you, I would lose you completely. I'd lose you, and then Yoshino, and I'd be all alone."

"I'll be honest, I've never loved anyone. And right now, I'm pretty positive I don't love you. All I care about right now is finding Aika's killer."

"I know." I smiled, my eyes softening again as I remembered something I said a long time ago, "I did say I would wait till we saved the world and everything made sense again before I officially asked for you to go out with me, right?"

"Yeah, you did say that."
"So I still have some time."

He blinked, looking at me with wide eyes and a shocked expression, like the dumb pikachu meme, and it made me laugh for some reason.
"You're seriously still going to chase after me?" He asked.

I met his eyes and made sure to keep contact,
"Just for a little longer, I want to. When we save the world and everything makes sense again, if you still don't love me even a little bit, then I'll give up on you."