The Golden Pear [YA - Featured]

♫~Notes 115~♫

 "Rigaku-san!" Kenta called from behind.

The oldest Kamini waved him and stepped toward the wall. "Ohayo gozaimasu."

"Good morning," the boy replied, catching his breath. "I'm sorry for returning this so late." He handed him the notebook.

"Iie, it's alright." A brief pause of silence gave them awkward smiles. "How was the story?"

"It's heartwarming and whimsical. The way you named your characters is cute, and it reflects their personalities." He scratched on his cheek. "What age group are you targeting?"

Rigaku's eyebrows shot up as he had never thought about it. "I guess the first or second grade."

The way Kenta scratched behind his head was a giveaway of what he was trying to say. "I had my little niece visiting me over Saturday, and she read it and couldn't understand quite a few words."

"What?" Rigaku listed in his story, ignoring the pangs in his left arm. His mind analyzed the characters one by one, placing them based on how rare or advanced they were. "You are right..." he whispered. "You are right!" he shouted, facepalming himself with the notebook.

"N-No, that's—"

"How come I couldn't see it! I need to rework my draft. Finding the list of..." his voice turned into a murmur as he pushed out one thought after another, brainstorming his approach to this story.

"Rigaku-san"—Kenta tapped his shoulder—"my niece still said she wants to know the rest."

Rigaku calmed down a bit, pondering. "Would your niece be open to being my youngest beta-reader? I would really appreciate feedback from her."

"It would thrill her!"

Before they could chat more, somebody snatched the notebook from Rigaku's fingers. His brown eyes narrowed, thunder slashing from them, locking with Mori's bored expression.

"I'm disappointed, Rigaku-san. I expected more from you."

The oldest brother dug his cold stare into Mori, who seemed unfazed, almost arrogant.

"First, you turn savage and now this, writing for snotty brats."

"Savage?" He couldn't conceal his confusion. "What do you mean?"

A slight smirk curved Mori's lips. "So our perfect student doesn't remember how he turned into a wild animal, biting and spitting on everybody?"

"I did... what?" Rigaku whispered the last word.

Despite his opinion on Mori wasn't high, he couldn't rule out the possibility of him injuring somebody. He was out of his mind, almost going insane at that moment. Only a handful of moments lingered in his mind, and those came in a low resolution full of smudged figures and unclear voices.