Haruto Tendou’s Conditions
“LET me see him.”
After I was certain my sister and her friend had left, I pressed Sakutarou. His face soured.
“Do it,” I insisted.
He sighed and looked at me with that usual cool demeanor.
“You might try actually asking instead of demanding.”
His voice sounded calm, but I could tell he was getting annoyed. Right. He had always been such a pain, hanging all over Kogetsu like a lost puppy. But he always tried to act tough and easily got irritated.
But I wasn’t a kid anymore.
“I’m not asking. I’m demanding.”
“Excuse me?!”
My forceful words clearly angered him.
“You don’t want it getting around that he goes to school like that, do you? You want me to be quiet? Let me see him.”
It was less a demand and more a threat. I knew it, but I couldn’t back down now.
We stared each other down, wondering what the other would do next, when a voice called out to us.
“Saku, calm down. Both of you need to. You’re not going to get anywhere arguing like that.”
He looked like an idol. Like the type Kirara loved watching on TV.
The way he spoke to me without a hint of suspicion despite my barging in must have meant I was getting somewhere. So I decided it would be faster to reason with him than Sakutarou.
“And you are?” I asked.
“Oboro Shimozuru. I’m friends with Saku and Ui...and Kogetsu.”
“Oboro!” Sakutarou shouted, the veins in his temple bulging, but this Shimozuru guy kept going, undeterred.
“It’s better to sort these things out now. He knew Kogetsu, after all.” He turned to me. “But why do you want to see him?” he asked, adding, “It can’t be just to rekindle an old friendship, can it?”
This Shimozuru was something. He was smiling, but his eyes were stone cold.
Everyone Kogetsu hung around was a pain to deal with. They annoyed me, but I also couldn’t help but laugh.
If I had run into him now, without any of this mess with my sister, it might have been the same for me. I might have ended up in his orbit of friends, too.
But that was out of the question now.
“I’ll talk to him one-on-one. Give him my cell number.”
I handed the number I had written down earlier to Shimozuru.
“And what if I throw it away?” he asked, waving the paper about.
“Do it and you’ll never see my sister again,” I said, glaring at him.
I had no idea if I could really enforce that, but I must have been convincing enough.
“Crap,” he mumbled, then raised his voice to normal volume. “I’ll give it to him.”
This time, the smile on his face was genuine.
Later that night, as I was getting ready for bed, I got a call. When I answered the unfamiliar number, a voice from my past spoke.
“Yo! You get any stronger since we last met?”
“That’s how you start a phone call? I bet I’m stronger than you, at least.”
“I think you’re confusing getting stronger with getting arrogant, Haruto. You’re still such a kid,” he said, his laugh more natural than it had been in the past. “So, what’s up? I’m not lending you any money.”
No one wants your money, dude. And I wasn’t letting him have anything of mine, either.
“I’m not lending you my sister, either.”
He seemed caught off guard by my words. But then he quickly pulled himself together and retorted, “I don’t want you to ‘lend me’ your sister. I want Urara all for my very own.”
“What?! Hey!” I shouted, shocked that he would come out and say that. I listened intently to make sure no one else in my house had heard and was yelling my name. When no one did, I breathed a sigh of relief. I lowered my voice.
“What’s this stupid crap you’re goin’ on about? And you really are an idiot. Don’t screw with me. And why are you running around dressed like a girl anyway?”
“I don’t have much of a choice. There are reasons.”
“Don’t have a choice? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Do you think if I could easily explain my situation, I’d be dressed like that, idiot?”
Even though I was trying to keep my voice down, I was getting so mad, my breath was growing ragged.
All I could figure out so far was that he wasn’t doing it because he wanted to, but what reason could there be?
How was he getting away with deceiving everyone at his school? I’d heard from my sister that he came from a rich family, so wasn’t he being a little reckless? I would think that family of his would be concerned about him attending school as a girl. There was no way in hell I was letting a sketchy guy like that have my precious sister!
“Anyway, stay away from my sister.”
“Pass.”
I wanted to shout back, “Don’t ‘pass’ me!” but I stopped myself.
“Stay away from her or I’ll spill your secret!”
I wasn’t sure if I really meant it, but I had to at least come off strong. I listened for a reaction but only heard him click his tongue.
I was the one who should have been making that noise.
You’re the last person I wanna hear saying I’m getting arrogant, Kogetsu. I hung my head and heaved a sigh.
“I won’t give up on her.”
What is this guy’s problem?! Urrgh!
I was so mad, I could barely think straight.
I couldn’t threaten him. But I couldn’t back down, either. As I racked my brain thinking of ways to keep Kogetsu from my sister, I could only come up with one.
What was my sister up to lately? A dance contest? Why? I thought I’d heard her say it was some kind of competition.
Then...
“Let’s have a match, Kogetsu.”
“Huh? Where did that come from?”
I had wanted to avoid this if possible. I didn’t like feeling as if I were using my sister as some sort of prize. But it was too late to back out now.
“If I win, you can keep your secret, but you can never come near my sister again.”
I had tried so hard to intimidate him, but it hadn’t worked. I expected him to laugh it off.
But he didn’t.
“All right. Kendo, right? Winner takes all.”