Chapter 7 - The Lie
The evening sun over the sky painted the imperial in golden hues, imparting a regal charm to the skyscrapers and the age-old shackles in the darkest alleys of the city.
In one of the rooftop houses in the alley, Kousuke Ichigawa walked out of the kitchen, holding a coffee tray in his hands. He badly needed a strong coffee to wake himself from the lazy afternoon.
"Nechan!!!! Wake up and have a cup of coffee." He sang loudly at the closed door next to the living room, waking up the man who was fast asleep on the couch.
"Yoji, have a cup of coffee."
Kousuke placed the coffee tray on the table and took a seat opposite to a groggy Yojiro who snuggled into the softness of the couch, with no intention to wake up. The heavy lunch of the day has undoubtedly made them doze off, triggering their body to compensate for the previous sleepless nights.
"Nechan!!!" He called again, looking at the closed door.
"Shut it!" Yojiro chided in a stammering voice as he got forced to wake up from his afternoon nap.
"Would it kill you to stay quiet?"
He let out a yawn and sluggishly reached for the coffee mug.
When he saw Kousuke was aiming to shout again, he grabbed whatever was caught in his hands and threw it to stop the other.
"She hasn't slept straight for two days. Let her sleep a little longer." Yojiro hissed as he tried to shut Kousuke, his overly concerned blood-sworn brother.
"She is awake. I heard her running around the house a while ago." Kousuke refuted back as he sipped on his coffee and opened his mouth to call his nechan.
However, right at that moment, the bedroom door opened with a creaking noise, gathering their attention to the familiar slender figure, walking out of the room, creating the low ruffling sound of the soft fabric with her movements.
Kousuke, who had a glimpse of the woman, almost choked upon his strong coffee, spilling it over his clothes in shock.
"Nechan!!!! Are you…" His words struck at the sight of the unusual sight of their Nechan, looking pretty and adorable in a lilac one-piece dress.
The long black hair perfectly framed her gorgeous face, giving the woman a soft and ethereal appearance, unlike her naturally intimidating aura.
While the two men remained speechless, she gently ambled towards the couch and took a seat next to Yojiro as if nothing had happened.
"What's wrong?" She inquired flatly and sat cross-legged, like a lady from a noble house, looking elegant and sophisticated.
"Nechan, you..you look weird." Unable to believe his eyes, Kousuke stuttered as he spoke, "really...wei-"
"Beautiful." Yojiro corrected as he pushed the remaining coffee cup to the girl trying to change her attention.
However, even after hearing the comment, her breathtakingly beautiful face remained blank like a sheet of white paper.
"Huh...Ahhh beautiful. That's right. You look beautiful." Kousuke, who got reminded by his brother, quickly rephrased his words and plastered a wide grin on his face.
"So, I wasn't beautiful before?" She monotonously asked, her ink-black irises penetrating deep into him, almost sending invisible lasers.
"No." Kousuke rebutted, only to witness her eyes narrowing down. "I mean you are...but this dress and style look different...It makes you more pretty. Where did you buy it, Nechan?" He somehow managed to avert the crisis by smooth talks.
The Nechan they were familiar with was a peerlessly beautiful woman who always clad herself in black tomboyish clothes, except on some special occasions that oblige her to wear colourful traditional robes. Other than that, her entire wardrobe contained only black-coloured clothes.
"That old lady downstairs, she gave me." She gently touched the soft cloth to smoothen the creases and replied lazily."Apparently, I'm at her late granddaughter's age."
Their landlady, a widow in her late sixties, was affectionate towards the three siblings who came to rent out her rooftop house, especially the elder sister who, take care of the younger ones.
"Woahhh, I never knew that you cared about others feelings." Kousuke made a random comment and studied as if he was assessing the drastic change on her.
"Ahhh, now I know why Tora doesn't even look at any other woman." He kept his cup on the table and picked up his phone while the other two went ahead with the conversation.
"Is it okay for us to get closer to that old lady?" Yojiro pointed out sceptically. "She is practically treating you as her own granddaughter."
"It's only a matter of few da-"
"CLICK! CLICK! CLICK" The sound of the camera's shutter interrupted her words.
"Yaa. what are you doing?" She snapped at Kousuke with an annoyed look on her face.
"Taking a picture..." He typed something on the phone while grinning, "I'm damn sure that Tora would love to see you in this dress."
As soon as the words fell from Kousuke's mouth, her nonchalant facade broke into a million pieces.
"Give!!!" She ordered and extended her palm for the cell phone,
"Why do you want my phone? I'm not giving it-" Even before Kousuke could say anything, Yojiro snatched the phone from him and took a look at the picture on the screen.
"He sent the picture to Tora," Yojiro reported and exchanged glances with his brother.
"Delete it."
"He saw it...And he is calling." Yojiro showed the phone screen to the woman whose eyes were literally on fire.
No way she is going to attend the call.
"Nechan, pick it up." Kousuke urged her when he foresaw the consequences of ignoring the call from a certain someone.
"You do." She icily said and crossed her arms over her chest while watching Yojiro picking up the call.
However, instead of attending the call, he threw the phone to Kousuke, who caught it and answered without losing a second,
"Hello, brother, how are you? Is it raining over there? Though Kousuke spoke with a grinning face, his voice trembled as his eyes fell on the ice-cold statue sitting on the couch, watching his actions.
"You want to talk to Nechan? Sure." He handed over the phone to the woman and gulped down in fear.
"Please, pick up." He mouthed a humble request.
"Hmm." She monotonously responded to the call as her facial expression changed apathetic.
"I forgot to keep it charged. It has been only four days. Let me enjoy my vacation properly. Hmm, bye."
She quickly wrapped up the conversation and returned the phone.
"Don't you dare to repeat this again?" She warned the man who was biting his nails in stress while she was attending the call.
"Nechan, actually, Tora is the one who asks me about your picture, every now and then. Why aren't you attending his video calls? I heard from others that he is on the verge of breaking down without you." Kousuke explained the dire situation that forced him to take such a creepy action of photographing a woman without her permission.
"Let him break down a bit."She ruthlessly stated and rose from the couch, holding her coffee cup.
She strolled towards the kitchen and quickly washed the cup before going out.
"Where are you going, Nechan?" Kousuke hurriedly asked when he saw her wearing a sling bag.
"Shopping." She replied and secured her loose hair into a low bun with her metal hairpin, naturally elevating her pretty naive girl look.
"Shopping? You?" Even Yojiro, who never questions any of her choices, was left bewildered for a moment.
"The person who hates crowds and human interaction is going shopping, that too in a different city?"
"Wait for a minute. We will come with you." Kousuke suggested and jolted up from the seat, intending to follow her.
"No." She rejected his help all at once, surprising the other two.
"Huh? Why can't we tag along with you? Where are you going?"
"I'm not going anywhere. I just need a breath of fresh air." She quickly put on her shoes and almost dashed towards the front door.
"Don't unnecessarily call me" She instructed as she strode away before they could follow her.
"What's wrong with her?" Kousuke looked at the empty spot at the door and gasped. "I smell something fishy."
"She is just wearing a dress, that's it." Yojiro tried to console the man, who seemed to wrack his brain over the sneaky actions of their nechan.
"No. It's not the dress. Lately, Nechan has been acting weird." Kousuke moved closer to Yojiro as if he was about to say something crucial and secretive.
"She was supposed to get engaged, Nah, married by now. But look at her now. What is she doing in this city?"
"Ya, don't be an old geezer," Yojiro grunted in protest. "Nechan is only a few months older than us, and why should she get married?"
"I'm not the only one who wants her to get married. The whole Kobayashi clan is looking forward to Nechan and Tora's wedding, and what did she say about it?" Kousuke interrogated an unresponsive Yojiro who failed to think about the future of their clan.
"She said she needs some time."
"I thought Nechan was going to take some time to learn things that would help her leading a family, but who knew she was going to settle her issues, all alone." Kousuke grunted in frustration as he thought about her reckless actions.
"She is not alone. We are here to help her." Yojiro affirmed with a proud face. He was literally on cloud nine when he came to know that she picked him to accompany her on this mission.
"Yojiro, use your pea brain a little more efficiently." Kousuke smacked the other's head to hammer down some sense.
"Nechan lied to big brother and Tora about going for a vacation. Instead of spending time in Itaria, she took the next flight and came here. Don't forget that she gave away her tickets and reservations in Itaria to some random woman. Definitely, there is something fishy. I'm damn sure that she is planning something dangerous, hiding it from big brother." Kousuke shared his findings with a worried look on his face.
"What are you so scared of? Do you think big brother would punish his own sister for telling lies? I don't think so." Yojiro refused to believe any of his inferences and remain cool-headed even though the other person was trying to make him tensed.
"Lies...no.. I'm talking about the consequences of her reckless actions. If anything goes wrong, we won't stay alive to watch the next dawn."
"Kousuke, who is she?" Yojiro asked out of random, stopping the blabberings of his brother.
"She is the sister of the great Hiroki Terada. The first-ever woman who rose into the position of commanding chief of the Kobayashi clan... She knows how to take care of things. All you have to do is to prevent the news from reaching the clan."
While they were arguing with each other, their beloved Nechan was already on the way to create more trouble.
She voluntarily walked into the enemy's den without any idea about the danger waiting for her.