Chapter 22:

I smiled at all of them, admiring my sparkly clean house.

"See? You guys could do it!" I exclaimed happily.

They all looked tired while glaring at me.

I grinned then my eyes landed...on this.....abomination.

"What.... is that...thing..?" I asked picking up a chocolate that has a very..deformed face.

Kae started to tear up.
"I made that! I just..couldn't do it! L-Look at Shima-chan's!"

I glanced at the chocolate head next to it, my jaw dropped, I almost let Kae's chocolate fall to the ground.

I saw a perfect head, I looked back at Kae's.......it's.. unique?

I frowned.
"What's this for anyways?" I asked.

"It's for Mirage Saga! If I win..I could get a drawing from the maker himself... And meet them!" Kae exclaimed happily.

My jaw dropped..w-what?

"Weren't you listening when we told you this Aya-senpai? Geez, you sure are forgetful." Nishina told me.

I put the...chocolate thing down and ran a finger through my hair, it wasn't straight, in fact it's exactly like my bag, you could find a legendary pokemon inside it.

I sighed.
"So this...competition thing... are you really going to submit..that?" I asked.

Kae looked down.

"You could always submit mine, Serinuma-Senpai!" Nishina told her.

I heard the front door unlock, My head snapped to that direction, and on instinct, I got a vase which just so happened to be beside me.

I saw two figures, I sucked in a deep breath and raised the vase over my head, ready to hit them.

"Ayano! What are you doing!?"

Recognizing the voice..
my eyes widened, I put the vase back in its original spot and sheepishly smiled.
"Ah..hi dad." I mumbled.

"Big sister? Who are they?" Asuna asked while looking at them.

"Y-You have a sister!?" Everyone exclaimed in shock.

"Well..yes, she's still in elementary, don't do anything that would scar her mind." I told them with a little glare.

"Ayano..I love how the house is well kept and clean..but, why are there boys in your house?" My dad asked with a frown.

I groaned.
"Their my friends."

"Why boys? Why are you only friends with two girls? Explain yourself!"

I sighed, here it comes...before he could say anything else, I turned to my...group of friends.
"Come on, We'll go to my room." I told them and started to walk away.

"Don't turn your back on me!"

I sighed and looked at Asuna, I gave her a wink, then she got the message, she tugged on my father's sleeve and did her puppy eyes, works on everyone.
"D-Dad..I'm hungry."

His eyes softened.
"You just ate."

"But I'm still hungry!"

I used their conversation to sneak away into my room, bringing the group with me.

Their jaws dropped.
"This room..." Nana started

"Is just like.." Nishina and Igarashi continued.

"Serinuma-chan's room." Mutsumi finished.

I looked at Kae as her eyes held sparkles.
"N-No way....you have the same taste as me." She said with a smile.

I sighed and sat on my bed.
"..Your the first people, aside from my family, that has ever been in my room." I said.

In an instant they were all looking around and touching random things, but Mutsumi and Nishina was looking at my bookshelf.

Meanwhile...Kae is admiring the limited edition Mirage saga things I have.

"Kae..about the chocolate...will you..submit yours..or Nishina's?" I asked.

She pouted.
"I'm not sure..I..still need to think." She answered.

I chuckled.

"You know Aya-chan, your sister is really cute." She told me.

I laughed.
"She actually looks a lot like our father." I said.

Kae gasped.
"Really?"

"My mother had messy hair like me." I said sadly and looked at the mess I called hair.

I grabbed a comb to try and smoothen it out, but it was painful, I wonder how my classmates combed it in the..festival thing, but then again..it was painful.

I sighed, giving up and putting the comb back down, resuming the topic we had earlier.

"I think your chocolates taste good, Kae, although it may look...strange, it tastes good." I said.

She smiled at me, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the group huddled up, looking at something.

I stood up, and went a little nearer, my eyes widened.

"Aya-chan? What's wrong?"

It was my old yearbook.
In..that school.
The school that made me feel like I was in a living hell.
Where everything... Had changed for me.

In that yearbook.. I have pictures, memories rather, that I wanted to forget.

But it wasn't meant to be..
Not all things...would remain forgotten.

I get that now.

¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶
…………………TO BE CONTINUED
¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶¶