Smells Like School Spirit

chapter five.

☆★☆★☆★

Reina decided to text Yuri that she would not be dropping by to the latter's club room. Her energy was already depleted from the confrontation earlier with the boys' volleyball club.

REINA: Yuri, gomen I can't drop by to your club today. My head hurts and I need some time to recharge.

She was already putting on her outdoor shoes when her phone vibrated from her school's blazer. Yuri must've replied. Reina adjusted her leg as she fished for her phone.

YURIPPE: Don't worry! Rest well, Rei-chan, I'll update you on what's going on. But do tell me, did something happen in your usual transaction that caused your head to hurt?

Only Yuri who would've guessed something must have gone wrong. Sometimes it was just plain scary how Yuri could easily read Reina so well.

Reina heaved a sigh as she texted Yuri back. Not to mention her weekly phone call with her grandfather. Oh God, he would definitely be interested to listen. Grandpa Aaron would not want her to force herself into something she was not mentally stable enough for.

Especially not after what had happened all those years ago.

REINA: I'll call you later. Gotta pick up Makoto from the modelling agency and well... you know how it goes in my house.

Or rather, what did not happen in her house. Her father would be busy with his job with the Japanese Volleyball Association and her paternal grandparents were having their regular meetup with fellow elderly people in the neighborhood. Nobody would be around to pick up Makoto and the job fell on Reina's shoulders.

It was fine anyway, Makoto may be the baby of the bunch, but she already made enough money to move out and rent a small room to live on her own. And they usually stayed out of each other's business.

Reina was used to it, living in a separate world from others where she was the one on the outside looking in. And Makoto was destined to be the star of every stage she was on. Just like their older brother used to be and just like Mai.

As she adjusted her school bag, Reina let out her breath, a method of calming herself when an upcoming panic attack almost seized her from the inside. As she walked out from the locker room towards the exit door, Reina looked up to watch the blue sky stretched across the horizon.

She could not help but to think of Hirugami Sachiro and the peaceful air of Nagano every time she saw the blue skies, reminded of the peaceful days of her life when she did not have to bear the heavy weight on her shoulders. The days when she and Sachiro would lie down together in his house's backyard to watch the clouds after school and just talk.

Although she knew it would be futile to find peace from a past that no longer existed, Reina could not help but to think what would be of her and Sachiro, if her family never moved away to the USA all those years ago.

Reina felt her phone vibrate again and she took it from her school blazer's pocket and squinted. A message from Makoto.

DNA SHARER: Reina, you don't have to pick me up from the agency, I still have some job to do with the talent manager. I'll be home late.

It took her several seconds to process, but it seemed Makoto did not want Reina to pick her up from the agency (which was not that far from Inarizaki) to go home together. They were not close by any long shot, but Reina sensed something a little fishy that her younger sister did not want her to pick her up. Oh well, maybe Makoto was trying to rebel a little from their father's mandate to always wait for Reina to pick her up before going home.