Chapter 1

I had my university papers in order, my rucksack packed with clothes, and another bag packed with books, stationary, and my bathroom necessities.

Tokiko was sullen, we’d always been close to the point of her clinging to me over having many friends. She would be entering grade 6 this year, her last in the primary school system. She was a year late, having started her formal education at seven, rather than the usual age of six, due to an incident at the end of kindergarten.

She’d made it clear she was not happy with her oniichan leaving her behind. Tokiko was very quiet, she rarely spoke. Her brown eyes and facial expressions communicating what she felt.

Her frown said plenty today, as I gathered my bags for the long walk to the bus stop that would take me to the train into Tokyo. I waited for a hug, but she wouldn’t even look at me.

My mother, Rumiko, offered her arms and I returned the hug.

Bags in hand, I headed out the door of our modest home on the edge of our farming community.

I’d only made it a few steps before I felt a tug on my sleeve. I looked down to see Tokiko pinching my sleeve between her fingers.

“Decided to walk me to the bus after all?” I chuckled. She declined to respond.

I started walking as she paced me, soon a finger hooked my elbow and was joined by several others. By the time we made it to the bus stop, both her hands were wrapped around my arm, and she was leaning into me.

I dropped my bags with a sigh, and took a deep breath. Even as early as it was, it was warm. It always was in late September, though.

Tokiko followed me to the bench, where we both sat down. She continued to cling to me. I wrapped an arm around her, pulling her close.

“For a minute there, I didn’t think you’d come” I said. She looked away from me, refusing to catch my eye. “I know you’re going to miss me, Toki-Chan, but I have to finish school. There aren’t any schools around here, and Tokyo has the best one.”

“... !” She mumbled, unintelligibly.

“You’ll have to speak up, Toki-Chan, I can’t hear you.” I said. She glared up at me.

“Don’t call me that!” She cried. I laughed.

“Aww, Toki-Chan, I’ve always called you that!” I said. She pouted.

“I’m not a baby anymore!” She flared. Now, THIS was a rarity! When she did speak, you could barely hear her. To her her yell, was unheard of.

“Ok, ok, Toki-Ch ... Tokiko. I can see you’ve grown up.”I said, a clear and total lie. Tokiko looked more like a grade 4-5 than the grade 6-7 she was supposed to be.

She refused to look at me, unspeaking, unmoving until she flinched as the bus came over the hill.

I gathered up my bags and got out my bus pass. Tokiko tried to hide the tears in her eyes as she allowed me to hug her. You can imagine my shock and surprise when Tokiko threw her arms around my head and hissed me on the lips. It was no innocent kiss, either, as I felt her tongue touch my lips.

“I love you, Oniichan...” she said in barely a whisper. I patted her head.

“I love you too, Toki-Chan.” I said, climbing on the bus. I flashed my pass at the driver and found a seat near the back of the bus. I looked out the window to see Tokiko watching me, openly crying, tears streaming down her face. I wanted to hold her, to take her tears away, but we both needed this. That kiss drove home my suspicions that Tokiko had romantic feelings for me. I honestly couldn’t say for sure that her feelings weren’t mutual. If I had stayed much longer maybe something would’ve happened between us.

The bus lurched forward, Tokiko ran alongside for a bit. I waved to her, and she waved back, waving until I lost sight of her.

I took a deep breath and sighed, leaning back in my seat. To tell the truth, Tokiko wasn’t really my sister. Her family was in a horrible traffic accident when she was 5, only Tokiko survived. She’d been almost mute since then. The authorities placed her with my mother and I, being distantly related. My own father had abandoned us before my second birthday.

Tokiko had been to professionals, doctors, shrinks, etc. she tested incredibly high, genius level, she wasn’t mute, obviously. She just didn’t have much to say. Possibly a personality change due to an injury from the accident.

I liked having her around. It was nice to have someone’s adoration, it was going to be lonely in my apartment without her. Maybe I could finally get a girlfriend. That would break Tokiko’s heart, I’d have to keep it a secret, though. It would be nice to no longer be a virgin, as well.

My mind wandered to a time when Tokiko found one of my lolicon mangas; I thought she’d be enraged, but she just tossed it to me with a small smile on her face.

Had she read it?! I thought, horrified. If I remember correctly, that was an imouto manga, and not a clean one. She must’ve thought I was a pig.

I gave a mental shrug, it had been over a year ago, maybe she hadn’t actually opened it. The content was pretty vanilla and romantic, there wasn’t any tentacle rape or bondage or anything like that.

Come to think of it, that was when she started getting so touchy-feely. Boy, this was really starting to sound like an eroge pc game...

I had an hour until I got to the train station, I decided to take a nap. Once on the train, it was two hours to Tokyo.

I took a taxi to my dingy dorm apartment, chased down the manager and retrieved my key. I found my room door and mailbox, and unlocked the door.

The hollow tin sound closing the door echoed throughout the room. Concrete walls, small bathroom and shower, small bed, small table, desk, smart tv, dresser, microwave, small fridge and light. The musty cement smell reminded of a parking garage, minus the car exhaust, with just a hint of cigarette smoke.

I sighed, and dropped my bags onto the bed. I called mom to let her know I made it ok.

Some idle chit chat and points of the trip, then mom brought up Tokiko.

“She cried for hours after you left. She actually cried herself to sleep. I don’t know what I’m going to do with that child.” She said.

“Are you trying to make me come back? I don’t know what to do. I hope she’s going to be ok.” I said. I couldn’t help but feel guilty, Christmas holidays were coming, she’d be able to see me then.

“No, no Kenji-kun. You stay in school.” She said.

Some nondescript banter and we said our goodbyes. I asked mom to give Tokiko a hug for me.

I put away my clothes in the dresser, put my toiletries in the bathroom, and laid out my books for the morning. A quick shower had me ready for bed, though it wasn’t very late. I futzed around for a bit, discovered the tv only got two channels. But my phone would link to it, so I could watch whatever I could stream.

A couple of hours later, I was nodding off. I set my alarm and rolled over. Even though I was nervous about class tomorrow, sleeping in a strange bed, in a strange room, a hundred miles from home, I fell right to sleep.

The alarm came crashing t into my dreams. I quelled it, took care of my morning constitutional. A fast shave, threw my uniform on, grabbed my books, and headed out.

The school grounds were moderately close, only about a twenty minute walk. I made it to my first class with ten minutes to spare.

The day progressed pretty much as you would expect it to; racing between classes, listening to the boring synopsis of the class, running to the school book store for the extra books I needed.

The walk home was exhausting, though I was already exhausted. I fell in the door, dropped my book bags, and collapsed onto the bed, I was out before my head hit the pillow.

I awoke in the middle of the night and reached for Tokiko. I felt around, but she was nowhere to be found. Then I remembered where I was. Exhausted and lonely, I wanted to cry, but held it in.

I awoke, bedraggled and tired, having no rest during the night. I had never lived anywhere but home, never slept in anyone’s bed but mine, (barring school camp) and for the last two years, most nights Tokiko would find her way into my bed. Always chaste, she just seemed to be lonely.

Having to adjust suddenly was proving quite difficult.

I made it through the day, I found that meals in the school cafeteria were only slightly higher than what it would cost for me to make them. A fairly hearty bowl of simple ramen cost about thirty percent more than a package of instant ramen. This saved time and energy; I didn’t have to worry about it when I got ‘home’.

Shortly after arriving home, my phone rang.

“Hello, son.” It was mom!

“Hello, Okaasan. How was your day?” I asked.

“It was productive. Fujitsusan gave me a red snapper, very delicious!’ She said, excitedly.

“What of Toki-Chan?” I asked. Heavy sigh.

“That girl. She misses you, but she needs to learn to be independent! Girl! You want to talk to Kenji-Kun? No? Sorry, Kenjiro. You know she pestered me for a phone today? She wrote me a note!”

I thought for a moment, a phone would be a good thing for her, she could text to her hearts content. AND I could keep in touch with her, so she didn’t get too lonely, of course.

“I think you should, one that sends text messages, like mine. I said.

“I think I will, maybe tomorrow. Ok, you get some rest, study hard, make me money!” She chuckled.

“Ok, Okaasan, I will. I’m pretty tired, anyway.” I said. Mom hung up, and I laid back on the bed. Not that I had any time to text Tokiko with this class schedule. Maybe I’d bitten off more than I could chew...

I was asleep in minutes, having forgotten to take a shower.

I arrived at the train station with seconds to spare, feeling grungy due to the lack of a shower. I just had time to shave and grab my books before it was too late.

I was nodding off during class, I don’t think anyone noticed though. I finally got some sleep, but the last few nights of sleeplessness had caught up to me.

“You’d better get a handle on that, before you get caught.” Came a voice behind me. A voice? Higher than a man’s voice, but not at all squeaky, with a touch of rasp. A mezzo-soprano, probably a colotura mezzo.

I turned to see the smiling face of a very beautiful girl, my own age. The thing that struck me most was the pink hair ... Flashy. Not really my type.

“It’s been hard to get used to, sleeping in a strange bed, in a strange room. I think I’m getting the hang of it, though, I actually got some sleep last night.” I said. She grinned and rummaged in her voluminous bag. Her face lit up with joy when she found what she was looking for.