Chapter Text
No way.
“You're unbelievable!” she yells at Minamimoto, entering the living room. “You had one job. I said, hey, I put the clothes in the washing machine, make sure to take it out after it's done because if you don't we won't have any clothes to wear and it's gonna stink. And you didn't! You had one job!”
“You watch your tone, zeptogram,” Minamimoto points at her with his megaphone. God, where did he even get it? Always popped out of nowhere. “I have a million things better to do than to tend to the stupid washing machine!”
“Well, congrats, smarty-pants! We have no clothes now!” Shoka is so close to throwing her cellphone at his face. “Ugh, thanks a lot, loser! Now I have no clothes to change to. I have to hang out with the Twisters, remember? Let me guess, you don't, because you have a miiiiillion better things to do than listening to me.”
“Heh. That's correct.”
“Ugh! I hate you!” Shoka throws her hands up. “You're the worst roommate in the world!”
“If you stopped having such a simple-minded answer to all your equations, you'd realize this isn't a problem,” Minamimoto says. Shoka frowns. “I have some old clothes. You'll fit.”
“I am not putting on anything that's ever been on your skin,” Shoka grumbles. “Must smell like garbage.”
“Heh. Your loss.”
...Okay, fine, Shoka'll bite. Shiki is hanging out with them today and she really loves her, so, fine, whatever, she'll live. When she voices this out loud, Minamimoto breaks into a grin and goes to his room. A while later, he exits with a very simple outfit—definitely not Shoka's style, but whatever. A black t-shirt with four buttons on each side and black ripped jeans. It's not terrible, but it'll do.
“You know you're taller than me, right? This will be huge.”
“You'll work it out,” he says, throwing it at her. “Solve it yourself.”
So Shoka does. She tucks the t-shirt inside the jeans and then she puts on a belt to make sure the jeans don't fall off. It's not terrible, but still, not something she'd wear. Right. For Shiki. How can she pass up the opportunity to hang out more with her idol?
She finally comes back to the living room, gathering her things, and Minamimoto smiles. “9/10. The old cap is what makes the outfit, but minus that miscalculation, you look zetta nice.”
“Thanks, I guess,” Shoka answers. “Where's the cap, then?”
Minamimoto cackles. “Why don't you ask your zeptograms that?”
Odd, but okay. Sure. Shoka won't press it. “I put the clothes to wash again. If I come back and find you didn't do your job, I will set your junk pile on fire.”
Minamimoto doesn't answer her, so she just takes her things and leaves. Hopefully nobody thinks she looks too ridiculous.
“... Nice clothes,” Neku comments, staring at her. He's tagged along to eat with Shiki. “Raided the Grim Heaper's closet?”
“Minamimoto? Yeah, he didn't do our laundry,” Shoka rolls her eyes. “Hope this isn't too weird.”
“Looks cute on you,” Shiki says, and Shoka beams at her.
“Thank you!” she grins. “He did say that the outfit is missing a cap, and that I should ask my friends about it. I don't know what he meant, though.”
“Man, is he still mad about that?” Neku rubs his neck, looking anywhere but at her.
“... Did you take his cap?”
Neku sighs.
A short story later, Shoka exclaims, “You robbed his corpse?!”
hey loser
i don't really feel good. can you pick me up from school
they don't let you leave unless you have your parentns or a guardian
and i feel really bad
MINAMIMOTO
no
UGH COME ON
I WONT EVEN ASK YOU TO WALK ME HOME
I JUST DONT WANNA BE HERE
i know youre online!!!!!
MINAMIMOTO
send coordinates
Location
just tell em youre my brother or smth
stepbrother. whatever. it works
In what seems to be the most annoying forty minutes of Shoka's life, the door to her classroom finally opens, and the principal peeks his head in as Minamimoto takes it to straight up enter the classroom.
“Sakurane,” says the principal, no doubt slightly intimidated by Minamimoto, “your brother is here to pick you up. We will be waiting for you downstairs.”
“Don't be too slow,” Minamimoto grins at her, and honestly, Shoka feels so shitty that him being so weird cheers her up a little.
He leaves, and quickly, Shoka's worst five minutes of her life begin.
“Shoka, your brother is sooooo hot,” one of her classmates says, hands clasped together and eyes glinting. “You never said you had a brother!”
Shoka gags. “He's gross!”
Fret, who takes this class with her, hurries to pipe up from a few seats away. “Mr. Mi—um, Shoka's brother is so hot,” he agrees, nodding, “He's so cool! He calls me a zeptogram, which means he totally cares about me.”
“He gives you nicknames?!” another classmate pops up. “I'm so jealous! He's soooo dreamy!”
“I'm going to die and not because of this fever,” Shoka says, grabbing her bag and hurrying out. “My brother is not hot. He's lame and likes maths! Stop talking about him!”
Even as she closes the door behind her, she can hear people swooning, and yup. That's it. She'd rather pass out from a fever than ever listening to people swoon over her brother.
Not brother. Fake brother. Fuck!
As Shoka agonizes on her bed, Minamimoto opens the door and throws a bag at her. Shoka weakly catches it.
“Medicine,” he explains. “Should help with the fever.”
Not a single Math pun? Guess there are no words to say fever in math-speak. Shoka grins. “Thank you.”
He closes the door, and for one moment, Shoka wishes he stayed.
Maybe it's because she's down with the flu, and it makes her miss being taken care of. Having a family member fuss over her and make sure she's eating, staying with her until her fever dies down. Whatever. She's a big girl. She can take care of herself, thanks.
On the second day of Shoka's flu, Minamimoto approaches her on the couch. Shoka's moved from suffering in bed to suffering on the couch, which is huge progress. He's carrying a bowl of soup and wordlessly sits down next to her, turning on the TV.
Shoka blinks. “You did this for me?”
“Can't have you getting erased by such a simple equation like the flu ,” Minamimoto explains. He opens Netflix and Shoka watches him as he picks Slammurai again.
Shoka drinks her soup slowly. It tastes like instant soup, but the fact that he got it for her is pretty sweet. And he's making her company while they watch a stupid show.
“Thank you,” she says.
“Sentimentality is garbage. Save it for others,” he replies, but he does look a tiiiny flustered. He plays the first episode of the third season and Shoka really tries hard to follow the plot.
… but her mind gets a little distracted, thinking about how it's not so terrible, having Minamimoto as her brother.