Chapter Text
“Motoki, are you sure you want to do this?” His mom asked.
“Yes. Never been more sure of anything.” Mo replied, slipping on his jacket.
“Alright then, don’t forget your backpack.”
His mom left the room to go start the car. Mo put some rings on before picking up the pastel backpack. He was thinking about bringing his own but the pastel one sent a message. There was still a bit of blood in it. Mo looked at it before gripping the bag tightly and slinging it over his shoulder. His mom looked in the mirror when Mo got in and sighed.
“We’ll see him today after school.” His mother said as she pulled out of the driveway.
His expression darkened at the mention of it.
“Alright.”
When they pulled to the front of the school, no one was really outside since it was chilly, so he could easily surprise the school.
“Don’t cause any trouble now. Love you, sweetheart.” His mom said.
“Love you too,” Mo said before stepping out.
When he got out, he got a good look at the school and smirked. This will be fun.
Flashback
“He’s got two broken ribs, a twisted ankle, sprained arm, and the scar on his cheek might be permanent.” The doctor said, “He also has multiple bruises, which should heal in a few months.”
Mo was absolutely furious. He was sitting in a chair beside his brother, who was sleeping peacefully, when he stood up and stormed out. He needed a plan, a plan to make those little bastards pay.
“Motoki? Where are you going?” His mother called.
He went around the corner to an empty hallway and just let out a shaky sigh before his eyes burned with tears. His full name is Motoki Asakura, and the one injured was his twin brother Jo. He was born only a few minutes before Jo, he’s the older of the two. He should’ve protected him. Motoki wiped his eyes before an idea came to mind. He smiled through his tears, but it wasn’t a happy one.
End of Flashback
Here’s a bit of information on the twins. Jo was the bubbly younger twin, he was kind, happy, and dressed in bright pastel colors that complimented him and his personality. Jo always called Motoki, Mo. Mo dressed in darker shades which matched his more stronger and slightly aggressive side. Unlike his bright twin, Mo got angry easily, especially if someone hurt his brother. It wasn’t that Jo was a bad person or anything really. They took his kindness as a weakness and was picked on often. When they were little kids, Mo got into fights because people took advantage of the sweeter boy. Because of that, Mo was sent to a boarding school at 10 years old to get his anger under control.
“Take care of yourself, ok?” Mo said, gently grabbing Jo by the shoulders. “Call me every night or whenever you can.”
Jo smiled at Mo and nodded, hugging the other tightly.
“You take care of yourself too, I’ll see you during the holidays,” Jo murmured.
Mo nodded before grabbing his suitcase and climbing into the car with their dad. The two waved to each other goodbye, one in the doorway of their home and the other in the passenger seat. After Mo went to a different school, Jo also moved to a different one, where no one knew him or knew he had a twin brother. He was now a sophmore in high school and no one had a clue. The school had 2006-2007 born students in freshman year, 2004-2005 are in sophmore year, 2002-2003 junior year, and 2000-2001 in senior year that school year. Mo got to the door and opened it a bit dramatically before stepping inside. When people looked up, they were stunned. Jo usually wore light-colored shirts or cardigans, anything that complimented his personality, including pretty jewelry. Mo wore a grey t-shirt and leather jacket as well as black pants and rings that were pointy. The smirk on Mo’s face was almost unsettling as he walked past people, his aura incredibly different from his brother, and it sent shivers down their spines. He found his brother's locker and opened it calmly, putting his brother's backpack in when he heard snickers coming towards him. His eyes flicked to the side, and Mo recognized him. His brother brought this guy up once, this one kid who wasn’t the nicest. He looked like a stereotypical douchebag, and by the way he was eyeing and laughing at Mo, he had no clue.
“Well, we’ll Jo. That’s a pretty nice outfit, too bad you aren’t fooling-”
Before the male could finish, Mo slammed the locker shut and then grabbed the bully by the shirt.
“Not trying to shithead,” Mo replied.
The bullying looked stunned, everyone did, but the idiot tried not to show how flustered he was.
“Who are you to talk to me like that?” The bully asked loudly, trying to get away from Mo’s grasp.
Before anyone could react, Mo threw the male down and started to punch him. Hard. After multiple punches, the bully's friends managed to pull Mo off of him.
“FUCK OFF FROM NOW ON!” Mo roared before shoving off the goons and walking away.
It felt exhilarating to fight, but he never hurt an innocent person. This person was in no way near innocent. He walked away, going to his brother’s first period, when he heard hurried footsteps. He turned around and grabbed the wrist of a hand that suddenly grabbed his shoulder.
“Ow! Jo you’re hurting me!” Mo turned to look at a male who seemed younger than him.
He knew his brother?
“Oh, uhm… sorry. Who are you?” Mo asked.
The younger male looked confused, then frightened.
“No, no, no..”
The younger male’s arms shot out, and Mo was going to dodge, but something about him told him to stay still. The younger male gently grabbed his head, scanning his face.
“Please tell me you didn’t lose your memory, it's me, Maki!” The younger male said softly.
Mo’s body relaxed, and his expression softened at the Maki. His brother spoke of Maki a little bit during their phone calls, and the pictures of the two came to mind.
“Of course, I remember you, my brain wasn't working, and I blanked out. I’m sorry.”
Mo had only ever been this soft with Jo and very few close friends. The younger male seemed hesitant before relaxing and hugging the other. Mo sighed quietly and hugged Maki back. From what he could remember, Maki was 2 years younger than him, and Jo with a personality just as bright as his brother’s.
“You just beat the crap out of someone and you're acting like nothing happened,” Maki said in awe. “You don’t even look like he just beat you up a few days ago. I was so worried, you went radio silent and your mom wouldn’t tell me if you were ok or not.”
“I’m ok, and I’m sorry for worrying you.” Mo said softly, gently patting Maki’s head. “Go to class, I’ll see you during lunch?”
Maki nodded and walked away. Mo let out a quick breath before jogging to class. When he stepped in, he saw people whispering behind their hands, which he didn’t mind. He smirked and found his brother's seat. Throughout the lesson, he sneakily looked at his phone for any updates on his brother but nothing. The school day flew by, and almost no one approached him. Well except Maki and a few others.
“Jo! Over here!”
Mo scanned his eyes to see Maki with a few other people. He walked over, receiving a few stares and some wide-eyed looks, especially from the people at his table. He sat down, and the cafeteria slowly started buzzing again, no one would be paying attention to their conversation. Mo scanned the table and recognized the faces from the pictures his brother sent him. Harua, Junwon, Gaku, and Hayate.
“That’s an interesting change, Jo. Don’t get me wrong, you look amazing no matter what, but what made you decide to change your style?” Hayate asked.
“I’m not sure, I just sorta decided to change,” Mo said with a shrug.
The male nodded and continued eating. The rest of them began to eat when Mo realized he was out of water. He stared at his food before hearing a slight thud in front of him and he looked up. Junwon had set a water bottle in front of him, Mo looked at the waterbottle then looked Junwon. The older male smiled.
“Stay hydrated, I had an extra on me,” Junwon said.
“Thank you.”
Almost everyone at the table was Japanese, Jo mentioned to Mo about a group of guys being exchange students from Korea and another one from Taiwan. Junwon was one of them. Junwon, Harua, and Maki were talking, so Mo turned to Hayate.
“How’s it going being president?” Mo asked.
His brother mentioned the elections during the school year Hayate being elected as president.
“Going through a lot of paperwork right now, it’s honestly so boring.”
Mo chuckled and smiled to himself. This group of friends seemed so kind. He was glad there were people for his brother.
Jo woke up, his mind was kind of hazy as he tried to sit up but cried out in pain.
“Jo? Oh my gosh, Jo! Doctor, he’s awake!” He heard a voice yell.
Doctor? He laid back down, groaning. He looked up to see doctor running over and checking on him. After a few minutes, the doctor let out a sigh.
“Other than the initial injuries, nothing has changed. I’ll give you a moment to talk.” The doctor said, walking out of the room.
Jo looked to the side to see his dad sitting in the chair next to the hospital bed. Wait… hospital?
“You were beaten up by bullies. It was bad.” His dad said quietly.
Jo frowned at how tired his father looked, he looked like he hadn’t slept for days.
“What day is it?”
“Thursday… you’ve been asleep since Tuesday.” His dad said softly.
“Shit.. what about school?”
“You’ll find out later.” His dad said. “Are you hungry?”
Jo nodded and after his dad left, he remembered what happened.
Flashback
Punch after punch, Jo curled into a ball and tried to protect himself.
“JO!”
Jo turned his head and saw Junwon and Harua holding Maki back as Gaku and Hayate was leading the principal and multiple teachers. Junwon and Harua had tears burning in their eyes while Maki was sobbing. Harua pulled Maki into a tight hug as Gaku was talking to an officer, Hayate, about to pounce on one of the bullies. Junwon grabbed Hayate, and Jo slowly unraveled. He thought he could get up without being punched. Before the teacher grabbed the bully, the male saw the opening and knocked Jo out.
"JO!"
End of flashback
What the hell.
“Excited to see him Motoki? He woke up an hour ago.” His mom asked, driving through the freeway.
“Yeah! Does he know I’m here?” Mo asked.
“No, it’s a bit of a surprise!”
Mo smiled, and after they checked in he ran into his brother’s room.
“Why won’t you tell me about the surprise?”
“Because the surprise is here.” Their dad said, looking up as Mo came inside.
Jo turned, and his eyes lit up. He went to sit up, but he jostled his ribs, making him lie back down. Mo felt tears in his eyes, but he blinked them away and walked over.
“Hey, little brother,” Mo said softly.
“You’re only a few minutes older,” Jo replied.
Mo chuckled and gently hugged Jo, careful not to hurt his injuries.
“I missed you,” Jo whispered.
“I missed you too. Why didn’t you tell anyone that you were being bullied? It never should've gotten. to this point.”
“It’s been going on for years… I thought I could handle it. Plus, I didn’t want to bother anyone with it”
Mo frowned but nodded.
Flashback
It was the middle of class, notes were over, so students were either studying or talking to friends. Mo was doing the latter when his phone rang loudly. He picked up the phone, and hearing his mother’s frantic voice on the other end terrified him.
“Mom, what’s wrong?” Mo asked.
“Go to your dorm and pack your things right now, don’t worry about getting in trouble I’ll be calling the principal to give you time off.” His mom said quickly.
“But I don’t understand, what’s going on?”
“I can’t tell you much right now, but Jo’s in the hospital, I’ll fill you in later. I’m texting you your airplane ticket and sending you money for a taxi.” His mom said.
“Mom I-”
But his mom hung up. Mo packed all of his things into his backpack, which earned confusion among his friends until he ran out, not stopping despite the teacher’s calling. What happened? He thought as he found his key to his dorm room and walked in. His phone pinged, and he looked down. His flight was in 3 hours. He was in a boarding school in Aomori He found a suitcase and packed as many clothes as quickly as possible. He emptied his backpack and packed a book, his passport, some earbuds, as well as his laptop with him. After he packed his toothbrush, paste, soaps, and shoes, he checked the time. 2 hours and 30 minutes. He grabbed his stuff and walked to the main office. The secretary looked up, and when she saw him, she looked sympathetic.
“Don’t worry about the taxi fare, we paid for it for you. Get home safe.” The lady said softly.
Mo smiled back, he still had no idea what was happening, but he nodded in thanks. Just then, a taxi car drove up, and he left the building and stepped inside. Checking in was a breeze, and he had checked his suitcase in pretty fast. He sat down at his gate and called his mom.
“Hey Motoki, did you check in alright?” His mom asked.
Though he could tell his mom was trying to stay calm, it was obvious she was in distress.
“Yes, mom, what happened? Why is Jo in the hospital?” Mo asked.
He heard his mother sigh before explaining.
“Sweetheart, your brother was bullied for a little while now. He never told us, and today we got a call from the school saying Jo was admitted into the hospital after being beaten up by a student.”
End of Flashback
“So, what have you been doing?” Jo asked.
“I went to your school. I might have gone in your place today…” Mo said quietly.
“What?”
“I also might’ve beaten up the guy who beat you up.”
“YOU WHAT?” Jo and his mother yelled in unison.
“I told you not to get into any trouble.” Their mom said, facepalming.
Mo gave her an apologetic smile and she shook her head.
“I’ll leave you two to catch up a bit.” their mother said, standing up and leaving the little room.
After a moment, Jo broke the silence.
“How did you beat him up?”
“Punched him. I met Maki by the way.”
Jo raised an eyebrow at that and Mo smiled.
“He seemed sweet, the words you used to describe him didn’t do him justice.”
Jo chuckled. He missed these moments with her brother.