Walking out of the apartment, Masaru finally let go of Daitaro, who first glanced at the black-haired boy before looking towards the building.
"I know you want to go back for Daiki but don't."
"But..."
"Nothing's going to happen, don't worry," Masaru said as he smiled at him. "Besides, I'm sure they'll come soon. Daiki can't be away from you for long after all."
"Haha, well, I'd say that's mutual..., but yeah, you're right, I'm sure they'll be here in no time"
"Then let's go" Masaru tugged him lightly, motivating him to follow. As soon as Daitaro heeded, the two walked in the store's direction.
"I'm sorry I didn't help you in the kitchen, I know that was wrong..."
"It's okay, I know you don't do it because you don't want Daiki to resent you or feel bad, but, I think that's enough. He may be scared, but we just have to try not to burn the kitchen or cause something so disastrous that could make our uncle kick us out."
"Yes... I know that's ideal, although I thank you for forcing the situation like that" Daitaro said with a smile. "Now we can go to the store without any problems."
"So you were waiting for me to do this?"
"But of course, I can't waste the opportunity of you taking the responsibility of deciding against Daiki away from me, hehe..." Daitaro looked a bit embarrassed by his thoughts. "You know I don't have a hard time saying no to him if I feel he's wrong, but this was a special situation."
"I know, I imagine it's harder since he's your twin."
"Yeah, I think it's something like that... Maybe something like a super empathy between twins? Sometimes I think we can tell what the other is thinking"
"Sometimes? Wouldn't it be all the time? You two seem to have powers" Masaru suggested very amused by that.
"I guess it's the connection we have from being identical twins" said Daitaro as he looked at Hachi very pleased. "Right, Hachi?"
"Woof!!!" at the cute scene, Masaru couldn't help but notice....
"You sure like to say you're twins. It's like you're proud of that."
"Of course! I love that we're twins, it's what feels most natural."
"Well... Of course it feels natural since you know nothing different"
"Hehe, yeah, I guess... But that's just the way it is."
"And it doesn't bother you that Daiki doesn't feel the same way?"
"Of course it doesn't. I know Daiki feels comfortable with that too, he's just not very honest with how he feels a lot of the time... Hm, though I guess it must also bother him sometimes not being seen as his own person. You know, like being mistaken for me or when I'm mistaken for him."
"Though it shouldn't be that way, maybe there's not much difference physically but your personalities make it easy to tell who's who. Daiki always seems to be in a bad mood and you are the opposite,”
"Yeah... Too bad people think I'm much more short tempered than him" Daitaro smiled with some sadness at this.
The two paused to first check if any cars were coming and then crossed the street.
"Which reminds me, I noticed you wanted to call me by my nickname at the apartment, are you still holding back for Daiki?"
"Yeah... I guess we're similar in that way, though more than not wanting to hurt him, I just don't want him to be angry all day" Masaru explained. "I'm having a hard time not calling you ‘Rage', but I think it's best to restrain myself in front of him."
"Hmm... You shouldn't do that, Daiki has to get used to the fact that it's okay for you to call me that" said Daitaro "Because you know well that the nickname doesn't bother me when it comes from you."
“Rage..."
"Daiki knows that you don't mean anything bad by it, he even knows why you call me that but he still gets angry… There's no reason for him to be. I don't like him comparing you to our classmates at school."
"Maybe..., but I understand, it's not easy seeing how others behave when they hear the nickname, although well... It's not like they need to hear it at this point” Masaru said, sounding dejected.
"Masaru, I don't want you to stop calling me ‘Rage’ because of other people, not even Daiki."
"But..."
"If you were able to bring me along by force as long as I opposed Daiki... I want you to ignore him when he gets angry for that reason."
"I don't know..."
"If he says anything to you, I'll be sure to scold him, okay?"
"You've told me that before, but I think you underestimate how easily he explodes. This is when I say that I don't mind making him angry, but when it comes down to this..."
"Masaru! Don't say that, I promise the next time he gets angry I'll ask him to stop reacting like that. The nickname ‘Rage' has always been cool to me, I wouldn’t have used it whenever we played video games otherwise."
"Well, you still use it when we play whatever allows nicknames..."
"And there Daiki doesn't say anything because he knows the meaning of the nickname, it shouldn't be a bad thing, it just makes me sound more intimidating and imposing than I really am" Daitaro suggested.
"Yeah... Although now that I think about it, I don't remember when was the last time you got really angry, hm" Masaru considered this for a few seconds. Yes his brother's nickname was ironic considering his personality, though... "But even if you don’t get angry easily, they say that the people who smile the most are the scariest when they do get angry, so I guess it's a good thing that you don’t get upset"
"You think? Well... I guess the last time I got angry was when..." Daitaro kept silent and stopped walking shortly after. He didn't understand the reason, but he couldn't help but think that what he was saying was something he had said before. The black-haired boy looked at him curiously.
“Rage?"
"..." Daitaro held his forehead, causing Masaru to look at him somewhat concerned.
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah, it's nothing, it's just..." Daitaro pulled his hand away before smiling at his brother in a comforting way. "I think I just had déjà vu."
"Déjà vu?"
"Yeah... That feeling of already having done or said something, I'd say I feel I've been here before too, but we always walk down this street."
"Wow..., well, who knows, maybe we are walking this way in another reality and that's why you felt that?"
"Do you think that could be it?"
"Could be..., if we think about parallel universes, surely there is another version of us walking through here. Maybe it's your connection to that other reality."
"Hmm..." Daitaro considered this, thinking he may be right, though... "Doesn't it make you nervous to think about that? Maybe it's better to think that this might have already happened and I just remembered it."
"Ah? Don't you like to think about there being another reality? I find the idea interesting... Besides it makes more sense than time travel."
"Well, I admit it is interesting... Although it does kind of scare me to think about how different another version of me might be" as he thought about this, he fixated on his brother's words. "Why does that make more sense?"
"Because assuming one travels in time and changes something, if we think about parallel universes... Wouldn't we be creating another reality? Maybe the future you get by changing the past is just one more of those universes were the future is different"
"Uh..." Feeling lost for a moment, Daitaro let out a brief chuckle. "If Mitsuru is obsessed with video games, you sure are interested in science fiction topics, aren't you?"
"I don't think so, it's true that it sounds like that, but I think I'm more interested in the supernatural."
"Like werewolves or ghosts?'
"Like souls, ghosts, reincarnations... Alternate lives and stuff like that" Masaru explained excitedly "Supernatural doesn't always have to be related to monsters after all"
"But you just mentioned ghosts..."
"Not in the terrifying sense, I mean the souls of people wandering in familiar places without being able to go to the afterlife” the green-eyed boy happily explained "I like to think that there is something more after death".
"Haha... Masaru, I've never understood your interest in death. Thinking about it makes me uncomfortable.... "
"It's just... Wouldn't it be nice to think that mom and dad are watching us from somewhere? I like to think that someday we'll be able to see them again, and they'll tell us that they were watching over us."
"..." Daitaro was speechless from one moment to the next, he hadn't thought that his parents might come up in the conversation, though... If he pondered on what Masaru had said, he was right. The thought of his parents watching over them really alleviated his heart.
"Hey, wait up!" Daiki exclaimed from a distance. The two boys stopped and turned to see their two brothers walking in a hurry.
Masaru smiled at this, raised his arm and waved it animatedly.
"I knew you two would come!"
"Yes! Daiki can't be at peace without Daitaro!” Mitsuru replied.
Daiki and Daitaro exchanged glances. Daitaro smiled at him, very happy to see him, while Daiki blushed and pouted at him.
As soon as they approached, Daiki handed something to Daitaro, who immediately saw what it was.
"Ah, my wallet..."
"Are you guys stupid?, what were you planning to buy if you didn't have any money on you?” Daiki asked. "That's all we came for, not anything else."
"Woof!" At the bark, Daiki looked at the little puppy, and couldn't help but pet its head. The others smiled at this, as it was curious to see Daiki being gentler.
"I'm surprised you came, Mitsuru," Masaru said. "I thought you'd stay behind and play."
"I would have done that, but Daiki dragged me along while he kept repeating that he had to catch up with you two" At what was said, Daiki frowned, not too happy that his blue-eyed brother was a tattletale.
"Really? Hachi and I missed you too" Daitaro said.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever" Daiki said as he stepped to Daitaro's side. Knowing what his twin wanted, Daitaro handed Hachi to Mitsuru, this, so he could hold Daiki's hand.
Masaru and Mitsuru smirked, but Daiki simply ignored them. Daitaro tugged him lightly and they both kept walking. The other two didn't lag behind and thus arrived at the store, where Mitsuru waited with Daiki near the cash registers, while the other two went inside to get the ingredients. The reason, of course, was because they could not enter with Hachi beyond that area.
