'You're like this ugly yokai.'

She clenched her fists. She didn't realize it but her whole body was trembling. She was thankful that the room was relatively dark so that her hair managed to veil her eyes as she glared at him at the other side of the desk.

'I really don't like people like you. I hate everything about your mindset, and yet those idiots persist on labeling us siblings. You think you've got everyone under your thumb, but that's just arrogance. You can't control everybody. You can't predict everything.

'You think you're perfect. Absolute, was it? But there's this flaw you have that's dead ahead of you that you can't even see. That's just how pathetic you really are. You're only human. You're no different from me or the rest of us.'

His fingers remained clutching the single shogi piece. His hand was in mid-motion.

Snip, snippity, snip.

Blowing from the west

Fallen leaves gather

In the East.

- Buson

Ashikaga Shinako lugged her two large school bags behind her as she made her way towards the several large pin-boards against the entrance of the school building. It was the beginning of the last term of her first year.

She skimmed through the heavily-printed charts until her eyes had fallen upon her name: Ashikaga S, class 1 B, grade aggregate 97%.

And there it was again. The name - without a doubt - that once again hovered above hers: Akashi S, class 1 A, grade aggregate 100%.

It bothered her in the slightest... Only in the slightest though. She never allowed her term academic aggregate to bother her. She didn't care about her top position in the grade. All she cared about was passing well. 100, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95... As long as she passed well, she was content.

But this Akashi S...

'Ah, check it out, guys...' a group of students gathered in front of her only a foot away from the boards.

'Yeah, those two again... I'm not surprised.'

'The siblings, man, I'm so jealous. They should at least give us normal kids a chance.'

'Ashikaga S, class 1 B... Ah, Shinako-san?'

Their conversation piqued her interest slightly... Only in the slightest though. Siblings? Their words didn't surprise her. It wasn't long ago when a classmate of hers approached her about the subject.

'Shinako-san, you really don't know who Akashi is?'

She didn't know why she needed to anyway. Her blank expression spoke a thousand words about her feelings towards the matter, and her classmate gasped dramatically. 'Shinako-san! He's your rival and you know nothing about him! You two even look so similar, I must say I'm surprised he doesn't interest you in the least.'

Shinako harrumphed. 'His existence does not concern me.'

'Yeah, I swear they're related. Same red hair, and their eye colour is almost the same too.'

'Ah, don't lie, Shinako-san's eyes are yellow.'

'Yeah, but Akashi has two different eye colours, baka. They could totally pass as twins. Plus they're freaking geniuses. Just look at this board. It's been the same since the beginning of the year, and it's already almost winter.'

'Whoa, now that you mention it, even their names...'

Shinako hadn't stayed to listen to anymore. If she heard the name Akashi just once more, she was certain she would have fallen ill.

The day had gone by relatively ordinary. She had completed most of her homework in the single free lesson for the day, and made notes as fast as you can say Bob's your uncle. She was skilled at speed-working. She noticed this ever since her granddad pointed it out to her when he had at one stage in her middle school requested her help in transferring his haiku notes to a new journal he bought. Ever since then, she had utilized this skill and applied it to her school work. And without fail, it called upon academic success.

'Meet me in the library as soon as you're done here, Riko,' Shinako called behind her at the end of their afternoon registration.

Riko - a fellow classmate of hers - nodded and turned back to the conversation she held with her group of friends. Shinako wondered if she heard her, but decided against repeating herself and took off to the art room. It was still relatively early in the afternoon, and visiting the art club at this time of the day was ritual for her.

She slid open the classroom door and closed it behind her, making her way to the first desk in the front row. She had found the unruly clutter of the club across from theirs a horrid distraction whenever she worked at the back, not to mention the eyes her lone presence in the room would attract. She never really bothered to find out what club it was either. They uninterested her with their noise and unusual times of meeting, and boy, were there a lot of students in that club.

She turned her attention to the unzipped canvas in front of her. She laid out her equipment on the desk and placed the fine brush between her index and middle finger, creating long, fine strokes against the canvas above her light pencil sketches. Thick brushstrokes complimented the fine lines of the Japanese plum tree's outstretched arms.

The pear tree is in blossom.

In the moonlight

A woman reads a letter

The haiku by Buson was what had inspired the piece. It was during a late afternoon in her grandfather's condo when she sat on the raised deck of the exterior corridor of the home, watching the flowers in the wind. Her grandfather joined her not long after with his journal of short Japanese poems and read them to her.

Art was this thing that made her lose track of time. It was often when she worked on a piece intently that she would not realize she'd been locked in her room for over 3 hours straight.

Shinako quickly glanced at her phone and breathed out with relief when she noticed only fifteen minutes had passed. She packed her equipment; leaving only the canvas on the easel; and lugged her more important schoolbag over her shoulder as she closed the art room door behind her and made way to the library.

She messaged Riko, hoping she would already be waiting for her, and continued up the staircase. She entered the cold blanket of silence in the library, steadying her breathing as she greeted the teacher in charge and set down her bag at the entrance. There was no sign of Riko's belongings. Shinako never liked unreliable comrades. It was probably the reason why she made it a point never to get close to people.

Friends are disposable. They should all just remain that way, she thought, walking further down the library aisle. English was never exactly a subject she was strong in, but nonetheless, she gave it her best shot and grew fond of the language. Considering the grade was given the task of compiling a booklet about the history of English literature that was due in three days time, the class groaned as soon as the teacher handed out the criteria. Shinako, of course, wasn't bothered in the least by this. In fact, she viewed the ordeal with nonchalance. The quicker she could complete the team assignment, the better... But of course, without Riko - her partner - she was unsure whether or not to begin the assignment.

She glanced at the row of encyclopaedias and other helpful books with unease. She checked her cell phone. There was a reply from Riko: 'sorry, but I'll be a bit late will be at PC 15 though, so we can use the LAN'.

The disappointment hadn't bothered her. In fact she felt relieved that she could finally begin researching. She gathered a few books she assumed would aid her in her research and sat at a vacant computer stall. The machine grumbled to life and she signed into the local chat, networking with PC 15. It had been a while since she received Riko's reply. She glanced back at the library entrance and spotted her classmate's bag.

Rakuzan_11 has signed in

Rakuzan_11 says: Hey. 16.34

So I found some reliable sources.

Shinako glanced at the books beside her on the desk and listed them.

You should check them out. We can split the books. 16.37

She was irritated slightly by Riko's inability to reply on time to the messages... Irritated only in the slightest, though. She turned her attention to the books and skimmed through a few pages, before returning her attention to the one-sided chat box on the screen.

Riko. Respond. 16. 43

The library is quiet.

That sounds like a good way to start a haiku poem.

I'm quite tired. 16.47

Reply. It's common courtesy.

Say something. 16.49

At lest. 16.50

She sighed, closing the books as she stacked them neatly above one another and shoved her stationery into her pencil case. She was about to log off the chat when she noticed a new message on the screen.

Rakuzan_15 says: least**. 16.51

... Okay... She frowned at the screen, logging off without responding to that last message and gathered her things. Well wasn't Riko certainly acting odd.

She was about to stand from her seat when she looked up at the sound of clatter beside her. Riko skipped from the library entrance toward her, huffing as if she'd run a race just moments before, and she bowed.

'I'm sorry for being so late, Shinako-san...!' she whispered, quickly standing up straight again.

Shinako's eyes widened as Riko explained her story about being caught out by the library teacher for not returning some books from last term. 'I tried to message you, but the teacher kept seeing me trying to get my phone out, and that just made things even worse... Um... Shinako-san, are you okay?'

Then who was at PC 15?

A/N: Hello minna-san! ^.^ It's been a while since I've gotten down to some serious fan-fiction writing, but after reading some Akashi fanfics, I couldn't help but be immensely inspired by them. Hence, the birth of this story! It's my first posted KnB fanfic, so please treat me kindly.

Feedback is awesome, and you are awesome for reviewing/fav'ing/following this story!