Brothers Forever

Chapter 1

"Otō-san, why do you and Okā-san always treat Tetsuya differently?" the five year-old Akashi Seijūrō asked innocently one day. Akashi Seijūrō and Akashi Tetsuya were twins. Fraternal twins. Their parents had explained to them that it meant that they were non-identical twins, considering Seijūrō had red hair like Otō-san, while Tetsuya had teal-coloured hair like Okā-san.

The young but observant nonetheless Seijūrō noticed that his parents had always doted more on Tetsuya which made the redhead a little jealous. He knew Tetsuya was younger than him, but it was by only a few minutes! Tetsuya was also physically weaker, but they were still the same age and were raised by the same parents, do why did they treat Tetsuya with so much more care?

Seijūrō had asked that question out of curiosity one night after he and Tetsuya were fetched back from their kindergarten and while Tetsuya was bathing since he had a gut feel that Tetsuya was not to know. He had expected a verbal lashing since 'Akashis are not to be jealous', but Otō-san had just frowned slightly and instead replied, "You will not understand it now, Seijūrō. But in time, we will tell you both. Please do not let your brother know about this talk." Seijūrō had just nodded at Otō-san's stern look.

Little did he know that the reason why was not just a petty one, but rather a very serious one at that.

Six years later...

"Sei-nii, do you think basketball is fun?" Tetsuya, now in his fifth grade of elementary school, asked. He seemed to be expressionless but Seijūrō knew better. His brother was interested. Seijūrō and Tetsuya were switching channels on the large flat-screen television in their luxurious living room one night after they had finished their homework when Tetsuya had suddenly stopped Seijūrō. The channel had stopped at a live telecast of a basketball game.

"I didn't know you liked basketball, Tetsuya."

"I was just interested," Tetsuya denied, giving his Nii-san a pout. Seijūrō smirked in reply.

Seijūrō thought for a while. "Hm. Our school doesn't have a basketball club, unfortunately. Besides, you are already in the library club and the school does not allow us have more than one club. Perhaps we could ask Otō-san and Okā-san to buy us a basketball? Then we could use the street ball court near the school." Tetsuya smiled slightly and nodded.

Switching off the television, they walked up to the third floor of their large mansion. Seijūrō knocked thrice on the huge wooden doors which opened shortly a moment later by a teal-haired woman who looked a lot like Tetsuya.

"Yes, boys? Do you need something?"

Tetsuya nodded his head and asked politely, "Okā-san, could Sei-nii and I buy a basketball? Basketball looks so interesting." The twins had expected their mother to nod carefreely and give them some money to buy one, but her face paled more, if that was even possible since both she and Tetsuya were already as pale as a sheet of white paper.

After a moment of silence, their red-headed father appeared in the doorway and knelt down to their level. "Seijūrō, Tetsuya, I will allow both of you to purchase a basketball. However, remember not to overwork yourself," he said calmly, then passed the elder of the two a few notes. Shrugging off the unusual behaviour of Okā-san, they immediately ran to their room to keep the money that Otō-san had given them.

The next day after school, Seijūrō had texted their parents that they would be at the streetball court and would be back home at around six. Their parents had agreed. The two walked briskly to the shopping centre right after school since both were in the same class so neither had to find the other. It would really be cumbersome considering that the younger twin had such a low presence that even the teachers would not notice him sometimes, marking him as absent until they realised Seijūrō talking to someone. Seijūrō and Tetsuya even believed that some teachers and classmates did not even know that Tetsuya existed, let alone realise that both were brothers.

After they had purchased a seemingly good quality basketball with the money that Otō-san had given them, they walked to the streetball court. "Hm, I wonder who would be better at basketball," Seijūrō challenged.

"You will surely win," Tetsuya pouted. Both were taught that winning was everything but Tetsuya knew from young that even though both were about the same standard, he would always be in Seijūrō's shadow.

The two arrived and they both experimented at dribbling the ball. It was quite easy to deduce that the physically fitter of the two would be better. Then they tried the shooting as they had seen in the match on the television yesterday. Tetsuya wanted to try shooting the ball first so Seijūrō, being the good older brother (by a few minutes) he was, he let Tetsuya have the ball.

However, the younger brother had missed every single shot. And by missed, it meant that the ball did not even touch the hoop. Seijūrō had even sat on the benches nearby and counted the number of shots Tetsuya tried. It numbered to about fifty. "Sei-nii, I can't shoot it into the hoop," Tetsuya said, disappointment evident in his voice. He passed it to the redhead.

Seijūrō caught the ball that was passed to him and stared at the hoop. Based on the basketball players in the match, they jumped and threw the ball when the ball was in front of their foreheads. Seeing as to how heavy the basketball was, he had to use a considerable amount of strength. It seemed like what Tetsuya lacked was not only accuracy, but also strength.

He threw the ball. Seijūrō had expected the ball to enter the hoop based on his calculations, but it bounced off the rim and fell back to the floor. Seijūrō frowned. However, his younger brother had a different sort of expectations. "You… actually hit the rim!" Tetsuya marveled. Seijūrō knew that even thought Tetsuya was happy for his brother, the younger twin was still sad, not even able to make the ball touch the rim of the hoop even after his fiftieth try.

Seijūrō was about to comfort his little brother when a shout was heard from the entrance to the court. "WOAH! THERE'S A GHOST!" an orange-haired kid about the same age as the twins yelled in surprise.

Seijūrō's head snapped up at the shout. "There's no ghost. It's only my brother."

The newcomer looked closely and realised that a teal-haired boy was standing beside the redhead holding the basketball. "Dude! You have no presence at all! That's so cool! Nice to meet you guys. I'm Ogiwara Shigehiro. We've just met but I can tell that you both are nice people, so you can call me Shige, for short!"

The twins were a little stunned at the sudden appearance of the much-too-hyper-boy. Seijūrō was first to recover from the shock though. "Akashi Seijūrō."

"I am Akashi Tetsuya. I am sorry for scaring you like that, Ogiwara-kun."

Shige looked dumbfounded. "Didn't I just let you both call me Shige?"

Tetsuya replied emotionlessly, "It is more polite."

"If Tetsuya does not want to call you 'Shige', I will. You may call me Seijūrō. Nice to meet you," Seijūrō replied, shaking his head at his brother's over-politeness.

Shige scratched his chin. "That's a long name. Is 'Sei' alright?" Seijūrō nodded. "Well, it seems you guys play basketball! May I join?"

"Actually, we just had the interest to play basketball yesterday and we wanted to try it out today. Do you play basketball by any chance? Could you teach us the basics?" Seijūrō asked.

Shige's eyes brightened. "Sure! I'm not too good myself but I'll teach you! 'Kay. Let's start with dribbling!" Shige then went through with instructions on the different ways to dribble a basketball and tips like to use your fingers to bounce it and to make sure that the angle you dribble the ball at will make it go far enough for you to run with it.

Amazingly, the two boys understood the whole chunk of information he had blurted out like a sponge so he went on to passing, then to shooting, then to teamwork. "In basketball, I really believe that teamwork is very important! Like in a game, if you are marked and can't move, you will have to pass, no? So if you rely on your friends, then you can pass it to them to score!" Shige had explained. "Alright! Enough of talking! Let's try it out! Here, Tetsu, you can use my ball."

Being the better one at basketball, he examined each one of their skills. "Ehh? Sei, you're not bad at all!" Then he looked at how Tetsuya was faring and frowned.

"I'm not very athletic, am I, Ogiwara-kun?" Tetsuya asked disappointedly.

Seijūrō said, "You're not, but perhaps we could use that low presence of yours to your advantage in a match. Like an invisible player, perhaps?" The other two stared at the redhead, dumbfounded.

"That would be awesome! Your passes seem to be the best out of all your skills!" Shige exclaimed as he finally realised what a good opportunity that would be.

"Maybe..." Tetsuya mumbled. Shige slung an arm over Tetsuya's (who was considerably shorter) and grinned.

"Hm, I'll pass the ball to you, then you pass it to Sei, alright?" Shige asked, bouncing his ball on the floor. Tetsuya stood in the middle of the court.

The ball came flying faster than Tetsuya had expected, since Seijūrō and he had only just tossed the ball at each other. Out of reflex, Tetsuya whacked the ball away in front of his face and it was coincidentally in Seijūrō's direction and he caught it.

Silence blanketed the court.

It was suddenly broken by a shout. "THAT. WAS. FREAKING. AWESOME! Let's do it again!" Shige yelled, pumping his fist in the air.

Tetsuya rubbed his right hand which was turning red. "But my hand hurts. Can we go rest?"

"Of course!" Shige replied, grinning like a watermelon peel was stuffed into his mouth to make him grin for so long. They went to the benches to sit and drink some water. "But Tetsuya, did you see what you did there? It's like the ball suddenly curved in another direction! It was soooooo cool! How did you do it?" Shige asked excitedly. Seijūrō was also curious as to how his brother did it.

Tetsuya scratched his head, saying, "It was out of reflex that I just whacked the ball away. Your pass was so fast." Shige's mouth was hanging open.

"Wha... Are you serious? And you could do that? Awesome! And Sei! That pass was so fast and yet you caught it!" Shige continued ranting on and on. The twins silently listened to their new hyperactive friend.

Then a sudden question was asked which made Tetsuya almost choke and Seijūrō to spit out some water. "Wait… You mean you did not know what we were twins?" Seijūrō asked, baffled.

"You both have such different hair colours but then I remembered you saying that you both were brothers! You guys look the same age too. Lemme guess! You guys are in your third year at elementary school?" Shige asked.

"WE'RE IN FIFTH YEAR!" Seijūrō practically shouted.

Shige's mouth hung open. "Wait, wait, wait. YOU GUYS ARE SO SHORT BUT YOU'RE ACTUALLY IN THE SAME YEAR AS I AM!" Both twins glared at the orange-head at the insult. Shige raised his hands up in defense. Sighing, the two just forgave the blunt and tactless teen.

It became a daily routine for all three of them to meet up at the streetball court for a game of basketball. They soon realised that Tetsuya was like a shadow, needing a light to lead him. Seijūrō became his light, becoming better at basketball every single day.

One day, while the three of them were practicing, a gang of three older middle schoolers barged into the court. "Hey, you two kiddos. The court is ours now. Scram or have your butts kicked by us!" the tallest and rowdiest looking member of the gang growled. Apparently, none of them noticed Tetsuya, amazingly.

Shige glared at them. "Oh yeah? You think we can't beat you, huh? How 'bout a game of basketball to decide who can use the courts?" The three snarled but agreed nonetheless.

It was surprisingly easy to win the match, as it seemed like it was a three-on-two while there was actually a phantom supporting the team of two. When they were finished with a score of 11-3, the gang had scrambled off with their tailed between their legs.

They were about to congratulate each other when suddenly, Tetsuya's breath hitched as his body slammed onto the ground. He was clutching his chest as if he could not breathe. Shige and Seijūrō were stunned stock-still before finally regaining their strength to move. Both were panicking severely as Seijūrō knelt before his brother, shaking him, while Shige fumbled with his phone to call an ambulance. They just hoped that the ambulance would not come too late to save the teal-headed boy who was lying quite motionless on the ground.