PREVIEW : 

Kazuto and Ashton are being followed by someone who's staring at them from the other side of the road.
Kazuto prepared himself to battle this person until Ashton got mad at him for hiding the fact that he was healed.
The person took advantage of the discussion Ashton and Kazuto had and made a run for it. Kazuto and Ashton ran at full tilt until they stopped mid-way to find out out that the person was a woman and a distant cousin of Ashton.

Miranda and Ashton were speaking together all day long that it's so boring! Why do they have to talk about school, all of a sudden? They're total nerds.

I cleaned the house, the garden and went shopping for free clothes with the help of Ash and Miranda.

There was still electricity in town so I helped myself to sneak into Hydro-Quebec, an electric utility company.

After my house was cleaned up, I started doing washing the dishes from dinner. Miranda came towards me.

"Is there any way I could be of help to you? You've been taking care of us this whole time and it's about time we return the favor to you." she said while picking up the bits of crumbs that were on the table, with the dust pan.

"It's alright.. really. If you guys weren't here, I wouldn't have understood anything that's been happening and would've probably been depressed." I said while smiling.

"Kazuto.. you're being too kind. We're here because we've become friends. We might be one of the only survivors of this city, in fact.' she explained.

I could see that she was trying to make me feel better. She just doesn't understand that I'm not happy.

They might be here for me but my family? They vanished. I understand that they've lost family members as well but they still have each other. I don't...

"Kazuto? You alright in there? It seems you spaced out.." she told me.

"What's wrong?"

"What do you mean? Is there something I did to make you worried?" I asked while avoiding her question.

She looked at me for a brief moment and turned around.

"Never mind what I said. I'll be going outside with Ash. It's good to get some fresh air, once in a while." she explained while leaving.

I've been doing nothing for a very long while so I decided to train myself back to health. I took a water bottle and a towel just in case I need it.

I went to my room to find a letter on the bed. There was a drawing on it, as well.

"Dear Kazuto, I know we haven't really helped you during your hardworking moments. I know that you've been missing your family because I do too. Miranda and I weren't so close, at first.''

So he does know how I felt. I was keeping it as discreet as possible and yet.. I'll just continue reading the letter without complicating myself.

"You've been taking care of us for a while, now, so we decided to go and buy something for you. I know how much you wanted the training kit, a few clothes and good food. Miranda and I decided to go buy it at the store. We'll be back by 5 o'clock so don't worry. If we don't come back by 6, something happened. Love, Ashton."

I really wonder how he found out about my sorrow. Was it because of my emotions or the way I act? Did I say something to make him know? I looked at the letter again and turned it around to see if there was any hidden messages.

There was a drawing of me, Ashton and Miranda holding hands. Ashton was in the middle, I was in the left and Miranda was in the right. They all had smiles except for... me.

I placed the letter in my drawer and prepared the training mat on the floor.

I put the water bottle and the towel on the chair that was beside me.

Now that I think about it, is it bad that I start training right after I woke up? It started hurting when I trained, yesterday.

I did push-ups,  jumping jacks and other usual training. Normally, my cousins, Kageyama and Karashi would help me train for my sword skills. We were known as "The Katomashi Brothers". Ka for our first syllables, to for Kazuto, ma for Kageyama and shi for Karashi.

We were the most popular boys in our school. We were popular for our good looks, kindness to helping strangers like people who get bullied often, people who forgot their dinner, teacher s who need help, etc.

I was considered as the kind and caring one, Karashi was the flirt and the player and Kageyama was the --father-- of the group. He would always come to our rescue when we get in trouble. 

We were so close that our parents considered us as --triplets--. I didn't care since I treated them like brothers. 

I went downstairs to use the training room. I used to train with Karashi and Kageyama.

All of the stuff were cleaned up and weren't dirty anymore. 

I think Ash and Miranda cleaned it up, knowing that I would go train. Not like I care or anything, but they clean pretty... well.

I noticed the old pictures on the wall. The picture frame weren't dirty and the photos were clean as well. 

There was a photo of the me, Kageyama and Karashi. We were at the Galapagos Islands... I remember now!

Karashi and I were so obsessed with the *albatros because of the way they were walking. Then there was the *Fous à pieds bleus. They were birds with blue feet and were really weird looking. 

There was also a picture of Karashi and Kageyama stuffing cake into my face. Haha! It was my first time celebrating with them and they decided to prank me. It was my 8th birthday and the parents were laughing their faces off. 

Hehehe! I remember this one! This was the day where me and Kageyama decided to take revenge on Karashi for messing with my sister. Kageyama was mad because he was messing with his cousin. 

We brought him to the beach then left him there for 5 hours. He was screaming so much, that day. Karashi decided to prank Kageyama with a clown that looks like Pennywise and me, with a killer with a fake chainsaw. 

Me and Kageyama cried our eyes out that day... he knew our biggest fears and decided to use it against us. Smart little monkey.

Then there was that one day where I pranked Kageyama because he ate the last piece of chocolate cake from Karashi's birthday. Karashi had bought an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen... my favorite! 

The very next month was his birthday so I decided to stuff his face inside his cake. My birthday is on 10th March, Karashi is on 1oth of April and Kageyama is on the 10th of February. Pretty fantastic and weird, right?

Hahaha! The good old days! Still... I can't help but wonder... where the hell are they right now?