📘 2007: A Girl with No Tomorrow

✦ Chapter 17: I Wasn’t Alone

> “He told the truth about me to the only people who mattered to him.

Not as a secret.

But as something he was proud of.”

— Aki Hoshino

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The alley behind the old noodle shop buzzed with life.

Spray-painted walls, cracked bricks, a single dangling bulb swaying over rusted crates. And gathered beneath it — the Kyouka-kai, Rei’s gang.

Not the kind on TV. No gold chains. No flashy bikes.

Just loyalty, bruises, bandages, and a bond strong enough to bleed for.

Rei sat on an upturned milk crate, tossing a pebble in his palm. His side still hurt, but he didn’t show it.

Across from him, their leader leaned back on a step — handsome, tall, just 18 — with sharp eyes and a voice that could silence a room.

His name was Arata.

“You never told us how you made it out alive,” Arata said, sipping from a canned coffee. “Two blades in your gut. They thought you were done.”

Rei shrugged. “They weren’t ready for my sister.”

A long pause.

The gang turned to stare at him.

Arata raised an eyebrow.

“…You don’t have siblings.”

Rei grinned. “Now I do.”

“Who?” Arata asked. “And how the hell did she help you?”

Rei stood up, tossing the pebble higher before catching it.

“She’s sixteen. Archer. Pianist. National champ in taekwondo. Saved my bleeding ass at a shrine, carried me to a hospital, called me her brother to get through paperwork, paid for everything—then walked away like it was nothing.”

The group went quiet.

“Name?” someone asked.

“Aki.”

“Aki what?”

Rei smiled. “Hoshino.”

One of the boys whistled. “Like… that Hoshino? The gold medal girl in the paper?”

Rei nodded proudly. “That’s her.”

Another said, “You serious? You close to her?”

Rei looked around the group, his voice firm now.

“She’s my little sister. Maybe not by blood. But if anyone touches her—”

He cracked his knuckles. “They deal with me.”

The gang muttered, half impressed, half stunned.

Arata studied him for a long moment. “You really mean that?”

Rei nodded.

“She’s quiet. Cold on the outside. But she’s got more strength than half of us put together. You should’ve seen her eyes when she walked away from that hospital — like she wasn’t scared of anything.”

Another boy asked, “She fight too?”

Rei smirked. “She doesn’t fight to win. She fights to survive. That’s scarier.”

Someone else chuckled. “Yo, this is the first time I’ve seen you brag about someone else.”

“I’m not bragging,” Rei said simply.

“I’m just finally proud of someone.”

The gang fell silent again — not out of disbelief, but respect.

Arata leaned forward.

“Bring her around sometime.”

Rei smiled.

“When she’s ready.”

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That night, as the gang dispersed into the city shadows, Rei sat alone on the crate again, staring up at the stars.

He thought of her walking home in silence. Of that perfect house. Of those bruises she said came from “training.”

And he whispered into the night:

> “I know you’re not ready to tell the truth, Aki.

But until then — I’ll speak it for you.”

“You're not alone anymore.”

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End of Chapter 17

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