The Lionheart (1)

Reiji noticed their daze while they waited for their slushies to be made.

"What? Did I freak you guys out?" he teased, tilting his head with a playful smile.

Ren looked a little uncomfortable, but Greeny just smiled while Airi snorted with mock disgust all over her face.

"You freak us out every day by just existing, why would this be any different?" she laughed, and then after a brief hesitation added, "Thanks for your help though."

"Yeah, yeah. You're welcome," Reiji rolled his eyes as he took the tray of drinks handed to him by the employee.

"Thanks, Reiji-kun," the moss-haired boy piped up.

"...Er, thank you?" Ren added.

"Geez, you're all acting like I saved your lives from some sort of terrorist attack! Just take these and cool off!"

Reiji distributed the slushies to each of them, amused at their reactions. He stuck a straw into his own cup and took a deep gulp, the icy cool goodness washing away the unbearable heat with a distinct mango flavor.

The others followed suit, and they all exhaled with satisfaction almost simultaneously.

"So good!" Airi squealed, continuing to suck on her straw like her life depended on it.

"Oi, slow down! You'll get a brain freeze!"

But she didn't listen, finishing almost half of her drink in a few seconds. This was immediately followed by a cry of pain as she clutched her head and stumbled a little.

"Owwww...."

Reiji facepalmed at her idiocy and sighed.

'How can someone look so smart yet act so dumb all the time?'

"Are you o-ok, Airi-san?" Greeny asked worriedly.

"I'm great! Never been better," she replied, forcing a confident appearance to avoid looking stupid.

"Not surprising. Maybe the brain freeze activated the dormant brain cells that have been unused so far," Reiji quipped, swirling his cup around.

Airi stuck her tongue out at him and gave him the finger.

"What should we do now? What do you guys want to try next?" Ren asked, glancing at the other stalls around them.

"I don't know, I'm ok w-with anything."

Greeny leaned forward to get a better angle of some of the shops behind the row they were currently standing in, to see if anything caught his eye.

The others joined in, split between what they should go for next.

"Maybe we can get everything and sh—"

"ONIIIII-CHAANNNN?"

Reiji froze mid-sip, his hand awkwardly hanging in the air with the straw still in his mouth as his eyes widened with recognition of the voice. He slowly turned around, praying to himself that it was somehow an illusion, a mistake, a joke played by the gods.

But down the street from where the four of them stood, a middle-aged woman with four kids around her was trying to stop one of them from running off.

An adorable black-haired kid with bright violet eyes that shone with happiness as he locked gazes with Reiji.

"ONIIII-CHAN! IT'S REALLY YOU!"

The boy managed to pry himself free from the woman's arm and started sprinting at them, weaving around the crowd of people as if he were running through an obstacle course.

Reiji, who was initially hoping it wasn't really him, couldn't help but sigh with affection as he saw Sora race past the stalls.

He placed his drink on a ledge beside him and knelt down slightly, his arms extended to make it easier for the little cannonball to plow right into him.

Even with his intense workouts and sculpted abs, the speed at which Sora jumped into his chest knocked a little wind out of him, but he pushed the disbelief aside and picked him up off the ground.

Sora threw his hands around his neck, hugging Reiji tightly while practically shaking with joy.

"Onii-chan, I knew I'd see you again!" he giggled, his eyes crescenting happily.

"Haha, how's the Lionheart doing?" Reiji chuckled back, bouncing Sora in his arms.

"Awesome! When I told all my friends how you bravely defeated the monsters and how I didn't cry even though I got bit really bad, they didn't believe me! Then, I showed them my leg and they were all so scared, haha!"

Reiji listened, pretending to be surprised as he continued with his story.

"How's your leg?" he asked, peeking at his knee through his arms.

There was a fairly large scar present since it hadn't fully healed, but it was evidently getting better.

"It doesn't hurt much anymore, I won't cry," Sora said, flexing his arms to show off his 'strength'.

By this time, the woman that he had run away from caught up to them with a worried expression, the other three kids in tow.

"I-I'm sorry, do you know Sora-chan?" she asked with confusion, not recognizing the extraordinarily handsome young man who was carrying the black-haired boy.

She calmed down after realizing he was wearing a school uniform, dropping her guard with a sigh of relief.

"Oh, so your name is Sora?" Reiji asked with a smile.

He remembered that he had never asked his name when they met, since he already knew it.

"Yep!"

"Huh? You don't know his name?" the woman raised her eyebrows in surprise.

Reiji turned to her with a sheepish expression and sighed.

"Well, it's a long story."

"Long story, my ass! Tell us now!" Airi piped up, her voice laced with frustration

Reiji pursed his lips and glared at her, who was tugging on her pigtails while burning with curiosity. Even Greeny, who generally respected his privacy, had a pleading look in his eyes.

"Onii-chan saved me from an army of rabid dogs! There were sooooo many of them," Sora answered in his place, throwing his arms up to indicate the supposedly massive number.

"....There were only like 6 of them, but yeah, I guess."

"What the hell? Are you just going around completing random side-quests?" Airi gasped with shock.

'Well.... technically that isn't exactly inaccurate.'

"Oh my, so you were the one to save Sora-chan? Thank you so much for your help!" the middle-aged woman bowed with gratitude.

"Are you his mother?" Reiji asked with narrow eyes, placing Sora back on the ground.

'She looks nothing like the designs from the game, plus she shouldn't even be in the country right now....'

"Oh dear, no. I'm this little one's babysitter," she replied, pointing to another boy who was peeking from behind her skirt. "And I'm just chaperoning him and his friends because they wanted to come to this exhibition."

'That makes sense. I thought for a second that the plot had completely spiralled because of something I did. I didn't know Sora was going to be here, though. Since the main cast went to the park in every route, this was never explored...'

It just further proved that even with the game's knowledge, he was nowhere near omniscient.

"Onii-chan, can you come with us? Pleeeaaasseee?????"

Reiji was nearly blinded by the light radiating from his deadly puppy dog eyes, and he couldn't find it in him to refuse.

Luckily, he didn't have to. His nosy friends accepted the 'proposition' in his place.

"Kyaaa, he's so cute! Of course, you can come along with us!" Airi chirped, falling for the sugar in his gaze.

"I don't m-mind either," Greeny raised his hand for a thumbs up.

"The more the merrier!" Ren laughed, his belly jiggling up and down.

'Oi, he asked me, you know?'

"It's not up to us, guys. This lady here might not agree."

"Actually, that would be amazing, as long as you all don't mind. Supervising these hyperactive kids by myself was a lot more difficult than I had expected it to be. I couldn't even stop Sora-chan from running off!"

"PERFECT!" Airi hopped around.

Greeny squatted down to get eye-level with the other three kids, one boy and two girls, and pointed at the small stall nearby.

"D-Do you all want to try those chocolate-dipped s-strawberries?"

"YEAH!""YES PLEASE!""Yes..."

Three varying tones, but the exact same answer. Even Sora started tugging at Reiji's sleeve to pull him towards it, his excitement more than visible.

"Onii-chan, let's get strawberries!"

"Sure, sure. Slow down though," Reiji chuckled, allowing himself to be guided by the much smaller child.

The line wasn't very long, so they quickly got a few cups of the simple sweet and started eating it with gusto. The kids looked especially happy, the chocolate sauce getting all over their mouths.

Reiji and his friends tried to contain their amusement as they attentively wiped off the stains with tissue papers.

Sora, however, giggled as he playfully avoided the napkin held out by Reiji. He actively dodged every attempt to clean up his face, jumping away whenever he got close.

"Stop moving, you little..."

Reiji's grin widened as he played along, allowing him to escape by the narrowest of margins every time, until finally he lunged forward and grabbed the boy, who seemed stunned at his defeat.

"Ack, nooooooo!"

"Hold still!"

Reiji tightened his grip slightly, making sure it didn't hurt him, and started wiping his face clean. Sora kept trying to wiggle out, the occasional energetic laugh sneaking through.

As he finally managed to make some progress... he heard a frantic yell behind him.

"YAGAMI? WHAT ARE YOU DOING???"

Reiji snapped towards the noise and saw Fujikawa Noa, the student council president and Sora's older sister, standing there in horror as she watched the infamous delinquent hold down her little brother and block his nose with a napkin.

'....Ok, this isn't fucking fair.'