Me and Ai

Chapter 53: I'm Not Japanese

I pass by Syo and Natsuki's room to share the desserts that were sent to me from our family's cafe. I knock on their door and Natsuki was the one that answered the door.

"Ori-chan! What a surprise to see you!"

"Hello Natsuki, I came to share these desserts with everyone." I held the box full of desserts up.

"Oh! You've brought desserts? That's wonderful! Come in then."

I entered the room and saw Syo and Ai looking at a photo album.

"What are you guys looking at?" I said curiously.

Syo turns around to me.

"What's up Kaori? I was looking thru my things a while ago and found a photo album; they're photos of when I was a kid. Haha."

"Cool! Can I see too?"

"Yeah sure, come and sit with us. Eh? What do you have there, Kaori?"

"Oh, I received some desserts from my family this morning. Manager-san was the one who delivered them to me. I brought them over so that I can share it with everyone."

I placed the box of desserts on the table and sat down with everyone. Syo showed his pictures and told us about the time they were taken; Syo was cute when he was a small kid. Syo turns the page of the album and I noticed a photo where Syo was standing on front of a house with a twin. I pointed at the photo.

"Syo, who's that?"

"That's my twin brother. His name is Kaoru like your other self."

"You have a twin? I never knew that; that's cool."

"Aren't they adorable when together, Ori-chan?"

"Haha. Yeah, they look so cute!"

"Do you have siblings, Natsuki?" I asked.

"Sadly, I don't have any. I'm an only child."

"How about you, Mikaze-senpai?"

"I do not have any siblings as well."

Syo thinks for a while then asks, "Kaori, you have two brothers right?"

"Yes. I have an older brother who is sixteen and a half years older than me and a younger brother who is one year and eight months younger than me."

Everyone stared at me for a while.

"Wait! Your older brother is sixteen and a half years older than you?!" Syo said.

"Haha, yes. Our age is quite far from one another, isn't it?"

"Ori-chan, thinking of your age difference, did he come from another parent or something like that?"

"Haha, no. We're all from the same parents; he's not a step sibling."

"Then what's with the age difference?" Syo asked.

"Well, after my mother gave birth to my older bro, they waited a few years before making another baby but then my mother at that time couldn't get pregnant. They wanted to give big bro a sibling so badly that they even resorted to seeing a doctor and getting treatment but she still couldn't get pregnant. Then after sixteen and a half years, I was conceived and then little bro came a year and eight months later. Ta-dah!"

"That's amazing." Natsuki said.

"Where are your parents and siblings now?" Mikaze-senpai asked.

"Let's see...my older brother is working at a hospital abroad as an orthopedic surgeon, my younger brother is taking up computer science in a university, my father is working abroad as an IT manager, and my mother runs the family cafe in Tokyo."