(Memory Tsuki POV)
"Tsuki-chan~ Is your brother coming to pick you up again today?"
I paused in packing up my bag to look up at the classmate who called out to me, "Aoki-san… What do you want?"
Akane Aoki, one of the people I despise most in this school. If I had to describe her, she would simply be 'a spoiled, rich and uncultured bitch'.
She's the kind of person who thinks everything can be solved with money and believes the world revolves around her and her alone. A true waste of space.
She took an especially deep dislike of me when she realised I stood out more than her since I was just better than her in every way. She would then taunt me alongside her toadies and make an absolute nuisance of herself just to annoy me.
Though it was not to the level of calling it harassment, she would sometimes make Nii-chan the target of her jokes and that was something I could not accept.
Since I had her beat in our grades, sports, popularity and also beauty, she now resorts to making use of her wealth status to mock me.
Usually, my friends would help defend me when this irritating girl tries to disturb me, forcing her to back off from me. Thus, she now picks times when my friends are busy with their clubs or part time jobs to annoy me.
"Oh nothing at all, Tsuki-chan~ Is your pathetic brother coming to pick you up again?"
I stood up and glared at her, "I told you what will happen to you if you dare insult my Nii-chan again. Do you think that my threats are empty ones?"
"Ohohoho~ Not at all, Tsuki-chan~ It was a simple question, don't you think?"
I turned back to pack my things, "What do you want Aoki-san? If there's nothing important, I'm leaving."
"That's pretty rude of you, Tsuki-san," One of her toadies remarked, shaking her head at me. "Aoki-san was concerned about someone as insignificant as you and this is how you respond to her?"
I sighed internally, these people really have nothing else better to do.
The pompous bitch waved her hand dramatically, "It's fine. It is obvious someone with her upbringing would be like this after all."
I looked up at her, my instincts telling me that I would not like what she was thinking about.
"What are you implying, Aoki-san?"
She smirked at me, "It's obvious, your brother is most likely some good for nothing with no education background whatsoever. He probably just stays at home and sleeps all day, doesn't he? That suit of his must be stolen from somewhere and you coerced him to come pick you up everyday to make yourself feel better. After all, the two of you have no parents~"
I was this close to slapping her across that stupid face of hers when she talked about Nii-chan, but I stopped myself when I heard the last of her tirade.
How did she find out that we had no parents? This was something that both Nii-chan and I had kept secret all the time.
Aside from the other big brothers and sisters who had been in a similar situation as us from those bad men, there should not be anyone else who knows about our family problems.
I even kept this from my friends.
"I don't know how you found out about our private family affairs, but it's still no business of yours," I growled.
"Ohohoho~ Did that strike a nerve? Was I right about your brother being a good for nothing? I am, aren't I? He's definitely some pathetic slob that's wallowing in self-pity all alone in his room when you aren't around, you should really just dump him for your own good."
I furrowed my brows, "You know nothing about Nii-chan. I suggest you shut that mouth of yours before I shut it for you."
"Oh? Is that a threat? There's only us here right now, you know? You do anything to me and I can get you expelled without question. I doubt you poor siblings can afford that, can you?"
Unfortunately, she was right.
Nii-chan's business was only just beginning to take off and we were finally doing better than we were in the past where we had barely enough to scrape by. Even then, Nii-chan made sure I looked normal outside no matter what he had to do, even my school uniforms back then were new and not second hand which would have saved a lot of Nii-chan's money.
But that does not mean we were especially well off yet so I should not do anything to inconvenience Nii-chan.
Taking my silence as an indication of submission, the bith's smirk grew wider, "Oh my, oh my. Look at her, she must be so upset that her life is so much worse than ours. Maybe you should think before getting your big brother to pretend like he's actually well-off with that cheap suit of his. It's obvious if you think about it, you know? Who even walks their sister home everyday in that getup? You're both obviously living in poverty."
Hearing that brought me a little comfort since it means she hasn't bothered to find out where we lived.
I did my best to ignore her and picked up my bag, leaving the classroom without a second glance back.
Usually our interactions would end there but she had chosen to follow me out of the school towards the school gates, most likely riding off her high on her presumed victory.
"Look at the peasant girl running to her big brother now, she must be so ashamed of herself," I heard the bitch mouth off while following a short distance away. "Maybe if she asked politely, I can ask my driver to give her a lift."
Her posse laughed at her terrible joke while I continued my way to meet my Nii-chan, knowing that being with Nii-chan was the safest spot I could be.
Surprisingly, when I reached the school gates where Nii-chan should be waiting, he was nowhere to be found, something that has never happened before.
The only person there was that bitch's driver waiting outside of his car to pick up his little miss bitch.
"Oh? What's this? It seems like the big brother has grown tired of picking up his poor little sister! Maybe he ran away from home and abandoned his stupid sister? Hahaha!" She laughed.
Just as I was about to turn around to slog that bitch, there was the roar of several engines as multiple cars suddenly pulled up in front of us out of nowhere.
The occupants of the cars stepped out, all of them dressed in suits and looking like bodyguards. It looked like a scene from those action movies where the bodyguards were securing the perimeter before a VIP showed up on the scene.
I was not that knowledgeable about cars but even I could tell the car that stopped directly in front of me was an expensive one.
My mouth gaped even further when big brother Hiroto and big sister Yumi stepped out of the car, both of them moving to the passenger side to open the door and allowing Nii-chan to step out from it.
If I was being honest, he looked absolutely cool when he did so.
"Ah, Tsuki! Sorry I'm late, traffic was a pain. Shall we go home now?"
Nii-chan? What is going on?!
