"What is bad? Everything that springs from weakness." - Friedrich Nietzsche

"He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

------------------------------------------ミ★ 𝘉𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘉𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘺𝘢𝘭𝘴 ★彡-------------------------------------------

Weakness of society. What is the weakness of society?

Many of you may ask such a thing, whilst it being so simple, that it's ridiculous to even ask.

The biggest weakness of society is and always was empathy. But what does one understand under the term called: 'Empathy'? What do I understand about empathy?

Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings, emotions, and perspectives of another person. It involves the capacity to put oneself in someone else's shoes, to recognize and relate to their experiences, and to respond with compassion and support. 

Empathy is a fundamental aspect of human relationships and is essential for building connections, showing understanding, and providing emotional support to others. It can be a key factor in fostering positive, caring, and cooperative interactions between individuals. 

However, even though empathy is a good-sounding part of a relationship between two humans, empathy is also a huge flaw. 

Often there is one thing in common between empathetic individuals. They struggle to set boundaries. Boundaries not to break or to even follow.

They get driven to the flow of helping others, regardless of their intentions. That can also lead to personal sacrifices or difficulty in prioritizing their well-being.

Empathetic people may be more susceptible to manipulation or exploitation, as they may be too trusting or accommodating, making it easier for others to take advantage of their kindness.

As of now, I think that empathy is key to success for some people.

However, to some unknown and big individuals, empathy is a weakness to exploit further. 

------------------------------------------ミ★ 𝘉𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘉𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘺𝘢𝘭𝘴 ★彡-------------------------------------------

Saturday, 7 a.m. Second week.

I was woken up by the light, shining through the curtains of my room. Not only that but there was a feeling of pressure being applied to the left half of my chest. 

No. More like the entire left half of my body.

"What the hell..." Right, Yuki was sleeping in my room. It wasn't uncommon for her to do so.

Back when my double life of being an older brother to her and simultaneously being trained in the white room, she got clingy. She never wanted to leave my side and back when it was a weekend during middle school, she always slept in the same bed as me, hugging me with all her might.

A huge sign of trauma. She was traumatized from that day when my mother divorced and my father was sent to prison for the rest of his life. 

Since then, we struggled financially, and then I began to make money, buying older cars and preparing them to get sold again for a higher price. 

That wasn't fully legal, but I accepted that way of doing things to restore Yuki's and Mother's mental health. My mother couldn't take it, how I developed over time, and never told her what my father was doing in secret. 

So I decided, to not get her into mental ruins, to live with my grandfather for one year. He taught me many things about life, how to correctly treat women, and how to cook. He was one of the greatest human beings I ever encountered.

Just before I enrolled here, I was living with my mother and sister for the last two weeks. 

Now I was here and Yuki's habit never left her mind.

"Gwood~ Morning Oni-chan~," She said, her voice silenced by my chest.

"Slept well?"

"Partially."

That was a lie which I noticed back then. She couldn't sleep well in my presence. Due to fear and withdrawal symptoms.

She slept worse than I ever did. I could feel her shiver sometimes during sleep as if she was having the same nightmare every single night. 

Yuki always feared me, thus I always maintained a quiet voice around her. I never dared to hit her or even talk back in a louder tone. I couldn't stand seeing her in anxiety.

I did it once however, this was the first time she slept next to my side, I jokingly yelled at her and she just began crying. Quietly, no sound at all. Not because of the asthma problems she had, but rather because she had fear installed in herself.

"Well... Get changed, but not in front of me."

"Swure~" She said, slowly standing up and moving to the bathroom.

My phone received six notifications, and well. I was just added to a new group chat two minutes ago.

'You were added to: Friendgroup'

'Makoo❤️' Amikura was in it.

'HaHa' which was Haruka Hasebe, I guess. 

'Yuyu-chan' My sister and then there was me. 

I guess it is a group chat of only four, our friend group which was newly established yesterday before physical education lessons. 

[S/N: Curved brackets ->{}<- are Phone messages if you wanted to ask]

{Ohayo. Anybody awake?} - HaHa

{Sure. Dunno about the siblings though.} - Makoo❤️

{Eh~ Kiyotaka should rest after sports lessons yesterday. He did surprisingly well.} -HaHa

{Only because Horikita and Kujou-san were watching. Otherwise, he would have performed worse than Hondou} - Makoo❤️

That insult was brutal. Hondou, also known as the most unathletic student in our two classes, was compared to me?!

{I am sure that Kiyotaka is more than what he is letting on himself. That was truly surprising yesterday regardless.} - HaHa

{Impressive how you two are talking about me in a group chat. At least do this privately.} - You

{What a tsundere~} -Makoo❤️

What on earth is a tsundere? And since when is that a thing? 

As I was reading the group chat, Yuki came out of the bathroom, in pajamas. 

I don't know why she went into the bathroom, but apparently, it changed her mood completely. She is happy again. I have a slight suspicion about what the reason for that could be. 

"See Onii-chan, I have some advice about girls for you!"

"I didn't ask for that, but well, I can't escape the lessons of advice from my sister, can I?"

"That's correct! So, I am not stupid, I noticed that you were on your phone earlier, and I also read the group chat. Also, never reject praise!"

Is she some kind of female Andrew Tate giving me unnecessary advice about love? 

But well, I wanna listen to whatever she has to say, after all, her last advice helped me quite a bit.

"Why though?"

"Hmm? To be honest, I don't know. It's just an unspoken rule without context. Just don't do it. They might stop giving you praise for your entire life."

"Huh?"

"Ah right... Oni-chan's brain isn't capable of comprehending information that was given to him by a woman...He is a sexist after all."

"Where did that assumption come from? I am nowhere close to being a sexist. I fit into modern society quite well, okay? Besides, you should stop being too adorable around guys. The creatures in my class are big perverts and I don't want them to get fantasies about my younger sister."

Yeah, yesterday, after Yamauchi and Ike saw my younger sister and her good proportions, they were kind of... horny? Erected? I honestly don't know how to describe their state.

"Don't you also get fantasies of me~ Maybe bold ones?~"

"What? Why should I get weird fantasies of my little sister? Wake up."

"J-Just because I don't have the boobs of Honami and Kujou-san! I thought C-Cups were enough!" 

"Don't yell idiot. Imagine if one of your friends happens to pass by my door. Besides, I never said I am the boobs guy."

My sister's eyes widened, she gently sat on my stomach and took a pillow.

What is she going to do-

Suddenly, she placed the pillow on my face and was about to choke me to death. 

"!!!"

"I can't accept that my brother has a feet fetish. I am sorry, mom."

Just before I passed out, I somehow got hold of her neck and I pushed her up, as the pillow dropped by my side. 

I saw a red face from Yuki, probably due to my grip on the area of her throat. 

Wait. What am I doing?! 

I quickly released my grip on her and she rubbed the areas where I grabbed her neck.

"Owch... T-That hurt..." Her posture slowly declined a little, and I quickly embraced her in a one-arm hug. 

"Sorry for that. It's a reflex. Don't-"

"Y-You..."

And she was crying. What should I do now? She was trembling as her trauma was slowly leaking out again. I messed up for sure since my brain failed to realize that she wasn't about to kill me. 

"Calm down, everything's fine." I lightly patted her back, trying to calm her down, but it didn't do any good yet. She tried to leave the hug every single time, yet I wasn't releasing her.

It was uncontrollable trembling, her hands had a very soft grip on my shirt, not even strong enough to open a bottle of water right now. 

"You didn't need to do that earlier with the pillow. Such things happen normally, everyone would try and break out of this situation right?" I said, this time she stopped and didn't try to leave my hug.

Instead, she was slowly calming down. 

"You calm now?"

"Y-Yeah..." 

As if she was hyperventilating, she then hugged me back.

"Onii-chan, I thought you were about to hit me."

"I never did so and I never will. Do not worry about that, for now. I will make you some tea. Also, how about... we go... for some ice cream in the afternoon?"

She left my hug and with a cute smile nodded, she then moved to my kitchen, and strangely she knew perfectly where each type of kitchen component was.  

She took out two cups, one where her name was engraved. And one just with an Alfa Romeo badge on it, which was mine. 

Due to my grandfather having an obsession with Russia, Yuki also got to learn the language, not to the extent that she doesn't even make grammatical mistakes like a white room student. However, I cannot hear the tiniest bit of an accent when she speaks it. 

Funnily, she gets quickly tired when speaking it for whatever reason. 

My grandfather also taught me, how to stay loyal to one car brand. For me, it was Alfa Romeo, since my mother and my grandfather loved it, and BMW. Mostly because of their unique designs and performance, where one truly notices that the car is driver-based.

"Here Kiyotaka."

"Thanks Yuki. By the way, it's our second weekend here, which means two full weeks already passed. What do you think of the time here?"

"Hmm... Should I be honest? I like it. I do. Well, keeping my studies on and having fun simultaneously is quite hard. But we have three years to spend here. Onii-chan will eventually fall in love during his time here. And, most importantly, learn about friendships.

I am cheering for you, don't forget that."

That last sentence hit me hard, however, as of now. I have to make even more friends. I collected many, as if it were a game like Pokemon which I used to play with my sister.

Hirata, Sudou, Horikita well, partially? Kushida who probably only talks to me to get closer with Horikita and my sister, Haruka, Amikura, Ichinose, and well, since last week, I also managed to befriend a guy called Akito.

Funnily enough, Akito didn't accept the invitation to join my friend group yet. 

Well, neither should I have done so, but I can imagine many funny things happening in the end. 

After all, nobody yet realized how far ahead I am. As of now, nobody knows how this new situation will evolve.

------------------------------------------ミ★ 𝘉𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘉𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘺𝘢𝘭𝘴 ★彡-------------------------------------------

Third week. 23rd April, 11:26 A.M.

Initially, I thought of changing a lot more personality-wise. However, I hit the golden point exactly like I wanted to. People around me naturally began to be much softer around me.

Even Horikita stopped insulting me every single second. I think, that what was going on right now was quite a good opportunity to find out more about my classmates. After all, this may be the last week where everyone has their guard low, well, except Horikita and Kujou. 

Right...Kujou? Even on the third week of school, I didn't try to hold a conversation with her. According to some rumors she was identical to Horikita in many ways. And well, dealing with two demons is way too much for me. 

However, this will become essential for my personality once the time comes. 

But as of now, I need help. How do I help Kushida here? After all, she gave me the insane task of inviting Horikita for a coffee at a perfect time in the pallet cafe. 

And doing this could risk my future reputation as a human being. My sister would commit suicide after hearing her older brother get humiliated by a random girl. Well, not that random, since she is very well-known for her personality.

After the bell rang, which signaled the end of afternoon classes, I quickly began operating, somehow indirectly forcing my seat neighbor to agree to such a thing.

"Horikita, do you have time in the afternoon?"

"What would you need my time for?"

"Can you accompany me to a certain cafe? Pallet is the one I mean, I assume you already know why I am asking you this?"

"What?"

"Well, the cafe is known for the insane majority of girls. A guy gets glared at weirdly, except he is there with a girl. And well, I was curious and wanted to go there, however, I have nobody to tag along with me."

"Can't you ask somebody else-- Sorry, this was rude from me. Sure...Suou-kun, I don't do this for you, but rather because I know how embarrassing it would be if my older brother gets rejected by a girl. This is done for your sister." Right...

Since our classes share the same afternoon timetable, we have sports and art lessons together with Class B.

And some got to know the fact that I was Yuki's older brother. Regardless of that, I think that she somehow has a point. Yuki would then deny the fact that we share the same blood after finding out that her Onii-chan was rejected. 

"Thank you, Horikita. Don't worry, I didn't mean to make it sound like a date." Why? Because whoever invites her to a date, or confesses their true feelings to her, has the biggest balls in mankind. 

------------------------------------------ミ★ 𝘉𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘉𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘺𝘢𝘭𝘴 ★彡-------------------------------------------

After finally arriving at this cafe, which Kushida told me to go to, we entered.

"Seems quite busy here." Horikita, aka. My date said. 

"Look, there is a table getting free." 

She then curiously looked at the three students standing up, and walking out of the cafe, however, Kushida miscalculated something and made a mistake. The students leaving that table were all Class D students, which made it painfully obvious.

However, if this plan fails, it's not my problem in the end. After all, the problem is in Kushida's planning and Horikita's attitude. 

I am just some kind of bridge between them. Both are in 'good' relations with me, however, they don't get along yet. And weirdly enough, Kushida seems to be quite desperate to befriend Horikita or more like everyone in Class.

She failed at Kujou and gave up on her quite quickly. On the other hand, she didn't give up on Horikita just yet, trying to befriend her almost every single day and getting rejected on the same day as well.

Horikita ordered her Cappucino and I decided to go for a caramel macchiato. They didn't take long and just as expected, she made me pay for it. But I don't mind yet.

"Say Horikita, do you-"

"I came here in pity for you, why are you trying to create an unnecessary conversation? This wasn't part of our deal."

Yep, she was right on that, however, she then got interrupted from behind. There was that angel of Class D, named Kikyou Kushida. And well, good luck now, this is where I have no responsibility anymore. 

"Good afternoon Horikita-san, Suou-kun. How has your day been?"

"Good actually, we came here to--"

"No, Suou-kun. But quite an interesting plan. I don't want to befriend you, Kushida. Do you think I didn't notice this chain of weird events? Suou-kun didn't make mistakes, however, you miscalculated. At least make it seem like it were unknown students 'suddenly' leaving the table which happened to be Class D members?"

As expected, she is a sharp one indeed. It wasn't obvious for her to reject Kushida this quickly, however, she still did that with no mercy. 

"What do you mean-"

"Suou-kun, were you perhaps tasked by Kushida to play along?"

"I did my part, and I don't have any reason to explain anything moving forward."

"See? But why even try? Several other students would like to be friends with you, but for some reason, you decided to befriend me. Even though I rejected you several times?"

Horikita stood up.

"At least hear her out, Horikita."

"No thank you, if you want, I will pay you back these points. I will leave, have a nice day." She said and left, leaving me and Kushida sitting there. 

It was quite an awkward situation, but damn. Caramel macchiatos are hella good.

I never knew they tasted this good, and the smell of it is an invitation to come here every week.

If you have a girlfriend to come here with, of course. If you are single, it's depressing.

Wait a second. I have Yuki. The others don't have Yuki... Does that mean I am a superior male?

"Sorry about that. But uhm...Suou-kun?"

"Yeah?"

"You are the...younger brother of Yuki Suou?"

"No, the exact other way around. But don't bother about that. It's Horikita, you know exactly what she is like. Do you share some history?"

"Not that I can remember. But thank you for your help. I appreciate it, and if you need help, I am always a reliable option for you, okay~?"

I nodded, and she sat down next to me. This was quite... unexpected. Originally, I thought that she was going to leave, however... She had other plans I assume.

My caramel macchiato still wasn't done, so I was forced to stay with her for a little longer. 

"Suou-kun, why have you never mentioned your sister before? She is quite popular so I thought---"

"---that you are going to get help from Suou-san. That's what you wanted to say, am I right? Horikita asked me the same thing, however, I think that I don't need to rely on my sister's popularity to gain a name."

"Woah~ You seem quite quick with your words as if you already simulated our conversation in your head beforehand. Suou-kun seems to be more than he let himself on. And you seem to be quite reliable~ Doing such a hard task with such an easy technique." She praised me for my success rate in such things, not only that but also since she had several other runs in this, she often relied on my help.

After all, this wasn't the first time I helped her out, but this was the last one in this matter.

"Please, everyone else could have done that, but can I ask you something, Kushida?"

"Sure, go on."

"Why is it, that you want to befriend Horikita at all cost? And you are still not giving up after all these kinds of rejections?" I took another sip of the caramel macchiato and well, it's depressing that it's now an empty cup. 

"Well, I thought that she looked quite lonely. Since nobody else tried to befriend her, except you, of course, I thought of doing it