Haruka & Shizuka Takashiro.
It was the first time the twins traveled on their own, but their initial excitement quickly evaporated after an uneventful ten-hour flight from Tokyo to Los Angeles. Once the brothers piled themselves into a hailed taxicab, Shizuka Takashiro was quick to knock himself out and lay down snoozing on the older one's lap, his legs cramped against the door awkwardly. Haruka Takashiro had to shout out their destination - quite literally - at the driver over the blaring music from the speaker before reclining back into the seat, pulling out a thick volume (
Romance of the Three Kingdoms, in Chinese). He shrugged at the driver, who seemed to be saying something but the words were drowned by the song's deep bass, and turned his attention to the novel.
The long ride was generally smooth and quiet save for the car radio and engine sound; Haruka occasionally looked up from his book and peered out of the window, watching the scenery passing by in a blur of gray. They left the city of L.A. far behind their back, and he noticed the sky was becoming darker as they sped towards Verthaven. Raindrops dotted the glass pane, gradually hitting harder, and soon a storm was beginning to rage outside. The driver switched the channel, the hit songs replaced by a clipped female voice:
"...NEST is investigating the strange weather patterns that are going on in Verthaven. They have questioned every metahuman capable of changing the weather, but found no one responsible for it. They are still probing. For the uninformed: three weeks ago rainfall began to appear out of nowhere, followed by strange and unexplained attacks on people during the rainfall. The attacks have gotten much more frequent, and becoming more vicious. It is heavily advised that people stay indoors during the rainfall."
Haruka raised an eyebrow.
"Heard that, boy?" the driver growled at the older twin. "I don't know what kind of business you two have with the people there, but that place is dangerous. Especially not for a couple of young Chinese brats like you."
"We have a relative who lives there," Haruka replied coolly. "And we're actually Japanese, not Chinese."
The driver glanced at the rear view mirror, his eyes narrowed at the book in his hand through the reflection. "...Right. Japanese." He then returned his attention back to the road. "Well, don't say I didn't warn you."
"I appreciate your kindness, but we really need to go there."
The driver nodded. He spoke again, this time his voice was less harsh. "By the way, are you one of those weirdos?"
"Huh?"
"Y'know, they call themselves 'metahumans'. People with strange powers."
Haruka's face remained impassive. "No, we're not." He stroke the pale hair of his younger brother absentmindedly. "We just have an aunt who stays there. Never met her before." A soft moan made the older twin looked down - Shizuka was getting up from his nap. "Have we reached yet?"
Haruka opened his mouth to answer, but the driver beat him to it. "Soon. Chinatown, correct?"
Shizuka let out a yawn. "Yeah. I wonder what Akemi-san does there? Probably selling ramen." He poked at his brother playfully.
"
Shut up."
"
What? Shouldn't you be happy to have ramen for three meals every single day? An ideal ramen paradise!"
"
Not funny."
The driver was lost at the boys' mock bickering in a foreign tongue - their native language. He cleared his throat. "Anyway...here we are."
The Chinatown in Verthaven wasn't like those the twins had seen in places like Yokohama or Singapore: while the streets had an Asian-esque feel filled with shops selling oriental cuisine and junks complete with neon lights flashing Chinese characters, the buildings seemed newer, modernized, spaced out evenly and not cramped together side by side; the roads were wider, with the paths for people and cars clearly separated. The rain was still pouring heavily; most of them probably had taken heed of the news and were staying indoors, so the place appeared to be deserted. There were a few passers-by, but they didn't stand around for long and seemed to be in a great rush to get home as fast as they could.
The taxi finally pulled up in front of a two-story red brick shophouse flanked by a stylish studio apartment on the left, and a somewhat rundown arcade center on the right. On the shop sign showed four huge characters, '
明美清洁', and a smaller word
Grimebusters was written beneath the Chinese. Haruka exchanged a look with the younger twin - he was having a bad feeling about this. They paid the driver and alight from the car, gathered up their belongings from the trunk quickly before they dashed to the doorstep of the shophouse, their clothes drenched from the downpour.
Ignoring the 'closed' sign that hung on the glass door, Shizuka pushed it slightly; surprised that it was unlocked, the twins entered without giving it another thought. Once the door was firmly shut behind them, muting the roar from the heavy shower outside. They scanned their new home: the interior was dimly lit by an incandescent lamp hung down from the low ceiling; a long counter split the ground floor into half, giving a decently spacious waiting area, complete with a small round table and three chairs around it, and a wooden bookshelf behind. A
metallic vintage spiral staircase was situated before the left side of the counter; the other end was sectioned off with a wall, with a whitewashed door bearing the sign '
FOR STAFF ONLY'.
"Hello? Anyone home?" Shizuka's voice echoed hollowly in the building. After a moment of silence, the twins could hear the muffled sound of approaching footsteps - from above. Akemi Shinoda descended from the stairs, positively beaming at them. "M'boys!" She wore a purple apron over her cream-colored one-piece dress, her chocolate-brown hair tied up in a bun behind her head, her round face accented with light makeup. She was shorter than the Takashiro brothers by at least a head, and they were amused that their plump aunt looked nothing like her older sister, who was willowy and stern.
"Akemi...oba-san," Haruka greeted her awkwardly and winced slightly at the strong bear-hug. He glared at Shizuka, who was laughing silently behind their aunt.
Akemi released the older twin. "This isn't Japan, so drop those stupid honorifics. Just 'Akemi' is fine." She gave another crushing hug to Shizuka. "Anyway, make yourselves home. Dinner isn't ready yet, so you can go unpack your stuffs upstairs first." She arched her eyebrow at their luggages - two large duffel bags, one red (Haruka's) and the other blue (Shizuka's) - and clucked her tongue disapprovingly. "Asami can be so stubborn sometimes. Took her long enough to realize she can't drag you kids around the globe forever."
They followed Akemi up the stairway. Upon reaching the top, the furnishing was completely different from the simplicity down below: two posh armchairs and odd beanies scattered around the velvet-red carpeted floor of the living room; it's fenced off from the dining area with a short metal rail decorated with flowers and vines, and the brothers could smell the aroma of roasted ham from the kitchen behind. The small balcony before them faced a Chinese restaurant across the road, and the outside was still drizzling. She pointed at the two doors on the opposite side of the dining area - the left had a small decorative wooden board pinned on it with the name '
Akemi' written in hiragana, and the other was '
Haru & Shizu'. "I'm sorry that I don't have much rooms here, so you guys will have to share a bedroom. If you need me I'll be in the kitchen." With that, she headed for the dining area, leaving the two boys on their own.
Once their aunt was out of sight, Shizuka turned to his brother. "
The unpacking can wait - we're probably going to stay here for a long time - so why don't we go out and explore our new 'home'?"
"
But the rain---" Haruka began, his eyes darted to the kitchen uncertainly, but Shizuka cut him off, jerking his head at the balcony. "
---Has already stopped." Indeed, the sky was beginning to clear up. "
Come on." He threw their bags into the room and dragged the unwilling twin down the stairs.
"
Hey, let's at least change out of these wet clothes first!"
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