32 Early Morning

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You'll be able to read four advanced chapters.

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(1 month later)

It has been a month since that eventful day, and a whirlwind of events has unfolded since then.

Firstly, Ruby caught the attention of an underground idol group. However, everyone, except Ruby herself, harbored suspicions about the group. So, Aikara and Aqua devised a plan to gather insider information by posing as scouts for an idol agency. Upon uncovering unsettling rumors surrounding the group, they made the decision to intervene and dissuade Ruby from joining. As a result, Ichigo Productions took the initiative to establish a brand new idol group.

Secondly, Aqua and Gotanda engaged in a heartfelt conversation that evoked deep emotions. Aqua expressed his reluctance to continue pursuing a career in acting, despite his initial passion for it.

He revealed two primary reasons for his change of heart. Firstly, after tirelessly attempting to excel in the entertainment industry, he came to the realization that he lacked the innate talent possessed by Ai, Ruby, and Aikara.

Ironically, this realization brought a wry smile to his face, as he pondered how everyone in his family, save for himself, possessed that elusive "special something.". Secondly, the act of performing began to evoke a sense of unease within him. He found himself overwhelmed by guilt and remorse for deriving pleasure from his craft while Ai's dead. But he's fine with not acting since it's not like passion will help him with his revenge.

Presently, just a few hours remained before the triplets' scheduled interview at Yoto High School. Aikara strolled through the dimly lit streets, humming a tune that harmonized with the nocturnal chorus of crickets. After walking for half an hour, he arrived at a residential complex, where he promptly entered.

"Good morning, Mr. Kazu," Aikara greeted the apartment receptionist with a warm smile and a friendly wave.

Kazu, seated and engrossed in his phone, perked up upon hearing Aikara's familiar voice. He returned the smile, pleased to see the energetic youngster. "Good morning to you too, Aikara," he greeted cheerfully. "Here for her again, I presume?"

"Yup!" Aikara affirmed enthusiastically. "You know me well! I can't bear to leave her alone!" Suddenly realizing how loud he was, he quickly covered his mouth, looking apologetically at Kazu. "Oops, sorry for being loud when most of the residents are still asleep. My bad."

Kazu chuckled, dismissing Aikara's concern. "It's fine, it's fine." he reassured. Rising from his seat, he handed Aikara a keycard to access the elevator. "You always raise your voice most of the times you come here, but I know it's not because you're a bad kid trying to disrupt everyone. It's just that you're energetic, and I appreciate that energy in the morning especially since it's boring to be night shift."

Accepting the keycard, Aikara offered a grateful smile. "Thank you, Mr. Kazu." He proceeded towards the elevator, pressing the button to summon it. Swiftly responding to his early morning summons, the elevator doors slid open.

Pausing to bid Kazu farewell, Aikara waved and beamed. "I'll see you again tomorrow Mr. Kazu. Hope you have a great day!" With those parting words, Aikara stepped into the elevator, the doors closing behind him. After scanning the keycard, the elevator began its ascent.

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(Aikara POV)

Stepping out of the elevator, I strode confidently through the familiar hallways of the apartment I had frequented for years. Despite its slightly complex layout, I navigated the corridors effortlessly, feeling the sensation of the plush carpet beneath my feet.

After a few minutes of leisurely walking, I found myself standing in front of a door that I knew all too well. I pressed the doorbell, waiting for the familiar face that would greet me on the other side.

A voice rang out from within, questioning, "Who is it?"

Chuckling softly, I couldn't help but respond playfully, "After years of faithfully visiting this apartment every single day, do you really think it's necessary to ask that question again~?" With a twinkle in my eye, I patiently awaited the opening of the door, knowing that behind it awaited a person who had become an integral part of my routine.

"It's a given I'll ask this question again and again, I don't want a deranged stalker who doesn't treat idols as humans to be the one on the other side. I won't end up like Ai." She expressed.

Memories flooded my mind as I closed my eyes, trying to push back the emotions. "Yeah, you're absolutely right," I replied, a tinge of sadness and nostalgia evident in my voice. "But you're not an idol anymore, are you?" I added, the sorrowful tone dissipating from my words.

"I suppose you're correct," she acknowledged, and I could hear the click of the lock being undone as I patiently waited for a few seconds.

Finally, the door swung open, revealing Ellie, my sister from a previous life, now in her 30s, standing before me, her expression as neutral as always.

"Come in," she said, motioning me inside the messy apartment. With a sigh, I stepped in, taking in the familiar sight that hadn't changed much since my last visit.

Glancing around, it became apparent that Ellie hadn't gotten around to cleaning as I had requested. The clutter of items scattered across the floor only emphasized the disarray.

"Didn't I ask you to clean the apartment Ellie nee? It's an absolute mess in here." I said as I continued to look around the room.

Ellie shrugged nonchalantly, her response brimming with indifference. "Cleaning isn't essential for my survival. I don't see the need to do so. Besides, it's just cluttered items. There's a small chance of there being cockroaches."

I let out a pout after hearing her response as I crossed my arms "Jeez, it's always 'essential this, essential that.'. I already have an efficient obsessed brother in my house, I don't need another one right now."

Taking a seat on a chair behind the table, Ellie settled in and gestured for me to join her. As I had done countless times before, I took a seat across from Ellie, facing her directly, ready to continue our conversation.

(Image here)

As I looked at Ellie in front of me, I can't help but thing how she really matured a lot now that twelve year have passed. Her childish look as an idol was now gone and got replaced by a mature vibe. She really became beautiful, and I'm proud as her brother. It makes me wonder though why she still isn't married. It's not like she's forbidden from dating anymore. She retired from being an idol a long time ago due to her not wanting to continue doing something that only brings her pain and suffering, and is currently successful in the acting industry.

In fact, she's pretty much a legend now and if you ask a random person on the street if they know who she is, at least 9 out of 10 would answer yes. It's not even at Japan only, due to being a foreigner with english speaking skills, she also become popular abroad.

She really is talented at acting. I'm a talented person myself, so I have some pretty strict requirements when it comes to calling someone talented, and Ellie passed those requirements with flying colors. I'd call her a genius in her own right, though she can never beat me.

"So Ellie nee, how was your day?" I curiously asked with a small smile as I swinged my legs underneath the table. It's something we do everyday, I come to her apartment, and we just spend that time talking.

It might seem strange that we casually have conversations despite me saying I'll get revenge and her saying that she will stop me from rising in the entertainment world, which she successfully does. But it really isn't that strange.

I myself know that Ellie's just being worried for me by trying to stop me, so it's not like I resent her for it. Though what she does is frustrating sometimes, I can't just cut off my relationship with her because of something I know that I'm in the wrong at.

That's why I took the initiative to contact her, and while she was incredibly suspicious of me at first, she eventually understood my sincerity so we were able to keep up our good relationship.

Though, just like Aqua, Ellie became slightly hard to communicate with because she changed after Ai's death. I don't think she wants to achieve revenge, but her personality certainly was impacted in a negative way since she went back to her habit of concealing her real emotions and being indifferent.

I feel sorry for her once again for experiencing another great loss in her life, which just serves as another great reason to keep my good relationship with her. If I'm not there, I don't think she'll recover from these emotions since Ellie's not the type of person to tell others about her problems because she doesn't want to worry them. A quality about her that I both like and hate at the same time.

Anyways, because of her mental state, I visit her here everyday and just chat with her, talking about trivial things such as work, memes, stories, songs, and just how life is going for the both of us in general in hopes of making her recover better.

I want to bring her to a therapist, but no matter how much I ask her too, she always refused.

I decided to stop thinking about it for now as I focused back on our conversation.

"Considering it's still early in the morning, I really didn't do much yet." She responded "Though I did get an acting gig recently."

"Woah." I looked at her with twinkles in my eye "Congrats Ellie nee!" I shouted as I clapped my hands "What is it about?"

"It's not that much, I'll be playing as the female lead for a high school drama." She responded, and I broke into giggles as she looked at me in confusion with a slight tilt of the head "Is there something wrong with what I said?" She asked, and she seemed genuinely confused which broke me out to giggles even further.

"It's nothing much." I said while waving my hands as my giggling decreased "It's just funny that a thirty year old woman like you will act as a highschooler."

Her indifferent mask seemed to break a little bit as she looked at me with furrowed eyebrows "Do you have a problem with that?" She asked while crossing her arms.

"Nope, not at all!" I shouted as I energetically shook my head "I think you'll be absolutely adorable and cute as a high schooler, I just find it funny. I think mom would too."

Ellie gained a small nostalgic smile "I'm sure she would." we continued to bask in this silence for a few moments before Ellie spoke once again "Anyway, you start to look like Ai more and more these days. Looking at you now, I'm suddenly reminded of the past when your personality was terrifyingly similar to her when you were a kid after her death, but you seemed to have mellowed out now that you became a teenager."

"Really? You think so?" I asked with a slight tilt of my head as I looked at her curiously.

Even though I asked her that, I know what she means already.

After all, I purposely made this change.

It's been a lot of years since I started to act as Ai, and I'm now a teenage boy.

Because of that, I had to remove some of Ai's mannerisms from me and add a dash of Noah Anderson because having Ai's personality which is a cute and innocent girl as a teenager male is unnatural.

And if there's one crucial thing about fooling people in real life, it's about not looking unnatural.

So just like that, my masked changed to fit my physical body more but still mantaining Ai's personality, which will result in people familiar with Ai's personality feeling my personality that was eerily similar to her mellowing out.

"Yeah, I do." Ellie responded, breaking me out of my thoughts as I nodded in fascination, my mouth slightly open in amazement.

"So, how's your work? Did you audition for any roles lately?" Ellie asked.

"You know that asking about my work is a big no no right~?" I said while wagging my finger in front of her "After all, you'll always try to sabotage my attempts just like always."

"Good point." Ellie nodded in acknowledgement "Then how's your youtube channel going?"

"It's going great!" I responded, my face covered by my smile "My Japanese account got 300,000 subscribers, and my English account got 1 million!"

My lips curled into a grin as I did a shushing motion "I would like to say more, but knowledge that isn't public might make it easier for you to stop me from getting a role. You understand right?"

"I understand." Ellie responded.

After that, we settled into a comfortable conversation, discussing a myriad of topics which includes her work, my interview later with Yoto high, her current love life, recent controversies regarding some of her colleagues, some juicy gossip, some funny memes we found, anime which we both are fans of, the state of Ichigo productions, and even how my siblings are doing, Ellie disapproved Ruby becoming an idol but I quickly shut her up by using Ai as my shield.

It was a very enjoyable conversation, I laughed, I became sad, and I found the indifferent mask of Ellie breaking once again as she joined me in my laughter sometimes. It honestly warms my heart how close we are, and I'm truly happy with what we have now. I'm grateful for my past self for realizing that Ellie's plan of stopping my own were only due to her worries, because if I didn't, I wouldn't be experiencing the fun I have now.

So despite her being an obstacle in my path of revenge, I love her very much. Thank you Ellie, because with you, without you knowing it, you also filled out a void in my heart after Ai passed away. While I did visit you so that I can heal your mental state, you honestly did the same. If you weren't here, I feel like my mind will be mentally tired from all of the events in my life.

I looked at the pendant on her neck that I gave her for her birthday as Noah Anderson. Even after so many years have passed, I still remember the picture there and the message I inscribed vividly.

"To my dear little sister Ellie, wishing you a happy birthday, I love you."

Nostalgia and warmness filled my heart as I remembered those words. At moments like these, I'm happy I remembered my past life, because being able to become close with Ellie outside of text messages in my past life once again fills me with joy.

"You should go now, you're interview will start soon. You should quickly go back to your apartment and prepare for the day. You should also wake Ruby up when you come back since that girl is a heavy sleeper, she won't wake up to her alarm." She informed me, breaking me out of my thoughts.

I looked at my watch, and saw that three hours have already passed by. She's right, if I don't go soon, I won't have enough time to prepare, and I need to present myself in the absolute best if I'm going to an interview.

"You're right! It's already so late!" I shouted, and I stood up as I got up from my chair as I started walking away "Bye Ellie nee! See you tomorrow!" I waved at her "And I'll make sure to wake Ruby up. She's just like you to be honest, a very heavy sleeper. Don't worry, I don't mean anything bad by it, I think it's an absolutely adorable trait!" I gushed as I gave her a thumbs up.

With those final words, I left the apartment, ready for my interview later.

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A.N.

Boom, end of chapter.

I made it slightly long at 2600 words but I'm fine with it.

This is my direction with Ellie, I realized that Ellie and Aikara being antagonistic toward each other doesn't suit his character so I wanted to change it. But I also don't want to discard the chapter before so I made it like this, which I think is a feasable direction given his character. After all, he has high EQ so he will obviously understand that Ellie's only doing this because of her worry, which he can't find to hate.

So ignore what I said about Ellie being the main antagonist.

And in case any of you still remember the what if I released, I'm planning at some time in the future to make a novel out of it.(The main focus is still on Aikara, not the family). It's going to be another reincarnation so I'm wondering if you guys have any modern world crossover you will want(I want it to have good plot but no supernatural, can even be a manga. Fighting manga's are okay). Of course, he will still have to deal with Aqua, Ruby, and Ai since he's only four years younger than the two siblings.