“Hey, I told you not to come into my room.”

“Whatever. You come into my room too.”

“Did you just talk back to me?”

“Yeah, so what. Go pick your ears and take a dump or something.”

This kind of illogical bickering is standard for us, and at worst, we even get into physical scuffles. My younger brother is truly... something else. His looks and intelligence are so different from mine that I doubt we were even born from the same parents; it's like he's just not part of our family. His personality is a mess, too. I wonder if he'll ever be able to get a girlfriend acting like that.

All my brother does after coming home from school is play games. He locks himself in his room, spewing all sorts of profanities while gaming—a sight so pathetic that even our parents have given up on him. How can he be so different from me? At this point, there must be some secret about his birth that no one knows.

I stayed behind at school to finish some work and came home a bit late, only to hear my brother's voice leaking through his tightly shut door. I expected the usual unpleasant swearing, but today, it sounded like he was actually talking to someone.

“Hey, hey. On your side, your side. Nice.”

...Ah, was it today? My brother mentioned in passing a while ago that he was bringing a friend over... I didn't even know he had friends, but he told me not to come out of my room because he was bringing someone. So that was today. I felt a mix of gratitude and pity for whoever was willing to be friends with my brother.

I stayed in my room for a while, but I hadn't had any water since school and was getting incredibly thirsty. Ignoring my brother's warning to stay put, I headed toward the kitchen.