Sisters of Heaven and Earth
It was Saturday.
Another day where Pastel*Palettes are doing a live event scheduled by their agency. It was a hot summer day, and Pastel*Palettes member are performing in an outdoor venue. Even though it was raining before their performance, but the heat still pierces the skin of everyone in the venue.
Among those who watch their performance is one of its member, Hikawa Hina, sister. Hikawa Sayo. Roselia doesn't have a scheduled practice, and she hoped to practice alone at home while her sister out here performing. Today, however, their mother asked her to watch Hina as she perform.
"I don't understand the point of doing this." she thought as she watched Hina playing her guitar on Shuwarin Dreamin chorus. The more she look at her playing, the more she got frustrated.
"She's been... practicing..." Sayo thought. Hina's movements are even more fluid and smooth compared to her usually already genius-level play.
"This is her true abilities combined with practice..." Sayo thought again. She bit her lower lips trying to distract her frustration. At this point, no matter how much she practiced, she will never be able to run from her.
She realized this back then when one of Hina's fans approached her, and was reminded of the bitter truth. She understood that her path and Hina's path had differed at this time, but she are still frustrated because the guitar is a skill she had honed for such a long time.
As Pastel*Palettes finished performing, Sayo walked away to a sightseeing spot near the venue, she want to take her frustration elsewhere rather than in front of her sister.
As much as she envied her sister's talent, she's still the little sister she cared. No matter how far her talent is ahead of her, Sayo still treasured her little sister, even if she sometimes act cold to her.
"Onee-chan!" She heard a sound from the stairs to her left. It seems like her sister found her watching the venue from this sightseeing spot.
"Don't you still have some more performance?" Sayo asked in a stoic tone.
"Ahaha, Pastel*Palettes performance is over for today, it'll be another group after this, so I am free for now~!" Hina replied cheerfully, her smile is the same as Sayo always see everyday.
"Hmph, I see you'd been practicing. Since when?" Sayo asked again, and now she faced Hina directly.
"Mmm? Let's see... last week. I think."
"...Last week?" Sayo face grown pale.
"Yeah. Because... Aya-chan looked like she worked really hard on every practice, so I tried to do the same thing like her with my guitar."
"Just... in a week... that much progress..." Sayo thought with a tinge of despair. She remembered that to reach that level of playing, she had to work at least six months.
"I just found that I learned a lot of new things by trying it out doing things that I didn't usually do! It's so much fun!"
Fun.
When did the last time she felt fun in playing guitar? Sayo thought.
Everytime she played the guitar, she only felt the sense of being chased by an invisible thing. Something that might catch her the moment she stopped.
And she felt like the invisible thing caught her right now. Her mind feel bleak.
"...ne-chan? Onee-chan"
"N... no!" Sayo spun her body and unknowingly pushed Hina away with force. Hina's body was sent flying towards the stairs.
""...Eh?"" the two of them realized what happened. But it was too late, Hina's body is flying above the stairs. Sayo looked at her little sister, who are right now flying in a course to dive down headfirst into the rail on the corner of the stairs.
A lot of thought fly through her head at the speed of light.
Her past with Hina
Her envy of Hina's talents
Her good memories with Hina
And Hina's future.
"If she got injured, then her talent... her future...!"
"But if she got injured, then she won't chase me again..."
There is no time to waste. It needs to be a split second decision. The moment she wavered, it might be the end of her sister.
Does she want her sister's career and future to end here?
"...No!"
Sayo leaps toward her sister. She didn't know where does the power to leap this far or the nerves to move this quick came from. She only thought of protecting her little sister.
As she reached Hina, she pulled Hina to reduce her falling velocity. Seeing that it isn't enough, she resorted to hugging her to shield her from the impact.
"O...Onee..." *BANG!*
...
...
Dark.
Everything was dark.
Then gradually light came to Sayo's eyes. As far as she can see, it's a flower field. A river is flowing in the middle of that flower field.
She looked around, and found herself sitting down under the shade of a tree in the middle of that field.
Next to her, on the other side of the tree, is someone else.
"...Are you... Staff-san from the live house...?"
The person on the other side looks at Sayo.
"...You're just taking his form, huh... I didn't feel the staff I met in you at all..."
Sayo looks at the sky.
"Such a beautiful sky..." Hina's face at Tanabata flashes on Sayo's thoughts. "I... might not be able to see it with her again... eh..."
Tears start falling from Sayo's eyes.
"Why... why I have to feel this... agony..." she murmurs as she started to sob
"If I didn't lose control of myself back then, then this wouldn't... wouldn't... happen..."
"I want to see her again... I want to laugh with her again... I want to face my future with Roselia... I want to prove myself that I can be a good elder sister to her!" Sayo stood and screamed from the bottom of her heart.
"Uuh... uhhh..." she fell back to her knees. As she did, she felt a light tap on her shoulder.
"...yes?" She looked to the direction of the tap, where the creature taking the form of the staff points toward a door in the middle of the flower field.
"...eh?"
The creature lifts her off and pushed her toward the door.
"W...what do you mean? I..." confused, Sayo doesn't resist as she got pushed until she's in the front of the door. The creature then opens the door.
"W...what?" As Sayo asked that, the creature pushed Sayo through the door, and things once more became pitch black for her.
...
...
Sayo tried to open her eyes again. This time, she saw a hospital ward. She felt that her head isn't as free as usual, it seems to be bandaged.
"This is..." She looked right, seeing the window which shows the blue summer sky outside. Then, she looked left.
There lies her little sister, sleeping with her head on the bed. Slowly and gently, Sayo caresses her sister's hair. The color is the same with hers, so it felt as if she caressed her own hair. She lightly smiled.
The little sister seem to notice the caresses, and woke up. Her face cannot hide the surprise coming from her elder sister waking up.
"ONEE-CHAN!" Hina shouted and hugged her sister.
"O...ouch... Hina, slow down." Hina's sudden movement hits Sayo a bit hard.
"S...sorry, onee-chan. I... I..." tears start to flow from Hina's eyes. Sayo caressed Hina's hair, then her cheeks to wipe the tears.
"I'm back."
"Onee-chaaan... Hueeee..."
"There, there..." Sayo hugged Hina and caresses her hair. At that time, the hospital door opened.
"Sayo, you're awake!" The first person to enter is Imai Lisa, the bassist of Roselia. Behind her at the rest of Roselia members: Minato Yukina, Udagawa Ako, and Shirokane Rinko. They brought fruits and cakes.
"Sayo-nee is awake! Oh. I should call my sister to tell her I will be a bit long here, wait!" Ako runs out of the ward as she called Tomoe.
"Everyone is worried." Yukina said to Sayo as she sat between Sayo and the window.
"Sorry for making everyone worry. Did everyone practiced as scheduled? Think of it again... what day is today?"
"It's Tuesday... You've been out for three days, Sayo-san" Rinko answered.
"Then I can assume the Monday practice went normally?"
"Yeah... although it's a bit tough without guitar, we have to resort to your solo practice recordings provided by your sister..." Yukina answered.
"W...where did you found those, Hina?" Sayo looked a bit red from hearing that.
"I found it when I look around onee-chan's room. It's fun listening to it!" Hina answered as a smile beamed from her face.
The day continued with other bands visiting afterwards. Poppin' Party, Hello Happy World, Pastel*Palettes, and even Afterglow. The doctor also made an appearance and said how it is such a miracle that Sayo didn't got any permanent injuries for hitting her head on the rails.
After all that, Hina went back home since she's been here for two days straight taking care of her sister. Right now, Sayo is all alone with the lamp turned off.
"...I still can fight..." Sayo murmurs as she looked outside to the sea of stars. "Thank you..." She clasped her hands in front of her.
"I will keep going with doing what only I can do... Even if I can't run from Hina, I will not run away again. I'll be sure to face her head on." she vowed with her heart. As she steeled her resolve, she drifts off once more to the dream world, resting for the days that will come for her and Roselia.
-End