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It was another bright sunny day in Tokyo. So bright and sunny and oppressively hot, in fact, that it seemed that not even the Harbingers wished to attack, instead probably lounging around with fruity drinks with those little umbrellas stuck in - lounging evilly, certainly, but lounging all the same.
This left the Seals - the younger Seals, anyway - with something of a day off. Sorata had suggested they go swimming. Yuzuriha had suggested ice-cream. Kamui had looked torn between the two options, but Arashi - ever the spoilsport - had sat down at the kitchen table, brushed her hair back over her shoulders, and taken out her homework.
"We've been so busy lately that we've all fallen behind," she said calmly. "I for one do not want my grades to suffer."
"...'Neechan," Sorata attempted, "it's the end of the world. I think our teachers will understand, huh?"
Arashi shot him a withering glance. "I have no intention of failing my college entrance exams." Kamui sort of got the idea that this was Arashi's way of joking around - that she was being overly serious on purpose to spite Sorata - but he had no real proof of that. Arashi opened her textbook at began to copy questions. Sorata groaned miserably and dropped into the chair next to her.
Somehow, that had been all the argument needed. The next hour passed silently - mostly - and productively - mostly - until Sorata thought it was high time to bring up the old argument. "'Neechan, let me copy off you, okay?"
She gave him a dirty look. "No."
"Please?" Sorata attempted to look cute and small and innocent. It didn't work.
"You won't ever learn if you just copy all the time," Arashi pointed out.
"Well, yeah, but you never let me copy off you to start with," Sorata muttered. "Come on! Haven't we already decided that you're going to be the breadwinner once you and I marry?" He was, Kamui noticed, getting better at dodging. Once Sorata was finished with pretending to be gravely injured, he glared at his English homework and gave Arashi a hopeful glance. "Come on, 'Neechan. I'd let you copy off me!"
Arashi looked honestly surprised. "Why ever would I want to do that?"
There was a long, very long pause. Sorata, after blinking at Arashi for a moment, started to look thoughtful, scratching his forehead as he considered reasons.
"Never mind," Arashi said irritably. "It was a hypothetical question."
Sorata grinned sheepishly, glanced again at his homework, and then abandoned it entirely for the much pleasanter hobby of 'goading Arashi.' "Say, 'Neechan, what do you want to be when you grow up?"
Kamui and Yuzuriha both snuck interested glances across the table.
"What sort of question is that?"
"A good one!" Sorata sounded determined, and began going into a speech. "Having goals for the future is very important! 'Neechan, you might be thinking things like, 'I am old and wise,' but you know you're still very young! You have your whole life ahead of you! You won't be in high-school forever, and what you do once you graduate is very important!"
"I know that," Arashi pointed out, sounding slightly amused despite herself.
"Of course you do! So, what do you want to be?"
"I..." Arashi seemed to hesitate, and the pause stretched embarrassed. "I've never put much thought into it," she admitted at last, slightly irritated.
"What about you, Yuzuriha-chan?" Sorata asked, all smiles suddenly. Yuzuriha smiled back, and as usual the two of them seemed to play their cheer off one another until Kamui felt like he and Arashi were somehow cast in shadow.
"I want to be an artist!" Yuzuriha chirped, "or maybe take care of Mitsumine after Grandmother gets too old!"
"Those are both respectable goals!" Sorata proclaimed, nodding seriously. "See, 'Neechan? Yuzuriha-chan has a plan for her adulthood." Kamui wondered how this had turned into a lecture about Arashi's study habits.
"And Kamui, what about you?" Sorata asked, cheerfully grinning again.
"I dunno," Kamui mumbled, not really keen on joining the conversation when it came to that.
"That's also fine," Sorata said, "you're still young. See, 'Neechan?"
"Kamui doesn't have any career goals either," Arashi pointed out.
"Ah, but he's two years younger than you are!" Sorata was clearly enjoying himself. Arashi was starting to grow impatient.
"So what about you? What are your career goals?" Arashi snapped in reply. Her face changed right after she said it, although Kamui didn't know why. It wasn't like Arashi to regret her curtness, especially when it came to Sorata, but she looked embarrassed all of a sudden - and Sorata looked thoughtful.
Kamui prepared himself for Sorata's next line, something no doubt about marriage, but Sorata was quiet for a long moment before cracking a grin. "You already know my future, 'Neechan," he said, cheerfully - but very quietly.
Arashi's fists clenched on the tabletop, accidentally crumpling the paper she had been taking notes on. "I don't," she said fiercely, blushing from anger and - and maybe something else, something Kamui definitely wasn't ready to attribute to Arashi of all people - and then she stood up from her chair quickly, the chair itself skidding backwards, and marched off in the direction of upstairs with clenched fists and without a backwards glance. Sorata watched her go with odd calmness and none of his usual apologies.
Kamui exchanged a confused and slightly frightened glance with Yuzuriha. "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Yuzuriha asked finally, carefully slow.
Sorata shrugged and stood up as well. "It's not something I really have to think about," he said lightly. "Hey, I'll go get us some snacks. No use in working hard on an empty stomach, right?"
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