Four Seasons

Summary: Ever since their parents abandoned her and her siblings, Haruka has been doing part time work and various odd jobs. One day, she and her four other siblings- Natsume, Maki, Saki, and Mafuyu- are accidentally sent into Wonderland! What do they do?!

Prologue: We are the Ichinose Family!

"That was the last customer. You can go home early today, Ichinose." My manager, Fukuo-san called, as I wiped down the table.

"Eh? Are you sure? I can stay a bit longer, tenchou!" I exclaimed.

"It's fine, it's fine. You're still getting paid either way. Go home and rest." He sighs, slinging the towel in his hand over his shoulder.

"But tenchou! You know how I feel about getting paid without fulfilling all my work! I have to earn everything!" I frown, walking over to the marble counter.

"I'm telling you it's fine. You've been working really hard lately at your other part time jobs, not to mention you have exams soon. If you overwork yourself, your family will be worried. You've definitely earned your pay." He assures, finally convincing me.

I sigh in defeat. "Alright. Thank you tenchou! I'll be leaving first then." I smiled, undoing my apron. I hand it over to the store manager and now before leaving.

"Ah, I wonder if I should make curry tomorrow." I hurry home.

My name is Haruka. Ichinose Haruka. I'm currently 16 years old and I work several jobs to support my family. It's hard work and sometimes overwhelming, but I have to work hard in order for my family to live comfortably.

My only family are my four siblings. The eldest is my older brother Natsume. He's 24 and is working at an office. Then, there's my younger brother Mafuyu, who's two years younger than me. He hates his name because it sounds girly, so we often call him Yu. Then, there's Maki and Saki. They're twins, and currently 5. Finally, there's me.

We are all only half blood related. Our mother was a mistress to several men, and once Maki and Saki were born, she just abandoned us.

It's hard at times because only Natsume and I work, but we are able to manage. Despite not being fully blood related, we love each other nonetheless.

"I'm home!" I exclaimed, as I took off my shoes.

"Ah, welcome home sis." Yu greets, as he walks down the stairs. "I just finished making dinner."

"Oh! What is it today?" I asked, as we both enter the kitchen/dining room area.

"I couldn't decide, so I just made nikujaga." He said nonchalantly.

"Ah, I'm going to make curry tomorrow. Maki, Saki, go wash up for dinner." I call, as the two sit on the floor playing with their toys.

"Oh, sorry. I used all the potatoes." Yu apologizes, as he sets the table.

"It's fine. I'll go shopping tomorrow since it's my rare day off." I say, walking over to help. "That reminds me, Kokoa-chan gave me five passes to go Momo Land! We should go tomorrow!" I remember, pulling the tickets out of my pocket.

"Eh? Momo Land?" He asked, giving me a strange look.

"I-is it no good?" I purse my lips, looking down at my feet. I hear a small sigh.

"I never said no. If onee-san wants to go, it's fine by me." He shrugs.

"Really?! Yay! Thank you Yu-chan!" I cry in happiness, glomping him.

"O-onee-san?! W-what are you-"

"I'm home." Natsume calls, as the door to the kitchen opens. "… What are you two doing?"

"Natsume! Let's go to Momo Land!" I exclaimed, getting off of Mafuyu.

"Momo Land?" Natsume cocks his head to the side.

"Yeah! Kokoa-chan gave me five tickets! She works there and she won them in a draw, but she can't go because she's going on a trip to an onsen with her boyfriend!" I explain, holding the pink colored tickets up.

"Well… I don't have work tomorrow, so why not?" He smiles as he shrugs.

"Yaaaay!"

"Yes, yes, now let's eat."

[Next Day]

"Waaah! Soooo cuuuuute!" I cry, as we enter Momo Land.

"It's… Quite pink." Natsume says, arms crossed.

"It's too girly." Yu frowns, hands in his pocket.

"Haru-nee! We wanna see Momomi!" Maki exclaims with wide eyes, as she tugs on the hem of my shirt.

"Don't worry, we will!" I assure, giving a thumbs up.

"Ah! Maki wants to go on that ride!" She says, pointing to a carousel.

"Oh! Yes! Let's go!" I agree, running towards the attraction.

"O-oi! Don't run!"

[Later]

We sat down for lunch at a cute café and rested.

"Wow! Everything looks so good!" I exclaimed, looking at the menu.

"It's surprisingly cheap too, so that's good." Natsume nodded.

"Hmm.. Maybe I'll have the Momomi Burger!" I smile jubilantly.

"We want! We want!" Maki and Saki agree.

"I'll just take anything that's not pink." Yu sighs.

"I think I'll have to agree with you." Natsume chuckles.

"Hmmm.. What's that?" I ask, pointing to an attraction across the café.

"Huh? It looks like some kind of funhouse or something? Wanna go check it out afterwards?" Natsume asks.

"Yeah!"

We entered the funhouse and were greeted by the attraction worker.

"Hello! How many?" He asks.

"Five people." I reply with a smile.

"Ah, that's a nice family. Are you two the parents?" The man asks.

"C-could you be referring to me and.." I trail off, blushing madly while looking at Natsume, who merely smiles.

"Oh, you're not? I'm sorry. To be honest, not a lot of people come to this attraction; especially families. Because of that, we're going to close it soon." The worker says, looking somber.

"Eh? Oh… That's unfortunate." I sympathize.

"It's fine. At least you will hopefully enjoy it!" He perks up.

"Of course! Let's go everyone!" I exclaim, pulling them all along.

[5 mins later]

"Wow, this thing is pretty big!" Natsume exclaims, looking around. We are in the mirror room right now.

"Yeah. I'm kinda scared we might get lost!" I shudder at the thought.

"Like that would happen." Yu sighs.

"Haru-nee! I'm scared!" Maki cries, holding onto my waist.

"Of what?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I saw a man in the mirror!" She buries her face into my side, holding me tightly.

"H-huh? You're probably just imagining things, Maki. Don't worry, we are all here. Right, Natsum-" I turn around, but I can't find Natsum, Saki or Yu anywhere. "N-Natsume?! Yu-chan?! Where are you? This isn't funny!"

"Onee-chan, I'm scared!" Maki cries, holding on even tighter.

"Yeah onee-san, I'm scared." Another voice says, as something grabs my leg.

"Hyaaaa!" I scream, as Maki and I fall backwards into the mirror. The mirror, however, isn't solid. In fact, we go right through it!

"-ka! –ruka! Haruka!" A voice screams.

"Nghhh…" Haruka's eyes flutter open as she tries to process what just happened. "Maki!" She cried, sitting up frantically.

"Onee-san, calm down. Maki is right beside you." Mafuyu says calmly.

"Thank goodness! Where's Natsume and Saki?" Haruka asks worriedly.

"I can't find them…" He replies.

"Where are we?" She looks around. They are in a room full of mirrors, however, unlike the one they were in before, these mirrors did not have pink frames. They were just plain. Even the pink and white tile floor turned into black nothingness.

"I have no clue. For now, we have to find a way out. Let's go." Mafuyu says, picking up Maki and pulling Haruka by the wrist.

"R-right.." Haruka agrees, slightly frightened.

Fifteen minutes passed since they began walking.

"Uhm… Yu-chan?" Haruka called meekly.

"What is it?" He glances over to her.

"What if… Maki really did see a man in the mirror?" She asked hesitantly. Suddenly, Mafuyu stopped walking.

"Onee-san, don't be ridiculous. You're just imagining things." Mafuyu says in a serious tone.

"B-but how do you explain this mess then?! And earlier, something definitely grabbed me! It made me fall into one of the mirrors and brought us here!" She cried. "I was really scared!"

"I… I'm sorry… I shouldn't have said that." Mafuyu muttered, as he pulled Haruka into an embrace. "From now on, I'll protect you. I'll protect you and everyone."

"Yu-chan…" Haruka sniffled, burying her face into his chest.

"Haruka-nee, actually, I-"

Suddenly, the mirrors surrounding them began breaking, one by one.

"W-what's going on?!" Haruka cried, clinging to Mafuyu.

"I don't know, but don't move!" He replied, holding both girls tightly.

The room became silent, indicating that the mirrors stopped breaking.

"Is it okay now?" Haruka asked, gripping on tightly to Mafuyu's shirt.

"I think…" He replied. "We're in an empty room."

"Eh?" Haruka opened her eyes and looked around. "You're right. Ah! There's a door over there!" She exclaimed.

"You're right! Let's go!" Mafuyu said, pulling Haruka along.

They swung the door open, and a gust of wind blew, causing the trio to cover their eyes. Once they uncovered them, they stared blankly ahead.

"We're… At a…"

"Carnival?"

Circus music flooded the area, as game booths and food stalls were surrounding everywhere.

"Haruka! Mafuyu! Maki!" A familiar voice called out frantically. The trio turned around.

"Natsume!" Haruka cried, running to him as she embraced him.

"I was so worried! When I saw that only Saki was there, I got worried." The blonde sighed in relief.

"Have you found them, sir?" A voice called from behind.

"Ah yes. Thank you so much!" Natsume bowed. "You four, show your gratitude."

"Ah…" Haruka nodded and bowed.

"I'm glad you're all fine. However… Right now, you may be in a big pickle…" The man with wine red hair smile sympathetically.

Woooo! I got this done in 3 hours! My eyes! They burn! Well, that's mostly because I'm facing the wall and the fan is blowing towards the wall and its reflecting-

Never mind. Anyways, I really hope you enjoyed the prologue and I hope it's got you hooked! I really enjoyed coming up with this project and I had lots of fun doing character designs and story planning.

I hope you all decide to continue reading! Please look forward to chapter one!

[Please leave a review if you'd like, however any flames or straight up rude reviews will be removed. I want this to be a fun and happy experience for everyone, so please don't make anyone feel bad!]