Title: Melancholy

"…Itsumo, UNBARANCE. Motome to te de…."

Looking in the direction of the roof balcony that Miho's room had access to, Chisa frowned a little as she muttered softly to herself, "Miho's at it again… This is the fifth time this week that she's singing that song."

Chisa wasn't blind, nor was she oblivious to the changes her younger sister has undergone these past few years, despite however Miho may think. Between a career-orientated mother, and a father who couldn't even look after himself half the time, Chisa has learnt how to handle both herself, and her younger sister pretty well, if she could say so herself.

Ever since Miho's 9th birthday, she has been getting a lot more mature, much quicker than anyone has expected. If Chisa was asked to point out the moment the changes started happening… She would have to say that it started around the time when Miho requested father to open a bank account for her.

A child whose sole goal in life was to become a comic artist asking to become- somewhat- financially independent? If that wasn't weird, then she didn't know what was. Too bad she just brushed that little fact aside when the incident occurred….

"Hmm… I wonder…" Chisa's face broke into a grin as she furiously dug into her backpack, knowing full well that there was a piece of paper that may hold the answers to her sister's problem.

Uncharacteristically tossing out her pencil case, notes and books carelessly all over her room floor, she gave an exclamation of glee as she finally found what she was looking for.

Written on the piece of paper were four words printed in bold.

'LME's New Talent Competion'

"…No ta ite ru no ni." Miho ended the first song she ever sang as Lala, heart still aching for everything she left behind the moment she lost that bag.

"Pigu… Mogu… I wonder how are you doing right now? Is the person taking care of you feeding you right? Especially you Mogu, since we both know how much of a glutton you can be. Don't we, Pigu?"

Miho whispered to the setting sun, the icy breeze carrying her voice, hopefully, to somewhere where it can reach her little dinosaur friends.

Standing on the still moving swing, Miho shut her eyes as she recalled all the times she spent with Pigu and Mogu, as Fancy Lala with all the others from Lyrical Productions… Acting… Singing… Dancing…

Just so that she would never be able to convince herself that this was all a dream.

"I'm almost 15 now… What should I do…?" Miho asked the empty surroundings around her. The handphone given to her by Ms Haneishi lying on the seat opposite the one she sat on just now.

Surprisingly, the phone still worked. This meant that Ms Haneishi was still footing the bills out of the bank account Lala gave to her so many years ago. Miho hadn't dared to look at the amount in the account, assuming that it was sufficient to pay the phone bills for the past few years… And hopefully, a few years more.

That relic from the past was one of the three items left from her adventure as Fancy Lala, the other two being the hat given to her by Mister Mysterious, and the number Komi-san passed to her that day at Harajuku when he did her hair.

Miho smiled.

Despite all the pain it has brought her, she would have never changed her decision to step into the showbiz world as 'Fancy Lala' almost a full 6 years back. To her, those times were something that could never be changed for anything in the world.

Author's Note: Hope you like it. ^^ With all the spirits that Kyoko-chan has each time Sho appears... Well, I don't think a 9 year old girl changing into a 16 year old one is that far-fetched. =P If this will be expanded into a multi-chaptered really has to depend on my schedule, so I'll leave as a one-shot for now. =D

Edit 28/6/2011: I've finally gotten around to expanding this little ficlet to a three-shot. There should be a sequel in a works where it'll continue off the last chapter. Hope you guys and girls will enjoy it! =)