The Falling Powdered Snow


Even if I pass the time in solitude, or am forced to run away,
A new day will come
Even if I have no magic, I have to make this wish come true
I swore to it
There's still a future I want to see with you.

Rising Hope, LiSA


[Siblings Chapter (II)]
Graupel


At the start of the work week, Miyuki usually begins the day by seeing her beloved brother off to work.

"Onii-sama, you have work today, right?"

"Yes. I'm going home to change into my uniform." Miyuki smiled back when she saw how the crease between Tatsuya's brows deepened, and received a gentle rub of the head. "The nurse will be here soon with your breakfast. I would stay and wait until you have finished eating, but…"

"Onii-sama mustn't worry about me." Miyuki maintained her steady gaze on Tatsuya's features. "Rather, please go and do your best for today as well."

She became more cheerful when Tatsuya replied with a laugh, as her brother has never been the most emotional of creatures.

Sometimes, Miyuki feared that her condition had rendered her useless to her genius of a brother, as being her sole companion and guardian after the demise of their parents, he was obligated to stay at her side, thus rooting him in Tokyo instead of going out and becoming more renowned with his numerous talents.

So when she could at least be the partial cause of an outburst of emotion from him, she felt lighter, as if she could fly out of her bed at any instant.

However, beneath the sheet, her legs remained still, as though frozen.

"I guess I cannot refuse such a serious request from my adorable little sister." He leaned over the bed and kissed Miyuki on the forehead, her face heating up at the innocuous contact. "I guess it can't be helped. And you might be feeling better today if you could turn red like that."

"Onii-sama, you meanie."

He just smiled back, as gentle as Shiba Tatsuya could allow himself to be in front of his sister. (Which was to say, very gentle.)

"Please take care and wear your scarf. The weather report has predicted a possible snowfall."

"You as well. Ask the nurse to bring you more blankets if necessary." Tatsuya managed a slight smile and opened the door. "I'll be back later, okay?"

"I'll be waiting for you, Onii-sama!"

Miyuki nodded and waved as the door slid closed behind her brother, and sighed as total silence reigned once again in the room.

Or no, not total silence. However, the ticking of the clock hung on the wall across her bed was annoying, and Miyuki closed her eyes with a weary expression. "Onii-sama…"

If only you could be here all day.

But the selfish thought was instantly squashed and put away at the back of her mind, Miyuki's hands arranging themselves on her lap as she breathed in, out, in, like what the nurse instructed her to do when agitated.

They said that it was dangerous to let negative emotions get the better of her, as her heart and lungs would have to work extra to compensate, and a complication was what they were avoiding for now.

Miyuki decided to reread the book that Tatsuya had left behind, Chekhov's The Duel and Other Stories, and let the time pass, only looking up when the nurse finally arrived and set the breakfast tray across her lap with a slight murmur. However, when the nurse had already departed and her breakfast finished, Miyuki let herself sink again in her reading, her eyes moving past line after line without hurry.

She was lost in the world of 19th century Russia.

And then, the noise of the suddenly opening door made her look up in surprise, Chekhov's disillusioned princess momentarily forgotten, as she stared at the intruder who gasped at the doorway, bent down and wheezing at the rush that he had apparently made to go here.

"George—!"

"Excuse me?"

The young man's head shot up, confused at the low and undoubtedly feminine voice that came from the patient in the room, and gaped like an idiot at the scene that greeted his eyes.

"I—wrong room?" He turned his head toward the hall behind him, and then back at Miyuki. "302?"

"This is room 300, actually," Miyuki decided to answer with a slight smile, so that he would not think unnecessary thoughts about her getting offended. "You'll want next door."

The young man flushed to his ears in a color that was almost as crimson as his hair (which Miyuki now noted as having a particularly singular shade of red), and muttered out a strangled-sounding "Sorry!" before bolting out in the same manner as he did when he entered.

The door shut behind him, as loud as a gunshot in the relatively quiet atmosphere of the hospital, and left behind him a silence that was almost more unbearable than the one before his arrival.

Miyuki's gaze lingered for a while on the still door, and then let it drift back on the book that she was holding.

Strangely, the ticking of the clock seemed louder than before.


"Miyuki!"

When Miyuki finally looked up again, she had found that Mitsui Honoka and Kitayama Shizuku were already peeking by the doorway. Giving them a cheerful greeting, Miyuki waved them in, with Shizuku prompting Honoka to the chair and instead going to the window, watching the snow fall past the window.

"We would have arrived earlier," Honoka was busy chirping as she set a basket of fruits on the nightstand, prompting a happy thank-you from the patient. "But there was an incredible incident on the way to the train station, wasn't there, Shizuku?"

"Mm." Shizuku, in contrast to her bright friend, was content to just watch and remain as silent as possible. However, seeing Miyuki's concerned eyes, she quickly supplied, "I think someone who had a gun just suddenly shot everyone in close proximity, I'm not quite sure…"

Miyuki's gasp made Honoka hold her hands up and assure the girl that they weren't directly involved. "The traffic was very heavy while it was going on. It took us quite a while to reach the station by bus." She lowered her voice significantly, even though they were the only people in the room, and said, "They were saying that the arrival of Saegusa Mayumi was the reason why the matter was resolved and hushed so easily, but everything's still confused…"

"Saegusa Mayumi?" Miyuki scowled a bit as she thought about where she might have heard the name before, and let out an "ah" as she recalled. "As in, the third child of the Saegusa family?"

"Yeah." Honoka sighed. "I would have liked to see her in person, but that wouldn't have been ideal in the circumstances…"

Shizuku sighed. "Honoka, even if there was a celebrity like Saegusa Mayumi in the streets, I don't think that she is the first thing you'll turn your attention to in a situation like that…"

"I know that!" Honoka pouted. "Still…"

Miyuki sighed. "Just… Shizuku, Honoka, just take care of yourselves, okay?"

"Geez, Miyuki," Honoka smiled.

"Honoka…"

"Don't worry about us so much, Miyuki," Shizuku intoned in that serious voice of hers. "Just concentrate on getting well."

Honoka vigorously nodded in agreement, while Miyuki, defeated, smiled and rested back on her pillows.

"What about Tatsuya-san?" Honoka suddenly spoke up with a bold tone, breaking the melancholy that their conversation had brought to the room. Shizuku noticed how her two friends had gone slightly pink at the new topic. "He's also an officer now, right?"

"Well… yes." Miyuki's eyes flicked to give Honoka a sly glance. "Honoka… don't tell me you still have a thing for Onii-sama…?"

Honoka's ears were bright red, while Shizuku was heroically maintaining her poker face on.

"I understand," Miyuki said with a playful laugh, and Honoka was glad that she didn't sound angry—Miyuki was, after all, prone to overreacting over girls that get too close to her brother in the past. "Onii-sama, after all…"

"His genius is astounding, and his quick reactions are almost as if he wasn't human," Shizuku said in a deadpan tone. "I had asked him countless times if he couldn't just quit his job and become a bodyguard to the Kitayama family, but… I guess he cares more about his little sister than about his pay." She smiled a bit, making Miyuki blush pink once more.

"I can't deny that I'm the reason why Onii-sama has to endure such a troublesome job like becoming a police officer, though," Miyuki sighed. "Sometimes, I'm afraid that I am the cause why Onii-sama cannot pursue a job where his strengths really lie…"

"Miyuki," Honoka sounded as if she was chiding a child. "Please don't think that you are a burden to Tatsuya-san in any way. After all, he himself does not think it. It's obvious in how he talks about you to others, you know."

Shizuku nodded. "Miyuki can be such an airhead sometimes."

Miyuki looked as if she was about to protest, when Honoka interjected, "And what's more, Tatsuya-san is not a person who decides over things in such a haphazard manner. I think we can safely say that since he chose this job, he wanted it in the first place, and had weighed all his options wisely before doing so."

"I… you might be right." Miyuki finally let down her defenses in the face of that logic, and let out a shivering breath. "It is Onii-sama after all… I'm sorry. I'm not usually like this…"

Honoka smiled widely, while Shizuku crossed her arms and watched the scene pensively.

"Anyway, what are you two up to now?" Miyuki asked with interest, drawing their minds away from thoughts of the other Shiba. "I've not seen you two for a while. Busy?"

Honoka nodded with a frustrated sigh. "Yup. I've been recently promoted to team leader, but it's kind of a hassle."

"However, the pay raise surely doesn't hurt," Miyuki giggled.

Honoka nodded sheepishly. "Yeah, at least my parents cannot complain. I could pay my rent comfortably now."

"How about Shizuku?" Miyuki asked, turning to the silent girl.

"Still toughing it out in graduate school," was the reply. "However, the paperwork is getting more challenging by the week. I say my professors are from the pits of hell…"

"Shizuku!" Miyuki and Honoka both chided her, laughing.


"Miyuki?"

"Onii-sama!"

Miyuki looked up to see Tatsuya come in and place a parcel wrapped in brown paper on her lap, making her cry, "Oh, Onii-sama shouldn't have bothered." However, Tatsuya must have noticed her lips twitching with the effort to keep her happiness from showing too openly on her face.

"It's nothing. After all, Miyuki never asks for anything, so this is the least I could do… Oh, did anyone drop by?"

Miyuki glanced up from the task of tearing at the brown paper to see Tatsuya staring curiously at the basket that the pair had left behind. Thinking about the young man who had burst in rather unceremoniously earlier, she decided that mentioning him to Tatsuya would be rather unnecessary.

"Only Honoka and Shizuku, Onii-sama."

A nostalgic smile blossomed on his lips. "Oh, so it's Mitsui-san and Kitayama-san. I see."

"Honoka recently got promoted in her company, while Shizuku is studying in graduate school." Miyuki placed the book on her lap with a serious expression. "Onii-sama, I wonder why you didn't pursue an engineering program, though? You could have excelled in that perfectly."

"I wanted something more… challenging, I would say. After all, it would be just monotonous if I knew everything from the start. Becoming a policeman is something more spontaneous. You cannot control every element in the job."

Miyuki giggled, and said what she had been thinking out loud. "So, even Onii-sama thinks that way sometimes."

"Not all problems have a solution that can be worked out with numbers, Miyuki." Tatsuya placed his hand around Miyuki's wrist, the warm contact making her blush. "And this way, I know what to do in case I need to protect you."

"Onii-sama…" Her face was warm. Too warm. Miyuki hoped Tatsuya wasn't laughing inwardly at her expression, but that was too much to ask for.

"Well, there's that. Do you want me to read to you today as well?"

"Of course, Onii-sama!"

Tatsuya smiled, and opened the book. Miyuki closed her eyes and lay back on the bed as her brother's calm voice wove for her a world where bitter reality does not exist.

And she thought, If only, this could last forever.


"Good morning, Miyuki."

"Onii-sama…" Miyuki smiled as Tatsuya woke her up one morning with a light kiss on the forehead, her white hands automatically coming up to rest on her brother's face. "Good morning to you as well."

"Miyuki's birthday will be in a few weeks from now," Tatsuya remarked casually as he straightened up, his blue eyes exhibiting rare warmth as Miyuki beamed. "Do you want anything?"

"Onii-sama's presence during my birthday will be enough for me," Miyuki said brightly. Tatsuya sighed.

"There we go again, my selfless little sister." Tatsuya held up a finger. "I will be here, but ask anything else of me. Otherwise, I'll think that you feel I am not taking care of you enough."

"But Onii-sama always spoils me," Miyuki laughed playfully. "I cannot possibly…"

"Miyuki."

"Alright, then, Onii-sama." Miyuki's smile was a trifle resigned. "I'll tell you when I have decided."

"That's a promise." Tatsuya glanced at his watch, and then scowled lightly. "Well, I have to go to work now. Just…"

" 'Ask the nurse to bring you more blankets if necessary.' " Miyuki imitated Tatsuya's serious tone with a face that made him chuckle. "I know, Onii-sama. Please take care."

Tatsuya nodded, and, as if he couldn't resist, pressed another kiss on his blushing sister's forehead. "I'll be back before evening."

"I'll be waiting, Onii-sama."


Miyuki hadn't been expecting visitors today, so when the door slid open just minutes after the nurse's last afternoon visit, she looked up with surprise—and saw equally stunned green eyes stare back at her.

"…You again?" she breathed out.

The redheaded young man from two days ago froze in his place, like a person who was caught in the act of capturing a stray cat. His hands stayed on the door, as if afraid that Miyuki might disappear when he moved one inch away from his place.

"Did… did you mistake the room number again, or…?" Miyuki couldn't fathom what was swimming in those crystalline eyes.

"I… no," he finally said with a tone that suggested that he was trying to sound nonchalant, but not quite succeeding. "Actually…"

Miyuki stared at him for a while, and as if coming to a conclusion herself, smiled and said, "Well… do come in."

"Thank you—what?" The young man looked up at her words with an astounded expression, making Miyuki giggle in spite of herself.

This guy is quite the opposite of Onii-sama… He is too easily flustered.

"Please." Miyuki sobered down and spoke in a perfectly normal tone to encourage him.

"Okay… Thank you." Seemingly recovering from his shock, he bowed slightly and closed the door behind him.

"Well, how may I help you this time?" Miyuki asked when he had settled down.

"No, I just… I'm visiting you today." He seemed rather embarrassed. "Actually, I… I noticed your name yesterday beside the door after I went away, and I then realized that I have known you from somewhere. You're… Shiba Miyuki-san, right? The valedictorian for our batch from university?"

"Do I know you?" Miyuki frowned, trying to search her memories for this guy. However, she cannot come up with anything.

"Perhaps not, since we haven't really met in person, but I also saw you in one of the tennis matches during the intercollegiate sports festival the year before our graduation, and then the next time I saw you was already at your valedictory at the ceremony." He smiled a bit. "You were amazing. I just remembered your name when I saw the plate, but I didn't want to disturb you further, so…"

"So you were in my batch then?"

"Yeah, same college but different program. I was taking up International Studies then."

"I see…" Miyuki smiled. "For you to remember me after such a long time, I'm rather flattered."

"It's rather hard to not remember you, really. Professor Miyabi always speaks of you in high regard. —I took his Japanese Literature classes, see."

"Oh, Professor Miyabi?" Miyuki nodded enthusiastically. "So you were a student of his as well, I see…"

"He said you were the first student he ever taught who could defend a thesis about the Genji Monogatari's elaborate language structure in a very eloquent manner."

"He likes to blow things up out of proportion…" Miyuki mumbled, blushing. "Er, what's your name, um…?"

"Oh, sorry! Ichijou." He seemed a bit red, himself, which amused Miyuki quite a bit. "Ichijou Masaki."

"Ichijou…?" Miyuki raised an eyebrow. "Not the same Ichijou Masaki who led the IS program during graduation? Now that I think about it…"

She remembered the proud figure that headed the IS class, a dark graduation cap over his curly auburn hair, and now understood why the shade seemed rather distinct.

Masaki smiled crookedly and shrugged. "Well, yeah…"

"Now that I think about it, what were you doing here yesterday?" Miyuki asked lightly, musing a second too late that she might have started a rather sensitive topic.

"Visiting a friend," Masaki said casually. "There was a shooting incident yesterday in the shopping district. He got involved, a bit…"

"Oh. I've heard of that. My friends were there when it happened as well, although thankfully they didn't get involved directly."

Silently, Miyuki and Masaki both mulled over the frightening possibilities of coincidences.

"If you wouldn't mind, Shiba-san," Masaki said tentatively, "What about you?"

"Oh… um…"

Seeing the hesitation in Miyuki's eyes, Masaki held up his hands.

"No, I shouldn't have asked so insensitively… Sorry."

"It's fine." Miyuki shook her head. "I just have no idea how best to answer your question… The name of my condition is insubstantial, but… well…"

"Please don't force yourself." Masaki let out a shivering breath and looked around. "But is there no one looking after you aside from the nurses…? It must be a bit lonesome…"

"Oh, there is my Onii-sama," Miyuki said with a fond tone, and Masaki perked up at the change in her countenance. "He usually keeps me company and takes care of me."

"So where…?"

"At work," Miyuki replied with a sigh. "However, he's usually back here before sundown."

"Sundown, huh…" Masaki scratched his chin with a thoughtful face. "If that's the case, would you mind if I stay here for a while?"

"I wouldn't, but… what about your friend?"

Masaki's smile was uncertain. "He'll be fine, George… My little sister Akane is with him."

"I see." Miyuki wondered about the way Masaki's eye twitched nervously, but decided not to pry into that matter for now. Leaning forward, she asked interestedly, "So Ichijou-san has a sibling as well…?"

"I have two sisters, actually, both younger than me. Akane and Ruri." Masaki's expression softened a bit. "Akane is rather straightforward, while Ruri…"


The soft red light coming from the sun sinking down into the horizon illuminated Miyuki's sleeping face as she slumbered uneasily, her hand tight upon her new book. Masaki had went away some hours ago, muttering about how he had to take Akane home now, and Miyuki had smiled and watched him bow himself out the door.

Miyuki's eyes fluttered a bit at the sound of the door opening, and when the red light against her lids had deepened into a light darkness, she knew that her brother, for some reason, was late today.

A soft kiss on her brow and a low, "I'm back, Miyuki," finally prompted her to open her eyes and stare reproachfully at Tatsuya. "Onii-sama, you liar. It's late."

"Sorry. An emergency came up, so…"

"What kind of emergency?"

"The kind that Miyuki shouldn't need to hear about." Tatsuya spoke in a lightly teasing tone, but Miyuki could see that he was worried about disturbing her if he did talk about it. Knowing how a policeman's job often involved danger, she dutifully kept silent and watched Tatsuya lay his coat over the back of his chair and fall on it with a tired sigh.

However, that didn't keep her from worrying about him.

"Onii-sama, you should sleep for a bit for now."

"Miyuki… I'm fine."

"Onii-sama, I insist." Miyuki scowled. "Just rest. You've had a long day."

"I think you had a long day as well." Tatsuya obliged and dragged his chair closer to allow his head to rest against Miyuki's knee. The angle allowed him to look up at his sister's pale face. "Did something interesting happen?"

"Well, actually, a guy from my university came to visit me earlier."

"Oh?"

"Mm." She tilted her head, and asked in a tentative tone, "Do you know a guy by the name of Ichijou Masaki?"

"…Don't tell me that's the schoolmate that visited you today." Tatsuya managed to keep his surprise out of his face and voice, so Miyuki spoke without hesitation.

"Yes. Apparently, he recognized me from my valedictory address back then."

"I see." Tatsuya could sense an inconsistency, but couldn't quite put his finger on it. "I only knew that the Ichijou family was famous in the corporate world and that Ichijou Masaki was their heir, but that's about it. I confess I've never really read that part of the paper. So you were schoolmates, huh?"

"Yes."

"Must have paid a lot of attention to recognize you again after over half a year." Tatsuya's teasing smile and tone was making Miyuki flustered. "Well, Miyuki is a girl that one cannot forget so easily after all…"

"Onii-sama…!"

"So... that's that."

With the feeling of Miyuki's fingers lazily combing his hair, Tatsuya couldn't help but yawn lightly, making Miyuki laugh softly.

"Shizuku is wrong… Onii-sama is still undeniably human, after all."

"Onii-sama is offended that you should even consider that as a possibility, Miyuki," Tatsuya said with a straight face, but then he returned Miyuki's laugh, and closed his eyes.

"Please sleep well, Onii-sama."


Next time:

[Crimson Prince Chapter (I)]
Rupture