Thank you Stephane for the lovely comments and the beta work!
PS: This is a time skip!
PPS: ok i suck at titles lol
Lisa's eyes snap open and her body twists around until she's tangled in the sheets. Yelping, she tumbles off the bed and onto the floor.
She lets out a groan as she blindly grasps at her bedside table, finding her phone and flopping back onto the floor when she sees the time—5:30 am. Why did she set her alarm for 5:30? Was this another farewell prank by Nee-chan? Lisa closes her eyes and snuggles back into her blanket cocoon on the floor.
Her door bangs open a little while later and Lisa jerks awake for the second time.
"What are you doing? Get up, we're going to be late."
Lifting her head up, she sees Arata scowling in her doorway, already dressed but hair still wild.
"What're you talking about?" she slurs, voice thick. Her brother's eyes narrow.
"Aren't you starting at that new school today?" His voice is flat, drowsy with sleep although he attempts to hide it. "The one where you have to take two trains early in the morning to be able to make it on time?" He moves out of her way easily when she scrambles off the floor and follows as she races into the bathroom. "Just so you know, we start off on the same train, but you get off earlier to catch a different one. I won't be there to help you find your way, so try not to get lost." Arata is leaning on the frame of the bathroom door, watching while she frantically runs a comb through her hair while simultaneously brushing her teeth.
"Can you please tell me what time it is?" Lisa says through a mouthful of paste.
He makes a big show of sighing and checking his watch before announcing that it's a little past six. Lisa immediately spits and washes her face and mouth, rubbing her face dry hastily on the towel behind her. Arata is no help at all.
"You shouldn't rub your face so roughly," he says. She doesn't answer and heads back into her room and shuts the door to change. Arata keeps talking. "Skin is very sensitive and you can dry it out. You should pat it dry instead."
"Nii-chan, can you please just let me get dressed in peace," Lisa says, embarrassed, and she hears him shuffle away. Why does her brother always talk as if she's some helpless baby? She may not be as competent as him in some areas—okay, a lot of areas—but she's not a complete idiot!
Lisa tugs on her skirt and ties her ribbon. She looks into the small mirror, debating for a moment, before sliding in a yellow sun clip into her hair. Haruka had given it to her last night before she left and Lisa felt it would give her good luck if she wore it on the first day at her new school.
Suddenly confident, she strides down the stairs and into the kitchen where Arata's waiting, two sandwiches in hand. He glances briefly to her hair but doesn't say anything, and she feels her face warm up. Silently, they both head out the front door.
It's weird to walk with Arata. Before she changed schools, he used to leave way earlier than she did, taking the metro into the heart of Tokyo where his school is, while she was able to walk a few blocks down the road. Munching on her sandwich quietly, Lisa observes the city in the early morning. There aren't that many people around, and it's still a bit dark and cold. She and Arata wave to Hamura-san as he's lifting the grates to open up his store, and he hands them both a lemon candy. Arata hands his to her when they turn the corner. Lisa slides both of the tangy stones around in her mouth and thinks about the day ahead.
When they board the metro, it's already crowded despite the early hour. Arata grasps her upper arm and places himself between her and the other passengers. He leans down close and begins to talk in her ear.
"It's about a half hour ride on this train," he begins, quiet as to not disturb other passengers. "You'll be getting off on the right side. All you have to do is walk straight through and wait for the incoming train on the other side. Stay on that train for another quarter hour, give or take, and exit on the left side. When you come back above ground, walk straight out of the staircase for about two blocks. Then, make a quick turn—"
Lisa's head is spinning, her brother's words tumbling over themselves in her brain. "Nii-chan, I can't—I don't—"
He draws back sharply and sucks a breath in what she supposes is exasperation. Lisa cringes internally—she's always, always half a step behind her genius brother, but what can you do?
"I'll text it to you," he says, pulling out his phone. He has to type with on hand, the other still locked around her arm.
When the time comes to get off, Lisa is suddenly seized with a bout of fear. What if she can't find her classes? What if her uniform's put on the wrong way? What if the kids here aren't any different from the kids at my old school?
She wants to stay on the train—maybe, just for today, she can shadow Arata at his fancy high class school for kid geniuses?—but he's already pushing her toward the exit. "Quick, get off, I can see the other train coming," and she's on the platform. Lisa turns, eyes wide, seeking the quiet strength of her older brother, but he's frowning in the window and gesturing for her to move, now.
She runs across to the other train and squeezes herself on between a bleary-eyed boy and an old, old man. She tucks her arms in tight and tries to meet Arata's eye across the long distance between them, but he's already gone back to his phone and their trains are turning in different directions and she's alone.
Its lunchtime and Lisa's forgotten her bento. This would never happen to Nee-chan or Nii-chan, she thinks miserably. Pushing the thought of her much smarter, more responsible siblings aside, Lisa debates on what to do.
Wandering out of the classroom in search of a vending machine, she walks past a group of kids from her class. Lisa knows exactly what category they fall into—they're the type to tease and bully, hidden behind curved smiles and empty eyes. She avoids eye contact and skirts past.
On the way back to the classroom, armed with some milk and bread, one girl calls out to her.
"Nice hair clip," she says, brushes a river of hair over a starch white shoulder. Lisa glances at her dim school shirt, dusty from the road, and stammers a thank you. She's not stupid. She knows the girl was making fun of her, if the muffled snickers weren't enough. It was exactly how it started at her old school—things escalated quickly over the course of her first year, and by the time second year rolled around she was being forced into ridiculous stunts such as stealing her teacher's personal items and, on one occasion, jumping into her school pool. When she had showed up at home, sniffling and dripping onto the welcome mat, her father had immediately scheduled a "private talk" with the school's principle, and in less than a week she found herself out of that place and into the position she was in now.
Lisa slides into her desk and wishes for the millionth time that she was just a bit stronger, a bit more vocal or intimidating—but she's not. She's small and quiet and people just walk all over her. Lisa breaks off a piece of sweet bread and chews. She can stand the backhanded compliments. For now, it will just be snide comments masked under an air of fake-friendliness. As long as she doesn't react negatively or draw attention to herself, eventually those kids will move on and she'll be left alone.
Don't let them get into your head this early, she recites to herself. But by the time lunch is over, the clip is out of her hair and in her bag.
Lisa wants to sigh with relief when she boards the last train on her journey home and sees Arata waiting in the corner. She had all but run out of school when the last bell rang, and then she tripped while getting on the first train and the boy from the morning ride and his friend wouldn't stop giggling the whole fifteen minutes. He nods to her, curt, like they're simply acquaintances, not siblings who go home to the same house and eat the same food and share a bathroom. Lisa allows it though—she looks at her phone and smiles at the good luck text he had sent when he thought she would be in class.
"Where's the clip Nee-chan gave you?" he asks on the walk home. Lisa scuffles and kicks up some dirt with her shoe. "Don't do that."
"I…took it out…?" she tries.
"Why?"
Lisa peers up into his blank expression. The sun casts a glare on his lenses, and for a moment, he looks untouchable.
"It looks silly, don't you think? A second year girl who still puts clips in her hair," she says. Arata doesn't say anything, and they continue the walk in silence.
"How was your first day at your new school?" asks her father at dinner. His eyes crinkle at her and she feels bad because it's not what they had hoped it would be.
"It was okay," she says, deciding not to worry her father who's already stressed enough at work.
"No, it wasn't," says Arata. Two pairs of eyes snap toward him, one curious, the other scared. "Someone made fun of Lisa's hair clip."
"No!" Lisa says, startled—it's impossible to hide anything in this family with her detective father and her siblings' intelligence, why does everyone gang up on her? "No, no that's not what happened, I just decided to take it out—"
"They probably said something and she was too embarrassed to put it back on," her brother continues on as if she didn't speak, this is so humiliating, why won't he stop talking.
"It's fine, Dad!" Lisa says, a bit desperate. "It wasn't even a big deal, I just felt like a little kid and it was embarrassing."
"It was probably a bigger deal than what she's making it out to be," murmurs Arata, and Lisa aims a kick at his legs under the table. She misses and gets his chair instead. His eyes slide to her over the rim of his glass when she lets out a tiny gasp of pain.
"Lisa," says her father, looking concerned. "Are the kids…are they like your old school?"
"No, Dad," she says, feeling like a horrible child. She's always causing trouble for her dad whether she wants to or not. "It was just a comment, and for the most part they left me alone. It wasn't a big deal, I promise."
Her dad still looks worried, but lets it go for now.
He later comes in when she's getting ready for bed. Normally, Lisa would be embarrassed—who still gets tucked in anymore?—but it's been a long, tiring day, and she's grateful for the warmth he brings in his hugs.
Her father tucks her bangs back and clips the little sun into place.
"Dad," she says, protesting.
"It looks beautiful," he says, smoothing her hair down. "Forget those other losers at your school and listen to your old man." She laughs.
"They're not losers, Dad," she says, snuggling under his arm. "They're just mean because they're immature."
"I think they're losers," says her dad. He's smiling down at her and his eyes are proud. "I wish everyone would see the world the way you do, Lisa."
Lisa hides her smile in his shirt, inhaling the scent of smoke and paper. Tokyo clings to him, in his hair and his clothing, forever wound around his body, smells that won't go away no matter how many times he showers or changes. It's comforting.
Her dad keeps talking, one hand rubbing her back. "You're so strong, Lisa. The strongest person I know. I wish you would recognize that."
Lisa thinks of him, solid in his work, unlocking the puzzles behind Japan's criminals, and of her brother, back unwavering in every action he takes, every word he speaks. She thinks of her sister, far away and alone in university, studying a subject formerly dominated by men but now led by her. All of this passes through her mind and Lisa wonders what her father sees when he looks at her, what he's comparing her to, when he calls her strong.
i hope i captured lisa alright i want her to feel both inadequate when compared to nine but also make it clear she looks up to him a lot!
also, had to change mami's name to haruka because they gave her a name AND DAMMIT IF I ONLY WAITED A WEEK LONGER I WOULDNT HAVE HAD THIS PROBLEM ah well
didsw on tumblr-come say hi!