"Don't you think something's up with Kaya-nee?"

"You think so, too, Onee?"

Yaya nods. She and Kaya are on their way to their friends' house to stay over. It's still a while before they have to part ways, and suddenly Yaya brought that topic up.

"She's hiding something, isn't she?" Kaya says, fixing some locks of her black hair.

"Definitely. I've tried asking, but she just keeps saying that nothing is wrong."

"Maybe it's something with her job?"

"Hmm," Yaya thinks about it for a while. "How about we drop our things, practice, and meet this afternoon?"

"You want to try going to her agency, right?"

Yaya nods. "Hopefully we'll find something there."
***

"Declined an offer?" Yaya can't believe her ears.

"Yes. Kikuma-san got an offer for an audition in Tokyo in about two weeks' time. But she declined that offer," Kaya-nee's manager, Matsuda Kouhei replies.

"Did she say why?" Kaya asks. Two weeks' time… will it be on the school festival day? She wonders quietly.

The older man shakes his head. "She just said she can't go."

"Thanks for the information, Matsuda-san," Yaya says, bowing her head a little before leaving. "Excuse us!"

"What are we going to do now, Onee?" Kaya asks when they're already outside the agency, running a little to follow her sister's long steps.

"Isn't that obvious? We're gonna make her accept the offer," Yaya says simply, heading to their house.
***

"What's wrong?" Kaya-nee says at the entrance of the house as she sees her two sisters coming to her direction. "Did you two forget something?"

"Kaya-nee," Yaya says, panting a little. "We need to talk."

"What's with the serious faces?"

"Kaya-nee, is it true that you declined an audition offer in Tokyo?" Kaya follows.

"What are you talking about? What audition?" Kaya-nee asks them back. She still seems calm, but Yaya can see clearly a little strike of panic in her green eyes.

Kaya grabs her sister's hand. "Kaya-nee, why would you do that?"

"I said I don't know what you're talking about. There's no audition or such thing," Kaya-nee replies as she takes a step back.

"We went to your agency earlier and Matsuda-san told us some vague details," Yaya says in a sharp tone. "So just spill your bins, Kaya-nee. It's pointless to hide it."

Kaya-nee takes a deep sigh. "A week ago, a reply for our letter applying for an audition came from an agency in Tokyo. It notified us that the modeling and seiyuu audition is to be held right on the day of the school festival. I've meant to take it, as it has always been my dream to become a seiyuu. But things get so busy with the two of you and that call I made few days ago was to decline it."

"Why?" Yaya repeats the question. "Why would you do that for us? Didn't you say it has always been your dream?"

"It's not entirely for you," Kaya-nee says, sounding so tired. "It's part of my responsibility, too. Besides, an amateur from a small agency like me wouldn't have the slightest chance to pass that audition. So it's pointless. I'd rather decline it than regret it later. And... just if, if I get accepted, I will be even busier than I am now and I might... I just can't."

"Kaya-nee!" Kaya yells. She said it's not for her or Yaya, but what she just said proved that she declined it because she doesn't want to abandon her and Yaya. She can't believe the sister she looks up to would say something like that.

"I'm tired. You two, go back to your friends' houses or they'll get worried," Kaya-nee says simply, making her way back into the house, ignoring her sisters' effort to continue the discussion.