Hey! So sorry for the late chapter! Technical difficulties and real life aha. Promise to do my best to update faster for the next chapters.
Thank you all so much for reading and for all of the reviews and comments. I hope that they'll both continue for future chapters.
Due to multiple requests for the song and for the convenience of this fic series, the next installment of Touketsu Project will be Kisaragi Attention.
Stay tuned and enjoy.
;) ~
1 year later
Momo: 13
Shintaro: 15
"Ubauchau yo!"
Stretching out the last note for finishing effect and ending with a carefully planned spin, the singing girl clad in brightly shimmering colors from head to toe bowed, concluding her performance.
After a moment's wait for the supposedly applauding crowd to die down, she flipped her head back up to look at her audience, red eyes tired yet excited.
"How was that, nii-chan?"
The watching boy (or more so the watching teenager) sitting on the couch in front of her brought down his clapping hands and grinned, pleased and proud. He pressed pause on the laptop he had been playing the instrumental music from.
"Amazing," said Shintaro. He was being completely honest; although her strange ability could influence the perceptions of people he had trained himself to see through it; the skills underneath her power were the real deal and her stunning rendition of the songs he had created instantly made the bags under his eyes worth every late-night hour he had spent in front of a computer making them instead of sleeping. "Your voice was in exact pitch, range, tempo and you didn't trip once! All those hours we rehearsed last night definitely paid off."
And yet his genuine praises only earned him a childishly skeptical look, the yellow ruffles adorning his sister's recently tailored outfit going a soft swish-swish as she crossed her arms.
"Or maybe I'm actually terrible and you're just saying that because you're my brother."
"N-no way! It's true, that was really good."
Momo scrunched up her mouth, shifting her eyes and feet to the side. "You're not just being sarcastic?"
Shintaro closed the lid of the laptop bashfully, placing it to the side. "Am I usually?"
After a quick ponder- "Hmm," -the young girl let her face and arms loosen up, smiling in thought. "Nope, not in recent memory! So you mean it? I really am good enough now?"
"Yes and with a bit more practice, you'll be perfect for tomorrow."
"Hehe thanks, nii-chan~" His elated younger sister plopped down on the couch next to him with a fluffed oof after taking a few seconds to turn off her red eyes. "I'll do another round later; for now I'm feeling totally beat."
Shintaro scooted a little to the side to make room for her. Even though their couch had enough space for at least five people the two siblings still sat down right next to each other. It was only them in their home and while they had gotten used to it over the months, it was the small, quieter moments like this that made the house feel less empty.
"Take your time and rest. Wouldn't want you to overwork and bust your voice before your first big performance after all."
"Totally. That would almost be the complete, utter, absolute worst," Momo stated, emphasizing 'worst' by grabbing at the chain collar around her neck (which admittedly wasn't a fashion choice he completely agreed with) and mimicking a devastated face. "The end of everything even! All of our efforts gone down the drain... wahhh, it'd be too much to bare!" She squirmed around on her seat half in shudders, half in giggles.
Her brother chuckled and tugged on her braided side-tail to calm her down before laying back and closing his eyes in reminiscence. "We worked really hard for this, didn't we?"
"Yeah..." Momo answered wistfully after sticking her tongue out and reapplying the sparkly scrunchy keeping her tangerine hair up. "...we did."
Closing her own eyelids in remembering the past year as well, Shintaro patted her head gently when she rested it on his shoulder, bare of a red scarf for once. It was hanging on a hook in his room waiting to be used at tomorrow.
The Big Day.
Shintaro could hardly believe that it had come so fast already. Is it really time? Hardly feels like a week, much less a year.
Memories stretching from months long before replayed casually in his head: that first time calling the talent agency, meeting Momo's future manager with kaa-san once she as well enough to leave the hospital for an outing, scheduling all sorts of auditions and meetings with various people in the industry, Momo's proud acceptance into middle school, his own planning and preparation for high school, all those times he had had to cancel plans with Ayano in order to finish the songs and help both his mother and sister... it had all cultivated up to this moment - Momo's first official appearance as an idol.
Once both their school days ended tomorrow, she would be performing a few songs (including the two he had written and ones the manager had given her) on a small stage at the annual cultural festival a nearby high school was holding. And as luck and convenience would have it, it was the very one that Ayano was planning on attending after they finally graduated middle school, which was coming up alarmingly close.
"It's only because my mom works there," she had brusquely told him when he had asked her about it one day. "Which one are you going to attend after graduation?"
"That one too," he had said almost immediately, without a second or first thought and nothing but delighted surprise buzzing through his mind.
"Eh?" She had shot him an accusing look, eyes irate. "Is it just because I'm going?"
Warmth and sweatdrops had decorated his face. "N-no! Of course not. I, uh, I was considering it a while ago as well. But now that I know you're going to be there, well, it just makes the decision all that easier, don't you think?" He had rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment so hard that it had probably left a burn mark.
Even if it had, Shintaro still smiled fondly at the distant memory; a similar smile had graced his lips throughout the rest of that long past day, refusing to hop off of his face even after Ayano threatened to change her mind and pick a different school if he didn't stop idiotically grinning.
"Heh," he heard a soft laugh come from the girl resting with him, opening his eyes to see her amusedly puzzled face. "What are you thinking about? You look pretty happy, nii-chan."
"Nothing, nothing," Shintaro waved the question away. "Just remembering something silly that happened with Ayano."
"Ayano...?" Momo's eyes blinked slowly at first as if trying to remember who that name belonged to, then flickered quickly when she seemed to have reached the memory. "Ah, I remember now, her. Tateyama Ayano. She's the pretty girl you used to talk about all the time, right?"
"Huh?" Shintaro choked, his mouth a gaping hole. "Wh-what do you mean 'all the time'?!" Did I really say 'pretty' when describing her?!
"I mean all the time! You wouldn't shut up about her during your first year at the middle school. It was always Ayano this, Ayano that, Ayano this-that! And you never even brought her over to meet us!"
Momo stood up from the couch and stretched as if to shake off the irritating memory of her normally quiet brother blabbering on and on about a person she hadn't even met. "It was kinda strange, nii-chan. Even kaa-san was weirded out, especially coming from you..."
Curious to the point of suspicion, his younger sister peered down at him with a searching stare. "Just how close are you two?"
Almost immediately, a fire lit itself and swirled a scarlet dance on his cheeks. Shintaro shrunk under her hawkish gaze and tried to think of a way to get out of the question - mostly because he himself didn't even know the answer to it; it was a question he had asked himself many a time before.
But of course, he wasn't going to let anyone know that, even (or maybe especially) family.
"A-a-ah, w-well you see..." he started to stutter out only to trail off in a desperate search of any kind of believable explanation, only the corners of his mouth quivering as he tried to smile away his fluster. "Ayano's just a really nice friend so, ah, naturally I'd say a lot about her. But really, we're not all that close actually, especially with all the work you and I've been doing, I haven't had much time with her anyway so... so y-y'know! Aha haaah, yeah..."
Gah! That wouldn't convince anyone anywhere! Am I seriously that pathetic? Shintaro wailed pitifully inside his mind, wanting nothing more than just to sink into the soft couch cushions and stay there to burn away in peace.
Yet quite surprisingly, perhaps miraculously to anyone else, after one last suspecting squint of her lashes, Momo's stance eased and the bounce in her springy feet returned. "Hehe, okay okay, I believe you nii-chan. Jeez, you're always so jumpy."
She skipped away, twirling around the rug-covered living room with closed eyes, mimicking her spinning routine for the show. Shintaro brought a hand to his chest and sighed, extremely relieved at Momo's sudden change of focus. He wasn't surprised, however; this was his goofy, easily distracted little sister after all.
"She must be a really great person for you to think so highly of her. I actually want to meet her now, ya know, just to make sure she's all that you say. It's my job as your sister to protect you from strange people after all!" She grinned protectively and pointed right at his forehead. "Is she coming to the cultural festival?"
"Hn? Oh yeah, she is. Her mom is the school doctor or something and apparently some of the students she works with made this really special booth. Ayano promised she'd go check it out, and I ended up promising that I'd go with her."
"Great! Then I can just- wait." Momo's glee was cut short, double-taking in astonishment. "Wait wait wait, you didn't tell me about that. You didn't tell me that you're gonna be hanging out with her at the festival!"
Her brother blanched and began to giggle nervously, turning his head away. "I didn't? I was sure I told you... must have forgotten, ehehe."
"You don't forget things nii-chan."
Shintaro winced, a shamefaced frown forming. "Got me there. Sorry, I was planning to, but the last few days were just so busy and I uh, ahaha..."
Momo narrowed her eyes, her nose rumpling into a crossly juvenile pout, almost jealous in nature. "Hmmm, I'll ignore that part for now. The only important thing is that you'll still be there to watch all of the show and help me prepare, right? Right?"
He nodded profoundly. "Don't worry, of course I will. I'll be right with you from the minute we arrive at the school to the moment you step on stage. We're in this together, remember?" he said while pushing away a lock of bangs covering her pleading eyes.
"I asked Ayano to come watch your show in exchange for going with her to the booth, which we'll check out once the show's over. It'll give you some time to sign autographs and take pictures with people or whatever. By then the whole festival will be over and I'll bring her over to introduce the two of you. As long as you don't - and I mean never - tell her that I used to talk about her a lot."
"Don't tempt me," she sniggered.
"Momo."
"Kidding, nii-chan, kidding!"
Shintaro exhaled a sigh through his nose. "Anyway, does that sound like an okay plan?"
Momo swung away from him to think. Tap, tap, tap did the sound of Momo's foot drumming on the floor sound as she thought over the plan his words had spelled out. Ultimately, which Shintaro had already seen coming, the gears running inside Momo's ended up halting and crashing into each other like they always did whenever she wrote a particularly hard test. "Gah! I don't know, you're the smart one nii-chan!" She pulled on strands of peachy hair in frustration.
"But I guess it'll be fine as long as you're there to help me during the show? If you weren't I'd choke up with nervousness and panic on stage in front of the whole crowd for sure. Now that would be the complete, utter, absolute worst."
"Oh, definitely," he agreed, thankful that they seemed to have come to a proper solution. "Much worse than busting your voice; the true end of everything."
"Yeah, haha," Momo laughed as he echoed her words, pure sunshine radiating from it. Seemed she had already forgotten all about Ayano and her questions.
"I guess it'll all be fine as long as you say it will be, nii-chan's the genius after all. Tomorrow's going to be really great. Oh! That reminds me, we've been talking and sitting and standing around doing nothing for too long! Time for another full round of practice!"
She dashed back to where she had been standing, right smack in the center of the living room all ready to begin belting out songs with red-fueled passion. "Hit it nii-chan!"
"Heh, alright then. Give it your best Momo." Shintaro reached for his laptop, and soon the instrumental proof of his diligent work was combining with his equally hard-working sister's melodious voice. The hollow house was soon filled to the brim with noise once again, pouring into every crack and cranny, yet only for them at the same time.
Maybe it wasn't just the close, quiet moments that helped make their home feel less empty, but the spread apart and loud ones too.
The Next Day Evening.
"Ayano!"
"..."
"Ayano, wait up!"
"Can't you walk any faster Shintaro?"
"You know I'm not good at that sort of thing!"
"Augh," the brown-haired girl said grumpily, but did indeed stop her brisk pace to give her friend time catch up. When he finally got to her side he was practically already bent over, clutching his knees in support while breathing out in huffs and puffs, red scarf shaking across his shoulders.
"I, hah, can't, hah, believe, haaah... that you were so rude to your mom's patients like that!" Shintaro wheezed out and flipped his head back up to level with hers, his expression being one of scolding.
Ayano spoke unapologetically, "I was being honest, you mean. You saw how she played the game; terribly," and crossed her arms over her black school uniform.
"She wasn't that bad and even if she was, you didn't have to tell her that right to her face!" Shintaro protested in exasperation. Lucky for him that the sunset-lit school hallway they were in was devoid of any booths, stalls, and people: Shintaro was certain that his voice had almost surpassed an octave.
"Oh, come on Shintaro. Even when you hold back you're a lot better at shooting games than even me. I really don't get why you're not more truthful about your skill level; you could have beaten her much more easily."
Shintaro raked a hand through his hair, dismayed that Ayano still wasn't getting what he was trying to convey. What ever am I going to do with her?
"Well yeah, I know I could've won if I played against her so that's precisely why I didn't. I thought it would hurt her feelings to lose her last game of the day just when she was starting to even out all her other losses!" He pressed his forefingers to his temples. "Seriously, I thought you'd at least go easy on her or even play the tiniest bit gentler."
His companion rolled her eyes with enough force to be painful. "So very sorry, but that's life; it's not easy. Everyone has to learn that sometime. And besides, it's not like I cheated or anything, I won fair and square so you can't fault me on that."
It earned her a sigh, deep and defeated. "Yes I know, I know, but you really should've been more humble about it. Honestly Ayano, you really could stand to be a bit kinder. I mean, those two are going to be our upperclassman next year so it wouldn't be a bad idea to make friends with them."
He tried to give the sternest look that his plain face could muster. "What you said may not have affected Takane-senpai too much but it really did piss Haruka-senpai off. Like a lot."
Her upper lip pursed. "Like I care, and you know what I- wait... Takane... Haruka... senpai?" she asked with a suddenly surprised tone and widely fixed eyes. "I mean, I know those are their names from my mom and all but when did they tell you?"
"Oh?" Shintaro gave out a humorless laugh. It left an almost bitter aftertaste on his tongue. "They told me their names just around when I stayed to help them pack up and also to apologize on your behalf after you ran off. Really, you could have at least said a proper goodbye Ayano."
She looked away from him and down to her shoes as peeved embarrassment seemed to bubble up inside. "That really wasn't any bit of your business, so you didn't have to do that. I can handle my own issues and disputes, thank you," she grumbled.
One single glance at her small, despondent face was all it took; all at once Shintaro's strict expression softened up and his voice soothed out forgivingly. "It is my business: my business as your friend."
Reaching into the bag slung over his shoulder, he brought out the soda can that the older twin-tailed girl had insisted he take before he left their classroom-turned-booth. "This is your prize for winning. Takane-senpai told me to give this to you since you left before she could give it to you herself. By the way, I think she was actually serious about that bet you two made: she called you 'Master' even when you weren't there," he remarked at the rather recent, funny memory.
"Enomoto-san?" Ayano echoed, bewildered. "Seriously?"
When Shintaro nodded, completely serious, she slapped a palm to her forehead. "Argh, don't think too much of if it, I doubt it will last. Okaa-san says she's really scatterbrained, so I'm sure she'll forget it by tomorrow at the latest."
The black-haired boy whistled. "I wouldn't bet on it. You weren't there, but she really seemed like the type of person who sticks by their word. Just.. be prepared to be called that by Takane-senpai for the rest of our lives, is what I'm saying."
As she groaned at that possible future, he stuck the hand holding the (rather freezing) soda can out to his friend and smiled just daringly enough that it almost became a smirk. "So go on and claim your winnings, Master."
Ayano scoffed and glared only at the floor when she swiped the can out of his patient hands. "Tch. Once again you did something you didn't have to do and completely inconvenienced yourself, Shintaro. Congratulations."
"Sorry," he smiled nervously and warmly at the same time, "What's an inconvenience to you is just another responsibility as your friend to me."
Watching her weigh the metal can contemplatively in her small hand, Shintaro felt the well-known fluttering of a butterfly hatching out from the pit of his stomach as Ayano looked up at him and connected their eyes at long last.
"Moron." Her mouth curled just a bit as she said it, almost as if it was trying to form a smile before Ayano corrected it into a frown again.
Shintaro didn't even register the less than kind remark. With her opaque, glisteningly clear brown eyes scanning his dull black ones over and under, the butterfly had laid eggs. His black uniform suddenly shrank in size and rose in temperature and soon everything around him seemed much too hot and tight. He pushed down the knot in his throat with an uncomfortable gulp.
"S-so uh, what did you think of Momo's show?" Shintaro pulled at the collar of his gakuran under his scarf, mumbling hastily through the sudden shift of topic.
"Hm? Oh right, your sister. She was... good, I guess, but..."
"Right?" Shintaro felt a naturally proud grin succeed at piercing through his uneasy posture and soon enough he was already talking before Ayano could finish her sentence. "I'm really glad you liked it along with the rest of the audience too. She worked pretty hard for this you know, and I'm pretty sure the show was a success. And also-"
"Yeah, yeah, that's nice," she butted in similar to how he had interrupted her but sounded much more hectic. "But as I was saying, it was a little strange too. Freaky even..."
"..what do you mean 'freaky'?" Shintaro raised an eyebrow, perplexed at Ayano's unanticipated serious tone and demanding stare.
"What I mean is that when she was singing and dancing, while she was pretty good and all, I couldn't look away from her," she said. "Like physically, even. No matter how much I tried, I just couldn't turn my head away at all. I think it was the same with the rest of the crowd. That kind of freaky."
And just like that, ah. He understood what she meant completely now. Mild panic viciously ate up the butterfly living inside of him. As such, Shintaro's mouth stayed limply shut as Ayano fidgeted with the white ribbon attached to the front of her uniform blouse.
"So honestly: what was that about? Some sort of trick? And her eyes... those were red contact lenses, right?"
"Uh-"
-oh. Crap crap crap, what do I say? I've never anyone about Momo's power before!
Should I tell her? It is only Ayano after all. I'm sure she would be able to keep an unexplainable, otherworldly, supernatural secret...
...no, I promised Momo I'd keep it just between the two of us and I'm not breaking it.
"-I'm not really sure I understand what you mean. She went through the routine normally from what I observed; no deviation from her practice runs at all. Maybe it was just the special effects on stage that you noticed? Or maybe her performance was just that captivating? I really don't know what else it could be."
The lies stung his tongue as they flitted off and the residue guilt was hard to swallow down, but he didn't stop. Not even for his best friend. "And yes, those were contacts she had on, nothing more. She just thought that having red eyes would look cool on stage, is all."
"..." Even as Ayano's gaze turned sharp and glinting, Shintaro didn't waver and hoped with all of his might that she wouldn't see through his self-made defense. Fortunately, she didn't and her eyes soon morphed back to their normal, meekly bored state.
"Fine, whatever you say then. While I still think there was something off about that show, I won't deny that your little sister has talent. I hope she doesn't blow it."
Relaxation began unwinding Shintaro's shoulders. What a relief indeed, he had to keep himself from sighing in it. "You don't have to worry about that; I'll make sure she stays on the right path and doesn't develop a big ego like other idols."
"Oh, really now?" she drawled.
"Yeah, well, I mean that while this is still very much the dream she chose to pursue on her own and she's the one doing all the performing, I've been helping her as much as I can."
"You two are that close?"
"Yup! Well, I like to think we are at least," he stated happily. "Why do you ask?"
She shrugged. "It's just that most siblings aren't as close as that, some even hate each other." Ayano's neutral expression remained unchanging, except for the small, impish seeds beginning to take bloom inside her eyes and underneath her lips. "So from my point of view, how you two always get along is just a little unsettling. Creepy, even."
"..."
Creepy.
The foreboding word hung over Shintaro's unfaltering smile as a sharp arrow of realization successfully pierced right through the middle of his chest, sending a dark reality to gush into his heart through the cracks it had left.
Creepy.
"D-d-d-don't you have any siblings Ayano?" Shintaro said (read: whimpered), face a pale white, hands clamming, voice definitely reaching past an octave. "I'm sure you told me you had three or at least two. S-surely, you're close with at least one of them, right?"
The sailor fuku clad girl grimaced immediately, the beginnings of a full out scowl definitely in the works. "Yes, I have three siblings, and no, not at all. They're weird and annoying and hard to get along with; I don't really like spending time with them and even then I can barely stand them."
Shintaro looked at her, could only look at her as his mouth formed a soft, "...oh, " and he rubbed his thumbs over his fingers. Not getting along with a sibling, a family member, what would that be like? He tried to imagine himself and Momo in that situation, only to stop the moment his heart began to pain.
"That's too bad. Not really the mindset I'd like to have. It's important to get along with your family, after all."
"Maybe for yours, but not mine," said Ayano, plain and simple.
Neither of them spoke anymore afterward, no longer able to make eye contact and effectively disconnecting from each other yet again. The farthest Shintaro's gaze could go was her forehead, to where a strip of brown fringe was being held in place by two crisscrossing red hairclips.
Bad idea, Shintaro knew instantly as an ache began to crawl and grow within him. There was a reason he usually tried not to look at those clips, (which was not the easiest task since they were right at the top of her head.) But he supposed that there was no helping it during silent, forlorn moments like this one.
About two years ago in the middle of their first year, Ayano's father had died after getting caught in an avalanche. Her mother hadn't wanted to make a big deal of it so their school hadn't been notified and Ayano had kept on attending as if nothing was wrong. It was quite ironic as her mother (who had been caught in the avalanche with him and survived) was really the one who had been hit the hardest by his death.
Okaa-san cried nonstop for days on end and nothing we said helped, Ayano told him almost an entire year after her father had passed. Her expression had been blank and calm enough that she may as well have been explaining something completely normal.
She got better on her own eventually, but she hasn't been the same as before... it's hard to explain.
Looking a little constrained, she had pinched the bridge of her nose.
Red was his favorite color, so she changed her blue clips to them. I did the same to help her cope.
...
Shintaro hadn't known what to say and for a few moments had only stared in horrified empathy at the bleak, tragic new aspect of Ayano he hadn't seen coming at all. Who would have guessed that his own long-passed loss and her relatively raw and new one were the exact same? That having dead fathers was one of the very few things they had in common? It was a true testament to just how cruel the world could be.
He had tried, really tried to offer as much solace as Ayano would allow him but he had never really been that good at comforting people, not then and hardly any better now. Even though the consoling words he had given up were truly heartfelt, Shintaro knew he hadn't been able to reach her, to cure her of that encasing emptiness even if the cure came in the form of tears for a lost loved one whom she had seemed so close to in the past.
Pathetic. He really was.
As their silence extended from seconds to minutes in present time, the bittersweet memories and feelings ultimately proved too much for Shintaro to bare and he averted his eyes to the large school windows above them. The softly setting sun flickered in and out as night time clouds began to float in front of it, as far as he could see. Ayano soon followed his gaze.
"I should get going."
"You sure?" Shintaro asked, a small plea just underneath the surface. "I uh, sorta told Momo I'd introduce the two of you. She's probably still near the stage somewhere. Don't think you could spare a minute or two...?"
Ayano shook her head with certainty. "Okaa-san told me to come to her office after the festival ended."
"Ah, I see," Shintaro replied, shushing away his disappointment with a reluctant smile. "Understood."
"Just give your sister my regards that I thought her show was good. It's getting late anyway, you two should head for home as well." With that, she turned to leave down the hallway, her shadow gliding across the fading orange light on the floor and walls that presumably led to the school doctor and nurse's office. "See you, Shintaro."
"Alright, see you later," he said in farewell. Recognizing his own que to leave, he turned to walk back down the way he came which lead back to the main foyer and stage, yet he only managed a few steps before he heard Ayano's heels halt behind him.
"W-wait a second."
Shintaro swung his head back around. "Oh? What is it Ayan- huwahhh!" He gasped in panic as Ayano suddenly tossed some sort of item towards him without any form of warning. Caught completely unprepared and off guard, he barely caught the small cold object and fumbled pitifully to make sure he didn't drop it.
"W-w-wha...?" Baffled, Shintaro stared at the object desperately clutched in his hands. It was the bright red can of soda from Takane and Haruka he had just given to her. In looked back at Ayano in befuddlement.
"Aha-a, why did you...?"
"I don't really like soda all that much," Ayano explained sheepishly. "You can have it instead."
"Really?" Shintaro asked with a brightening look. The chilling can felt a lot warmer all of the sudden, almost boiling over when Ayano bobbed her head once in confirmation. "Thanks!"
It didn't even matter that he didn't like soda either: the butterfly eggs in his belly hatched until a full swarm was flying inside him. He was already beaming just from the pleasant tingly feeling they were leaving behind, which Ayano didn't miss.
"W-what's with that smile?" she demanded pointedly.
He pulled up his red muffler to hide his matching cheeks so his words came out as murmurs. "Oh, it's just... this is sorta like a present, right? You've never given me one before..."
"A-a-h..." Ayano stammered out abashed, her mouth twitching. "Don't get the wrong idea; I'm just bumming it off on you 'cause I knew you'd take it... so wipe that grin off of your face or I'll take it back!"
"Oh right, right," Shintaro said self-consciously, grateful that his scarf was concealing the fact that he hadn't dropped his smile at all. "Got a bit ahead of myself there, sorry."
"Way too ahead of yourself," Ayano hmphed, brushing her hair out of eyes. Although nothing but awkwardness was flashing through them, they were clearer than ever and looking Shintaro straight on. A rush of euphoria swept through his veins; they had reconnected once again, as pathetic as he truly was.
"...enjoy the soda, I guess." Pulling her school bag closer to her body, Ayano turned around to walk down the hallway for real this time. Bright red clips glimmering in the setting sun, her long hair whipped behind her as she said, "See you later."
"Yeah, see you," he said back and waved as he watched her leave, not that she saw or maybe even heard him say it at the brisk pace she was walking at. Before long, Shintaro was completely alone in the dimming hallway with only the meaningful soda can he was holding as company.
Or so he thought.
"Pst," came an odd, hushed voice from the left, stopping him in his tracks just as he was starting to take his own leave.
"Pssst." Shintaro looked up and down the hall in confusion, searching for who and where the voice was coming from. There's no one here...
"Pssssst, nii-chan!"
"Momo?" Shintaro questioned to the air around him. H-how, what, where is she?
Out of the corner of his eye, the tall potted plant near one of the classroom doors began to shake conspicuously. "Over here, over here!"
Walking over to the pot with a chuckle stuck in his throat, Shintaro watched as an ever so familiar head of orange hair popped out in front of him. She had changed out of her bright idol clothes and into baggy brown pants and the overly sized (two sizes too big to be exact) pink hoodie she had refused to go home without when they had seen it on display at a clothing store after walking home from a meeting with the manager. Shintaro had ended up buying it as a congratulations gift for getting her first show.
"What are you doing? I thought you were still by the stage with your manager?"
She grinned cheekily. "Well I was, but you didn't come as quickly as I thought you'd come so I snuck away to look for you. I turned off my power so Mr. Manager didn't even notice me leave. It felt pretty cool to sneak around like that; like I was a real Mekameka hero! Oh, oh wait actually. I forgot-" she reached into her hoodie pocket and pulled out a pair of brand new shiny sunglasses, "-to put these on to make it official. There we go: blindfold complete!"
Seeing her strike a v-sign and a silly wink (or at least he thought she did, it was kind of hard to tell with the sunglasses covering her eyes), Shintaro couldn't help but snort and didn't even scold her for probably giving her manager a heart attack or correct her butchering of their duo name.
He brought one end of his vermilion scarf to cover his eyes. "Blindfold complete I guess," he said back, feeling like they were little kids all over again. "You've been getting pretty good at handling your eyes lately."
"Right? No one noticed me while I was sneaking around looking for you and you didn't even notice me when I followed you down this hallway and hid behind this plant. I was able to turn off my power even quicker than usual when I snuck off so, at this rate, I'll probably be able to turn it on and off without any time in between at all soon."
"Heh, I'm sure you will and... wait, you mean you were here this entire time?"
"Uhhh, maybe... heehee?"
"Why didn't you come out to introduce yourself to Ayano? I thought that was what you wanted," he said unbelieving.
Momo snickered. "I thought it would be more fun to spy on you guys."
Shintaro facepalmed. "Seriously? After I tried to get her to stay a few more minutes too..."
"Oops. Sorry." She didn't sound sorry at all for a reason that was able to elude her brother for once. Hmm.
"Well, there's no helping it now I suppose," resigned Shintaro. "So anyway, what did you think of Ayano, even though you didn't really meet her? I'm sure that even from afar she's proven to be pretty good fri-"
"I don't like her."
"-end and, wait, wait you don't?"
"Nope, not one bit, " she said snippily with a disgruntled face.
Shintaro was completely taken back. "W-w-why not?"
"It's just, just... I mean, you said she was nice, nii-chan. I didn't hear everything you guys talked about but from what I was able to pick up, I can surely say that she's anything but nice!"
"B-but she is...! Just, in her own way."
Momo sneered. "Hah! She sounded like she was making fun of you every time she opened her mouth! If that's what you think 'nice' is nii-chan then I'm actually worried about you. Don't you see? She could be one of the people I have to protect you from!"
Aw man, this isn't good. "Momo, I can assure you that you don't need to protect me from Ayano," he tried to convince, desperate to change his sister's seemingly already locked in view. "Even though she may seem cold at times, she's my best friend. She just.. has a hard time expressing her emotions, that's all."
While he had managed to dose some of the fiery protest inside her it still hadn't been fully put out. "But nii-chan! Even if that's the case you should still stay away from her because it's not good to be friends with depressing people like that. It could rub off on you and then you'll get all sad too and-"
Shintaro placed a hand on each of her shoulders, gently cutting her off. Carefully, he took off her sunglasses to look her in the eyes properly. "Momo. Please, there's absolutely no need to worry about me. I'm the older sibling so it's my job to handle these issues and besides, I think I'm a pretty good judge of character, right? You'll just have to believe me when I say that I know Ayano's a good person at heart, a great person even. And..."
He gazed at a stray piece of hair that had flown out of her still done-up side braid and imagined a pair of ruby red clips pinning them back in place. "...she's got a lot more in common with the two of us than you know. So you'll just have to trust me on this okay?"
"..."
Just from looking in her eyes, he could already see the internal fight she was leading between her protective side's desire to keep arguing and her more trusting side that wanted to believe everything her big brother said.
"Do you trust me?"
Eventually, after a very rough and bloody battle, the trusting side won the war.
"Hnnngggh. Fine, I'll trust your judgment." She held her hands up in surrender before crossing them over the 'Aun' kanji written on the front of her hoodie grumpily. "But I still don't like her, much less want to meet her anymore."
"Ehh, I think I can live with that." Shintaro ruffled up her hair in an attempt to diffuse her crankiness and handed the pair of sunglasses back. "I'm sure you'll come around someday and see that she's a kind person. She even told me that she thought your performance was good by the way."
Momo rolled her eyes as she pocketed her dark glasses again, "Yeah yeah, whatever." She then poked at the soda can he was nestling in his hand. "Why did she give you that?"
"Oh," Shintaro smiled, "It was her prize for winning at the video game shooting gallery booth I told you about. She doesn't like soda so she gave it to me."
"But you don't like soda either, nii-chan," Momo pointed out. "You're always 'soda-is-bad-for-your-health-so-I-don't-ever-drink-it.'"
"Ahem, because it's true Momo!"
"Exactly, so since you're not going to drink it, can I have it? You and kaa-san never let me drink one before." She tried to nab it out of his hands, but Shintaro held the can up and out of her range.
"And you're not going to drink it now; it's bad for you. Sorry, but no," he said firmly.
"Then what are you going to do with it? It's not even red bean soda," she cried impatiently and stomped a sneaker on the textile school flooring.
Shintaro rubbed the back of his arm with his free hand meekly. "Ahah well, I thought maybe I'd just, y'know, put it in the fridge or, or..."
Momo snorted behind her hand. "Or what? Keep it in your room to remember her by? Put it on top your bedside table so you can see it in the morning when you wake up?"
"O-of course n-not! I just, we just, just, just..." Ahh, why do I always get so embarrassed whenever Ayano's involved?! His inner mind bawled.
"Mmm, what's the matter, nii-chan?" Momo smiled wickedly. "I was just joking. It's not like you like her, right?"
Shintaro instantly and involuntarily went rigid. Uh oh.
"Or, do you?"
Scalding blood from the very tips of his toes rushed up the top of his head with the speed of an unleashed horse. Uh oh.
"...oh my gosh. Oh my gosh, nii-chan, do you actually...?"
Uh oh uh oh uh oh. He had to think fast, fast fast fast before he gave it all away.
"OH MY GOSH YOU DO LIKE HER-"
Spontaneously and this time not-so-gently she was cut off by a metal soda can being shoved into her face by an absolutely mortified Shintaro.
"Hahaha, why don't we drop this topic for now?" He forced a laugh out more desperately than ever before. "If you agree to not talk about this ever again, I'll let you drink half of the soda!"
Momo stared at the shiny drink, considering his offer. "...make it the full can and we have a deal."
"What?! No way!" he squawked.
"Oh, then maybe you'd like to share the other half with Ayano? Should I run down the hall and fetch her for you? Tell her about your little crush too?" She broke out into singsong. "Tate~yama Aya~no~! My onii-san l~o~v~e~s youuu-"
"TAKE IT TAKE IT TAKE IT." Shintaro shoved the full can into her hands. Holding it up triumphantly, Momo masked her smirk with a feigning of innocence. "Ayano who? Who's that? Never heard of her in my life."
"Good," Shintaro said with a hand to his heart, worried that he might have already joined Momo's manager as people who died from heart attacks she had induced.
He could only stand and watch in defeat as Momo unclasped the pop tab on top of the can with a quick flick. I'll just make sure she eats something healthy later and brushes her teeth extra tonight. But really, it is just one can of soda. What's the harm?
(He would soon eat his words, or maybe more so his thoughts.)
The moment Momo took her first sip, her eyes popped out of their sockets the direct moment after. Abruptly she stopped drinking and brought her free hand to grasp at her mouth. Her peach-colored bangs covered her eyes.
Shintaro was by her side in less than a second. "Momo!" Oh god, is she already choking on it?! An allergy the doctors never informed us of? Oh god...! "Momo, what's wrong?!"
"..."
"Momo?"
Slowly, she brought her hand away from her mouth and straightened up her crouched in posture, her words coming out as whispers. "...oh my gosh..."
"Huh?" Shintaro asked and would've kept asking if it wasn't for the fact that her hair had fallen out of her face, allowing her eyes to be seen. It stopped him right in his tracks because, by dear god... they were sparkling.
"Oh my gosh, this is the best drink ever!" exclaimed Momo it the most awestruck voice imaginable.
Shintaro blinked once, twice, thrice. "E-e-ehhhhh?!" he blurted out, completely aghast. Before he could stop her she had already chugged the entire soda down in one gulp, oblivious and uncaring of the choking hazards. She held the now empty soda can to her chest lovingly afterward as if it was a lifeline.
"I can't believe you kept this from me my entire life, nii-chan; this is literally the tastiest thing I've ever had! I love it, I love it, I love it! Even if you say that this is the worst drink ever I'm still going to love it; love it for the rest of my life. May soda be eternal!"
As she spun circle upon circle of pure bliss around him, Shintaro had only one last withering thought left to think in his poor mind, a brand new kind of horror taking over his entire mind and body.
Just what have I done?
Flash forward an hour later, after Momo had finally given up on begging him to buy her another soda can - along with calming down from the world's most nightmarish sugar high in history, at least in Shintaro's perspective, the two Kisaragi siblings had finished helping the talent agency staff clean up and clear away the chairs used for the concert and bid the manager (who had miraculously come back to life the moment he saw that Momo hadn't magically disappeared) farewell and thank you. They had politely declined his offer of a ride; their destination wasn't that far of a walk from the high school.
"I'm still kinda sad that kaa-san wasn't well enough to come watch the show herself, but I hope she'll still be proud when we show her the video you took!" Momo skipped down the sidewalk leading to the hospital in front of them.
"...you took a video, right?"
"Of course," said Shintaro from behind her. "What kind of brother would I be not to?"
"A rotten one that's for sure," Momo quipped along. "Which you definitely aren't!"
"Thanks, haha."
Momo spun around to face him, taking extra care to be mindful to where her feet stepped as she walked backward. "Hey, nii-chan, I sorta forgot to ask earlier but... what did you think of the show? Everyone kept on telling me how amazing it was, but was it really all that?"
Shintaro's mouth curved upwards as the fading sun began to duck behind the night clouds, dimming the land in a colder air but not obscuring his view of his sister in the least, even if he needed to squint a little. "Yes. It was even better than what they said."
"More amazing than as we practiced?"
"Even more." Ever so affectionately, he placed a hand on the top of her hair. "It was perfect; I'm really proud. Excellent work."
Momo beamed from ear to ear and clamped both of her hands onto the hand he had on top of her head. The red scarf that looked just a bit too big and awkward around her neck flapped happily in the evening wind (every now and again they swapped turns wearing it; he had been father to both of them after all. In Shintaro's mind, right now seemed like an appropriate time for a swap.)
"Thank you, nii-chan."
She flipped around in order to face the same direction he was facing, stepping in time with his feet by his side. "But I couldn't have ever done it without you, so don't cut yourself out just yet. You know the songs you made, the one about getting too much attention and the other one about cheering up someone who's blue? The crowd loved them the most! You were in the audience so you must have heard all the screaming right?"
Shintaro resisted the instinct to cover his ears as the splittingly loud memories replayed themselves. "Oh, yeah. It's a wonder that I didn't go deaf. About the songs, though, they really weren't anything special. It was all you. I'll try to up the quality when making the ones for your next show, which Mr. Manager says shouldn't be too far from now."
"Well then, haha, I'll just have to better the quality of my singing and dancing," she said while winking.
"Sounds like a plan."
On and on they talked back and forth as the sky kept on darkening until it became a pitch black, teasing and snarking all the way to the warmth of their mother and all the way back home again. None of it felt forced or rushed or hateful, only fond and comfortable and normal, so much that Shintaro couldn't help but contemplate back on Ayano's words.
I think I can understand siblings not getting along sometimes, but not getting along all of the time and even outright hating each other... no, even if Ayano has more of them than me, she must have been exaggerating, he concluded while he tucked Momo in early for the night, the soda can on her bedside table instead of his.
Oh, Momo, he sighed in his thoughts, although it wasn't in annoyance. He pulled the covers up to his sister's snoring head, unable to hate her for even a moment.
It had been a very tiring and fulfilling day, one of which they hadn't felt empty at all.
[Which was a very good thing.
There would be more than enough emptiness for the both of them soon enough.
A figure standing in the wispy, swallowing haze knew all too well as the trickling seconds counted down to that very near future.]
