"WHAT?! MY SISTER?! But she's only in the 2nd grade!" I protested, having been caught off guard.

"Well, they needed me! These messy boys can't do it on their own!" Ami told me, grinning from ear to ear.

"Not to mention, she does have a shugo chara now, and she can get good advice from you, Amu-sempai!" Hikaru added.

"Well…I guess so…but—"

"Come on big sister, it'll be fun!" she told me, using the kiddish nickname she only called me when she wanted something. "Besides, I'm not really the Queen's Chair, I'm the Princess Chair!" she beamed.

"Well…I'm not sure if that's really how it works, but it should be ok, I suppose, since—"

"Can we get on with the meeting?"

Slowly, we all turned around to see the new Jack's Chair, Hisoka, looking at us with his arms crossed. Really looking at him for the first time, I could see that he looked like a no-nonsense kind of kid. With blonde hair and purple eyes, he stared us down, waiting for an answer.

"Y-yes, let's all split off and talk to the new Guardians about their duties!" I said, and everyone started moving around, introducing themselves and talking to each other. But I couldn't focus on anything but Hisoka. I really hoped he wouldn't cause too much trouble for the Guardians this year.

Later that night, I sat at my desk, watching in the mirror as I combed through my wet hair. I had just gotten out of the shower, and I knew from experience that if I didn't brush through it right away it would become a long, tangled mess.

Today had been long, I thought as I listened to the pounding rain outside. After we spent a couple hours showing the new Guardians the ropes, just as we had been about to leave, Tsukasa-san had showed up, wanting to talk with us a bit. We ended up staying another hour for tea, so by the time Ami and I were leaving it was already almost dinner time. Then, after a scolding from Mama about how late we were, we ate in silence and I retreated to my room for the rest of the night to do my assignments for geometry, as I was a little behind in that particular class.

I sighed as I thought again about the new Guardians. I hoped that they would be alright. As bittersweet as it was, being in the Royal Garden today had brought back so many memories of my time there. I found myself thinking back to what I used to be like back in elementary school.

Looking in the mirror, I knew I had changed, but it was hard to see small changes when I saw myself in the mirror every day. There were some obvious changes, such as my hair being longer and being taller, and I definitely looked more grown up now, I was sure. I had piercings in my earlobes and my upper ear on each side, as well as a pink nose stud. As usually happens when one goes into high school, I had acquired some curves, and I was not displeased with those. Somehow knowing that I had them reassured me that I was growing up.

Aside from the obvious things, if I looked at old pictures of myself, I could make out that my face was now less round and more defined, and my eyes seemed to be a little darker for some reason as well.

I stood up, setting down my comb and going over to my dresser to take out my pajamas. As I let the towel drop from around me, I caught sight of my left shoulder blade, on which I had gotten a tattoo, unbeknownst to my mother. It was a circle containing four sections: A pink heart, a blue spade, a green clover, and a yellow diamond. I had gotten the tattoo last year when Dia had finally left me, in order to make sure I never forgot them and the things that they taught me about myself.

I put my pajamas on, humming to myself and thinking of my birthday the next week. I would be 16. A couple years ago, it had felt like I would never get to the age of 16; it always seemed so far away. But yet, here I was, an almost 16-year-old, a sophomore in high school.

Pajamas on, I fluffed my wet hair, bringing it out of my pajama shirt and was about to head over to my bed when I heard a noise that sounded like a bird hitting my sliding door again. It probably couldn't see straight in this storm. I turned around to make sure it was able to fly away, but stopped dead in my tracks.

"Ikuto…"