"Hisame...? You still sleepy, bro?"

Hisame sighs, trying to multitask writing an essay and talking to his brother on the phone. "No. Kanna, it's three in the afternoon here. And isn't it two in the morning for you?Maybe you're the sleepy one."

Kanna snorts. "Hah. Jerk."

"It's nice to see that you're still immature," he shoots back.

His brother mutters something unintelligible, but instead of retorting, he just says, "So, are you coming back for winter break this time?"

He stops typing, and pauses to think about it. It has been a year since he last saw his family; mainly due to the fact that he's in a college in the Philippines. The flight there was expensive, but the college itself is better than its American counterpart. But the fact is, they're in two different continents and he can't just decide on a whim if he wanted to go back. He didn't even go back last year, so why would it be any different now?

So he just says, "I don't know. Plane tickets are expensive. We don't have that much money to burn."

Hisame hears some shuffling on Kanna's end. "Our parents don't mind. We've been saving this year."

"Did you ask?"

"...No."

"Then you don't know if they would mind or not." he goes back to typing, and for a while, the only sound besides the phone's static is the tapping of the keyboard. Instead of being calm, like usual, it just feels strained.

He's beginning to proofread his third page when he hears Kanna take a shaky breath and say, "She was crying in their room last night."

He stops what he's doing, and he already knows what the answer is but he asks anyway. "Who?"

"Mom." more shuffling. "I heard her. She misses you. And—God, she's been so off lately. I know you don't notice because you only call her, but she's a mess."

"...She has you, Kanna."

"I'm not you."

"And Dad's there."

"He isn't you, either. And I know he doesn't say anything, but I know he misses you too."

"Is...is this why you called me?"

"Yes." Kanna sighs, and says, "Just ask them already. They want you home. And, well. I guess I want you home too."

Hisame laughs quietly. "Thanks."

"But are you going to do it?"

"Yeah."

"Alright. Good." Hisame hears him yawn. "I'm going to sleep. Night."

"Night."

The constant static that was present during their whole conversation stops, signalling the end of the call. Hisame puts the phone down from where it was perched on his shoulder, and works on his essay—but not before adding a reminder on his phone to call his mother.

Hooray for random sibling chapter! Again! In my defense, I've been feeling the platonic love. Also,

The colleges in the Philippines are apparently better financial wise than the ones in the States. However, I'm going off information that I heard from a couple years ago, and I'm not sure if the situation has changed.

(Small reminder that platonic pairs are allowed!)