Now we're boppin'
The next morning Sayo was once again on guard duty in the northeast tower. She wasn't alone today; one other guard stood in the southwest.
Sayo's shift was uneventful as usual. With another guard on duty she was able to focus on just the north side of the castle, which was better than the day before.
She was standing on the northeast tower, near the end of her shift, when she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. It was surprising since she wasn't expecting the next guard for at least ten minutes, but maybe they were coming up early.
Oddly, Kasumi popped up out of the stairs and onto the landing. She moved with her usual pep, bouncing with each step. Another person followed closely behind, someone with light blue hair who Sayo knew quite well.
Even though Sayo hadn't seen Hina in over a year, there was no mistaking her. With her shoulder length blue hair, bright green eyes, and distinct mischievous smile, there was no doubt in Sayo's mind. The way her eyes lit up when she saw Sayo confirmed it.
How unfortunate that she had shown up here. Sayo already felt the familiar anger she carried for her sister rising in her throat. She pushed it down; Hina hadn't done anything yet besides arrive.
Hina was armored similarly to how Sayo was, with a bow, short sword, and patchwork leather armor. She didn't say anything as she stopped next to Kasumi. To see that from HIna was impressive show of restraint.
"Good morning Sayo!" Kasumi said energetically. "Don't mind us, I'm just showing a new guard around." Apparently she didn't notice the obvious family resemblance, likely due to their hair being different lengths. Kasumi turned towards Hina, still beaming. "Your primary duty will be guarding from these towers. As you saw from the schedule, you'll work one full and two partial shifts every day." Hina was looking around with wide eyes.
"Will I get to have shifts with Sayo?" She asked brightly. Sayo, who was trying to mind her own business and continue doing her job, sighed.
Kasumi seemed confused. "Umm, sometimes you might?" She responded with her head tilted. "Your shifts could overlap, but you'll be posted in different towers when they do."
"How boppin!" Hina grinned at Kasumi, who smiled back.
Kasumi walked back towards the stairs, nodding goodbye to Sayo. "I'll show you to your quarters next." She said as she moved down the steps. Hina waved at Sayo with both hands as she followed, a promise of more to come later.
And then they were gone; quiet was restored. Sayo conducted the rest of her shift in blissful silence. Hina had seemed more subdued than previously, but perhaps it was only because of Kasumi's presence.
Ten minutes later the next guard came to relieve her and Sayo headed down the stairs.
When Sayo reached the second floor, Hina was leaning against a wall near the steps. How surprising, Sayo had expected her to be off in her quarters. Sayo considered just walking past her, but as she thought earlier Hina hadn't done anything yet to warrant that level of rudeness.
As Sayo stopped front of her, Hina raised both of her arms and rushed forward. "Big Sis! I'm so glad to see you!" She wrapped her arms around Sayo's shoulders in an awkwardly tight hug, which Sayo did not return.
"Why have you come?" Sayo stepped back, breaking the embrace.
Hina was unbothered. "I was looking for you! After you left the village just wasn't boppin anymore." Despite being a year older than when they parted, she still used childish words like 'boppin'. "And I missed you." Ah, she hadn't given up the overly frank affection either.
"Well, here I am." Sayo crossed her arms. "How did you end up working here?"
Hina pulled the bow off of her back, twanging the string. "They said they were hiring archers, and money is cool, so I decided to take the job." Her grin was unfaltering, annoyingly so. "How lucky that we'll be working together!"
Sayo frowned. "Not really." She shook her head; it looked like Hina hadn't changed at all. "I better get going, good luck with your first shift." Sayo started to walk away, intent on going to get some lunch. She hadn't expected Hina to follow her.
"Thanks!" Hina trailed after her like a puppy, but less cute. "It's not until tomorrow afternoon, and I'm super nervous."
Sayo walked a little faster, reaching the stairs and descending to the first floor. Even that didn't stop her.
"You probably weren't nervous when you started, because you're so great at archery." Hina continued rambling about archery as she followed Sayo all the way to the dining hall.
"I'm going to eat, see you later." Sayo tried to dismiss her, but alas her plan backfired.
Hina's eyes lit up. "Oh, this is where we eat?" She bounded ahead and through the doors. "Let's go, I'm starving!"
Sayo sighed again, which she knew wouldn't be the last one for today. She followed after Hina now and pointed her in the direction of where the food was served. All of her friends were staring, with only Ako rude enough to gape with an open mouth. Lisa had the decency to look down at her food when Sayo glared at her.
Another sigh escaped Sayo's lips as she looked away from the staring eyes to get some lunch. Today they were serving soup. Hina waited for Sayo to go first and took the exact same things that Sayo did.
As Sayo approached table, her friends seemed to come to their senses. At least, they pretended like they hadn't been staring for the last five minutes.
"Good afternoon." Sayo greeted them normally, still praying with her last bit of hope that Hina would sit somewhere else.
Of course, she didn't.
"Hi everyone!" Hina sat down right next to Sayo, loudly introducing herself. "I'm Hina, Sayo's twin sister! It's nice to meet you!"
For a moment, nobody responded. They all looked varying degrees of confused. Finally, Yukina raised an eyebrow.
"You never mentioned a twin." She said, turning to Sayo.
Sayo already wanted to leave, but she still needed to eat. "It never came up." She replied flatly and started eating her soup.
"Didn't you say you have no siblings?" Lisa cut in annoyingly, a catlike smile on her face.
"You must be misremembering." Sayo deflected the question, even though Lisa was right she had indeed said that.
Lisa ignored Sayo, turning to Hina to introduce herself. Each one of the table members gave a brief introduction, with Yukina's being hardly five words and Ako's being more than fifty.
By the time they were done, Sayo had finished scarfing down her lunch. She stood up and picked up her bowl. "As much fun as this has been, I must be going."
"It's only been ten minutes." Lisa, again with the brutal honesty, sounded concerned now.
"Awww." Hina whined like a child. "We didn't even have long to talk."
"See you all later." Sayo looked at each person except Hina before walking away to return her bowl.
"Bye Big Sis!" Of course, Hina was the only one to call after her. The anger Sayo had been shoving down rose once again, and this time she allowed it to remain. She didn't look back as she exited the dining hall.
Though she was leaving lunch early, Sayo still headed directly to the kitchen for her afternoon duties.
The walk to the kitchen only took a few minutes, and after a glance over her shoulder to make sure Hina hadn't followed her Sayo entered the kitchen.
There was a surprise waiting her as well; six kitchen staff instead of the normal five. A girl with bright pink hair pulled back in pigtails had joined the crew. She was working with Saya on some kind of dough.
Sayo took note of her presence, but didn't ask Tsugumi for details. She was soon sent to buy some food from the market, which was a good opportunity to get out of the castle for a bit. Now that Hina was in the castle, out of it was the ideal place to be.
The trip to the market helped Sayo clear her head and forget, for a little while, about the nuisance waiting for her. By the time she returned, Saya and the pink haired girl were putting their dough in the oven.
Sayo then fetched water for the kitchen for another hour or so, thankfully not running into anyone she knew while she was moving around.
"Is everything okay today?" Tsugumi asked when Sayo was between trips. She must've picked up on something being off today.
Sayo hesitated to respond; she didn't want to unload her problems onto someone else. "Just… some annoyances today." She ended up saying. "But things are fine."
"Alright." Tsugumi seemed to accept the answer. "Just, if you ever want to talk, about anything, you can always talk to me." She looked directly into Sayo's eyes as she spoke.
Sayo's heart beat abnormally fast in her chest. "Thanks." She replied, maintaining eye contact. "I'll keep that in mind.
"Great!" Now Tsugumi was smiling broadly.
"I, uh, should keep going." Sayo lifted the bucket up a little, emphasizing that she was getting more water.
As Sayo left and went back to the well, her heart rate settled. She didn't dwell too much on it; it was probably from Hina related stress.
After a few more trips to the well, Sayo was done with her job for the day. She said goodbye to Tsugumi, still didn't ask about the new kitchen employee, and walked towards the shooting range to meet Lisa.
When Sayo exited the castle and turned towards the range, she shouldn't have been surprised to see a splash of blue hair in one of the range stalls. Lisa was right there with her, only one stall over.
Sayo's stomach churned as she approached.
Hina was shooting across the range, hitting one of the targets. Sayo watched as she released a shot, hitting dead in the center. Lisa clapped lightly at the display.
Sayo adjusted her route slightly, walking towards the stalls all the way to one end and as far from Hina as possible. Both Hina and Lisa turned to look her way, but Sayo pretended she hadn't noticed them as she took position in the last stall.
Taking note of the larger than normal breeze, Sayo began to shoot. Her arrows hit the target, with only a few making the center. Though Sayo didn't look to confirm, she was sure Hina was still hitting bullseyes on the other end. Because she always did.
"Hey, are you ready to train?" Lisa's voice to her left startled Sayo, but she didn't show it besides a miniscule flinch. When Sayo looked at her, she saw that Lisa had come to the stall next to hers and had left Hina on the other side of the range.
"Yes." Sayo responded simply, not bringing up the topic of her twin. "We'll work more on the wind today since it's stronger than usual; do you remember how to read it?"
Lisa gave back the correct answer, so Sayo nodded and started her on practicing.
They had only been working on it for about ten minutes when Hina likely got bored and decided to hop over.
"Whatcha doin'?" She asked from one more stall to Lisa's left, leaning over the barrier between them.
"Learning how to read the wind." Lisa responded with more energy than Sayo would've been able to. "Your sister's teaching me."
"Oh! Big Sis taught me too!" Hina leaned so far she looked like she could fall. "She's a great teacher."
"Knock it off Hina, you're distracting her." Sayo scolded her twin, gesturing for her to lean back off the barrier.
"When it comes to the wind, I just feel it." Hina complied with leaning back, now hanging off the barrier with both hands in the other direction. "Like, pow! You know?"
"I don't." Sayo hoped her eye wasn't twitching. "Now stop talking and let Lisa shoot."
"Fiiine." Hina released the barrier and fell back onto the ground, which blissfully meant that Sayo could no longer see her. She was quiet for a few minutes, but good things never lasted.
Soon Hina was talking again. Each time she did Sayo went back and forth with her as Lisa continued to shoot. This went on through the entire practice, even as Lisa retrieved her arrows.
By the end of archery practice, Sayo no longer wanted to give Hina the benefit of the doubt. In fact, if Hina would just pack up and leave, that would be ideal.