The phone rang. Hotaru Imai sighed. Not this again, she thought, although a small, honest part of her was grateful for the distraction. Despite how hard she worked herself, Hotaru could never forget how it felt to be human; there were too many reminders — throbbing headaches, chronic fatigue, and the phone that kept ringing no matter how many harsh words Hotaru spoke into the receiver.

"I'm working." She hadn't bothered to check the Caller ID. It was always the same person, anyways.

"Hotaru, you were working when I called you 16 hours ago, and it's 5 AM now."

Mikan sounded like she had just woken up. The thickness of her best friend's voice made Hotaru a little nostalgic, remembering how, in a past so removed it seemed like another life, the two would pull all nighters every weekend at their Super Duper Secret sleepovers. In those days, 'first base' meant holding hands, and the most sacrilegious act one could perform was to 'break a promise', which was supposed to be impenetrable and pure.

The memories softened her reply: "It's just this..." Hotaru searched for words that Mikan would understand. "This company that wants to buy mine and I absolutely can't have it happen."

"Didn't the same thing happen last month? You said you took care of it."

Damn. Mikan was usually so careless in forgetting things (her phone, her keys) that a few weeks ago Hotaru had blurted out a few meaningless lies to appease her. Careless, careless. She forgot that in recent years, somehow Mikan remembered everything when it came to her. "It's the same company. The guy who runs it is really shady, and even though Imai Inc. hasn't made much of a profit yet I want to keep everything pure."

Mikan sighed. "In other words, you lied when you said you took care of it. I bet you've been lying too about drinking all the ginseng tonics I've been sending you."

Hotaru kept her silence. She was too tired to keep her lies straight.

Hotaru heard rustling and she knew Mikan had gotten out of bed, into the bathroom. A lock clicked. Then Mikan's voice again, now much louder: "Because you're my sister, I'm going to say it to you straight. You're human, Hotaru. You need to eat and drink and shit and sleep like the rest of us." She exhaled sharply. "After what happened to Subaru-oni—"

"I'm tired," Hotaru interrupted. "I'm going to go to sleep."

"You must," Mikan said, her voice hard. "Promise me you're going to sleep once you hang up the call."

Hotaru felt the weight of one more pebble thrown into the metaphorical knapsack she carried on her back. She crossed her fingers with the hand that wasn't holding her cell phone. "Promise. Go back to sleep, 'kay?"

"'Kay. Love you Hotaru."

"You, too."

The call disconnected with a click. Wearily, Hotaru tossed it onto one of the many desks surrounding her and took her seat. There were two more piles of documents she'd need to get through before her board meeting in a few hours. After that meeting I'll sleep, she promised Mikan in her head. Promise.

It was funny to her how little a promise meant, these days.

The phone rang again just as Hotaru was about to crawl into bed. She contemplated not answering but decided that it would only worry Mikan more. Besides, she was supposed to have been asleep for ten hours now. Hotaru did her best to sound alert as she picked up. "I just woke up."

The voice on the other end was not a welcome one. "Yeah right," Natsume Hyuuga snickered. "Even Mikan wouldn't fall for that."

"Oh, it's you," Hotaru said scornfully. "Well lucky you, I'm too tired to rip you a new one, so bye—"

"—wait!" Hyuuga sounded serious. Had something happened to Mikan? Hotaru's fingers curled. "The thing is..."

All men were so fucking slow, and especially this one. Especially when he was doing it on purpose to spite her. At least this meant Mikan wasn't in danger. "Bye." She gave him a nanosecond before she hung up.

"Mikan turned down my proposal."

"What?"

"I said, Mikan—"

"In the end it's your fault for not consulting with me first."

"Actually, I tried to "consult" you, but you were busy and ignored my messages. Or maybe you would have ignored my messages anyways, but I presumed that you are busy because that's the reason why my girlfriend won't marry me."

"What did she say?"

"She said, and I quote, 'It's not a good time for me to get married right now when my soul mate is going through a rough time in her life.' Mikan called you her fucking soul mate. I don't believe it. After the decade plus that we've spent together..."

"I'll speak to her," Hotaru sighed. Another migraine was imminent. "And I've spent two decades with her, headass."

"She won't listen to you. You know how stubborn she gets. Even if it's you."

"Then why'd you fucking call me?" she shouted.

Hotaru could tell Hyuuga was taken aback with her vulgar language and tone with his slight silence, but she was completely spent. She was too numb to take care of her own feelings, let alone others'. She wouldn't apologize for that, or for anything, least of all to him. And she knew he would understand and keep it a secret from Mikan.

"A favor," he finally responded.

Hotaru hung up and powered off her phone. She stripped, threw on one of Mikan's old tees, and passed out before she made it under the blankets.