It was a cold night of December when a cry was heard from above the sky. Every police in the station ran outside just to see what it was and what they saw froze them right where they were standing. On the black canvas of the Musutafu nightsky, a girl was floating, stepping on nothing but air. Her wails filled the air as she craddled a bleeding toddler by her chest. Sirens came from a distant as red and blue illuminated the sky. No one could help her yet for she was out of reach. She was in the sky while they were merely standing on the ground.

That was the day the name Sky-walker was known: the girl in the sky who cried for help. The girl whose identity was concealed for her own good. That girl was Fuyuki Hayase and she came to hate the name Sky-walker.

--

A year and a half had already passed, they were already settling in with an old couple who agreed to foster them, they were already attending an entirely new school but the authorities still failed to erase the name Sky-walker in the news. She could hear it everywhere, she could read it wherever she goes and she was even looking at it now that she have a newspaper in her hand. She grimaced at the photo that was posted along with the headline. It was a photo of her from someone's perspective from down below looking up. She was standing on an invisible platform wearing nothing but her pyjama with what looked like ripped off cloth in her hand pressing on her sister's flesh, its ends was swaying in the wind, flowing from her shoulder and opening up behind her. The dark background of the night was dotted with specks of white raining down from everywhere. It must've been snow-- if it was, she hadn't noticed it before, all she saw was red on her arm. It might've been better if the red was coming from her. But It was not. Seeing crimson spreading on her sister's blond hair was a gruesome sight.

It just won't stop.

The bleeding.

The images.

The overflowing red.

It's on her hands. Everything that had happened is on her. Leave it to her mess things up.

You messed up.

Stupid. No. Weakling. Think positive now. That's why your father beat you up. Stop. You needed to learn a lesson and now that that's gone, nothing's keeping you from messing up anymore. But they said that I did the right thing. Is it? Is it... the right thing? What if I deserved it all--

"Sissy!"

She jolted out of her head when she heard someone called her and her expression softened when she recognized who it was.

"Hey, Sachiko." That's right. She did it for her. You say that to yourself because that's whats convinient.

For a moment, Fuyuki let the thoughts win, showing nothing but a smile that didn't reach her eyes.

"What'chu reading?" Sachiko asked, her eyes big with curiousity.

Fuyuki widened the curve of her lips and showed her the newspaper she'd been reading.

"That's Sky-walker!" Sachiko yelled excitedly and pointed at the picture.

"Y-yeah." She looked away feeling embarassed. That's right, she didn't know it was them. Sachiko wasn't conscious when it all happened and Fuyuki wished she'd stay oblivious forever.But why was she calling out that name with so much excitement? She couldn't understand.

"That's Sky walker!" Sachiko yelled again.

"Yeah?" She raised a brow, folding in on herself even more. "What about it?"

What is she gonna say? Fuyuki found herself curling in on herself more as if she's preparing for an assault.

"She's a hero!"

"What?!" Fuyuki was taken aback at what her sister had said.

"She's a hero!" And Sachiko gladly repeated it for her without second thoughts. "Can't you see, sissy? She's awesome and she even saved that little kid there! She even looked super heroic in that photo!"

"What? How?" Her grip made the paper crumple. It couldn't be. Heroic? she didn't remember doing anything heroic at all, all she did in that photo was cry. She didn't match the descripton of what being a hero is like. How could she be--

"Look look look!" Sachiko snatched the newspaper from her and directed the photo towards a ray of sunlight that was penetrating the window. Fuyuki didn't know if she was just asking to get complimented on or if she's just waiting to be appreciated for what she had done--she probably didn't deserve it--But there is something in her, a little voice that's asking for her to be called something other than the hurt girl from that night. She wanted to be called in a different word. Atleast she wanted to be--

"A hero," Sachiko whispered and tears came rushing out of Fuyuki's eyes. There, bathe in the sunlight was a photo of that night, rendered anew. Their face was blurred but she could tell it was them. The light won over the ink of the nighttime and everything around them had become daylight. The snow that's nothing but a simple dot had now become sparkles, raining down on them.

She looked scratched and bruised but still, she carried someone in her arms. The cloth that was just flowing before now looked like a cape, swaying in the air just for that moment of victory. It was bright. So so bright. It almost looked...

heroic.

She fell down on her knees with her hands clasped on her mouth, trying to surpress a cry but it wasn't enough. Her cries passed through her fingers so she let it go and all of the pent up emotions fled out with it.

For the very first time, since that day, she didn't cry on her pillow. For the very first time, cried like a child. It was the same cry but she didn't do it for the same reason. Today, she cried because of a realization. All this time, Sachiko saw the whole thing differently. The thing that she's embarassed about the most had become the most heroic image in her sister's mind. She said she was heroic. Her, a hero.

She felt small arms circle its way around her neck, engulfing her in a tight embrace.

"Sissy, why are you criyng? Please stop crying. I'll get you her autograph someday."

Fuyuki let out a watery laugh as she hugged her sister back.

Idiot, Sky-walker's right in front of you.

"Sure, but you're gonna have to wait until she becomes a legitimate hero," Fuyuki whispered as a smile tugged on her lips.

Sky-walker.

Hero.

Maybe she could turn that thought into reality.

Sky-walker. If you really think about it, it has a nice ring to it.

"Oh and sissy..."

"Yes?"

"Happy Birthday," Sachiko whispered back in her ears. And what do you know? She just got her very own hero name as a present.

When night came and everyone had fallen asleep, she dug out the card that a certain detective had given her from that day. She took out her phone and with a smile, she sent a message.

To Detective Tsukauchi:

"I'm going to become a hero!"