Next day I woke up and waited for the baby sitter while Hotaru sat on her baby chair. She was eating bread. Recently she had developed a taste for plain bread.

"Let's see...bagels!" I grabbed one and threw it in the toaster, literally. Then I sat down to do eeny meeny miney moe with Hotaru between raspberry jam and strawberry cream cheese for my bagel. Cream cheese won and Hotrau clapped while I finished my breakfast in big bites. Suddenly I had this flash back. I wasn't with Hotaru anymore I was in my old kitchen. The wallpaper was old and had vegetable pictures on it. Dad hated it. Sina was sitting on the table.

"Hayuka?"

"Hmmm?" I asked through a mouthful of egg.

"Which one? Raspberry or strawberry?" My 4-year-old sister asked me frowning in concentration.

"Eenhy Meenhy minhy moeh..." I started with my mouth still full.

"Haruka!" Mom scolded so I finished my egg first, the one in my mouth anyway. Then I did the eeny meeny miny moe with Sina.

"Strawberry won!" Sina clapped, "Thanks Hayuka!" Suddenly I was back when the bell rang. I could feel tears stinging the back of my eyes.

"That must be the baby sitter!" I said and went to open the door.

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Whatever I had expected it wasn't the blond opening the door with her teal eyes shining with tears.

"Oh hi there." She started giving me a forced smile. "If I stay another minute I will be late so I have to go. Hotaru is in the kitchen having breakfast." Then she was gone.

"Uh..." I watched her drive away in her car. I thought I saw tears sliding down her cheek but it must have been just the play of the morning light. I went in to find Hotaru. She was on her baby chair and when she saw me she smiled. I looked around the kitchen. The toaster had crumbs all around it. There was a jar of raspberry jam sitting on the table and a jar of starwberry cream cheese sitting opened with a butter knife potruding from it. Dirty dishes in the sink and Hotaru was a mess with breadcrumbs down her shirt. Sighing I started to work.

When I had cleaned the whole house and when Hotaru was having an afternoon nap I decided to look around. I went around looking in the rooms upstairs. There were two more rooms beside Hotaru's. I guessed one was Haruka's. Whose was the other one? A study possibly.

Gingerly I entered and I suddenly felt I had entered a teenage girl's room. Posters of idols adorned the wall. Under the posters you could see the pink hearts wallpaper, as if a girl had suddenly grown up from a kid to adult.

I walked to the dressing table. There were many things there but mostly pictures and makeup. I picked up a picture. It was the same girl with brown hair and braces and teal eyes that I had seen before in the family picture with Haruka. In the picture Haruka looked as if she was teaching the girl how to play baseball. They were grinnig at each other, each adoring the other. They reminded me of Kuchiri. I suddenly put the picture down and picked up another one. It was the brown haired girl with her parents. Another picture showed the brown haired girl with her arms around two other girls, possibly friends.

I looked around more. Somehow I didn't care if I was looking in private things. I had full right to know who lived here. Opening a drawer I found a stack of small books. One of them said in messy writing "My Diary 1" and the other, with improving writing, were going from "My Diary 2" to "My Diary 6". I picked up the first one. Opening it I saw a picture of a brown haired baby with a blond kid. The blond kid, Haruka, had her arm draped around the little baby. Despite myself I smiled. I turned onto the next page.

"This Diary blongs to Tenou Sina and no one can open it without my parmition!" I smiled yet again at the signs of a girl learning how to spell. I put it back into the drawer and went to the bed. It was very soft and on it there was a dress layed out, as if the girl was gonna come back and wear it. I ran my hand over the soft dress. It was silky and coppery in colour with a lowneck. There were light flowery patterns all over it, which made it look sophisticated.

I moved along to the closet and opened. An assortment of clothes was all over. There was a lingering scent of jasmine to them. On top was a lonely dusty shoebox. I lifted it out and looked inside. There was a very old baseball hat and glove in there. The glove had the words "To Sina. Happy Birthday! From Haruka" written on it. I felt a fist constrict my heart. This room reminded me of Kuchiri and me so I left quieckly carefully putting everything the way it was. Then I went downstairs vowing never to come back up here again.

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When I got to my office I closed the door behind me and reached into my wallet to take out a picture. I looked at the beautiful face of my sister and felt fresh tears come to me. I missed her so much. The crash had happened right before her first highschool dance and her dress was still layed out in her room. I cried for a while looking at the familiar teal eyes. Then I put the picture away knowing I had to move on with the day.