"Mutsumi. Are you awake?" A voice said in the night. It was whispered, just barely audible over the breathing of the other people sleeping on the futons on the floor.
"How'd you know, Itsuki?" She replied, pulling herself up to sit. Turning to her side, she was met with Itsuki who just lied in bed with her eyes wide open. "What's on your mind?" Itsuki turned to the side, pushing herself up with one arm.
"We don't have a lot of time left. The exams are only three days away." Itsuki said, looking at her sister. "And Nino and I aren't the only ones causing trouble."
"...You're right. But if you know this, why are you still making things difficult?" Mutsumi stood, taking quiet steps as she explored the room. "Both you and Nino are so stubborn."
"I do wish to avoid being difficult, but Nino has to learn from this. I apologize for being like this, but..."
"You really are starting to sound like mom." Mutsumi knelt down beside her sister. "Do you have anything else to say before we go back to sleep."
"I think Uesugi-kun will be able to convince Nino to come home. But both of your attention has been focused on us so much, Yotsuba may be a problem." Itsuki lied back down, getting herself comfortable. "Perhaps, even if this is selfish of me, you should leave and focus on her."
"Focus on Yotsuba and leave you two to Fuutarou-san." Mutsumi took a deep breath, thinking things through slightly slower due to her tiredness. "Just...make sure you two come home soon. It just doesn't feel the same without you."
With those words, Mutsumi fixed her belongings and saw to it that her sister slept soundly. With one last glance at the slumbering party, she left the building and locked the door behind her. She chuckled to herself, realizing that she'll have some sleeping problems for a few nights. Pressing a few buttons on a console on the side, she spoke and waited.
"Miku, did you manage to find out where she went?" Waving to her sister, Mutsumi smiled wide. Her face concealed by the dark of night and a new layer of makeup.
"It's so late. Let's go in. Yeah, I found out." The two enter the apartment, Miku going directly into her room. "Goodnight."
"Yeah, goodnight." Mutsumi said quietly, walking up and stopping before Ichika's door. "She drank it." With a quizzical smile forming from her mouth, she entered her room and bedded down for the night.
"Oh! You're back." A voice said from beside her bed, a figure huddled up and covered by the shadow of the frame. "Mutsumi-chan. I was starting to get worried, since it took you so long to come home." She stood up, taking the side of the bed and laying beside her sister.
"How long have you been waiting in my room?" Mutsumi chuckled, turning over and tucking herself into bed.
"Does it matter?"
"Why are you here in the first place?"
"You said you were lonely, right?" She made herself comfortable, messing up Mutsumi's hair with a hand. "Well, you don't have to be lonely anymore. Your onee-chan is here." She turned Mutsumi's face to meet hers, finding her eyes half closed.
"Ichika-nee." Those were the last words she said before sleep took her once more. Without opening her eyes, she knew her sister's arm wrapped around her, pulling her into an embrace as they slept that night in relative peace.
Mutsumi shot up out of bed the next morning, pulling the sheets off of her sister who shivered to the sudden change in temperature. "Right...Yotsuba..." She quickly got dressed for school, talking loudly to wake her sister. "Has anything happened here while I was gone?"
"Yotsuba got a text from the track team." Ichika sat up, putting on her shirt that had somehow come off in the night. "Good morning."
"Good morning. Let's get ready, we don't have much time." Mutsumi said, putting in her clips and a pair of arm sleeves. "You, Miku and I; we're going to get Yotsuba to quit the track team."
"What about Nino and Itsuki?" Ichika finally got up from the bed, heading towards the door. The eldest sister watched as the youngest put on a new coat of makeup. She saw her sickly skin last night and again here, but decided that it wasn't the time.
"Fuutarou-san has our back. We have to trust him." Mutsumi, not noticing that Ichika knew her secret, said with confidence. "I think he's gonna pull through." She added before a thought crossed her mind and she looked through her drawers of materials.
"Mutsumi-chan." Ichika smiled, opening the door to go to her room. "You've changed."
"So have you." Giving her sister a wink, Mutsumi made a last minute gadget to help her plan.
"We're heading to our room early." Ichika said as the sisters arrived at school, Miku stood by her side while Yotsuba and Mutsumi stayed behind them.
"Yotsuba, can I talk to you for a minute." Mutsumi called out, pulling her hand out of her pocket to touch her sister's shoulder. "There's something on my mind."
The two younger sisters walked towards the school cafeteria, knowing it would be somewhat silent before classes start. The early day light filling the room as the silence causes the air to still. Their hairs prickle with unease due to the reverberating of their footsteps. Mutsumi breathed heavily, looking at her sister and fidgeting with her fingers. Brushing her hair back, she sat down at a table; Yotsuba sitting across from her.
"What did you want to talk about? Is it about the track team?" The ribbon wearer asked, the accessory flopping about.
"Yeah. Yotsuba, do you really think you can do both? I heard you got a text from the team last night, do you know what they want?"
"Not yet, we're having a meeting in a few minutes." Yotsuba crossed her arms, messing up her uniform in the process. "I can't quit, they're counting on me."
"Yotsuba, don't try to take on too much." Mutsumi reached over to touch her sister, fixing her ribbon and straightening her uniform.
"It's not too much. I'm fine." Yotsuba gently pushed her sister's arms away, dusting off her track jacket. She stood up, turning to walk towards the field.
"If...if something comes up, please don't do anything stupid." Mutsumi stood up, heading for her classroom. She waited for the bell, seeing Fuutarou and Itsuki enter looking exhausted.
"Mutsumi, where were you? Weren't you going to try to get Yotsuba to quit?" Itsuki asked, taking her seat. Mutsumi pulled out her phone, opening an app and playing an audio file.
"It's not good to push yourself too hard. Please take a break already. I'm doing just fine." Yotsuba's voice came out of the device's speakers.
"Honestly, she's such a hypocrite." Mutsumi chuckled as Fuutarou panted in his seat. "Wait, I'm getting something." She blurted out, tapping on the screen; getting Fuutarou and Itsuki's full attention.
"...We'll be having a training camp this weekend." Track captain Eba's voice came out. The three quickly glanced at each other, concerned with this new information. Mutsumi kept the audio in the background, but the three tuned it out.
"What should we do?" Fuutarou asked, wiping sweat from his brow. The boy's button up was soaked, his energy reserves running on empty and his brain not getting enough oxygen. He was unusually slow to think because of this.
"We wait, watch for a chance." Mutsumi calmed herself, closing her eyes to visualize her sister's reaction. "Trying to dissuade her won't work, I just tried it this morning."
"If she won't listen to me, or you, then who do you think she'll listen to." Fuutarou asked. "Someone persuasive and sneaky."
"I...I think I have the perfect person." Mutsumi clapped, smirking as the teens focused on class.
Mutsumi arrived home first, with Yotsuba being with the track team and Miku and Ichika doing a certain job she asked them to do; she had hours to herself and was eager to use them. Entering her room, she quickly pulled out everything she required for her next build. Small reflective metal plates, hinges, some adhesives. Pulling out her phone, she sent Miku a text, getting a response after a few seconds. A few searches and drawings later, she headed out to get something made for her, coming back just as Ichika leaves the bathroom.
"Is it done?" Mutsumi asked, earning a small frown from the elder sister. The younger sister pulled out a pitcher from the fridge, pouring both of them a glass of the drink inside.
"She's so stubborn. I hope Fuutarou-kun has a plan." The two ends of the age spectrum sat as the fourth sister entered her room.
"They're all here, they might leave soon." Mutsumi pointed at the track team below them. "Any word from Miku?"
"Nothing yet. I wonder what's happening with Nino." Itsuki replied as Ichika's phone rang. The eldest sister was surprised, causing the others to turn their eyes towards her and away from the team.
"What's going on? Miku?" Ichika asked, her voiced panicky.
"Ichika, go to them. We'll take care of things here. Bring Miku back as soon as you can." Fuutarou said, letting the eldest run off towards the hotel. "Yotsuba won't refuse them, so one of you will have to do it in her place."
"Substitution. I see what you're putting down. That's why you wanted Miku here." Mutsumi smirked. "Can I mimic Yotsuba? Energy, think of being high off of caffeine. Come on, you can do this. She's your sister, you should be able to copy her." Mutsumi silently worried as she pointed at the team that was slowly walking away. "We don't have time to wait for them. Miku won't make it in time."
"We need to do something before they reach the station. I ain't letting Yotsuba waste her precious Saturday on club activities she doesn't even want to be a part of!" Fuutarou started following behind the group, the girls behind him.
"What are we going to do?" Itsuki asked. Fuutarou turned to face the two sisters. His energy returned and his brain is firing on all cylinders. Already thinking of the next step needed for the plan. Mutsumi put her hand to her mouth, noticing that some of her makeup was getting thin.
"I guess now is the time to find out." Mutsumi resigned herself, holding out a hand as Fuutarou pulled out a ribbon. "It's now or never." Tying up her hair, she stretched and locked eyes with Fuutarou. "Find a way to get her away from the team."
"On it." Fuutarou began to think, their group following a few paces behind the athletes. The tension rising made Mutsumi sweat, her hands trembling slightly and her knees getting weak. Her breathing became hasty, her vision doubling as she swayed side to side. Clutching her hands and biting her lip, she cursed her health; begging for it to last a bit longer. Her finger rubbed her eyes, hanging on the bags that ringed them.
A/N: Slightly shorter one this time. A few last minute ideas managed to pop up that I think would make sense.