Harumi walked in the front door of her family house, just in time to eat dinner judging from the smell of rice and stewed cabbage. She walked into the kitchen and saw her sister sitting at the table. She was munching on some rice caught between chopsticks. She was having a late meal after work. "Good evening, Harumi," she said in her usual peremptory tone. "Hi, sis," said Harumi, gulping nervously. "I made dinner, do you want some?" "No thanks," replied Harumi, before rushing to her room and not looking her sister in the eyes.
Harumi immediately pulled out her laptop and dove onto the net with her earbuds in, looking up the subjects she was interested in. She googled lesbians and lesbians in Japan. A lot of the news was bad, which made her mood turn dark. Her weird sister was driving her crazy. Matsuri was driving her crazy. Yuzu, Nene and all of them, everybody. It was like the entire world was crazy.
She felt exhausted and threw her ear buds away from her. Gay marriage wasn't legal in Japan and you would basically become a second-class citizen your whole life. She felt sorry for her sister. Just then there was a knock on the door, flashing quickly and rapidly. "Can I open the door?" asked her sister in a muffled voice. "Yes, of course," responded Harumi, feeling more embarrassed than ever and dreading what might be about to go down. Her sister had always got her way when they were growing up, and now it was like Mitsuko she was vulnerable to Harumi. She felt uncomfortable about the change.
"Thanks for putting away my gym mat this morning, I know I rushed off fast to get to work. I always forget. You weren't late to school, were you?" Her sister cast a glance over the things in her sister's room, finding nothing of note except a few messy manga and school papers. Her eyes stopped at the picture of her and Yuzu from a photo booth when they were both dressed as gyarus. Harumi knew her sister disliked gyaru fashion.
"Do you and Yuzu still hang out? I don't see her here as often these days," Mitsuko had an air of concern there. "She doesn't come over as much, but it's not because we're fighting or anything," she blushed, "Personal stuff," Harumi looked down and blushed a bit. "Oh," replied Mistuko, "I didn't mean to be nosy. You're just such good friends." "Yeah…" Harumi's focus wandered off.
"Ahem, well, I hope when you were looking through my room you didn't find anything of especial interest," Mitsuko said into her fist, eyes shut, clearly alluding to something or nothing. Harumi's eyes grew big, "Like a, uh…," Mitusko blushed deep scarlet, "I just want you to know that you shouldn't take anything out of context." She looked over Harumi's room again, feeling uncomfortable in a room she barely visited. With an ache of bravery, she walked in and closed the door. "You saw the letter, didn't you?" With a flash as the worst thing she'd imagined all day happened. "Please don't tell mom and dad, okay?" she asked desperately, hoping her sister wouldn't rat on her. "No, I would never!" blurted out Harumi. "Because you know, that's a personal matter, and it wouldn't be good to tell tales out of school unless things were settled or serious, and I decided to do it myself," Harumi felt very bad for putting her sister in this spot, "I would NEVER say anything about anything with Kayo—" this time her sister looked up with stunned eyes, this had confirmed it. "Yeah, just," she had a sad look and hung to a dresser, "please keep it to yourself, alright?" Harumi nodded, feeling so bad about putting her sister in this position and making her so uncomfortable. Her sister was a deep shade of crimson throughout her body, seeming unbalanced. She wanted to let her know it was alright. "Don't worry, Mitsuko, we're both girls… I wouldn't tattle on your private affairs any more than you would mine. There's a trust between us."
"No, of course you wouldn't, little sister." With the last of her strength, Mitsuko nodded at Harumi, smiling the best she could.
With that, Mitsuko opened the door to walk out. Just then Harumi thought of something, "Um, Mitsuko…" Her sister paused for a second in mid step, "Have you always… or is this the first time or a one-time thing?" Her sister simply grimaced at her, "Good night."
"Good night," Harumi whelped. She might have gone too far with that question, but she was feeling confused by her sister's actions and had worried about it all day. She was hoping for clarity about the situation but wasn't going to get it. She silently pouted and then felt curious again.
She plugged in her ear buds and kept googling. There were lots of naughty pictures between girls. Nude pictures and normal pictures of two girls hugging. She shrugged at the usual internet stuff, the porn and whatnot. She thought of Yuzu now, "Yuzu…," she breathed out loud. Again, she felt so sorry for her, not knowing why she thought of her in that moment. They had always teased each other a bit in their friendship, hugging and other shenanigans, but had never considered being more than friends.
She felt confused.
She had looked up to her sister since forever. And now the dominating, intelligent woman she always thought she knew had proved to be…? She pondered where she might have missed something and realized she would have to get up early tomorrow. She got ready for bed, putting on her PJs and brushing her teeth. She stowed herself under her covers with a huff. 'The world is crazy', she thought. Girls with girls, 'I suppose at an all girls' school, it could happen'. She just didn't expect it to happen to her sister of all people.
Why didn't she just go and find a guy and settle down? She would probably have arranged partner meetings soon set up by their parents. Couldn't she find a crush at work or something?
"Stupid… it's so stupid," she mumbled. Yuzu, and now Mitsuko, and even Matsuri were all acting so strange. She yearned for the good old days, she felt out of place. Maybe she would even have to start looking at Matsuri in a separate way, tightening her defenses. But she was just a friend, she thought to herself, what harm could come from that little pink haired girl?
Lots.
She turned over under her covers. Pointless to target somebody else for Mitsuko's rash actions with Kayo.
"Rascal," she said, shoving her face into her pillow and kicking her feet into the bed. "Dirty rascal." She dreamed of all the things Matsuri had always done to get her attention covertly. But there was a sister, motherly bond between them. She could always sense Matsuri's loneliness.
She faded off into a troubled sleep and dreamed of pink bubble gum and hair, nose bleeds, and stupid annoying friends. They were underclassmen, but they were still her friends. Yuzu always waited for the darker times at night, until her sleep could grow fretful. What was she doing? Harumi yearned for her original friend, and the confident person she used to be. In her subconscious of subconsciousness, she hoped against hope that it didn't have anything to do with Mei.
