"Why is this happening to me?" Yuma cried out. He began to pace back and forth in the small area he had in the attic. "First I somehow get the female lead in this play and now I'm gay! Great, just great."
Astral floated nearby and observed the boy. "Yuma, I do not see the reason of your stress. You just said that the events in your life were 'great, just great'."
Yuma rolled his eyes at Astral. "It's called sarcasm, Astral."
"I see," Astral said. "But still, even with understanding the last sentence of your previous statement was a lie, I cannot see the problem. I do understand that a teenage male doesn't enjoying acting as a female, though adult males may act as females in various plays and movies. It is the complaint of your newfound homosexuality I am not quite grasping."
Yuma dropped to the floor out of mental exhaustion. "I haven't even told Akari that I'm the female lead. I can't tell her I'm gay too!"
Astral raised an eyebrow toward Yuma. "Is there something wrong with informing your sister of your sexual orientation? Is it one of those human ways that causes them to die, like seeing them as they dispose of their waste?"
"It's not that. It's just… it's just I don't know how Akari will react to all of this. I mean, she'll probably get mad at the school for giving me the girl's part or she might just laugh at me. But it's the other thing," Yuma told Astral.
"Is your sister against homosexuality?" Astral asked.
Yuma scratched the back of his head. He had no idea on his sister's views on sexual orientation, nor did he care until now.
Yuma thought about avoiding the whole "I'm gay" thing until later. He already knew the first conclusion Akari would think of was that he had a boyfriend. Yuma didn't need to explain that until there was actually a boyfriend in the picture. Still, there was the issue of his part in the play.
"How am I going to tell her about my part in the play?" Yuma thought aloud. The boy snapped his fingers as he thought of a solution. "Hey Astral, you wouldn't mind acting like Akari so I can practice telling her about playing the girl's lead in the play?"
Astral looked down at Yuma. "I suppose it would be fine. However, I cannot predict the reaction that your sister will have."
"That's fine. I just need to say it out loud to someone," Yuma told the spirit. "Okay, I think I'm ready." Yuma cleared his throat and began to explain the situation. "Um, hey, Nee-chan. The cast list for the play came out the other day."
Yuma stopped and looked at Astral. The boy leaned in a bit as if he was waiting for something. Astral gave Yuma a small look of confusion, not understanding what the boy wanted.
"Astral, you're supposed to act like Akari and ask what part I got," Yuma complained. "Come on, give me something to work here with. I mean, you are basically an emotionless spirit with a bunch of useless knowledge I don't listen to, but you've got to give me something here!"
"Yuma, I had already informed you that I cannot predict your sister's reactions. That also includes responses and movements," Astral explained.
Yuma sighed and put his hands on his hips. "You're killing me Astral."
"Yuma! Don't die! What do I need to do to save you?" Astral asked with panic.
Yuma rolled his eyes. "It's an expression. You need to get out more."
Astral folded his arms. "You're blaming me for not coming out enough? Aren't you the one who needs to come out of the closet?"
The sound of Yuma falling on the ground rang throughout the attic. "So you understand that phrase, huh?" Yuma pushed himself off of the ground and sighed. "Fine, I'll just talk to myself like a crazy person since you're not going to be any help."
Yuma cleared his throat again. "Hey, Nee-chan, the cast for our school play was announced the other day and you see-"
"Hey Yuma, are you okay? I heard something loud come from up here."
"-I'm going to play the female lead in the play."
Yuma and Akari blinked at each other. Of all the times Akari could chose to come up and check on Yuma it had to be now. She never came up when he fell off of his hammock almost every morning, or when he was literally yelling at Astral as he tried to explain some random thing about Earth. Oh no, it had to be now when he was planning his confession about the play.
"Yuma, are you serious?" Akari asked.
The boy contemplated on saying no, but Akari had already heard him. "Y-yes. Would you like to see my wig?"
Akari entered the attic and hugged her brother. "You're going to look so cute! What does your wig look like? I bet you're going to look just like mom with that on! None of the boys better mistake you as a cute girl with that on."
Yuma gave a half-heart chuckle. He had no idea what just happened, but Akari seemed to be taking the whole "I'm the female lead in the play" thing very well.
"I wonder how she'd react if I told her I was also gay right now," Yuma said aloud.
"Yuma, you're sister is still in the room," Astral reminded him.
Yuma's eyes went wide. He slowly turned toward his sister, who was also wide-eyed in shock.
"Is there anything else you'd like to tell me?" Akari said. It was better to get all of her reactions out at once instead of one at a time.
Yuma contemplated on telling her about Astral, but she's somehow make a story out of that. "No, there's nothing else I'm going to say."
"Okay then," Akari said. She quietly left the attic and closed the door. Yuma could hear her shouting as soon as the door closed. "You were right Baa-chan! You win the bet!"
"You two had a bet about me being gay?!"
*.*.*.
A/N: This was a fun chapter to write. I think I captured Yuma's and Astral personalities pretty well. I haven't had the chance to write Astral. How do you guys think I did?
I hope you all enjoyed!