"Big sister! No!" Hikage gasped as her big sister came home with bags. Many bags. Full of boxes wrapped in paper, and a huge pile of Blu-ray cases.
"Sorry, but I couldn't resist. I was waiting for the Blu-ray of this anime for a long time and all these figures were 10 percent off and … well, I invested some of our money. I just had to", Hinata explained.
"Invested? Invested! More like wasted! How much was it?"
"Oh, a just a ten yen. To a power of six."
Hikage's mouth was left open as she tried to comprehend what her purple-haired sister had just said.
"That's … that's."
"Just a million … -ish yen. I know it sounds a lot –"
"Return all of that! Now!"
"But I'd lose all the store points I got! A huge number of points! Besides, they said no returns."
Hikage had to sit down because she was feeling dizzy. Hinata sat down at the other side of the table and started opening the wrappings. The figurines were indeed beautiful, and obviously very expensive. Even Hikage might have liked to look at them – through the plastic, of course, since they were collectables which wouldn't even be opened – but not in this situation.
"You spent over three month's budget", Hinata finally stated.
"Oh, don't worry, I thought of that and paid the rent for the next three months in advance."
"At least we still have a home, then."
A moment of silence followed, until Hinata realized something.
"Wait a minute! How did you do that?" Hinata yelled.
"I had to take a payday loan. Don't worry, I can pay it back with my next two paychecks. I even calculated it this time!" her sister said proudly. "I'm getting better at economics, aren't I?"
"Sure. There's just one little problem."
"Is there? What is it?"
"You spent three month's budget, and three months of your paychecks in advance."
"Yes?"
"We don't have any money for food for over three months."
"Oh."
Frantically, Hinata ran to the kitchen and went through the cupboards and fridge.
"We have rice for two days. One can of beans. A rather black banana you had forgotten in the lowest block of the fridge. Some tea and mugicha, two pounds of salt, a handful of sugar, soy sauce, an empty bottle of mirin, and about six little packages of duck fat from instant noodle bags since neither of us like duck fat", Hinata explained. "And we ate the last eggs this morning."
"So we have food for two days, great. What else will we eat?" her ditzy sister asked, still not quite comprehending the situation.
"Nothing. We don't have anything to eat. And only water from the tap to drink."
"Oh … oh! But that means ... we will starve!" Hikage yelled.
"That's what I've been trying to tell you!"
In panic, the big sister ran around the apartment, trying to find something else. While flailing about and banging the doors, she also accidentally swept a large glass jar from the table to the floor. That was the jar that contained all their rice. It was now on the dirty floor, and mixed with thousands of tiny shards of glass.
Silently, Higake watched it and her stomach made a huge rumble.
"Sorry! Maybe, if we sweep that into a sieve and … umm … err …"
"I don't know. And even if we can salvage that rice, we still don't have any food for almost 16 weeks. That is about 112 days."
"But humans can survive a long time without food", Hinata said, not quite as cheerfully as before.
Hinata took out her cell phone. "Can we pay the electricity bill, by the way? And cell phone fees?"
"Um, no. I didn't think of that. But the electricity is billed only once in three months!"
The little sister did some research on the internet. "Without any food, humans usually die in around 2 months. Someone has survived 382 days. Lean people die quicker."
Hinata was somewhat plump, but Hikage was anything but that. She was already very thin.
"When did we get the last electricity bill, by the way?"
"Oh, about three months ago."
Day 3That had been a Friday, so Hikage came to school after a weekend, during which she had eaten a morsel or rice, half of a very ripe banana – to their surprise, it had been very sweet and tasty – and half a can of beans. They rationed the sugar and drank a glass of sweetened water each day. Needless to say, Hikage was now extremely hungry.
The hunger pain and dizziness made her have difficulty following the lessons. Lunch hour was hell, because she wasn't on the school lunch roll, and was supposed to bring her own lunch. Fortunately, this made easier to hide the fact that she didn't have anything to eat from all of her friends, classmates and teachers. She just filled her water bottle at the fountain. It would be a huge shame if others found out that they were penniless and starving.
And if her friends found out … Hikage shivered at the thought. Oh, they would certainly feed her, help her in every way, and offer her money. And pity. That would have been the worst. She'd rather die than get caught!
She managed through the first day and waited for big sister at home, doing her homework.
"I'm starving!" was the first thing Hinata said as she came in.
Hikage tried to hold back her anger and simply followed Hinata to the kitchen.
"So what do we have left?" she asked.
"Mixed rice and glass. I think we have to throw it away. Two teaspoons of sugar. Tea and mugicha, salt, soy sauce, and the duck fat", Hikage said, gritting her teeth.
"Mugicha is barley, isn't it?" Hinata asked.
"Yes, roasted whole barley. What are you thinking?"
"If we boil it, it's like barley porridge, isn't it? I'm a genius!"
Hikage had serious doubts about this, but since they didn't really have anything else, they put the cup of mugicha in water and boiled it. It took three hours before it softened at all. They couldn't bear the hunger anymore and divided the "porridge" into two bowls.
While it is said, that "hunger is the best sauce in the world", this dirty brown sludge tasted absolutely revolting. Hikage forced herself to eat, but Hinata, after two spoonfuls, put the rest into the fridge, saying that she'd eat it later.
What they didn't remember that brewed mugicha is a laxative. When actually eaten, it was explosive. It didn't take long Hikage had to dash into the toilet and let out the vilest, smelliest and most violent diarrhea she had ever experienced. She had to bite her lip to avoid screaming in pain.
Exhausted, she crawled out and found Hinata outside the door in a fetal position. She had not been able to hold out, and had made a huge mess of herself and the hallway. Hikage cleaned her big sister and the floor, while making two more runs into the toilet in between. That evening both were utterly exhausted and even hungrier than before.
Day 4Against all odds, Hikage had made it to the school, and big sister to her work. Hikage was lapsing in and out of consciousness while sitting down. One or two teachers reprimanded her for sleeping in class. Slowly, the pain in her stomach subsided, or rather changed – from the gut-wrenching one to the familiar dull ache of hunger.
Her friends noted that she looked quite pale, but she claimed that she was fine and she just had eaten something that didn't agree with her. Which was true, in a way. That was also a good excuse to skip lunch today.
She had organizer duties that day. Another good excuse to not leave school with her friends – she simply said she had a few more things to do. A teacher had discarded a used board sponge earlier today, and Hikage took it from the bin. She'd never steal anything but this was just trash so she reasoned that it was okay.
When she got to home, Hinata was already there, lying on the floor.
"Hi, Hikage. The pain is gone. I'm just very, very tired", she said weakly.
"I brought something. I don't know if it's any good, but let's try it."
"You got something to eat?" Hinata yelled and jumped up. And fell back down, since her blood pressure was low due to hunger. Fortunately it was their tatami room and she fell on the soft mat, her head just barely missing the low wooden table.
"Watch out! Don't get up too quickly. I've also been dizzy all day. Anyway, this is what I got", Hikage explained and placed the sponge on the table.
"It's a board sponge", Hinata said, disappointed.
"But sponge is like a mushroom, it just lives in the sea", Hikage insisted. "So we can cook it."
Hinata dragged herself to the table and picked up the square shaped soft thing, dirty from dried board ink. "Not this one. I think real sponges haven't been used for a long time. This is made of plastic."
Hikage took the sponge, ripped a piece off of it and put it into her mouth.
"I don't think that's healthy", Hinata muttered, but was too weak to stop her little sister.
Hikage tried to chew the thing, but it didn't break up, so she just swallowed it.
"Was it good?"
"No, it tasted horrible."
Hikage threw the rest into the trash.
Afterwards she wasn't sure what happened to the piece she had swallowed. She didn't have to poop at all after that evening.
Days 5 to 34Everything edible was now gone from their home. Since it was winter, there weren't even any green plants they could collect from the yard.
The hunger pains were gone. Unbeknownst to them, they were now in ketosis. That means their bodies were consuming its energy stores, first carbohydrates and fats. It affected their moods; they had not felt at all happy or cheerful for days.
Both were still able to do their daily chores. Hikage went to school, and Hinata to her work, respectively. Somehow Hikage was able to hide her rapid weight loss. She masked her sinking cheeks with some clever make-up.
At the morning of the 16th day, Hikage was feeling very apathetic. She crawled out of bed at sat in front of the television, watching whatever was on, but not really listening or even trying to understand it.
"What are you doing, still sitting there? Where's your uniform? You'll be late!" Hinata yelled at her.
"Shut up", Hikage grunted without even looking at her sister.
"How dare you! I work my butt off every day to provide for you and this is how you pay me back?"
What big sister was saying was so mean and unfair that Hikage burst into tears. "It's your fault we don't have any food! You used all the money!" she cried.
Hinata was silent for a moment and her tone had changed a lot when she spoke again.
"Okay then … it's Friday anyway. You can skip school this time. We'll talk when I get back."
The school didn't call that day.
That day both of their cell phones went offline. Only emergency number could have been called.
Hinata found Hikage still sitting at the same place.
"My cell phone stopped working", Hikage said.
"Mine too. Must be the phone bills I didn't pay."
Hinata tried to hang her coat onto a hook but it slipped down onto the floor. She didn't bother to pick it up. She realized she smelled bad. In fact, the apartment smelled bad. They hadn't been able to clean it.
"Maybe we should take a bath?" big sister suggested.
"Oh. A bath. I had forgotten about the bath. When was the last time?" Hikage pondered.
Day 35Hikage woke up from the floor, grabbed the water bottle and drank. The water was rather warm and stale. She noticed her feet and stomach were swollen. Especially her tummy.
"Hinata, what is this … look at me!"
Hinata, lying almost face down on the tatami, opened her eyes. "Oh, what a big tummy. Are you pregnant?"
"I'm 9 years old, sis! Of course I'm not pregnant!"
"Ah, indeed. Just a moment, I think … I read a book about starvation at work … that's kwashiorkor."
"Kwasiwhat?" Hikage blurted.
"Kwashiorkor. Children who do not get enough protein. Their feet and stomach might swell up. I studied starvation a bit from the internet."
"What can we do?"
"Well, nothing at the moment. We can't order any protein from the store since the cell phones are out."
"We wouldn't have any money to order anything with! Besides … have you been to work lately?"
"No, I don't think so. What day is it?"
The electricity had not yet been cut, so using the television they found out it was the 35th day of their involuntary fasting. Hinata had gotten up to find the remote and dragged herself into the kitchen to fill up their both water bottles. She had no energy to walk much further than that. If she got any weaker, she would have to crawl.
"Less than a hundred days to go, then", Hinata said, pretending to be cheerful.
"We are dying", Hikage groaned.
"I've been thinking. There's a lot of protein for you in here."
"Where?"
"In me, dummy. Eat my legs first. I try to stay alive and fresh so you can keep eating me and survive to the end!"
"Stupid big sis."
"What? Isn't that a good idea?"
"Remember that you stopped working. You are not even earning any money, and you can never pay those loans and buy any food. There's not a less than a hundred days remaining, but infinite days without food. They'll soon cut the power and water as well", Hikage explained.
"Oh, I didn't realize."
"Also, I couldn't eat your dirty legs. And there's not much meat left anyway."
Weakly, Hinata raised her legs and looked at them. They were really thin indeed and there weren't much of anything but skin and bone remaining.
"My buttocks, perhaps? I can feel they still have some muscle left."
"I can't eat any part of you!" Hikage sighed. "I couldn't."
Unknown DayHinata was able to open her eyes and saw that Hikage's eyes were open, unmoving and glossed over. She wasn't breathing. It was probably not a hallucination this time. Hikage was dead.
She felt her own heartbeat growing weak. Her body was consuming every muscle, including the heart.
Then it stopped.