1

In my family we're only four people. I say "only" since mom's no longer here with us. Dad is the one who has to take care of us three, the Amamiya girls: Rika, the oldest, Misaki, the youngest, and me in the middle, Sakura.

We call ourselves the Amamiya girls since that was our mom's maiden name, and she said she would always, always be an Amamiya girl, so Rika said it was obvious we must be one too, and thus it was set.

Mom's dead simply happened. One morning she was cleaning the house, mopping the floors, when she accidentally slipped and her head hit the kitchen countertop. She passed out, and woke up a little later, as if nothing had happened. That afternoon, when Rika and I came back from school, mom said she was feeling dizzy, and lied down on the sofa. She didn't wake up. Rika was the one who found her when she walked downstairs towards the kitchen, to grab a glass of water. She was the one that took charge of calling dad, the ambulance, and made me take care of Misaki. And yes, that's all I did, take care of Misaki; I sat next to her in my bedroom floor, as Rika explained dad and the paramedics what had happened.

Since then, Rika is the one that takes care of us. And I say "us" because that counts dad. She's the one that assigns us our weekly house chores, and she's the one that writes the grocery shopping list, in order for dad to not forget anything. She's the one that cooks breakfast and our lunches for school… I have no idea what would be of us if it wasn't for her.

That's why it hurt us all when Rika announced she was studying college outside of Tokyo area. We kind of knew it, since Rika has always been like that: she loves to travel, adventures, and living new experiences. That's why she's studying Anthropology. Still, knowing my sister will leave, not only Tomoeda, but Japan, it was and still is something hard to process.

But it was even harder for Eriol.

Eriol is Rika's boyfriend; he moved next door five years ago, although sometimes it feels as if he had always lived here. We met him during an afternoon we were playing Barbies at our front yard. Eriol stopped his bike, and looked at us for a while. I kept on playing as if nothing had happened, but Rika froze, as if she was embarassed, an Misaki looked at him, frowning because the sun was hitting her right in the face. Then, Misaki asked "you want to play?" to which Eriol replied "Yes." And that's how Eriol became inseparable to the Kinomoto household.

It's a little bit late; I'm at the kitchen, baking cookies. I have this thing when every time I get nervous, I bake. With Rika's departure so close (just two weeks away) I'm feeling quite anxious. So here I am, sitting in front of the countertop, rolling cookie dough in my cinnamon and sugar mix, when I see Rika walk in.

She takes her laptop out of her backpack, and sits by my side, turning it on. And we stay like that, for about ten minutes, until Rika (still looking at the screen), says in such a casual tone:

"I've broken up with Eriol."

A portion of cookie dough slips down my fingers and falls flat in the cinnamon sugar mixture, as I look at my older sister, unable to process what she had just said.

"Why did you break up with him?" I ask, stuttering. "Is it because you're leaving to Europe?"

Rika shrugs.

"I guess so."

"Leaving the country should not be a reason for you two to keep loving each other." I hurry to reply. "Long distance relationships are quite common these days. You can always text, call, video call, or even send each other letter, as in the old times…"

"Stop it, Sakura." Rika shushes me instantly. "It's going to be a distance of about nine thousand kilometers, and with a time zone difference of eight hours. That means, when he's free in the afternoon after going to school, I'll be ready to go to bed. And when I have the afternoons free, he'll be waking up to go to school. It's not worth it." She ends.

"He wouldn't mind." I insist. "Eriol loves you more than anyone or anything in this world. You're both made for each other, Rika."

"Mom told me not to go to college having already a boyfriend." Rika says out of nowhere, and I can't do but listen to her, since every little thing she says about mom is sacred to me, and deserves my total and uninterrupted attention. "She told me not to be the girl who cries at the phone when speaking with her boyfriend. And told me not to say no to things I really want to say yes."

I don't have an answer for that. Sometimes, just sometimes, I'm jealous of Rika. About those two extra years she could spend with mom, learning from her.

"Need help with dinner?" Rika's question brings me back from wherever my mind left, and I see how she closes her laptop and steps down from the stool she was sitting.

"I got it all under control." I say as I grab the dough that slipped just a minute ago. "Don't worry."

Rika walks away with her laptop under her arm, not looking back, and the cookie dough once again slips down my fingers, back to the cinnamon sugar mix. Rika and Eriol were meant for each other. I can't understand why she has broken up with him, when it's more than obvious both of them still have feelings for each other. Isn't love supposed to be like that? If you're in love, you can overcome anything. Love is the most powerful thing in the world…

We dine in silence. Dad and Misaki are chatting casually as usually, but neither Rika or I could really add much to the conversation. That night, after washing the dishes, I go up to my bedroom. Dad, Misaki, and I'm sure Rika too, are all already sleeping. Standing at the doorframe, I'm unable to turn on the lights, and so I walk inside my dark bedroom, stopping right in front of my window. From there, I can see Eriol's bedroom window. There have been some times where we saw each other on our windows, and wrote notes on pieces of paper, just the way Taylor Swift and Lucas Till did in the "You Belong To Me" music video. But this time, when I see his bedroom lights are still on, I have no courage to place a note on my window.

This time, my heart only hurts.

So after a really reaaaally short prologue, here's chapter 1.

So, all the story will be narrated in Sakura's POV. The Amamiya girls are Rika, from Card Captor Sakura, and Misaki, from Angelic Layer. I simply chose them since the three of them have the same hair color, and kinda same complexion (? Plus Misaki was quite young, which was requiered for being the little sister in this story.

I know I promised thrice updates during the week, but the next chapter won't be posted tomorrow; you'll have to wait until Saturday. With this said, see ya then :)

Ribo~