Chapter 40




“Yoh, sis… WAKE UP!!! Otousan will leave in 30mins!” Miki shook her sister violently. Hitomi opened her eyes and looked at her wrist watch. It showed 3:30 in the morning. Hitomi quickly jumped out the bed and went to the bathroom.

“Hey, use your own bathroom!” Miki tried to open the door but it’s already locked. She heard Hitomi shouting from inside.

“Gomen! Use my bathroom for now… and also my towel because I’m going to use yours!”

“Didn’t mom talked you about PERSONAL hygiene?! I shouldn’t have let you sleep here!” Miki got her clothes and a new towel from her cabinet and went to Hitomi’s room. Miki’s already finished after 20 minutes. She put on her clothes before going out of the bathroom. She saw Hitomi wearing ‘her’ towel and looking for clothes on the cabinet.

“You look good in my towel…” Miki grinned and lightly touched Hitomi’s bottom.

“STOP IT!!!... Don’t bother me for a while!” Miki was somewhat shocked. This was the first time that she heard her sister’s tone with such urgency. It’s as if her life depended on it.

“Don’t spend too much time in changing. We’ll leave in about 10 minutes and you still have to eat breakfast.” Miki went out of her sister’s room after saying that. Her sister’s acting weird since yesterday. Something or someone must be bothering her.
“If those school boys were bullying her again, I’ll really beat them into pieces!”


………..
“Ohayou!” Miki quickly stood up and pulled out Rika’s chair. Hitomi, on the other hand, looked like she was sleeping.

“Ohayou… what happened with her? You’re not fighting this morning?” Rika sarcastically replied.

“Is that a joke? Well, we’ve been up since 3:30 in the morning. I’m somewhat sleepy too.”

“Why? What did you do?”

“We bid farewell to our father. He went again to US again. Hitomi’s really fond of our father that’s why… it’s hard for her to see him go away again…”

“What’s his line of work?” Rika curiously asked while putting her things on her desk.

“He’s a general surgeon at first… But his well known for his talent in plastic surgery..”

“Matte,… Yoshizawa? You’re not talking about Dr. Yusaku Yoshizawa right?!”

“Hai, he’s our father” It was Hitomi who replied this time. She stretched out her hand upward and yawned. “But we want to keep a low profile so please don’t tell anybody about it.” Hitomi grinned like a kid, showing all of her teeth.

“Ha… hai…” Rika bit her lip, trying to prevent a laugh from escaping. But she couldn’t stop smiling.

“Ehh? Nani?” Miki looked at Hitomi and laughed hard.

“Hey that’s rude! I tried to stop my laughter but..”

“It’s ok… It’s just Hitomi, it’s not like you’ll hurt her feelings by that” Miki continued to laugh. Hitomi stopped her grinning.

“Waaah, onee-san’s laughing at me…Hidoi!!! Ahuhuhu” Hitomi crossed her arms on her face and pretended to cry. Miki increased the volume of her laughing even more and if the desk could only voice out what it’s feeling, it would surely shout at Miki for hitting ‘it’ so hard.

“Will you stop laughing at her? Even if it’s a joke, it may leave some negative impression on your sister’s self-esteem!” Rika said loudly. Hitomi looked up. Miki stopped laughing and glared at Rika.

“We’re just having fun! Can’t you see that?! We’ve been fighting and bickering at each other for” Miki looked at Hitomi and her angry tone subsided. “a long time now… Gomen, I raised my voice to you. It’s just that… though we look like we always cut each other’s throat… We respect and love each other VERY MUCH.” She emphasized the last two words before going out of the room.

“Onee-san! Where are you going?” Hitomi shouted.

“Need to take a leak or else my panties will be soaking wet!!”

Hitomi burst into laughter. Her sister’s frankness sometimes is really embarrassing. She looked at Rika’s shocked reaction.

“That’s my sister… Sometimes I wish to put a tape on her mouth so that she wouldn’t be able to say those things that would surely make someone’s mouth fall…”

Rika laughed a little bit but she immediately tried to compose herself. “Though the two of you were siblings, your attitudes were very….”

“Different? Yah, we get that comment a lot. It’s not new to us.” Hitomi grinned widely again.

“Stop that! You’re making me laugh again…” Rika hit Hitomi’s shoulder and Hitomi pretended to get knocked off her chair. Rika tried to catch her falling classmate but she was caught in the momentum and they both fell down, with Rika on top. They were motionless for a few seconds until Rika stood up and went to sit in her chair.

“I want to see Rika’s smile more often… I hope you would always smile warmly at me.”

……..
“Ohayou”

“Ohayou” Miki moved past her classmate and into the cubicle.

“Where’s your sister?”

“Why do you need to know?”

Silence….

“Nothing, it’s because that you’re always together that it feels awkward to see you or her, alone.”

“I just need to take a pee and I don’t have to bring along my sister here. And first and foremost….” Miki opened the door and went directly to Aya wearing her ever famous ‘death glare’. “It’s none of your business. You’re just our classmate so just butt off!”

Miki slammed the door shut, leaving Aya on deep on her thoughts.

“I hope Rika will be fine…”