Chapter 59



“Ohayou Rika-chan!” Hitomi approached Rika to hug her but then, Rika moved away.

“Ohayou, I’m going now, I have important matters to attend to.” Rika said plainly and left Hitomi speechless.

“Ehh?!? What time will you finish that? Let’s eat lunch together!” Hitomi tried to follow Ishikawa. As they turn to a corner, Miki came out of the blue and glared at Rika.

“If you told her what I’ve told you today, you’ll be really sorry. And don’t come near her from now on.”

“I have to go now. I can’t come with you this lunch, sorry.”

Hitomi watched as Rika walked away. Miki hugged her ‘sister’ from behind.

“What did you do?”

“Nani? I… I don’t understand you?”

Hitomi removed Miki’s arms on her waist, turned to her and looked at her eyes.

“I know you did something to Rika. You’re the only one capable of doing that.” Miki could clearly see the anger in Hitomi’s eyes.

“I… I didn’t. Maybe she’s really that busy today. Are you accusing me? Do you not trust your sister?”

Hitomi didn’t answer immediately. “I trust your word because you’re my sister… But if you scare her away like what you did to others, I will forget that we’re related to each other!”

“Why are you acting like that whenever you’re talking about Rika? What did she give you to be like that? You weren’t like this before… WE weren’t like this before she came into picture!” Miki burst into tears. She wasn’t expecting this kind of conversation between them. Hitomi was about to answer her when the bell rang.

“You should wipe your tears before coming to the room. Our classmates will laugh at you and your ‘badass’ image will be ruined.” Hitomi gave her hanky to Miki and walked away without waiting for her to come.

Hitomi went directly on her seat. Ishikawa could not look at her. There was something bothering Rika and she knew it. She had a hunch that Miki did something but she could not dread the feeling of fighting with her sister. It was the first time she saw her cry. She idolized her sister for having such an ‘unbreakable’ attitude. When they were in junior high, Miki would always protect her from those who want to bully her.

“Maybe that’s why Miki’s acting like that. She was just being overprotective to me so I will not get hurt… but sometimes, it just suffocates me.”

Hitomi’s line of thought was broken when Miki entered the room. The class became quiet. You could hear each other’s breathing because of the deafening silence that’s surrounding them. It was only cut off when Miki returned the hanky to Hitomi.

“Thanks, I have my own.” Miki sat down and looked at the opposite side of the room. That’s when their teacher came.

“Silent ehh? Do you have a hunch that I have another announcement to make?” Nakazawa joked and looked around the room. She called Rika because she was raising her hand.

“Ma’am, if it’s ok, I would like to change seats.”

Hitomi looked up at Rika. It’s visible that Rika is avoiding her.

“And where would you want to be? What’s the reason?”

“I want to be placed in the first row. I went to an ophthalmologist yesterday and had my vision tested. It seems that my migraine is caused by poor eyesight. I will get my glasses next week.”

“I see, Matsuura-san, kindly switch places with Ishikawa.”

“H… Hai” Aya got her books from her desk and exchange places with Rika. Deep inside Miki, she was happy because she succeeded in separating the two.

Aya sat down in Rika’s seat but not without getting the “infamous” glare from Miki.


……

“Ohayou!”

“Aya! Is your friend alright?”

“Aherm… guess who’s here?”

“O.. Ohayou! I will try out for this year’s futsal varsity team.”

“Ahhh, is that the only thing you want here? Hitomi, let’s go buy some lunch… Sorry but I have to borrow my sister for a while.”



……

Hitomi smiled at Aya for a while. Her vision was immediately shifted to Rika who’s now 5 rows away from her. She really felt that something’s wrong with the way Rika’s behaving. She had to find it out real soon.

“Let’s proceed for the announcement. I need more players for our futsal team. Next month will be the annual Interschool Futsal Competition. Ms. Ishikawa, someone told me that you were a previous captain your futsal team when you were in elementary. Is that right?” Nakazawa stared at Rika giving the girl the impression that she wanted her to join the team. Rika in turn, turned to glare at Eri who was giving a sign at that she was not the one who told it.

“Hai, I was… But…I’m already in the basketball club.”

”I’ll handle Iida-sensei. The way you played last week, it doesn’t seem that you lost your touch in futsal. I want to see you in our practice tomorrow, after class.”

“H..hai…I’ll try my best” Rika doesn’t want to join but their teacher is somewhat scary. She doesn’t have the slightest idea what will happen to her once she disagrees with her teacher. And there are two things that bother her if she joined the team. First is that it reminds her of Maki, and second… Hitomi and Miki are the captain and sub-captain of the team.