Sisters

Horikita Manabu considered it. It seemed Amasawa really did have the means to pay two million personal points. "How about this, Amasawa? I'll give you one million personal points. But I'm giving you that million for free. It isn't something you extorted from me."

"You're certainly brave to haggle, considering we got the video of the fight," Morishita Ran interjected.

"I'm not haggling. I have a better proposal I'd like to discuss with you, Amasawa, and I think you'll be very interested. But it's gotten rather late today. How about we discuss it another time?"

As he spoke, he took out his phone and transferred one million personal points to Amasawa Yuto without hesitation.

Amasawa Yuto picked up his phone from the ground and stared at the lit screen, which had a few cracks from the fall.

Seeing Amasawa Yuto staring blankly at the screen for some reason, Morishita Ran leaned over. "You agreed to it?"

Horikita Manabu heard her and chuckled. "I think you'll agree, because you're not a boring person, Amasawa—and neither am I."

Amasawa Yuto put away his phone and nodded. "I'd be happy to hear your proposal later, Student Council President Horikita."

"If you want to join the Student Council, I can approve your application."

"I'll think about it for now."

The two shook hands.

"If your phone screen is broken, I can have it repaired for you. We can put the cost on the Student Council's expense account, so you won't have to spend any points. Consider it an apology from me."

"No need. I appreciate the offer, Student Council President Horikita, but I'll take it in for repairs myself later."

When he'd first asked to see her phone, it would have been fine. But now, Amasawa Yuto couldn't let him touch it again.

Not even Morishita Ran or Sakayanagi.

Not even Yuki.

"What are you sitting there daydreaming about all by yourself?"

Horikita was sitting in a chair, staring into space, when a cold metal can suddenly touched her cheek.

She jumped, nearly leaping out of the chair, then noticed that it was Tsubaki Yuki, sitting right beside her.

Tsubaki Yuki held two cans of coffee she'd just bought from the Vending Machine. She opened one for herself and pressed the other against Horikita's cheek.

Horikita accepted the kind gesture in silence, took the coffee, and opened it for a sip. "Thanks."

"So you're Student Council President Horikita's little sister?"

Tsubaki Yuki leaned against the Vending Machine. One girl stood, the other sat, and beneath the dim light of the machine, they made a beautiful picture.

"So you saw, after all?" Horikita Suzune lowered her head, her voice timid, utterly unlike her usual domineering self.

"I'm a failure of a little sister... I can't make my brother proud... Just being in the same room as me is enough to make him feel ashamed..."

Tsubaki Yuki listened quietly. Thinking of how Horikita usually looked down on everyone, she felt a little sorry for Horikita Suzune.

At least she would never say that about Sakurako as her older sister, and she wouldn't let anyone else say it, either. Sakurako was her pride and joy.

"So what are you going to do now?"

Horikita Suzune didn't answer. She seemed to shrink inch by inch.

Horikita Suzune, whose gaze never fell on anyone, was now curled up on a bench like a cat soaked by the rain.

"I don't know." Horikita Suzune's voice was muffled. "Maybe... I'll just leave things as they are."

Tsubaki Yuki frowned.

Leave things as they are. Give up. Nothing I do will make a difference anyway. I'll never be good enough anyway. Anyway—

Tsubaki Yuki's fingertips tightened as she thought of Sakurako taking care of her in the hospital and doing everything she could to cheer her up.

She remembered when she was nine and came down with a high fever. In the middle of the night, her temperature reached forty degrees, and Sakurako had cried out as she ran to find the butler, Matsuo.

Yuki had been delirious with fever, but she clung stubbornly to Sakurako's hand and wouldn't let go.

Sakurako had barely slept that night. She sat beside Tsubaki Yuki's bed, wiping her forehead again and again with a damp towel.

By morning, Yuki's fever had gone down.

Sakurako, who had fallen asleep with her head on the side of the bed, woke up too. The first thing she said was, "Big Sister, do you think my eyes are as red as a rabbit's?"

Later, after Yuki was hospitalized, whenever she was in good spirits, Sakurako would sometimes squeeze into her hospital bed and sleep beside her. Sometimes she'd suddenly hug her at night and say:

"Big Sister, I'm not amazing, but I'll work hard. I know you've had to suffer a lot because you were born before me."

Sakurako was fifteen now, as tall as she was. After Yuto came back, Yuki's mental state improved greatly, and her relationship with Sakurako grew closer and closer.

Sometimes Sakurako would still run into her room before bed, squeeze into her bed, and brazenly steal most of the blankets.

Sometimes Yuki would wake up when Sakurako's elbow jabbed her. Looking at her little sister, who slept like a pig beside her, she felt that she could put up with anything in the world.

She had never told Sakurako, "You're my pride and joy." She couldn't bring herself to say it. But she knew Sakurako understood.

Tsubaki Yuki had never imagined there could be an older sister who made her little sister feel like a "disgrace."

She looked at Horikita Suzune, her head bowed. "You remind me a little of my little sister."

Yuki looked away from Horikita Suzune and gazed at the distant, dark horizon.

"Her name is Sakurako. She's one year younger than me."

"In our family, I'm the one who gets all the attention. Almost all of our parents' focus is on me. Sakurako works so hard and is so sweet, but she never gets all the love and attention she deserves."

"But she never puts herself down just because she isn't good enough. And she never thinks she's not good enough just because her older sister gets all the attention."

"She knows that no matter what she's like, I'll never be ashamed of her. If anything, I'm the failure of an older sister—the one who took the love that should have gone to her."

Horikita Suzune's shoulders trembled slightly.

"Horikita Suzune. You think your brother is disappointed in you, right?"

"But have you ever considered," Tsubaki Yuki took a step closer, closing the distance between them, "that maybe he isn't disappointed because you're not good enough?"

Horikita Suzune raised her eyes, confusion showing in them.

"Maybe he's disappointed because you've made yourself into his shadow instead of being yourself."

"You just said you're a failure of a little sister. So tell me, what do you think a little sister is? A number on a report card? A label that makes people say, 'Oh, that's Horikita Manabu's little sister,' wherever you go?"

Horikita Suzune parted her lips, but no sound came out.

"No." Tsubaki Yuki answered for her. "A little sister is simply a little sister. You're alive, you're here, and you're his little sister. That won't change no matter what grades you get. You don't need to prove it with anything. You already are."

"What your brother thinks is his business. What you think is yours. If you build your life around earning his approval, you'll be waiting forever—for a day that will never come."