Upside Down

[Thursday, 2:45. May 28th]

All except for the thirty minutes we took for lunch, I"ve been either standing or walking, and I"m really tired. I spend the whole walk to the station yawning almost continually. I sincerely hope that there will be some empty seats on the train and I can rest a little on the ride home.

That hope flies away the moment we arrive at the packed platform. After we board, I"m basically falling asleep on my feet until I snap awake when an arm snakes around my waist. It takes a moment to figure out it"s Honoka pulling me against her to support me.

"Sorry, Nee-chan. I"m very tired, I suppose I overdid things today. I had a lot of fun though and I"m really happy we found your dress."

"You don"t need to call me that and there"s no need to be sorry. I should"ve noticed you were getting tired and made us take a break. Thank you for today, I had a lot of fun with you too."

"Mhmm." I yawn again. "Sorry, I think I"m over my limit."

"Hang in there, we"ll be home soon. Alright little sister?" She tells me, making me grin.

"I like the sound of that, and I don"t see that I have a lot of choice except to hang in there. No matter how strong you are you can"t carry me and everything else."

"You like the sound of what?"

"Umm. Being your little sister. It sounds better than being cousins. By the way, thank you."

"For what?"

"Everything. Watching out for me, taking care of me, and like this morning when you brushed my hair. I still don"t understand why you did that. You don"t have to do it you know. I appreciate it a lot, but you don"t need to."

She smiles. "Sora, I"ve always wanted a little sister. It makes me happy to help you."

I look up at her. "This might be the answer to the question I asked you. You might want a child of your own. I"m not saying I don"t want you as my big sister either, because, as I said, I like the sound of that."

"Let"s table this discussion for the moment. There are too many ears around here."

I grin mischievously at her, "Whatever you say, Nee-chan."

It"s really nice living only two blocks from the station. Even so, it takes us twice as long as it normally would since I"m so tired. I don"t think it"ll be long after my head hits a pillow that I"ll be out.

We announce ourselves when we enter our home. When I hear Mama welcoming us back from their bedroom, I walk down to the doorway and poke my head in. "Hi Mama. I"m going to take a nap. I"m about to fall asleep on my feet."

"Okay. I"ll wake you for dinner."

I tell her, "Thank you," and drag myself tiredly up to my room.

Fifteen minutes later, I give up. I"m almost exhausted and yet, I can"t sleep. Growling loudly in frustration, I get up and make my way to Honoka"s room. I tap on the door and enter after she calls out, "Come in."

"Sora, what"s wrong? I thought you"d be asleep by now."

"I tried. I can"t get to sleep. Can I ask for a favor?"

"You don"t even have to ask." She tells me as she scoots over and pats the bed beside her.

Grinning as I walk over to her, I tell her, "Thank you, Nee-chan." which makes her smile. She really seems to like me treating her like my big sister. Not a problem then.

Crawling into bed, I wrap my arms around her waist, and snuggle tightly against her.

"I could definitely get used to this." She says with a smile.

"Mhmm. Me too." I mumble as I close my eyes. I doubt it is more than thirty seconds before I fall asleep.

◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇

I slowly wake to a soft, warm, and very pleasant feel against my lips. When I open my eyes, Chinatsu is kneeling beside the bed, leaning over to kiss me.

She smiles when she notices that I"m awake. "Hi. Why are you in Honoka"s room?"

"When did you get home? Oh, uh, I couldn"t fall asleep by myself, so I tried sleeping with Nee-chan. It seems to have worked."

"Nee-chan?"

I chuckle. "Yes, Nee-chan. Mama said we looked like sisters before we went shopping, so I called her that and she seemed to like it. So, I kept it up. She"s always wanted a sister." I shrug and smile. "I don"t mind. This way I have two sisters."

She shakes her head slightly, looking at me in wonder, then smiles broadly. "Sora, you have the biggest heart of anyone I know... I"m fine with it, she can be our big sister. Come on, it"s time for dinner. Dad wants to talk with you as well. Before that, I want another kiss. I missed you very badly today. I don"t even remember what cla.s.ses were about."

I notice her hair is up in a ponytail, and immediately remove the hair clip to let it fall. There"s no way I can pa.s.s up this opportunity to tease her. "Already breaking promises?"

"No, I simply forgot to take that out after club. For some odd reason I was anxious to come home."

"Uh-huh, likely story. No kisses for bad girls who break promises to their girlfriend." I have to giggle at her shocked expression. After I pull her to me for a kiss, "Come on, help me get changed."

A few minutes later, we walk into the dining room. I walk up to Honoka and hug her. "Thank you Nee-chan. I feel better now."

Dad looks at me, "Nee-chan? Where did this come from?"

I smile. "Mama said we looked like sisters and I like the idea of her being my big sister."

He smiles and looks at Mama, who shrugs. Looking back to me, he says. "I guess it"s a good thing that I didn"t submit the paperwork to make her your cousin yet." He then looks at Honoka. "Are you okay with having two little sisters?"

"I"ve always wanted a sister, so two is that much better."

"Okay. You get to explain this to your father. In a way, this is better since we can simply say you"re Sora"s big sister and we adopted you both. I suppose you better get used to calling us Mom and Dad." He tells her with a smirk.

Honoka doesn"t even bat an eye as she replies, "Sure Dad. I"ll let you handle telling security about this. Otherwise, I can just see everyone"s faces the first time I call you that."

Dad shakes his head and laughs. Looking at Mama he says, "Well, it"s not quite the way we had planned, but our family seems to be growing rather quickly." And just like that Chinatsu and I gain a big sister.

Dinner flies by in a blur for me. I also completely forgot Chinatsu said Dad wanted to talk to me, until we finish cleaning up and he calls me into the living room.

"Well, Sora, about what you asked me. I had a couple of my a.s.sistants look into TGR"s bylaws. Congratulations Ms. CEO. You are the second youngest CEO in j.a.panese business. You now control a corporation worth several billion yen. That said, you will consult your mother and me before you make any big decisions, understood?"

"Yes Daddy. Umm.. Does this mean I can do what we talked about on the phone?"

He nods. "You can, but after Mayumi and Honoka I want you to ask us before offering to help anyone else. At least until we can work out when and how to make this public knowledge. There are legitimate concerns about security. I don"t want you exposed to any more risks than you already are. I"m not worried too much about the employees of TGR since the cohorts of Akiyama have been arrested already, but you never know."

"Thank you again, Dad. I"ll make sure to never get out of Nee-chan"s sight when we go there."

"No, you"ll have two others with you as well when you go inside that place. No one but the three people watching over you are to get within arms length of you. You"re not to shake hands and you"re not to accept anything from anyone there directly. Honoka already knows who the other two people are, so you needn"t worry, they"re trustworthy."

"If that"s what you want me to do, then that"s what I"ll do."

"Good, thank you. I just want you to be safe." He looks at Chinatsu. "Now for you. The school called your mother this afternoon. They said you weren"t paying attention in cla.s.s. I"m not going to get all over you about this because I understand why it"s happening. That said, school is important, so you need to pay attention in cla.s.s."

"Dad, this is going to sound like an excuse, but all I can do is worry about Sornee when I"m not with her. I"m afraid something else is going to happen and I won"t be there to help her when it does."

"So, what do you want me to do? Sora isn"t ready to go back to school, she wouldn"t make it through the day. Keeping you home with her will result in you having to retake the year."

I interrupt at this point because if feels as if it"s going to degenerate into a back and forth if I don"t. "If I remember correctly, if she can pa.s.s the finals the princ.i.p.al can give her an attendance waiver." I look at Chinatsu. "Remember that girl Hana in my cla.s.s from first year? Well, she had to have surgery and was out all of second semester, but she pa.s.sed the finals, so the princ.i.p.al gave her an attendance waiver." I look back to Dad. "If she"s like that at school, it"s worse than useless for her to be there. I can tutor her and make sure she pa.s.ses all her tests."

Dad looks thoughtful for a little while, then, "Okay, let me talk to the princ.i.p.al tomorrow. If he agrees to give you a waiver, then you can stay home, but you will pa.s.s every single test with no less than 80%. If not, then you"ll be grounded all summer and be held back a year. That means you two won"t be in the same cla.s.s as well, so make sure about this before you agree. I won"t change my mind if it happens."

"Dad"s right Chinatsu. I"d love to have you here with me, but your education is important. I"ll tutor you in everything if you want, but you"ll have to apply yourself. I don"t know about you, but I want to go to at least one festival and the beach this summer. It won"t be any fun if you can"t go with me."

"It"ll be hard, but I"ll work at it and you said you would help me, so I should be fine. Okay Dad, I agree."

He nods. "Alright. Remember your promise and don"t let down Sora." Kind of a low blow, Dad. I know why you said it though. You know she"ll do anything to avoid that.

"Chinatsu, do any of your friends take good notes?"

"Sure. Keiko Amuro does, she"s one of the better students in school."

"I"ve seen her name. She"s usually in the top ten for the grade. Do you think she would let you make a copy of her notes?"

"I think so."

"Okay, then why don"t you invite her over after school tomorrow? We can ask her then. Bribing her with some really yummy cake and tea should help."

She grins. "Good idea. Keiko has a big sweet tooth."

"Then we"ll drop by a cake shop tomorrow after my appointments."

Chinatsu looks at Dad. "Dad, thank you. I promise I"ll pa.s.s them all."

"Come on Chinatsu, I need to fix my hair. It won"t be long before Uncle Mitty"s here."

"Oh, I"d forgotten we"re doing that every evening."

"We have to support Nee-chan"s love, now don"t we?"

Hmm. I probably ought to drop the uncle part. My sister and uncle. I"m sure if someone overhears me say that they would misunderstand, and say something like, "Oh, that"s scandalous," or worse.