The Little Sister

One Text

That's all it took. One text, and she instantly knew something was wrong. Lounging around on a beach in Florida, Athena Teracruz knew something was very wrong with her sister, Meta.

Ice cream dripped down her elbow as she stared at the faint glow of the iPhone screen.

Just one text. One was enough, and Athena was absolutely sure that something was up.

I'm fine.

That was all Meta had said, and Athena already knew that Meta was in fact, NOT fine, and in terrible, terrible, stress.

Meta was the most talkative person on the planet. Two words wouldn't have sufficed at all. She would have probably written a long and lengthy essay with a large amount of emoticons about how amazing life was, otherwise, she was not okay.

Athena frowned and checked her Calendar quickly. She didn't have any classes to teach all next week, so that was when she would go to this.. So called Tres Spades Hotel, and figure out what the hell was going on.

...Little Sister...

Meta panicked. Her sister was coming to the Tres Spades Hotel. HER LITTLE SISTER WAS COMING! To Tokyo, from Florida, to come on a friendly visit. In actuality, she had said, 'To figure out what you're hiding from me', which, as blunt as Athena was and as used to Meta was with the bluntness, was a whole other cause for worry. In normal situations, she would be panicking because she would be trying to figure out the best gift to give her when she got here, but right now, it was for a wholly different reason.

The bidding! The auction that had ruined her life and now the Baba that ruled over it had to stay out of Athena's sharp vision. She was the smartest person Meta had ever known, and way more suited for being a detective than Kishi-san.

There was no way that Athena would budge on coming here either, which would make Meta herself seem more suspicious. Hopefully, Baba would consider helping her out in keeping the valuable secret.

She groaned into her sandwich, suddenly overcome with an appetite. Shoveling the bread into her mouth, and then stuffing herself with cookies, she felt her habit of stress-eating coming back.

The cafeteria for the employees in Tres Spades was spacious and meticulously clean, with sparkling white modern seats and charming see-through tables. The floor was a gleaming sky blue, and the window view was excellent. The employees usually had lunch whenever they had a break, and since it was later in the afternoon, there weren't as many people chatting or eating quickly due to time.

An employee, even a female employee hurrying to finish her lunch really wasn't particular at all. But the supernatural amount of cookies coming out of a small lunchbox.. Was.

Chisato, who happened to have the same break time and was eating lunch with her, looked at Meta worriedly, and spoke quietly, "Meta, slow down. What's wrong?"

If Meta could have spilled everything right there and then and told Chisato all of her problems, she would have.

But.. She couldn't. A bird in a cage. No freedom, and with torn wings. I'm getting more poetic as I get more pathetic, Meta thought sarcastically, setting down the cookie she was about to chomp down on with a sigh. Oh well. Things would have to go their own way, and if something went wrong.. Well.. It wouldn't come to that.