𝕊𝕡𝕚𝕣𝕚𝕥 || 𝕂𝕪𝕠 𝕊𝕠𝕙𝕞𝕒

Like The Sky

*cw: mentions of child abuse and death

The weeks that went by were...strange, in a word.

First of all, Mr. Honda ended his training period at the middle school. Yui hadn't heard from Kyoko since that day on the street, so she had no idea how her sister was doing.

But by now, she knew that no news was better than bad news. If something happened to Kyoko, Yui would have heard something about it when she visited home every other day.

Second was Shojiro. He was still as strange as he always was, but lately, Yui found his odd airheaded nature to be... endearing. He made her laugh and smile so easily. He made her tense and blush, too. As time went by, her feelings for him just...changed.

She never thought she would start to like her best friend's brother. But she did. She liked him. She thought she could even love him.

Of course, she still spent time with Ryoji. Nothing would change the fact that he was her best friend. When he found out that Yui and Shojiro were also spending time together, he was understandably surprised at first. But then he accepted it with a smile. He seemed fine with it. Yui believed him when he said he was.

The day it happened, Shojiro insisted on coming with her when she said she was stopping by her house. In that way, he was just like his brother. Yui appreciated that about him. And she especially appreciated how he held her hand, occasionally squeezing it to remind her that he was there.

But what she learned when they walked in was the last thing she expected. The last thing she wanted.

"It seems Kyoko landed herself in the hospital."

When her father said that, her mind went completely blank. She hardly felt Shojiro's hand, which was still holding hers. She hardly heard her father saying how "reckless the stupid, useless girl was". She hardly heard him saying that there was no way he'd visit her in the hospital. Yui went to the hospital on her own. Neither her father nor her mother followed her, but Shojiro did.

And yet, in all honesty, when the nurses told her she was allowed to go right in for a visit, she hesitated. Her mind went blank and her legs wouldn't move. She didn't know what to say.

Deep down, she knew why. She walked all the way to the hospital on a whim. She asked for Kyoko's room number on a whim. Those were things she did on impulse.

But now came the hard part. Now, she would have to actually go in and see Kyoko. They would see each other for the first time in over three weeks. For the first time since Kyoko said all those things to her.

The words that echoed in Yui's mind just about every night.

Leading her away from the desk, Shojiro sat them both down in the waiting room. He set one gentle hand on her back. "What is it?"

"...She won't want to see me." Her voice was softer than she wanted it to be. "It doesn't matter how much I worry about her. She doesn't...want me to."

For a moment, he was quiet. But then she felt his hand taking hers. "...Well...what do you want?"

What did she want? There were so many things -- too many to count. Too many to know where to begin.

"...I..." Her eyes welled with tears. "I...want to be her sister. I know I can't protect her...And I know that I'm weak in the face of our parents. Against everything that has hurt her. But I...want her to know that I'm still here. And that I care."

She always cared. Yui didn't know how to stop. Seeing the way Kyoko was treated broke her heart. And not knowing how to help made her feel more guilt than she could ever express.