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After breakfast, I go to sit outside in the backyard to read over my fathers journal. I didn't read the other half on purpose simply because of its name. "𝐓𝐨 𝐌𝐢𝐤𝐢, 𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐫, " What was so important that it needed to be dedicated to myself?
I take a shaky breath and open the book, flipping to the blank page with those four words, and a small note. It read:
My eyebrows furrow in confusion. Training? What kind of training was he going to make me do?! Also, I am NOT twelve at the moment. . . which means I was supposed to receive this in two years. . .oh. I flip the page and spot multiple training routines. The all were just random exercises for specific things. The amounts were huge too! I don't know if dad had to do this but he must have been crazy strong to do this everyday.
I search through the carefully, so I don't miss a word. But what I do end up missing, is the sound of the backdoor opening and my mother standing over me. "Miki. . . where did you get that?" I jump at her voice and quickly close the book and place it on the ground. "I- I don't know what you're talking about," I start and she gives me a disapproving look. "its just an old book I found. . . in the library." She sighs and shakes her head. "I was planning to give you that in a few years. . . seems like you beat me to it." She laughs to herself, while looking up at the sky.
"You wanna know something, dear?" She turns to me with a sad smile, and I knew we were going to talk about dad. She pulls me close and we snuggle together. "When you were a newborn, you were so itty bitty and tiny that your father cried. He adored you, you know? He'd always take care of you even when I was feeling well. You would call him 'mama' sometimes too. It was adorable." She nuzzles her head into my head and kisses that spot. "When you were about two, he began to write in that very journal. Most about his journeys or random facts and such things he enjoyed. But he had a separate journal too. One exclusively to his family. He wrote mostly about the two of us and how much he adored us. We were his world, and then he was taken from us three years after your brother was born."
She kissed my forehead. "You take care of that book alright, it meant so much to your father for you to have it." She kissed my forehead again and left me to my lonesome. I look at the leather book and run my hand over the cover tenderly. I smile and look up to the sky. 'I'll make you proud dad. Just you wait!' I place a quick kiss to the top of the book and set it down on a certain page.
I did multiple pushups, sit ups, laps, jumping jacks, and every other exercise you could think of. After about half an hour, maybe less, I stopped and collapsed to the ground. "Ugh. . ." I sighed. I slowly got up and walked into the house with the books in my hand like a slug. I placed it down on my bed and went to take a shower. 'Showers are the best. Especially cold showers!' Wrapping a towel around me I stepped out of the shower after turning it off.
I dressed myself into a white summer dress with a green shirt underneath. I think you can tell what my favorite color was. I let my hair loose and let the hair flow to the middle of my back. I skip into the living room where Akino is coloring on paper. I peek into the kitchen to try and find mama. "Hey, otouto?" He jumps a bit and looks up. "Yes nee-chan?' He brings his knees up and wraps his arms around them. " Where's mama?" He looks towards the door. 'She said she went to go get groceries and extra art stuff." I frown. 'Then whose going to watch Akino while I'm gone?'
I take a deep breath. "Akino?" He hums. "I'm going out with a friend. You know, the one I made at the academy?" He nods slowly, seeming to understand that he'd be left alone at home until mama returns. "You wanna come with me? It'll be lonely at home without me or mama." He smiles widely and jumps to his feet and dashes to his room. He comes back out with a new set of clothes. "I'm ready nee-chan!" He wiggled next to me and held onto my arm. "We're going to meet up at the park, let's go!" We put on our shoes and headed off.
We passed by numerous people who waved at us and we waved back. Akino skipped at my side in happiness. We passed by a library, A flower shop, and a ramen shop. As we were walking, Akino kept complaining about how he wanted something sweet to eat. "I don't have enough money with me to buy you anything for yourself." I had told him making him whine and pout. He attempted to cross his arms but decided not to. I ruffled his hair with my free hand.
Once we reached the playground Akino squealed in excitement while I was searching for my red haired friend. I heard a cheery voice call out mine name. A voice I recognized. "Miki!!!" She squealed before tackling me into a hug. "Oh , hello there! What's your name?" She bent down to Akino's height and he blushed a bit. "I-im Akino! Nee-chan is your friend, r-right?" She gasped and looked at me. "What a cute little brother you have!!" She pouted. "I wish my younger siblings were as cute and adorable as him! He seems like an angel!"
I let out a quick giggle before putting Akino into a gentle headlock. "He is an angel actually." I popped a kiss on top of his head and he giggled. Satomi 'awe'ed and swooned over our sibling dynamic. We then sat on a bench while Akino sat on the sandbox nearby, building a sand castle.
A cool gust of wind blew through the trees and everyone relished in it. Both Satomi and I talked about random things, mainly her doing all the talking.
Everything is going well. Oh. . . I forgot to leave a note for mama about where we are. . . eh, whatever. I'll get in trouble once I get home.
┊┊┊┊ ➶ ❁۪ ｡˚ ✧
[M]: Struggled while figuring out how to make this 1000+ words :( If you were wondering, the chapters are about 1000-1700 words. Maybe 2000 if I feel creative. If I feel like it could be hung over a cliff I would do it :)! I'm also sort of re-writing this book, changing some things so if some parts don't make sense, just dm me!
