𝐒𝐄𝐀 𝐆𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐒. rin matsuoka

2 | sapphire

松岡 江
GOU MATSUOKA

              For as long as I could remember, every summer, they were always inseparable: My brother and Hiro Akiyama. At one point I was envious. Why is it that every summer, big brother would go out to play with his friend rather than play with me, his sister?

It was when he brought me along to meet this girl named Hiro, that I finally understood who this important person was to my brother.

I looked up to Hiro. Not because of how independent she's always been, how heroic and praise worthy the girl was, but because she was the type of girl who could make my brother smile like that. And seeing as he was going through something that even I didn't know off, right now, I secretly believed that if his other friends can't help him, Hiro would definitely be able to save him.

              "Akiyama-san," a second year by the door way called unto the girl sitting at the corner who was chatting with her friends. "Someone's looking for you."

'Hiro-chan changed,' I thought. She used to be the girl who was always alone, but it was as if right now all of that's in the past.

She turns to look and immediately sees me, a warm smile on her face.

              "What's up? I haven't seen you in years, Gou-chan" she tells me, and I hug her tightly. "I'm sorry I couldn't stay in contact."

It was when I let go that I finally gather the courage to ask her. "Um...you see... Hi-chan."

"Hm?"

"Onii-chan is back in Japan" I say and almost immediately the atmosphere turns cold.

"I know" she tells me, a change of voice evident in her tone. "Obaa-san told me."

"Would it be alright if you meet him?" I ask. "We can't get a hold of him, and you're the best person who could do the job."

"That's impossible," she replies, patting my head like a sister would. "He wouldn't bother looking at me much less even speak to me. We're not friends anymore."

"It was over, the moment he pushed me away" she adds coldly.

'But, I'm sure somewhere in his heart, Onii-chan still has feelings for you,' I think, recalling the way he'd retain a pained look in his eyes every single moment I mentioned her name.

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              Hiro was like an older sister I've never had. She would play with me, even if my brother were to complain. She would listen to me, no matter how random my stories were. She was everything I looked up to. That's why, when Hiro Akiyama came into our lives I was more than happy that my brother introduced me to her.

"Hi-chan! Hi-chan! Let's play with dolls" I remember running up to her on the summer of my second grade. They were third graders by then.

"Oi, Gou! Hiro's gonna play with me" my big brother told me, pulling the girl by her hand.

"Now, now, Rin. We can play later. Give your sister a chance" she tells him with a chuckle.

"Ehhh" He groans.

"Onii-chan is mean" I pouted, pulling Hiro by the hand and taking her away from him.

              At one point, he even made safety measures just so that he could have Hiro for himself.

"Sousuke," my brother grins mischievously.

"You watch Gou, alright? I'll just head outside to the convenience store" He says in a hurry.

"What? Watch your own sister. I'll buy the stuff" Sousuke attempts to stop him from running away from his responsibility.

"No, I'll buy it! See ya!" He rushes out of the house in order to escape his best friend's argument.

"How unfair" I pout as soon as my big brother leaves, "Onii-chan's just gonna play with Hiro".

"Eh? You figured?" big brother's friend turns to me.

"He wants to keep Hiro for himself, after all. When I'm around, Hiro-chan always plays with me. Onii-chan's probably jealous" I say, earning a chuckle from Sousuke.

"That's what happens when you like someone" Sousuke tells me, and the young me couldn't help but wonder.

"But I like Hiro-chan too, though?" I tilt my head.

"It's a different 'like' for Rin. It's something more than a friend. He's in love with her" Sousuke-kun says. "But keep it a secret between us. Even your big brother doesn't know."

"In love?" I wondered, oblivious to what he meant by that.

"You'll know when you're older."

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              It took a few years before I understood what love meant, what 'liking' someone was like. It was when my brother saved her that I realized what Sousuke had meant.

We were heading to her house from the convenience store with a bag full of fireworks to play with that summer. "That idiot!" my brother immediately put the plastic bag down, and jumped from the bridge as soon as he realized that Hiro was drowning in the river, trying to save a cat, without any knowledge on how to swim.

               "You're so stupid!" I was able to hear him shout at her as I run towards them right after he brought her to dry land,

"But I got to save the cat" Hiro said proudly, as she held it in her hands as if to save it from the water.

"You risked your life to save a cat?" my brother gave her a flat look, obviously draining the life out of him.

Only someone as reckless as Hiro was able to make my brother look like that, and the way she put others first, it was really something admirable.

"You're like a hero, Hi-chan" I tell her with a smile, earning a flick in the head.

"Gou, don't encourage her" my big brother tells me.

"You're like a hero too, Onii-chan" I tell him, as I look at the two of them and think, 'If Hi-chan was a princess, Onii-chan would no doubt be her prince charming'. For once she could have someone to save her, the same way she's been saving him.

I could've sworn my brother always had a warm look in his eyes whenever I asked him about Hiro. She made him scared, made him happy, made him feel a number of emotions; and every time I see that look in his eyes, even I could tell. My brother was in love with Hiro Akiyama and I could attest to that.