20.1
20.1: Hana
Konako woke up with the excitement of seeing this day through with Hikaru. It was almost hard to believe this was finally happening. After several months of disasters, things were finally working out. The jittering butterflies refused to die down within her guts. Instead they seemed to float away and everywhere at the same time, from her stomach to her rib cage. Her head felt light with giddy. She'd catch herself smiling at the oddest of moments. If this was what falling in love felt like, she never wanted to pick herself up.
Hikaru said he would be coming over by 10AM to pick her up for their date. She sighed happily as she breezed her way to the kitchen.
"Hey there, sport," her uncle greeted over coffee.
"Good morning," she said cheerfully as she pulled the refrigerator door open and started rummaging through the items within.
Unfortunately, there wasn't much. Apparently, Uncle had forgotten to do the groceries. Again. Not as surprising as it was inconvenient. But no matter, she thought as she grabbed an egg and a loaf of bread.
"You're up early," he remarked. "Excited for today, huh?"
"Sure am~" Konako sang as she pulled out a skillet.
That was when she realized it was strange: she hadn't told uncle about her date today. Had he simply assumed? "Wait, what are we talking about again?"
"Aw, you know. Your sister coming to visit..."
Konako dropped the egg promptly.
"Konako!" he yelled in surprise.
"I- I know," she replied shakily. "Sorry. I've got it." she immediately busied herself with picking up broken eggshells.
Uncle stared at her. "Don't tell me you've forgotten." He didn't even have to ask. The answer was written all over her face.
And the answer was she did. "Crap," she muttered.
{C}
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Hikaru found himself incapable of coherent thought as he stared at a pale face whose individual features weren't entirely like someone he knew but overall came together to form a face that wasn't entirely unlike the same face he was thinking of - the same face he was standing next to at the the moment. It must also be mentioned that the owner of this said face was his girlfriend, which only served to make the whole ordeal even more disconcerting than he had thought possible.
He knew he was supposed to be keeping a look out for Konako's sister. He had resigned himself to the task since just this morning when Konako nervously broke the news to him.
He had been surprised when she had clambered into the living room all flustered (Uncle had let him in. And it was nice of Kuraki to actually acknowledge his presence with a nod instead of the growl he had grown accustomed to receiving). She looked adorable, all flustered. He thought it was just her being shy. But he quickly learned that that wasn't it when she explained apologetically that she was supposed to be meeting up with her sister today.
He should have taken that as his cue to leave. But he couldn't help it. His mouth were already forming the words he wanted to ask.
"Your sister? Well, can I meet her?"
He was curious. And he was there anyway. And Konako saw no other choice. Hikaru had already come all this way. She reluctantly granted him this privilege.
He had been surprised to hear that they would be heading to a hotel. "Is your sister rich?" he asked, the bewilderment evident in his voice as they huddled quickly into the bullet train.
"Um..." Konako lurched forward when their transportation started moving. She would've caught herself if Hikaru hadn't been one step faster. He raised his eyebrows, silently inquiring if she was all right. In reply, she smiled, both gratefully and sheepishly. She was feeling very nervous at the moment. This hadn't been part of the plan. In either of her plans. Yet here she was combining the two after a split second decision.
"No, not really," she admitted as she righted herself up. "She's just..." How should she put this? "Very good at keeping her money and then spending it on better options."
"And what is that?"
"Good shoes and hardbound art books."
"Sounds interesting," he said, instantly taken in by the character. "Is she an artist or does she simply collect them?"
"Both," she replied. "She draws. And paints."
"So it runs in the family?" he wondered.
"If it does, genetics seems to have skipped me."
"Everyone's their own artist, Konako. You paint with words."
She smiled at that. Hikaru immediately beamed at this accomplishment.
"You're nervous, aren't you?" He was certain she was. He could tell from the way his queries had to prod her thoughts back into this plane of existence.
She was definitely nervous. She was anxious. Terrified, even. She kept ruminating over several daunting memories she wasn't ready to face. Hana had undoubtedly come to remind her that she had to.
"Yes," she whispered.
Hikaru took her hand and squeezed it.
"They're sweaty," Konako warned. Not like he needed the heads up. He could already feel her soft hands soaked like a sponge.
Nevertheless, he shrugged happily. "I don't mind. My hands can sweat more than yours, and really, it's good. I can hold your hand and acquire free moisturizer at the same time."
She punched him then. Hikaru winced in pain. He may have anticipated her reaction as soon as his neurons began the conception of this new joke but he certainly hadn't expected the reverberating consequences on his humerus. He drew her hand back when she haughtily attempted to pull it away.
"Konako, it's fine," he said. "I mean it," he added sincerely when she gave him a dubious look.
She nodded before turning to the window, the view passing scenery doing little to ease her. She was losing herself to the vortex of her own thoughts.
"So what's her name?" Hikaru decided to ask after a while.
"Hana."
He nodded and began exercising his lips to the syllables. "Hana."
That was the name that belonged to the pale face awaiting their arrival in the hotel's reception area. Hikaru never would have thought that its physical manifestation would intimidate him so but he found that it was on account that it both bore a striking resemblance with that of the girl he was standing next to - and yet didn't.
It was as if someone had taken Konako and fixed the smudge around her edges. This stranger was a sharper version of the girl he knew. Her face was thinner, for one thing, and more angularly defined; her nose narrower and longer, perhaps due to the fact that it had more room to slope steeply downwards before terminating into a sharp hook. And where Konako had thicker wavy locks, this girl had thinner straight hair that plunged to gravity's pull in the most direct way possible.
Even her mouth shared similar characteristics with the rest of her features - that is to say, thin and small. It was set as if an artist had been asked to make a straight line - mathematically imperfect but crude enough to give the impression of it being so, overall setting observers to believe that she didn't smile very often.
In fact, Hikaru discovered why this girl intimidated him so much. It was because of how she could look so much like Konako and yet remind him of her cousin Kuraki, back before he finally managed to win him over and get him to stop frowning at him.
Hikaru now wished he hadn't asked Konako if he could come. He wasn't even sure if Hana knew of him coming today. Had Konako notified her of their unexpected guest? She should have, shouldn't she? Otherwise her sister would be disappointed to have the bonding session they had originally planned to be limited with his unwelcomed intrusion. In fact, did Hana even know of his existence? Had Konako broken the news of their relationship to other members of her family?
No sooner had this thought skimmed through his thoughts when another more chilling possibility washed through his cognitive pathways like an ice cube slipping down his spine.
What if she does know him?
And if she does, what does she know of him?
How much does she know of Japan's ridiculous population of male idols?
Hikaru was suddenly very afraid. He clearly hadn't thought this through enough. As usual. He had allowed curiosity to get the worst of him.
A hand clasped his shoulder and he almost leapt from the pure shock of it but it was only Konako who had apparently only then caught sight of her sibling.
"Ooh Hikaru, there she is!" she whispered excitedly, all the nervousness she had felt since their departure dissipating to oblivion. She was to be reunited with her sister. That was all that mattered now.
Hikaru swallowed the lump growing in his throat. "Yeah... I figured." Strange. All that brave face on the train and now he was nervous.
"HANA!" Konako burst, unable to contain her emotions any longer. Her sister turned to the direction of her voice and that stern emotionless face immediately melted away in favor of one expressing vibrant joy. She squealed something so high pitched that Hikaru couldn't quite catch before leaping up and running over.
That surprised Hikaru - the childish squeak more so than the facial expression that only a mere second ago had appeared unwanted on her features. For a moment, Hikaru had taken her for a serious version of Konako but there she was, running ecstatically towards her.
The siblings met halfway and embraced each other with delighted screams only females are ever capable of producing.
"It's been forever!" Hana gasped.
"A year," Konako corrected. "Hardly forever."
"A year is forever! The room's not the same without you!"
Hikaru wondered if they would collapse into giggles. He silently debated with himself if it was safe to approach and how.
"So where is this guy?" Hana cut to the chase, one eyebrow up and a smirk on her lips.
"Not one to beat around the bush, aren't you?" Konako blushed as she jolted her head into Hikaru's direction. "Right over there... Hika," she called, grinning at him with embarrassment. "Come here."
Hikaru felt like he was wading ankle-deep in a pool of mollasses. She really wasn't all that frightening now, but he was still tentative with making contact.
"Hana, Hikaru," Konako said, briskly brushing through the introductions. "Hikaru, Hana."
Hana grinned up at him. "Hi! It's nice to meet you!"
Hikaru felt himself relaxing with the greeting. She was nice! He grinned back. "Hey. It's nice to meet you too. Did you just arrive here?"
"Just a few hours ago, actually," she replied cheerfully. "I thought I should make myself at home first before meeting you guys."
"Oooh... Are we going upstairs?" Konako asked excitedly.
"If you want to, sure. They've got a restaurant by the pool on the 10th floor. We can catch up while eating there."
"That's awesome!" Konako gushed before turning to Hikaru. "Awesome?"
Hikaru grinned. "Awesome!"
"Awesome," Hana said.
Hikaru suddenly felt so silly, getting timid over someone this friendly. What had he been so intimidated of anyway? Hana didn't even look like she recognized him. He had no real cause to fear. None at all.
"So you must be the older sister, right?" Hikaru had wanted to ask. "Where do you work?"
Immediately after he said that though, everything cordial with Konako's sister disappeared. The atmosphere she was emitting could have easily frozen a herd of mammoths as they were feeding. Hikaru was very suddenly aware that he must have done something incredibly wrong.
"Uhh..."
Konako winced. Oh God. She had completely forgotten. She advanced to her sibling with caution. "Hana..."
But her piercing gaze, sharp as icicles, were focused only on one person.
Hikaru gulped. "Hana? Are you--"
"How about you jump over a building, asshole?" She didn't even bother to have him finish his sentence.
Hikaru recoiled as if hit. He stared helplessly at Konako. It was one thing to know he had sinned and another thing to be unaware of the crime that earned him this sort of response. "What happened..?"
"Hika," she said slowly, fearfully. "She's my younger sister... She's younger by 3 years..."
And as that fact sunk into comprehension, Hikaru only had one thing to say. "Oh."