[fic] Skyward, Future-bound {東京マグニチュード8.0: Mirai, Yuuki; G}
Short, unbeta'd, written in 30 minutes. Triggered by the earthquake that hit Japan almost a month ago.
Genre: Family/General
Rating: G
Characters: Mirai, Yuuki
Story Type: One-shot
Summary: Eventually, she found her courage to move on.
Disclaimer: Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 is the property of Takahashi Natsuko.
Spoilers: Obvious ending spoiler is obvious.
Notes: There will be a pun on Yuuki's name, if you're at least a little bit familiar with the Japanese language.
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In retrospect, their parents chose very appropriate names for them.
The older sister - the future, carrying on the hopes of the family.
The younger brother - the courage, offering the quiet support whenever things fell apart.
Mirai wished it was different. She didn't want to be an older sister - she wasn't qualified to be one. She was young and helpless, an incompetent sibling and daughter, and she couldn't understand why no one blamed her while everything started because of her.
"I love your name, onee-chan!"
She felt a surge of pride every time she heard it, even if she always sneered or made a snappish comment. Yuuki's patience was really something, to be able to put up with her short temper.
Yet she had never really appreciated her name; she was as pessimistic as they come. Mirai had never envisioned much of a future, preferring to trudge through each day with her stubbornness. School was mundane. Life at home was mundane, waiting for her parents to come home and having them forget important anniversaries. She couldn't muster up the will to live up to her name when no one else seemed to care.
Until Yuuki smiled and brought them back to their shaken home.
It became difficult to maintain a natural conversation with her parents. She didn't know how to deal with it - Yuuki was just there with me, didn't you say you'll stay with me? - talking about it didn't seem to help. Her parents were concerned - and of course they would be, Yuuki was their son - but Mirai felt they still didn't understand.
They weren't there when Yuuki gripped her hand tightly, refusing to let go until they reached their next safe spot. They weren't there when Yuuki kept silent about his own condition just so they could get home faster. They weren't there when Yuuki made her laugh and feel thankful to be alive even when the situation was bleak.
"I like you, onee-chan!"
Mirai felt terrible about not telling Yuuki the same thing when she had the chance - because, even if she didn't like the role of an older sibling, she was still proud to have Yuuki as a younger brother. She still regretted a lot of things about not doing and already done, but she didn't have the power to go back in time.
It would be a long road ahead of her. But she would keep going, for her parents and herself, because Yuuki still lived on in her.
- Owari -
Authoress' Notes: I sometimes wish there's an OVA to show how they dealt with the aftermath of the earthquake.