The Sisterhood

Natsumi wanted to react but at the same time Haruki opened the back door and asked her for help, as the morning traffic at the cafe was almost at its peak. She cursed under her nose, she wanted to catch him and explain everything right away, but at least the decision belonged to her. The cafe’s worker wanted to ask what was the result of the conversation, however seeing friend’s angry face, he knew it was pointless. The bitterness helped the baker go through the day and one more shift at the part time job, but the tiredness couldn’t be kept down any more, so when she got home, she couldn't think about anything else than bed.

The next day was finally a free one, for which Natsumi was truly thankful, especially that it was Sunday. Kiki made breakfast for her earlier and hid in her room already. The older sister decided to deal with some chores and was searching through pockets before putting anything into the washing machine. There she found the number sequence and sighed heavily, remembering the weird situation from the day before. Her hand stopped over a trash bin, at first reaction she was ready to throw the chitty away, but somehow couldn’t and looking for an answer why was making her mad.

Natsumi couldn't focus on anything particular, because most of the time her mind was analyzing the idol's behavior without her consent. It was like she spoke to two different people with the same face, and that face was looking at her from the poster in Kiki’s room, where she went with hope to find an answer.

“Busy?”

“No, just doing teenage stuff. What brings my lovely sister to my kingdom?” Kiki turned around on her chair with a mischievous smile, but saw that her sister was not in the mood for jokes.

Surprisingly Natsumi was looking at her posters with interest, not commenting viciously as usual, when she was in that room. Her finger pointed at Kenny, Kiki was wondering what was going on, considering sister’s negative opinion about idols and the entertainment business overall.

“What would you do if you met him?” Natsumi asked in a serious tone, Kiki got surprised, but was not thinking much before answering.

“Talk to him. It's human after all, I would love to make friends with him.”

“No squealing or swooning?”

“Is he an alien to make me react like that?” Kiki spat, yeah she was a fan but she also had her own principles. Natsumi seemed to be in some kind of philosophical state. “Of course I would feel a lot of emotions then, but I would try not to make me or him be overwhelmed.”

“That's nice of you.” Natsumi smiled sadly but didn't let memories flow.

“But there is no chance it will happen, so I can just say that. In reality I could actually pass out.” The younger sister shrugged and was observing the older one for a moment.

Kiki was getting worried there must be a reason why Natsumi had asked that kind of question, and couldn't think about any. A break in their conversation was needed and both were waiting patiently for the other one to be ready to continue. Kiki opened the window so a bit of the cold, late autumn wind could creep in to air the room. It hit Natsumi lightly and she shivered, still feeling like the small chitty was weighing in her pocket like a rock.

“This Kenny, what is he like?”

“Kazuya.” Kiki set her straight on the name issue.

Oh yeah, he got angry about that, Natsumi remembered and asked to be sure: “So Kenny is only the stage name? Did he change it?”

“No and I don't think he can now. But for a while I was seeing that every time someone called him Kenny his face twitched for a second, so I think it's making him angry now and he doesn't want to use it anymore. Don't ask me why, I have no idea,” Kiki admitted sadly. “I guess something must have happened.”

“He is lucky to have a fan like you, who could notice this.” Finally a weak smile showed up on Natsumi's face. “So will you tell me something about him?”

“Well I don't think I know who the real Kazuya is, but Kenny is…” Kiki couldn't find the right words and sighed, scratching her hand, before continuing. “He is really talented and used to behave more nicely and socially. When I see him now I feel like he separated himself from the rest, doing only what he has to, when he definitely doesn't want to. Just got a little rebellious.” Again the silence filled up the room. Natsumi was thinking about sister’s words while Kiki was looking at the park not far away from their apartment and saying more to herself than to collocutor. “Like watching someone going around in the golden cage. Why are you asking that?”

“Hmm? What did you say Kiki?” Natsumi’s mind was wandering here and there between her two until then meetings with Kazuya.

“I was asking you why are you asking me all of this?”

“Just because.” She knew it probably won’t be enough for the younger sister, so quickly added an explanation, which was not far away from the truth. “I heard some customers saying that they saw him around my cafe and what they would do, so I was just curious, what is your point of view?” Natsumi tried to sound indifferent, but Kiki was still feeling there is something more going on.

“Since when do you eavesdrop?”

“They were loud Kiki, like really loud.”

“Mhhm.”

“I am done with this look.” The older sister pointed on sibling’s face, who was still holding raised eyebrows with an expression full of discredit.

Natsumi left sister’s room and decided to start preparing the dinner, but somehow the phone was like calling her. She didn’t know why she was even considering using the number, but there was also one question Kiki hadn't given her answer, but still was bothering her. The phone finally found a place in her hand, she was turning it over and over and finally wrote experimentally “Where and when?”, with no intention of sending it but keeping unconsciously a finger over the press button ready to do so. Why do you like him so much Kiki? Should I see myself?

A loud scream came from Kiki’s room. Natsumi got there in seconds and sighed with relief when it was only about Kazuya being part of some unexpected live transmission of his group's social media, but hadn't noticed yet that the message had sent status.