My Brother is Working Hard at Something, so I've Got to Do My Best, Too.

"So listen, I've got two tickets for this movie, and I wanted to ask if you would go with me, but something came up that day...do you want them?"

It's early morning before homeroom, and as we enter the classroom and put our stuff down at our desks, Saya pulls a couple gray, patterned movie tickets from her bag and hands them to me. As I study them, she pulls her chair up to my desk and perches her head on her hands, faintly smiling in that catlike way.

"Whaddaya think? Do you want them?"

To be honest, I'm not sure. The ticket has the title of the movie written in romaji, and even though I can read enough English, it isn't English.

"I can't tell what the title is."

"Les roses fleurissent en hiver," Saya responds authoritatively. "It's French."

"I don't know...I can't speak French, so I'm not sure I'd enjoy it. What's it about?" I like foreign movies okay, but all the ones I've seen were originally in English and dubbed.

"It's an action movie. It's really good!" Saya's eyes light up. "You liked John Wack, didn't you? It's kinda like that, but French. It'll be subtitled."

I always thought that French movies were pretentious, but this one seems to be right up my alley. I do like myself a gangster movie every now and then. It's not that weird...well, okay, it is a little weird for a girl my age, but I'm allowed to have one weird thing I like, right?

"I guess I'll go, then, if you think it's that good.” I slip into my own seat. "It's not like I have anything planned that weekend." It’s in the afternoon on the last day of school before summer break, so maybe I’ll treat it like a reward for making it through another semester.

"It is! I've rewatched it 4 times already."

"Then why'd you get tickets if you've already seen it so much?"

"Because it’s the official release. It's a one-day only special event and the Film Society of the Greater Tokyo Area is showing a bunch of foreign movies, subtitled in Japanese for the first time. When I saw they were showing this one, and with it being so close to my birthday, too, I wanted to go watch it with you so I could show you how great it is."

"Wait...how have you seen it so much if this is the first time it's getting released?"

"Torrents are powerful things."

"Torrents?"

"Ah, don't worry about that."

"Okay..." That answer was kind of evasive, but Saya's known for being cryptic just because it amuses her, so I don't press it. "Why couldn't you go?"

"Because I have a date that weekend."

"Really? That's...unexpected. Is it someone here?" I honestly didn't think out of my friend group, she'd be the first one to have a boy like her. To be honest, I thought it would be me..no, I'm not bragging. I'm just saying that Saya always seemed disinterested in guys, and Miku's too scared of them to do anything other than stalk them, so it seemed like I would be the first to have someone confess to me. Hasn't happened yet, though.

"Nope, he's a first-year at Ootori High, you wouldn't know him," Saya grins.

"So why didn't you go to the movie with him, then?"

"Because he had something else planned out," Saya sighs. "Men always want to be the ones taking the lead, even when it's not that important..."

"That's guys for you." To put it more simply, that's my brother for you. He always wants to take on responsibility- it's because he views it as a sign of being an adult, probably. To be honest, that's not always a bad thing. I have no doubt that he'd be able to function in life just fine if Mom and Dad just disappeared. He'd probably take care of me, too. The downside of that is that trying to take on so much responsibility when you've barely turned sixteen puts you under a lot of stress that could really be avoided, which makes you on edge all the time, which leads to- yeah, the whole blowing up at your parents thing. I'm glad that he seems to have mellowed out lately since Mom and Dad have started acting more responsible. I haven't seen him smile yet, but one of these days I bet he will.

"Sorry I set this up with you and then bailed, Kaede."

"Nah, it's alright. The movie's not for a few weeks, and if you have a date, you should go. We can hang out anytime." I play with the tickets in my hand. "Who am I gonna go with, though? Miku?"

"I don't think so. She doesn't like movies that aren't steamy romance."

"Figures. Himari-chan?"

Saya raises an eyebrow. "She'd be so nervous going on a date with you that she'd pass out."

"But it wouldn't be a date, though..."

"That's what you think."

That means all the other girls in the class are out, too. Saya's right- if someone that you're just an acquaintance of asks you to go watch a movie with them, anyone would assume you're asking them out.

Then that just leaves...

"My brother?"

"Ooh, great idea. You two have been on better terms lately, right?"

"Yeah, but it's still kinda awkward. I bet this would help." I know we're not as distant as we used to be, but it still feels like there's a bit of a gap between us. I want us to go back to being friendly like we were as kids. Besides, if I get closer to him I can ask him to help me with that blond hottie on his team without feeling embarrassed. This is the perfect way to do it- we're going to be watching the movie the whole time so we don't have to talk that much, and there's no problem with siblings watching movies- it happens all the time.

"Let me know how it goes," Saya says with a knowing look.

Wait. Saya knows all about my relationship with my brother. Did she intend for this to happen in the first place? Is she plotting something? I give her a quizzical look, but her expression doesn't change. Maybe she did, maybe she didn't. I might never know.

"Deal. You've gotta tell me about your date, though."

"Noted~"

"Your what?!" A high-pitched shout of surprise comes from beside us. I look over to see that Miku has made her way to our classroom from 2-1, her mouth open in shock.

"Morning, Miku-chan..." Saya greets our mutual friend with a lazy wave. "I got a date in a few weeks. We were just talking about it."

"Sayaya, I can't believe you!" Miku fumes. "You just stabbed me in the back! How are you gonna get a boyfriend before me? You cheater! You lying, snakey cheater!"

"It's not my fault you haven't confessed to Maid-kun yet."

Crap, she is never going to let that go.

"You better not have asked my Haru-kun out!"

"Maybe I did..." Saya smirks with another catlike grin.

Miku puffs out her cheeks and makes an annoyed grunt.

"Saya, stop it. She's not dating my brother."

"Duh, Miku-chan," Saya says with a cheeky smile. "He only has eyes for Ayame Shiritori, you know~"

"Hmph! I'm definitely gonna beat her!" Miku pouts, turning her head off to the side.

I hate to be pessimistic, but if you can't actually talk to my brother there's no way you're ever going to have any chance of beating Shiritori. That's just the way relationships work.

Miku's demeanor suddenly changes as she whips a pad of paper and starts writing stuff down. "Ooh, this is a good one! 'Saya Asahi, Class 2-3's unofficial Big Sister, has a mysterious suitor! Who is he? Find out more on Page 8!' This month's key story is that the boys' and girls' volleyball team captains were seen exchanging towels after practice, so they're probably in love, but if I add this story on top of that I'm definitely making it out of the back page next month!"

I really don't have the heart to tell her that the fact that she has so few readers is how she's allowed to get away with being the world's most stalkerish reporter. It probably wouldn't get through to her anyways.

"Who is it, Sayaya? What's he like?" Miku bends over, sticking her nose about three inches from Saya's.

"Well, he goes to Ootori..."

Miku nods, scribbling something down furiously on her pad.

"His name's Joe."

Miku scribbles something down again. "Joe who?"

"Joe mama."

Miku, upon realizing she's been tricked, steps back and pouts in disgust while Saya giggles. "I can't believe you!" Miku snaps.

She walked right into that one.

"Anyway, Kaechan-" she turns to me- "can I copy off your math homework?"

"Why?"

"Cause I didn't do it."

"That's your own problem."

"But the Masked Songwriter last night was so good and I was so focused on it that I forgot!"

"Ugh, fine." I guess I have no choice but to pull out my algebra homework. "Make it quick."

Suddenly, the door slams open, and the class's chatter comes to a halt as a nasal voice calls out, "Maebara! There you are!"

Vice President Nagahama strides with authority into the room, followed by two of the armbanded goons. Even with only a few minutes to go until homeroom starts, they're still patrolling. Doesn't surprise me. It seems like the shrimp isn't here today, just four-eyes. She's probably off harassing another grade.

Miku looks up with the most innocent expression. "Huh? Me?" It would be a whole lot more effective if she wasn't already all the way on their bad side.

"Yes, you, Maebara!" Nagahama seethes. "Two first-years saw you up on the roof with a camera and you had better explain what you were doing there!"

"Uhh...haha..." She fidgets. "You can't get between a journalist and her scoop, you know? We have freedom of the press here."

Now he's up on top of her. She's on the short side, so it makes the height difference look colossal. You could hear a pin drop in this classroom. I know everyone in here feels bad for Miku, but all of them are more thankful they're not the Student Council's target this time.

"As you very well know, personal electronics are banned on school grounds. Now hand over the camera!"

Uh oh. I think she's busted. They're going to look through it and find all her "breaking video footage". I hope she likes her new school, at least.

"What? I only have this," Miku says, holding out her notepad. "There's no rule against having paper on school grounds, is there?"

It's such a bold faced lie that I'm kind of shocked she said it. Everyone knows that she has the club's camcorder stuffed in her bag, or somewhere on her. She takes it everywhere.

Nagahama looks rather perplexed. He couldn't have bought it, could he? "Let me see that," he growls.

"Sure, but I have to warn you…if you confiscate that, Page 8 will lose its breaking articles for this month, and you'll be hearing from all my loyal readers!"

Yup, all two of them.

"Maebara, hand it over," the vice president says, reaching an arm out.

"Hold on!" Miku cries. "If you just take it, we'll lose the story about the boys' and girls' volleyball team captains' mutual love for each other, and Kimura in 3-1 getting confessed to, and- this is a really important one- according to multiple sources with close relationships, Vice President Nagahama has confessed that he had a dream about licking President Senjuuin's-"

"MAEBARA!" the vice president yells in that awful, congested nasal voice of his. But he doesn't go after her- instead he whirls around to glare at his two goons. One of them backs up a step or two while the other frantically shakes his head no.

He turns back around to discipline Miku, and then notices she's no longer there. Then, we all hear the door to the room slam. He looks like he swallowed a lemon, and then he and his goons immediately rush out the same way.

Two minutes later, as the whole class is still struggling to process what we just saw, our homeroom teacher enters the room, and class begins for the day. It goes pretty well, all things considered. I was called on to read in literature class and did it smoothly even though I wasn't paying attention beforehand. I thought Miku was dead meat, but she shows back up at lunch as happy as ever. She's still got the camera, too. I have no idea how she pulled that off.

When the school day ends (and thankfully we're not being pursued by the Fun Police), Saya and I walk home until we get to the point where our paths split, at which point we say goodbye. Miku had club today so she didn't come with us. I try to pry a little bit more out of Saya about her date, but she doesn't want to talk. Oh well. She'll come clean when she's ready, I guess.

My home smells like fried rice when I walk in. Mom must be busy. I hope it isn't green this time like it was the last time- it tasted fine but it was still a weird color and it looked off-putting. I have no idea how she got it to be that way. Niichan wouldn't touch it.

I say hello to my mom in the kitchen and make my way upstairs. Looks like I'm home before Niichan again. My dad must be in the office working- the door is shut and I can hear him clicking away inside.

I flop down on my bed, throwing my bag aside. I really didn't do anything today, but a whole day of school is still exhausting.

Something catches my eye on my dresser. I shift over and pick it up. It's the flyer that the lady gave me at the school festival. "Interested in being a voice actress? Daystar Productions is holding an information session! See how your dreams can come true at Daystar! Summer Comiket 100, August 13, 2022, Tokyo Big Sight Conference Room F." There's a couple drawings of girls holding microphones.

When she approached me, I had no idea if I actually wanted to be a voice actress, or even had much familiarity with it. I only took the flyer because I wanted to be polite. I still don't know much about what being a voice actress is- I know they voice anime and games and a lot of them are idols, too, but that's about it.

Is it really something that I'd be interested in doing? A month ago it wasn't even on my radar, but I did enjoy acting in my class play, and it felt good to be praised...maybe I'd be good at it? I still don't know. It's a lot to take in.

This is just an information session, though. I'm not making any commitments, just trying to see what this is all about. And I always have wanted to go back to Tokyo. None of us have been in a while. But how am I going to convince my parents to let me go so far on my own? Oh well. I'll think about that later.

I unzip my bag and take out the movie tickets that Saya gave me, holding them up to the light while I'm laid on my bed. For simple pieces of paper, they’re very pretty. The geometric pattern on them is almost hypnotizing to look at.

How am I going to ask Niichan to go with me? If I say it the wrong way, it'll be really awkward.

What if he reacts to it like I'm asking him out and then he thinks I'm a brocon...aaaah, what am I thinking?! I just need to suck it up and do it, and he can take it whatever way he wants- it's his fault if he gets the wrong idea, not mine!

I've made up my mind. As soon as he gets back, I'm going to ask him. I need to get a snack, though. I haven't had anything since lunch.

I open the door to my room, turn to head downstairs, and stop. My brother is standing in the bathroom, staring at a glass full of a curious-looking liquid. I never even heard him come in. Did I daydream or something?

"Niichan, whatcha doing? What is that?"

He looks a bit surprised that I snuck up on him, but says after a moment's hesitation, "Raw egg whites. Takeno-senpai told me they'd help me build muscle." He grimaces.

It looks like a glass full of snot.

"Who's Takeno-senpai?"

"My team captain."

"Ah. Right."

With one fluid motion, my brother closes his eyes, pinches his nose, and throws the whole glass back. Surprisingly, when he opens his eyes, he looks fine.

"Hey, Niichan," I say. "I was gonna go see a movie with my friend on the afternoon of the last day of school, but she can't come...do you want to go with me?" That sounded casual enough. I hope he doesn't get the wrong idea.

He doesn't even ask for specifics. He just says "Yeah, that sounds fine...urp!" Suddenly, he makes a terrified expression and immediately bends over the toilet, slapping the music button which does absolutely nothing to cover up the sound of his lunch coming back up.

And...there goes my appetite. I have to keep my eyes shut until the horrific noises stop, or I’d end up joining him.

"Niichan, are you okay?"

He looks up weakly. "Yeah...I'm fine-" He can't even finish before he sticks his head back in the toilet bowl and another round of awful sounds start.

Jocks sure have it rough. Do your best, Niichan. I'm rooting for you.