Chapter Text
“My, my,” Touga Kiryuu mused as he pressed himself against the bedsheets. “That’s quite the plan, Mr. Chairman.”
At the other end of the bed lay Akio Ohtori, his shirt open, along with his fly. “Think nothing of it, Touga. I always want siblings to become closer.”
“Shall I go ahead and make the call, then?”
“But of course. I’ve already made the necessary preparations. One way or another, you’re going to have cancer.”
Touga smirked deviously. “I can always rely on you.”
***
As her English teacher droned on, Nanami found herself drifting off. She stared out the window and into the summer sky, thinking longingly of her big brother. He had a doctor’s appointment today, a routine checkup, but he had to miss class, regardless.
A sigh escaped her lips. “Touga…” Oh, how she loved him! His long, flowing red hair… his muscular body… his strange moans at night whenever he brought a girl home that Nanami could never figure out the reason for… truly, he was the perfect big brother, devoted to her and no one else! She was so glad they had such a long life ahead of them together with absolutely nothing that could tear them apart.
After class, though, something very strange happened. Keiko, Aiko, and Yuko gossiped and ate pocky in the seats behind her, very obnoxiously, by the way, and very, very loudly.
“Like, omigosh!” Keiko said for the thousandth time.
“Like, omigosh!” Aiko and Yuko agreed for the thousandth time.
“Girls,” Nanami said sweetly, turning around to face her lackeys. A giant smile was plastered on her face. “If you don’t stop saying that, you’re going to be confined to bed and drinking soup out of a straw for the rest of your lives because of how badly I’m going to beat the crap out of you.”
The three girls stared at her blankly.
“And I’ll make sure it’s split pea soup.”
The looks of sheer horror on their faces, the looks that said that on some primal level, they understood the horror of split pea soup, day in and day out for all eternity, of never again eating a single solid food… well, it gave Nanami great pleasure.
“We’re so sorry, Miss Nanami!”
“Please forgive our insolence!”
“Please don’t make us drink urine!”
Keiko and Aiko turned to stare at Yuko.
“What?” said Yuko. “She said pee soup. Seriously, you guys need to keep up.”
“That’s not… Ugh!” Nanami stood, shoving her books into her bag. “I need to get away from you three.”
And that’s when she heard the P.A. system. It started with the usual chime to get students’ attention before going into the announcement.
“Nanami Kiryuu to the guidance counselor’s office, please. Nanami Kiryuu to the guidance counselor’s office.”
Oh great, just what I needed, Nanami thought. As she walked out of the classroom, the stares of her three lackies boring into her back, she wondered why she was being summoned, but try as she might, she couldn’t decide on a single thing. They already knew about her role in the curry incident, so it couldn’t be that. Did they know about how she gave Anthy that trick dress?
Before she could pursue that train of thought any further, Nanami opened the door to the guidance counselor’s office. The counselor stood behind her desk, a strangely concerned look on her face. Even stranger was that in a chair in front of the desk sat none other than her big brother Touga. Stranger still was that he sat slumped, with none of his usual poise or confidence.
“Take a seat, Nanami,” said the counselor, her voice gentle. She gestured to a second chair.
“What’s going on here?” demanded Nanami, hands on her hips. “What did you say to upset my big brother so much?”
“I assure you, I said nothing to upset him.”
Nanami cocked an eyebrow. “Uh-huh. Right.”
“It’s true, Nanami. Please, just… just sit…”
“Big brother?” Nanami placed her hands on her chest, feeling utterly bewildered. Touga sounded so defeated… so morose… she’d never seen him anything like this.
So, she sat. She sat and waited quietly, waiting for Touga to explain. And yet, he said nothing. He just continued to slump, his face turned away from Nanami. The sound of the ticking clock on the wall was the only sound.
“Perhaps I should tell her,” suggested the counselor, breaking the silence.
“Tell me what? Please, big brother, tell me what’s wrong!”
Touga sighed. “I suppose it’s inevitable…” Slowly, very slowly, he turned, revealing it to Nanami…
Nanami’s mouth dropped. “Big brother!” she screeched. “Your face! It’s… it’s….”
“Yes, I know…” Touga said. “It started at the doctor today…”
“But it was so normal this morning!”
“And it’ll look normal again soon. This is just a reaction to the tests they did.”
“Tests? Tests for what? What’s going on? Why… why is your face…” Nanami trailed off, her lips trembling. She felt sick, like she was going to vomit. She wanted to run away, but she had to be strong for her brother. She had to ask: “Why is your face… PINK!?”
A single tear streaked down Touga’s neon pink face. He took a deep breath. And then, he said four words. Four words that would flip Nanami’s world upside down and inside out.
“I have breast cancer.”
***
Nanami stared vacantly into space for the rest of the evening as everything spun. She barely touched her steak dinner. She didn’t force Aiko into doing her homework. She didn’t even watch the new episode of Sailor Moon. (Not that she would have watched it anyway, that was a children’s show and she only collected the action figures to sell them for a high price later on and besides, it was on before her real favorite show, A Fashionable Young Lady’s Guide to Social Domination and Fabulosity.)
Instead, after dinner, which she ate alone because Touga was in his room, she lay in her own room, sprawled out on her bed, lost in a sea of thought. She hadn’t even bothered to change out of her student council uniform and into her night gown.
Touga didn’t have long to live. A few months, at most. He must be miserable!
“Oh, that feels good!”” came Touga’s voice from down the hall, joined by another girl’s ecstatic moans.
There had to be something Nanami could for him, but what?
“Touga, Touga, Touga!” came the other girl’s voice, at which point Nanami realized it must be a record player stuck on a loop. “Touga, Touga, Touga, Touga!”
“How terrible…” Nanami fretted. “He’s so distraught that he’s listening to his name over and over again.”
“Don’t stop, Touga! You make me feel so alive!”
Touga grunted, loudly and animally as the crescendo of a rhythmic thumping sound reached Nanami’s ears.
“He’s so crushed by his impending death that hearing the word alive on a self-help tape makes him hit the wall and scream in despair…”
With one last scream, the sounds stopped, and quietness returned, save for the sound of Touga’s labored breathing down the hall.
“Oh, he must feel so alone…” Nanami flipped over on her side. She had to do something for him, but what? What could she possibly offer someone as amazing as brother that he didn’t already have?
There came a rapping at her door. “Miss Nanami,” came Tsuwabuki’s voice. “I brought the Sailor Mercury figurine you wanted.”
Nanami jumped out of bed and dashed to her door. Sure enough, there was her little blonde assistant, standing with a bag. Her mouth dropped. “Get in here!” She pulled the boy into her room and slammed the door. “Don’t say that so loud! and I didn’t even want Sailor Mercury; I wanted Sailor Mars and I don’t even like the show anyway because it’s stupid!” She grabbed the bag out of Tsuwabuki’s hands. “Wait… this is Super Sailor Mercury from the SuperS season which is the worst season! Can’t you do anything right, Tsuwabuki?”
The short boy stood there with his mouth open. Nanami stared piercingly at him, waiting for him to say something. When he didn’t, she felt all the anger rush out of her, and she flopped down on her bad again with a sigh.
“I… I don’t really understand, Miss Nanami…” he said. “But if there’s something bothering you, I’d like to help!”
For a moment, she considered telling him. Maybe it would be good to get this off her chest. But no, that was stupid. He was ten, for crying out loud! “Oh, what could you do to help?” she tossed the Sailor Mercury figurine on the floor, where it fell with a thump. Realizing she might have been too harsh, she added, “I wouldn’t expect you to understand, anyway.”
Tsuwabuki said nothing at first, but then walked over to where the figurine had landed. He picked it up and placed it on her dresser. “You know, Miss Nanami… I might be young, but even I know it’s important to ask friends for help.”
“it’s nothing you can help with.”
“Oh… are you sick? Maybe you should see a doctor!”
Nanami bolted upright. “I just said-“ she began, but stopped. Like a ton of bricks, an idea had hit her. “Tsuwabuki, you’re a genius! I know what I can do for my big brother!”
“Touga? But he seemed so happy as I passed him and that other girl in the hall”-
“Yeah, yeah,” Nanami cut him off not really listening. “I have a mission for you.”
At this, the boy straightened up. “A mission? For me? I’ll do everything I can Miss Nanami!”
“Good, because this is very important!”
“I can handle it!” Tsuwabuki’s face practically gleamed.
“Good. I need you to find blackmail material on every oncologist in the area.”
“Will do, Miss Nanami! But… if I might ask… why do you need this?”
A devious smirk crossed Nanami’s face. “Oh, sweet, innocent child… Don’t you know…” She paused, then delivered the final blow:
“I’m going to get cancer.”