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Saki stood in the entrance of the dining room, still in her oversized t-shirt and sleep shorts.
"G'mornin onii-chan…" she said softly before punctuation her sentence with an unintended yawn.
"Good morning Saki!!" Tsukasa responded with all the enthusiasm he ever did, before continuing with the breakfast that sat out before him. "I made you a plate, it's still in the kitchen so it'd stay warm."
Saki made a hum of acknowledgement as she shuffled her way past her older brother, ruffing up his hair as she passed.
"Geh?! I already brushed my hair!!" Her brother protested before propping his phone up against his glass as a makeshift mirror to smooth his hair out again.
"Heh."
Entering the kitchen, Saki saw the remnants of Tsukasa's breakfast making. It was always a mess but he insisted on cleaning it after eating so the food didn't get cold, he was faithful to his word that he'd clean it but it never made the mess any less comedic to see. Stray pans discarded in a pile in the counter after being deemed not good enough for his sister's scrambled eggs, an empty bowl formerly full of waffle batter was tipped over near the waffle maker, today there was even a burnt sunny side up egg sat on a plate and put off to one side. If Saki knew her brother well enough, which she did, Tsukasa likely got distracted when a new idea for the show he's working on popped into his head and he completely forgot about the egg he was making himself while he ran to jot it down in his notebook.
Saki reached past the mess and grabbed the plate in the back near the stove, scrambled eggs and a waffle with cut strawberries and whip cream. Her dear older brother did know her so well. She grabbed a mug from the cabinet and poured herself a cup of coffee to go along with it. "That's one way me and Tsukasa are different," she thought, "I never inherited the 'morning person' gene he got."
Sitting down at the dining room table across from Tsukasa, the two talked over breakfast as they usually did. How’s the rest of Leo/Need doing? Have you made more progress on your new script? How’s that school project you have going? Do you have your work’s schedules for next week yet? Nothing particularly important was ever said, they were just passing time and enjoying each other’s company.
“Do you have plans today, Onii-Chan?” Saki asked, not looking up from her more than half empty plate.
Tsukasa kicked back his chair, balancing on the hind two legs “Nah,” he responded while rocking back and forth “I was thinking I might head back to the stage today? I need to do more solo blocking for my soliloquy in our next show. I want some good ideas to bounce off Rui at our next meeting.”
“Isn’t that what you did yesterday? Which was also your day off?”
Tsukasa stopped rocking, as if anticipating the scolding his little sister tended to use on him “…yeah.”
Luckily for him however his sister seemed to be not in the mood that morning to whip out the “perils of overworking and burn out” rant as she sighed and shook her head in response instead. By this time Saki had finished her breakfast and pushed her chair away from the table in frustration.
“Well, I have no plans today so I’m going to be spending it here at home relaxing.” She huffed while cleaning up her section of the dining room table. Tsukasa continued leaning back in his chair, likely lost in thought thinking about the next show already.
So lost in thought to the extent he likely hadn’t even noticed Saki walking towards the living room, going right past the piano their mother had taught lessons on in their childhood. She still taught lessons but now she had a newer piano tucked into the family office instead of being placed against the wall of the home's main room. Saki paused, she’d walked past the piano near daily for as long as she could remember but something caught her eye this morning. Coating the top of every key was a layer of dust. Saki ran her fingers across the piano, the dust that this action kicked up tickled Saki’s nose causing her to sneeze.
In the room next to where Saki stood she heard a thud accompanied by her older brother’s easily identifiable yell. Saki whinced imagining the bruise from her brother's own stupidity.
“Are you o-“ Saki went to call out right after the fall but was interrupted by the sound of her brother quickly coming to his feet and sliding around the corner towards Saki.
“ARE YOU OKAY?” Tsukasa shouted in his signature loud voice as he pressed his hand to her forehead making sure to push her bangs out of the way with the motion.
Saki swatted his hand away from her head, “I’m fine!” She huffed “I was just looking at mom's old piano and the dust got to me a tad.”
“Dust?” Tsukasa turned his attention to the piano as well, “I suppose it has been awhile since any of us have used this one…”
Saki rarely used a grand piano anymore after all, opting most often to practice and perform with Leo/Need on a synth keyboard instead. As for Tsukasa the closest to playing piano for him was a keyboard much like his sisters, except his was placed backstage at Phoenix Wonderland which he simply used to assist with pre-show vocal warmups for his troupe.
Saki sat down at the piano in front of the two and carried her hands across the keys, playing a small medley of notes that sounded well enough. The piano still sounded good despite the time unused. Saki glowed at childhood memories of this exact piano, learning with her mother and performing for her family. The two stayed like this for a moment, Saki sat with her hands hovering over the keys playing no notes while Tsukasa stood behind her observing her actions at the piano.
Saki whipped around from the bench she sat on to look at her brother with shining eyes. She grabbed his hand in hers with a sudden excitement, “Do you remember that thing we used to do as kids?!”
“Eh??” Tsukasa looked at her with visible confusion.
"That thing that uh… um… the thingy we would do that… UGH it's hard to explain, just come here!" She responded, tugging on his hand as she turned back around causing him to stumble forward slightly. She pulled him down to sit next to her, with Saki on the right and Tsukasa on the left.
"It's a bit more crowded sitting here than it was when we were little huh? Ehehe~" Saki chuckled.
Tsukasa sat with furrowed eyebrows still trying to remember what Saki was referring to. After a moment his eyes widened with the same memory his sister must have had moments ago.
"OH!" He called out as it occurred to him.
"YES! YES!" Saki responded still glowing, clearly noticing her brother's change in expression.
As if on que Tsukasa held out his right arm towards Saki, she quickly linked her left arm with his. The two tucked their arms behind their backs leaving Saki's right hand and Tsukasa's left hand free respectively. Their hands hovered over the keys in front of them.
"How about something simple? Twinkle Twinkle Little Star?" Saki asked her brother inquisitively. He nodded in response, his eyes still set on the piano in front of him.
Their hands carried across the keys playing the classic nursery rhyme that most musicians would've learned in their earliest lessons. It was clumsy and awkward with the two bumping their heads together on multiple occasions. The arms behind their backs flinched a little, as instinct wanted their hands to take each other's place at the piano.
After a while Saki used her right hand to transition in one of Leo/Need's most recent songs glancing at Tsukasa as she did so, he smirked at the silent challenge. Tsukasa played with Saki to the best of his ability, playing by ear according to what he remembered from his seat in the audience of Leo/Need's latest performance.
"Ooh! So close! That note should have been sharp Onii-chan~" Saki teased, not lifting her eyes from the piano and not slowing her playing.
Tsukasa huffed at the remark, "Well how about this one then!" Tsukasa said not even attempting to gradually transition the song, rather he abruptly changed to a show tune Wonderland x Showtime used on multiple occasions in their shows.
Saki matched the challenge she had given her brother with the same enthusiasm he had. She was able to remember the song better, perhaps she was just naturally better at playing by ear or perhaps her continued practice of piano gave her a slight advantage over her brother who had dropped the skill almost entirely the moment their mother no longer asked them to play with her other students. But one thing was for sure, neither particularly cared who won the challenge.
The two were simply enjoying the fun moment reminiscing on a childhood game together. Tsukasa ultimately decided that maybe he didn't need to go to the Wonder Stage today after all.