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They were never particularly close, but even so, for Akito is easy to remember the few times when their relationship didn't felt as broken.
His sister always liked sweet stuff, so, it wasn't strange to see her doing fast visits to the local convenience store, looking for some snacks or cakes that looked good enough in her eyes. One time, she looked at his direction before even touching the doornob, just to spout.
"You wanna come?"
It wasn't subtle at all, so it took him by surprise. He was young, and Ena and him hardly talk or stood with each other more than they needed to, but at that age, he couldn't stop himself from saying yes.
The true was, he always admire his sister. When, during class, he would be asked to write papers about the person he most looked up to, he would always named her, feeling a little embarased when noticing everyone else had written a famouse star's name, or even their parents for that matter.
He just thought she was amazing. She used to participate in a lot of art contest in her school, and always got praises and great results. Akito wished he had a talent like that, but, he failed to see that could also be a curse in itself, and, that his sister wasn't as perfect as he originally thought.
She was a mess. Always complaining, couldn't even speak up to their father, even when the opressing feeling in her chest was making her suffer. He could always hear her cry at night, when their parents were asleep, completely alone in her room, never showing it to anyone.
He'd stopped looking up to his sister a long time ago. Or so he thought. But, walking by her side that time make him realize maybe that wasn't completly true.
"Hey, Akito. Look" she said, looking at a dress hanging from a popular clothing brand at the time, he saw her eyes sparkle for a second before looking back at him "Is pretty, isn't it?"
He didn't know what to say. They almost never talked, not alone like that. He didn't knew what response would his sister like. Would a simple "yes" be enough? If he was to be honest, he didn't like the piece at all, too pinky and sparkly. But Ena didn't even wait for him to say anything back.
"When my art gets famouse, I'm gonna be able to buy that dress and any other that I want. Maybe even buy something for you too" she said, looking back at him "So you better go promoting my drawings when that happens, or I'll get all the pancakes for myself"
Yes. Ena always dreamed about being a great artist, even more famouse than their father. She used to always brag about all the things she would be able to do with all the money she'll get.
Now, those memories felt so distant.
He sigh while looking at the little box he had been hiding for a couple of days already. He didn't knew if it was the right thing to do, but he just felt like it. Maybe she wouldn't even think much about it.
"Akito, where did you leave my pencil case? I told you to return when–" Ena stop the exact same moment her eyes notice the box her brother was passing to her. She looked back at him, and then back to the box one more time, before interrogating him with her eyes "And this is?"
"A present. Your birthday is tomorrow, I know, but I thought it would be akward to give it to you in front of everyone. Best to just end it right now" he said, avoiding his sisters gaze at all cost. She sigh, and simply took the present.
It was beautifully wraped, which make her inmediatly asumed Akito hadn't done it himself. She took the gold ribbon and opened it with ease, while maintaining complete uncertainty in her expression.
And then, she saw it. A sparkly pink dress, a little too small for her to even use.
"I don't really know your size, so I just bough the one I thought looked right. You can always go and return it, or even change it for something else, I don't really care." Akito said, while mumbling on the side a little "I don't even think you remember" before looking at his sisters face.
He stop inmediatly.
She looked surprise, but at the same time, there was a sense of familiarity on her gaze. She took the dress and examine it closely before craking a smile so full of nostalgia, than even Akito felt overwhelmed for a few second.
"I didn't thought you would remember that" she spoke, softly without even taking her eyes from the piece of clothing, until she lay her eyes on him, and smiled with care.
"Thank you Akito"
He always thought their relationship was broken beyond repear, but, maybe, he was wrong from the start. Their relationship didn't need reparing.
It was just fine the way it was.