Work Text:
Even though it was her birthday, for Sumire, the day didn’t feel any extra special. If anything, she probably felt worse on her birthday, seeing how it was always Kasumi’s friends who would be with them, celebrating her, mostly talking with her.
Not to say that Sumire wasn’t friends with them, it’s just that they were just other gymnasts that Kasumi spoke to and became friends with her first. Once Sumire would find herself involved, some would become her friends, but most would stick with Kasumi.
At least her parents were fair, giving equal treatment to the two of them as Sumire saw it, but there was little they could do for her in regards to how others celebrated with them.
It wasn’t their birthday; it was Kasumi’s birthday.
Sumire hated her birthday.
High school wasn’t supposed to change her life drastically.
Sumire had expected that it was going to be more of the same as her last 15 years of life; being in Kasumi’s shadow, no real friends of her own. Then he showed up. It just took him one year.
“Hey, Sumire…” Akira said, walking behind her as she walked to the station.
“Stop it,” she mumbled, stopping and turning her head back to face him. “Stop calling me Sumire.”
“Why?” he asked, stopping on a dime. “There’s two Yoshizawas, how am I supposed to differentiate between the two of you?”
“My sister’s not here,” she huffed, looking ahead as Kasumi walked with some of her own friends, a few laughs as one of them showed her something on their phone. “You don’t need to say my name.”
“So I can call you Sumire in front of your sister?”
There it was. The innate ability to turn her own words into something she didn’t mean or think about. Honestly, what was the point of him…
“Oh,” Akira cut her thoughts off. “Or is it that people will think we’re going out?”
“What!?” she asked, turning around completely, a harsh blush on her face as Akira looked back at her.
“Is that not it?” he asked, a confused look in his eyes that Sumire knew he was faking. “That me calling you by your first name means we’re going out?”
“I… what? No…” Sumire stuttered, unsure of what she was supposed to say, missing Kasumi facing her when she shouted. “Going… what?”
“Sumire?”
She nearly jumped at the voice, her sister appearing like an aberration.
“Is there a problem?”
Kasumi looked at the two of them, her sister’s flustered look and Akira’s smirk at her panic.
“Kusuru-san, can I ask you to stop teasing my sister?” she eventually sighed, pulling Sumire with her as Akira just chuckled.
“I’m not saying that much, am I?”
“So, any luck?”
“What?” Akira asked, looking at his friend as they sat on the roof.
“Dude, I get feelin’ a bit stronger after Kamoshida got what was comin’, but she’s an honor student,” he continued, kicking his feet up onto a desk. “Guys like us don’t have a chance.”
“Oh hush, Ryuji,” one of his other friends said, jumping onto the desk. “Don’t be jealous and find someone yourself.”
“Jealous?” Ryuji snapped back, leaning forward as Akira leaned back, watching the show. “At least I say how I feel, not trying to hide it behind acting like a ‘gentleman.’”
“Acting!? I’ll let you know that only the finest of gentlemen is worthy of Lady Ann’s…”
“Boys,” a separate voice cut them off, making Akira frown as the two backed off, his show interrupted. “We are not going to talk about this kind of stuff when we gather up for this.”
“Exactly. Like Lady Ann says, be better.”
“You’re included Mona.”
Leaving the station, Sumire watched as Kasumi walked ahead, her friends already surrounding her as they went. But her mind wasn’t so focused on the fact that she was left behind again.
No, she had something that seemed to always be on her mind approaching, and a part of her hated that she didn’t hate it.
“Hello.”
“Hello,” she responded, looking away as Akira stood beside her.
“Hey, you answered back,” he said, a smile on his face that she couldn’t ignore, walking out to hide her face.
“So, anything you want to talk about?” Akira asked, keeping step with Sumire, looking over to her as she kept her face away.
“No,” she answered, facing forward after a few moments, her heartbeat steadying. “Nothing of interest.”
“That I wouldn’t be interested in, or just don’t want to talk?”
Sumire said nothing, the sounds of other students walking by, their idle chit chat about something barely registering to her as she looked away.
“I spoke with the councilor at school a few days ago,” she eventually said, hoping that it would end the conversation.
“It’s not mandatory for you, is it?” Akira asked, to which Sumire shook her head, wondering what it was that he was talking about.
Talking to the councilor being mandatory? What exactly happened that…
“Watch out,” Akria said, putting a hand on Sumire’s shoulder to make her stop.
She flinched, moving to swat his hand away. He was quicker than that, and when Sumire looked up, she noticed some students standing in front of her, talking about something as Akira stepped forward.
“Pardon me,” he said, making them jump as he appeared behind them. “Stick to the side if you aren’t going to walk and talk.”
Despite the visible tension between them, the students eventually stepped out of the way.
‘What a jerk,’ one of them said, thinking that others walking by would mean he couldn’t hear him. ‘Maybe we should request to have his heart changed.’
Akira laughed at that, not explaining what he had found so funny to Sumire, who looked oh so cute when she was confused.
Standing in front of the walled off construction site, Sumire wondered what she was supposed to do.
It had happened again, where she wasn’t going to be the one who would go up onto the stage. Why did she even bother.
Looking up at the support beams that didn’t even hold anything in place yet, she wondered what she was supposed to do.
Practicing could only get her so far, since Kasumi would be practicing as well, and there was no real reason for her to keep going.
Why was she still going? There was nothing for her in this, just barely able to keep up with her sister. Yeah, she may have wanted to make it to the world stage with her, but in a field as completive as gymnastics, there was no guarantee that the two of them could get up there together.
Even if she was just one point behind Kasumi, someone else could always be half a point, a third, a fourth, a fifth, a sixth, a…
“Sumire?”
Nearly jumping out of her skin, she turned to see Akira standing there. He was dressed for the heat, but she couldn’t escape the gleam that came from his skin, as if he were dazzling in front of her eyes.
“What are you doing out here?”
“Oh, I uh…”
How it happened, Sumire had no idea.
Not that she was complaining though, as it had been amusing to watch the color drain from Akira’s face as he watched her eat, as if unable to believe that she was able to fit so much food in her smaller body.
But now that she had finished eating, she was going to have to talk.
Oh, that’s what it was.
When Akira pulled her aside, he asked if she wanted something to eat, something about a disappointing festival, and said that he would pay for everything if she talked to him.
She didn’t see anything wrong with that, but now that she had gone and eaten everything she ordered, with his expecting eyes looking at her, she started to feel the pressure.
“Now,” Akira said, putting his hand down after trying to do some math on his hand. “You don’t have to tell me everything, but you looked a lot sadder than when I first saw you.”
“I don’t know what you mean,” Sumire said, on guard as the color returned to Akira’s face, putting his focus onto her. “I’m fine.”
“Okay,” Akira said, not pressing further. “Anything happen recently?”
“No,” Sumire answered, denying again.
“Well, it doesn’t seem that way,” Akira continued, as Sumire turned her face away. “You wouldn’t be avoiding me like this if there wasn’t something.”
“There isn’t,” she pushed back, turning to look at him as if to disprove what he said.
“Really? Because every time I would bring your sister up, you would look away.”
Holding her breath, Sumire turned to look at Akira, who looked back at her.
“I’m not going to pry into your life if you don’t want me to, but is there something going on between the two of you? You always seem so apprehensive whenever she comes up, or if I even mention her in passing.”
Was he right? Had he been able to figure it all out in a few months of just talking to her, gauging her reaction to everything he said?
“Well,” she started, her words going faster than her mind. “I can’t beat her.”
What was meant to be a way to get him off her back had turned into a nearly hour-long rant, with Akria ordering a few things to ensure that they could stay at the table, with Sumire eating them as quickly as they came.
She talked about how she was always just short, that she felt pitied, looked down at, belittled. But of all of it, she got the most hung up on being ignored by Kasumi, that she wouldn’t notice her discomfort, how her effort wasn’t enough to catch up. That it felt like Kasumi was ignoring the dream she had given the both of them.
“Well,” Akira said after it seemed like she was done. “That’s a lot you’ve been holding in.”
Sumire didn’t say anything, laying her face on the table, exhausted from her rant.
“Have you tried to tell her any of this?”
“Sumire,” Kasumi said, hand on the door as they stood in front of the gym.
“Yes?” she asked, wondering why her sister had stopped before they went in.
“Can I ask you about Kusuru?”
“Uh, sure,” Sumire answered.
“So, let me get this out of the way,” Kasumi asked as the two stretched, holding their feet behind their heads. “Do you like him?”
The response she got was a squawk of confusion and Sumire falling to the floor, losing her balance at the question.
“What?” she asked as she looked up, as Kasumi looked at her, concern on her face.
“I’ll be honest,” Kasumi said, taking one hand off her foot and bending over, offering the hand to pull Sumire up. “You seem to be thinking about him more than what happened for qualifying for the club spot.”
“Oh,” Sumire said, relief in her voice as she got up, resuming her position as Kasumi switched legs. “That’s what it is.”
“Well, that’s some of it, but you should be careful,” Kasumi said, holding her pose as Hiraguchi walked by, having heard the squawk from Sumire. “I know he’s clean from Kamoshida, but he’s still a criminal.”
“Um,” Sumire held a thought, switching legs as Kasumi sat down, bending over and reaching for her toes. “If he really is all that bad, I would think that the President would be keeping her distance from him.”
“What?” Kasumi asked, looking up at her sister as she held her pose.
“Not that it’s confirmed,” Sumire quickly said back, letting go and joining her sister on the floor. “But, what’s her name, the blond girl? She’s been seen hanging with her, and isn’t she a good friend of Akira’s?”
Kasumi froze at the name, looking at Sumire who kept going.
“Even with Sakamoto, she seems to be at least friendly. I hear other first years wondering what sort of relationship she has with the three of them.”
The last part really threw Kasumi through a loop.
While she had met with Niijima, more of a formality than anything, Kasumi couldn’t image her actually hanging out with people like Kusuru and Sakamoto unless she was checking up on them.
She was going to have to look into it.
Hey
Guess who’s getting lucky this trip
Looking down at his phone, Akira wondered what Futaba was talking about.
Ever since she had gotten up and taken care of Medjed, the girl had been obsessed with trying to get Akira to admit that he was into Sumire.
It had started when she had been tracking his phone, as usual, and found that there was a certain someone whose phone was close to him every day before and after school. Trying to figure out what it was led to her asking Morgana, who told her about Sumire.
Akira threw him into a bath for that one.
But the genie had gotten out, and Futaba took it upon herself to push it forward.
Why, Akira had no idea.
Everyone but Yusuke could tell that he was into her, and it seemed like they were all putting in some effort to make it happen. Morgana told him that it was so that he could get his mind back onto more pressing things, like turning back into a human.
A part of him denied it, saying that he was going to have to leave Tokyo once everything was said and done, and that there was no point in starting a relationship that wouldn’t last.
But when Futaba spammed him with directions towards a place from his hotel, Akira gave up, telling Ryuji that Futaba was pushing something onto him and that he was going to get it done before his phone literally blew up.
Walking down the streets, Akira made his way past the beach, a bit away from the touristy places, and eventually found a shrine.
Seeing that he was there, Futaba messaged him again.
You reached the mission zone
Now, turn around and walk away for a bit
Was she serious?
When I tell you to, walk back towards the shrine
You’ll thank me later
After waiting for the few minutes, Akira got the text on his phone to walk back. What was she thinking?
Yeah, it was neat seeing a shrine in the city, and it wasn’t something he was expecting, but what was so important about the timing that he walk away and…
Freezing in his tracks, Akira spotted an unmistakable dot of red on the edge of a group of girls at the entrance.
Oh.
Oh ho.
There she was, dressed in a sports bra and shorts, having evidently been running, the sweat reflecting off her skin and making some of her hair stick to her back.
Everyone was drinking some water, as someone Akria assumed was their coach, clapped her hands, getting their attention as she said some things.
Seeing them walk into the shrine proper, Akira left, figuring that was probably enough. He didn’t have a reasonable way to explain how he was just waiting for her at a shrine in a different country that he didn’t even know she would be in.
Best to leave now and keep the nice memory kept deep in his mind for him and him alone.
“Niijima-senpai.”
Turning her head, Makoto saw Kasumi walking up to her, still in uniform, but her sports bag hanging over her shoulder.
“Can I speak to you for a moment.”
“Sure,” Makoto answered, gesturing her to walk with her towards a wall. “What is it you want to talk about.”
Looking around, Kasumi checked if there was anyone she wanted to keep her distance from or she didn’t want over hearing her discussion.
“What is your relation with Kusuru Akira?”
“With Akira?” Makoto asked, seeing the slight widening of the eyes from Kasumi. “I would say that I’m friends with him, why?”
“That’s what I want to ask,” Kasumi asked back. “Why are you friends with him.”
“Oh, I see,” Makoto answered back, seeing where the discussion was going.
“Well, to put it up front, the principle made me investigate him.”
Seeing the visible confusion on Kasumi’s face, Makoto decided that she may as well tell her what she could.
“Do you remember someone named Kaneshiro being in the news?” Makoto asked, getting a shake from Kasumi. “Well, it was a bit before he was arrested, but the principle wanted me to investigate about students who were being extorted by him, and he told me to investigate Akira because of his record.”
“Why?” Kasumi asked, wondering what the man would’ve been thinking. “Kusuru has only been here since April?”
“I don’t know either,” Makoto lied, knowing very well the reason she was told to look into him. “But I had to. Once the whole incident had been settled and I could find no connection between Akira and the mob, I gave my report to him and decided to keep spending time with them.”
Kasumi stayed quiet, wondering what she was supposed to say.
While she remembered a time where people would only bring the student council president for not doing anything about Kamoshida, the fact that she never heard anything about it again after the whole thing had blown over meant that students had either forgiven her or had completely forgotten about it.
“Honestly, I wouldn’t be too worried about him,” Makoto continued, pulling Kasumi out of her thoughts. “If he does act out of line, he has someone like me to make sure that he will not make the same mistake twice.”
“Thank you,” Kasumi eventually said, walking away and back towards the first-year floor.
She didn’t know what was worse, the fact that someone like her believed that Kusuru was someone she could trust, or the possibility that he had gotten her to trust him.
“Sumire,” Kasumi said one day, the two sitting in the living room, watching TV while their parents were out for work that night.
“Yes?” she asked, looking up as Kasumi looked back at her.
“Keep your distance from Kusuru, okay?”
“I’ve been trying,” Sumire answered back, turning back to the screen. “Akira just seems to be able to find me.”
“Clearly, it’s not enough,” Kasumi continued, moving closer to her sister. “He’s dangerous, and you need to stay away from him.”
“If you’re trying to bring up Hawai’i, there was no way that he was there at the shrine,” Sumire huffed, annoyed that her sister was bringing this up again. “Yeah, the school trip was there, but he couldn’t know our schedule enough to stake out the place our run ended.”
“But he was,” Kasumi pushed closer. “I swear on it.”
Sumire sighed, knowing what Kasumi was going to bring up next.
“Sumire, if we’re going to get up there together, we have to make sure…”
“That nothing will keep us from doing so. I’ve heard this a thousand times!”
Kasumi flinched as Sumire snapped back at her, turning to face her sister.
“Every time you mention something that has to do with gymnastics, it’s always about how we have our dream. But I don’t know if I can even make it that far!” Remembering the one time she told everything, to Akira, letting it all out. She decided that she would again. “I try, I try so hard to keep up with you. But the closer the distance gets, the further it feels that I am.”
With Kasumi frozen, Sumire took her time to collect her thoughts and breath. “Have I gotten better, probably. But that’s not good enough! We’re reaching a point where a single point difference is enough that we can’t be considered as equals anymore. That you’re the perfect one, always able to push forward, and I’m the one that’s underperforming, always trying to catch up! That I’m not good enough for your dream!”
“And what’s more…” Sumire didn’t finish her thoughts as she noticed the tears running down Kasumi’s cheeks, her shocked face reflecting back at her through her glasses.
Losing the wind in her sails, Sumire got up and went to her room, not saying a thing.
It was perhaps the first time that Sumire had seen Akira so visibly shaken.
While normally she would’ve taken the chance to try and push back against him, his face after having to pay for her that one time etched into her mind, something about him was different.
It was in fact so jarring, that when Akira walked past her at school, the only thing he would say would be ‘Morning,’ and walk away.
Normally, Sumire would’ve loved the fact that his mind seemed to be on anything but talking with her, but for some reason, she felt empty when he didn’t even say ‘hi’ for the next few days.
It was a few days later that Sumire realized why Akira had been so rattled.
She had been pulled aside during break, without anyone to cover for her, and was told that if she did not improve her performance in gymnastics, she was going to have her status as an honor student revoked.
While she had run off after school, ignoring Kasumi as she had missed the fact that she had dropped something, something that Akira noticed while Kasumi chased after her sister.
And while she had managed to shake off her sister, Sumire was surprised to find Akira walking up to her, her charm in hand, when suddenly, the world around her changed.
A massive tower stood where the stadium should’ve been, seemingly beckoning to her as something pulled her in.
When she realized what was going on, someone dressed in black and a small black… ‘creature,’ stood before her, guarding her from something that she didn’t have words to describe. As the thing that two had been fighting disappeared, some of her panic returned when she heard his voice.
“Are you alright, Sumire?”
With the school festival around the corner, Akira felt like he had a hole in his stomach. When she heard what had happened, Futaba immediately got access to Sumire’s phone, trying to listen as much as possible, that there had been no indication that Akira's identity as a phantom thief had been leaked yet.
But that didn’t mean everything was fine. Her phone would be kept in her locker during practice, and if she spoke to Kasumi about it before entering or after leaving the locker room, there was nothing that they could do to find out.
And it took so much effort for Akira’s heart to not leap out of his throat when he heard Sumire call his name.
Sitting in a corner in the courtyard, Sumire looked at Akira, who seemed absolutely terrified to be with her. She knew why, and as much as she wanted to hold it over him, a part of her hesitated to do so.
She thought about telling Okumura-senpai, that Sumire had an idea of who killed her father, but what reason did she have to believe her. And if it was true that Okumura-senpai had been hanging out with Akira and his friends, there was going to be a strong chance that she would deny Sumire’s claims, that there was no way that Akira would do such a thing. And as she sat there, wondering what Akira would do, a part of her knew that it was true.
Akira would never hurt anyone without reason.
Yes, she wished he would leave her alone sometimes, but then she remembered how empty she felt when he stopped talking to her for a few days.
And if he really was a phantom thief, who could kill and have it be untraceable if not for calling cards, why was she still standing? Or even better, why did he not leave her to die in that tower?
“Senpai,” she finally said. “I have some questions I want to ask.”
To be honest, Sumire hadn’t expected everything she had heard out of Akira. Or from Morgana, that was the cat’s… it was cat, right?
Akira answered every question without hesitating, telling her things that she didn’t even ask about. How Kamoshida had his eyes on her and her sister, how brutal Madarame had been to his pupils, the horrible things Kaneshiro said justified his money, the depths of sorrow that someone she didn’t know suffered to be made a scapegoat, and the incredible guilt that he felt having to tell Okumura-senpai that he had no way in the world to make it up to her that her father died under his watch.
There was something in Sumire that told her to not trust him, that he was dangerous.
But seeing how much Akira exposed himself to her, to put out everything and let his fate rest in her hands, she knew what the part of her was that was telling her to drop the hammer on him.
It was Kasumi.
Taking a deep breath, Kasumi walked into the second-year classroom, spotting Kusuru at his desk with Tamaki and Sakamoto already next to him. It sounded like it was stuff related to studying, like what sort of things that needed to be reviewed, when Kusuru spotted her.
“Do you need something, Yoshizawa?”
“So she told you,” Akira said, the same spot in the courtyard Sumire used to grill him being chosen by Kasumi. “I didn’t think she’d tell you like that.”
“You knew?” Kasumi asked, a more defeated tone in her voice after having explained what happened and the fact that he seemed to know her sister better than she did.
“Well, it wasn’t as explosive as it was with you, but yeah.”
Letting his comments sit in the air, Kasumi looked like she was going to cry.
“Do you think,” she hesitated, looking down at her lap. “Do you think I failed her?”
“No,” Akira answered. “At least not yet.”
Looking down at Kasumi, Akira waited for her to raise her head. “As much as Sumire looks up to you, that’s all she thinks you are. The great and perfect sister who she has to follow; that if she can’t be a second you, that she has failed.”
“But that’s not who she is,” Kasumi said, sitting up straight. “She doesn’t have to be me.”
“Have you told her that?”
Trying to think if she had, more and more guilt started to pile onto Kasumi’s shoulders as she realized that perhaps she didn’t. It was always, ‘good try,’ or ‘you’ll get it next time,’ but never about how Sumire had shown her own strengths.
“Senpai,” Kasumi said, making Akira freeze.
“Thank you for your time.”
As the final day of the festival started to wind down, Sumire stood in the gymnasium, trying to find a way if she could get out.
While she hadn’t been forced to, she had been highly ‘encouraged,’ by the school to show up and dance, to show that she was still worthy of her position of an honor student.
And while she would’ve loved nothing more than to just book it and run, Kasumi had also been invited to come, though probably without as much pressure put on her.
Now, if Sumire left, Kasumi was no doubt going to be told by the school about it. It was already hard enough to speak with her after her outburst, what was she supposed to do if Kasumi confronted her about not showing up?
“Hey,” a voice said, snapping her out of her haze. “Are you looking for a partner?”
Turning around, Sumire saw Akira standing there, a small smile on his face as he looked at her.
Stewing over the thought, Sumire looked as Kasumi had just finished her own performance, a loud cheer from the crowd as even the dance club applauded her efforts.
“Sure,” she said, walking forward and motioning for him to follow. “Can you keep up?”
Taking a drink of water, Kasumi watched as Sumire pulled Akira out onto the floor with her.
A part of Kasumi wondered what exactly he was doing, that Sumire needed to stay away from him, before Akira’s heavy words smacked the thoughts down.
Fine.
No, fine was too harsh. Okay.
Yes, it was going to be okay.
Sumire probably asked him to join her as a way to lash out against her again, to tell Kasumi that she would go about things her own way.
To be honest, she had no idea if Akira could even keep tempo with her sister, but in letting her set the tempo, showing some of her basic moves, he answered right back.
But what really took her breath away was how seamlessly Akira seemed to highlight Sumire’s strengths. While it was clear by his movements that he wasn’t a trained dancer, Akira moved with power, intent and purpose. It was almost as if he was fighting invisible enemies. But his dancing letting Sumire show off her own smooth, graceful and refined style, a clear flow in her movements that made Kasumi lose her breath when she saw how beautiful her sister danced compared to the power Akira showed.
“Oh,” she said, feeling the tears running down her smiling face.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this happy on the floor.”
Even as the cheers and applause rang through the gym, the sound of her heartbeat and her breathing were the only thing in Sumire’s ears, watching as Akira smiled at her, offering her his hand.
Walking her off the floor, Akira guided her out to the courtyard, letting the cool air hit their sweaty skin and the sounds of the city at night filter in through the open air.
“How was that?” he asked, laying down in the grass huffing while Sumire sat, looking up at the few visible stars in the sky.
“I had fun,” she answered, looking down at a smiling Akira, looking up at her with some kind of emotion in his eyes, though Sumire couldn’t tell in the dark.
“Good,” he said, still trying to catch his breath as Sumire’s started to steady.
Sumire smiled, looking down at Akira as his breathing finally stabilized, sitting up as they both looked at each other.
“Hey, Sumire?”
“Yes?”
“I like you, please go out with me.”
Watching Sumire perform, Kasumi was more focused on Hiraguchi’s reaction; her eyes scrutinizing every move that Sumire made.
Once she had finished, Sumire breathing heavily, turned to her coach, waiting for any feedback.
“Wow,” was all that she said, before smiling. “I like it.”
“Hey, Kasumi.”
“Yes, coach?” she answered, turning to face her as Sumire went ahead, a smile on her face as she put her phone in her pocket.
“Can I ask you if anything has happened recently? Sumire’s changed so much in so little time.”
“Yeah,” Kasumi agreed, the smile on her face showing a bit of sadness. “I think she’s just found her own style. And someone who encourages her follow it.”
When Kasumi heard the news that the leader of the Phantom Thieves had been killed, she had no idea why Sumire was so distraught.
While the news didn’t mean anything to her, Sumire looked like she had heard that she would die soon. She had been so upset that she missed school, not even getting out of her room.
It completely stumped her and her parents, wondering what had happened that upset her so much that she would even refuse to eat some days.
It wasn’t until much later in the day after Makoto walked up to her after school, telling her to tell Sumire to meet Joker at a place called Leblanc.
Sumire had no idea how long it had been.
Her phone was quiet, having run out of power however long ago, and the attempts by her parents to get her to talk had been fruitless.
Why bother.
The first person who was willing to accept her for being her, to love her, was gone.
And it was exactly why when she heard someone knocking on her door, she didn’t respond.
What was it that was so important that she needed to…
“…anc.”
What?
“…Leblanc.”
Rolling over, Sumire fell out of her bed when she heard the name.
Attempting to stand up, Sumire tripped over some clothes she left out leaning against the door.
“What was that?” she asked, a hint of hope in her voice.
“Joker is waiting for you at Leblanc.”
Sitting there, Kasumi watched as Sumire cried in Akira’s arms, him whispering apologies in her ear as he rubbed her head; that he was okay and that he was still very much alive and not going anywhere.
As she watched everything go on, it clicked in her head why Sumire seemed so upset that the leader of the Phantom Thieves was supposedly dead, so much so that she had refused to come out of her room.
Because Akira was their leader.
Her sister’s boyfriend was the leader.
Oh.
Maybe a part of her was right to be suspicious of him.
What could she do about it now?
While it was only a silhouette, Kasumi could very clearly tell exactly who everyone was on the TV screen. Well, that wasn’t true, there was a small creature with a head that seemed to big for its body, but everyone else, she could tell. There was Niijima and Okumura-senpai, Sakamato and Tamaki-senpai, Futaba and Kitagawa. And then there he was. Akira stood there, announcing his intent to change the world and that he was going to do it.
When the sky turned red and what looked like blood was raining down from the sky, it was Kasumi who was the one who panicked and Sumire the one who stayed calm.
“What’s all of this?” Kasumi asked while Sumire said nothing, looking at her phone with a text from Akira on the screen.
“It’s fine,” Sumire said, her voice betraying a bit of her worry in the calm. “He’s going to fix it. He’s coming back.”
Looking up, Kasumi could barely contain her gasp as she saw the massive being descend from above, its shadow large enough to cover the entire Scramble as people kept cheering.
For the Phantom Thieves.
She watched as Sumire cheered them on, before joining in herself, hearing the massive crack of something going off before the world turned to light, the day fading away as if nothing had happened.
Walking home alone, Kasumi didn’t feel as lonely as she had expected. With her parents working, she was having a small party together with some of her friends. While some of them asked where Sumire was, many of them didn’t even ask, assuming that she had gotten a boyfriend and dropping the subject completely. While they weren’t wrong, Kasumi had another bitter smile as she realized that Sumire must have been in this environment for so long.
How did she not notice sooner?
At least she was spending Christmas somewhere where she was going to be happy.
When she woke up on New Year’s there was something in Sumire that was different. What it was, Kasumi couldn’t tell, but it was obvious that Akira could tell as well.
Something was off enough that while she couldn’t place it, it was small enough that Kasumi was willing to put it aside and think about it later. After all, Sumire seemed happy.
It had been another thing completely when Akira pounded on her door, a distraught look on his face when she opened it.
“Akira-senpai?”
“I’m so sorry,” was all he said, before falling to the floor.
After he managed to recover some of his strength, Akira explained everything that had happened.
The councilor at school, Dr. Maruki, had a session with Sumire once. While he didn’t get the whole story, he understood that Sumire had a strong desire to either be like her sister or her sister not being there at all.
But that sounded strange. What was Akira talking about, Sumire was happy as she was, able to keep step with her. There was no way what Akira described was true.
But that was the Sumire from the start of the school year. And it was great that she had managed to find a way to be like her, it meant that there would be no obstacles…
Wait…
As she thought about it, it felt like the world had shattered, and the uneasy feeling that Kasumi had set aside suddenly was suddenly filled with horror.
Sumire now didn’t want any of that. She had found her own happiness, what she thought would make her happy was different.
Maruki however, was completely unaware of the fact, and was trying to force through the desired changes that Sumire wanted, that being the same as Kasumi.
When Kasumi heard this, a part of her started to break down, the part of her that told her that Akira was a danger to her dream.
No, Akira was not a danger to her dream.
This Dr. Maruki, he was the real danger. While Kasumi would love to go up on the worlds stage with Sumire, it was pointless if it wasn’t Sumire.
She wouldn’t be happy, but most importantly, Sumire wouldn’t be happy.
Despite lacking combat abilities, Kasumi decided that she would follow Akira into where Sumire was being held.
She didn’t know what it was that would face her or, how exactly she could contribute, but she would do so.
She even met with Akechi; a surprise given how she hadn’t seen him in a long time. Both in person and on TV now that she thought about it. What happened to him?
But that would have to come later. Sumire came first.
As they made their way through, Kasumi was impressed with how Akira moved. Wait, it was Joker. While she saw the power she had seen back in the festival, there was also a grace and elegance that was different from Sumire’s that he had, and that just felt all the more inspiring.
But that quickly changed when they entered the room where Sumire waited, sitting on a white throne as someone stood next to her.
And if she were to be honest, the next moments were a total blur to her, something about her inner strength, her clothes changing; she couldn’t really remember. But there was one thing that Kasumi remembered through the whole thing.
She was going to do right for Sumire. And she wasn’t going to stop now. Not after seeing Sumire back to normal.
It was such a relief Akira, Kasumi smiling as she watched him cry in relief while Sumire, confused, asked what was going on and that she was alright.
She could see that for the first time in a long time, Sumire felt that she so, so deeply loved.
When the day came, Kasumi was ready. There was no turning back now.
She had done everything she could to be ready, time talking with Makoto, taking tips and tricks from Morgana, and most importantly, spending time with Sumire.
For the first time in a long time, they were spending time together outside of practice, school and home.
Sumire would happily take her sister to some places she had gone with Akira, the small smiles she would show that Kasumi now noticed was missing from her face a year ago.
She was going to make sure that the smiles were staying because it was Sumire who was smiling, not a mirror image of Kasumi.
When everything was said and done, it took a lot of effort on Sumire’s part to keep her from crying. While he was at least still alive, Akira was being held in juvie, as he was supposed to be there after what had happened with Shido.
But she was going to be fine.
Akira had friends, he had connections, and they were going to work together to get him out.
And they were going to work to make sure that she was okay, because as Morgana put it, ‘he’ll be more pissed if we make Sumire cry than if he has to wait an extra month to get out.’
When he did come back, Sumire cried all over again, his touch being oh so warm.
It was a wonder how she had made it through with what her body felt like nearly two months of no contact, having discovered that she was very fond of him holding her given how a lack of it had nearly driven her mad.
But he was here. And he was here to stay.
Even though it was through a screen, Sumire was so happy to see him. Unable to leave in time, Akira was still coming to Tokyo, and he was going to celebrate her birthday with her.
And that was something that Sumire never believed she was going to get. Someone who was here to celebrate her.
Not her sister.
Not the two of them.
Just her.
As the candles were blown out, it took everything in Sumire’s willpower to not cry. As she sat there, watching her kids blow out the candles on their cake, it all of her memories of her first birthday that she felt happy came rushing back to her.
It really had been a special year for her.