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Kyoko Mihara never had a moment before it all began. She was the youngest of four children, the older three were all boys.
The oldest three children were all close in age, the gap between the oldest and youngest of the boys was only four years. Meanwhile, Kyoko was nearly six years younger than the next oldest child. By the time he had graduated high school, she had just finished elementary school.
Naturally, there was a gap that she could not cross between her and her brothers. When she wanted to play at the playground, they would deny her and do their homework or go out with friends.
Though worst of all was the expectations.
The eldest child had quickly established himself as a social butterfly. He was a people person, first and foremost. He could resolve conflicts even between bitter enemies with no issue. He was popular in school, and loved by many classmates. It was no surprise to his family when he ended up studying politics in university.
The second oldest was the athletic one. He excelled at soccer from the first time he played the sport as a child. He also had a deep love for it, so his parents weren’t too surprised when he continued playing after high school and became a professional player. It was to be expected with his talent, they said.
The third child, as if sensing that his two older brothers had taken two of the available paths in life, chose something different. From an early age, his parents and teachers noticed his unusual intelligence and continued to foster it. He excelled in all his coursework, even though he attended one of the most difficult and prestigious high schools in the country. Therefore, no one was surprised when he ended up deciding to attend Tokyo University after his graduation and pursue a law degree.
Meanwhile there was Kyoko. She was one of the most unathletic children in her year, always stumbling over herself and accumulating bruises like some children collect stickers. She was horribly shy and lacked the intelligence that her brother possessed. In every way, she was painfully average.
And when you come from a family with talented siblings, there is nothing worse than being an average person.
To make matters worse for Kyoko, everyone in her family acted like it was fine for her to be nothing special. But in the next breath they would say something about how incredible one of her brothers was and her parents must be so proud. Kyoko would just have to smile and agree even though she could feel herself breaking inside.
For years she was determined that she would some day find what it was she was talented at, she just had to keep trying. But the clock kept ticking and she never found what she could be talented at.
It wasn’t until her family were celebrating her youngest brother’s high school graduation that she realized she would never find something she was talented at.
She was sitting next to her mother at the table in a restaurant and her brothers were all sitting together. They were on her other side, but as the three laughed at something, she had never felt further from them. Her parents were involved in the conversation as well, but Kyoko just sat there in silence.
This would always be how it was going to be. Her parents took pride in her brothers’ achievements and as she had none, they took no pride in her. They would only take pride in her if she had some sort of niche talent that she was good at. She had tried so many different things already, but all failed.
Music? She could barely keep rhythm. Singing? Forget it, she was practically tone deaf. Art? She could barely draw a stick figure half the time. And it couldn’t be anything her brothers already had a talent in because she would have unattainable expectations set by her parents in order to be seen as successful.
So, Kyoko sat silent at that celebration and at other family events after. No one really noticed that the shy girl was just retreating further into herself.
Maybe that was why that was why she was seen as an easy target for bullying when she started middle school a few weeks later. She was quiet and never fought back, never brought attention to herself.
That was why it was so surprising that one day after school in May a teenage girl sat down next to her on the swings and spoke to her as if she actually mattered. Something that Kyoko had deeply wanted all her life from her parents and brother, attention, affection, and pride from someone who was family.
Maybe that was why it only took her five days to consider that girl her older sister in all but blood.