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Recess in Kotakunoaruiro Elementary School is never a quiet moment for many.
Across the school, laughter and cheers fill the air as students take to the field together and play rope-skipping with their peers. The rest had gone off to the playground, chattering and bantering as they went; some, meanwhile, had gotten the dodgeballs out and set a portion of the field to play a round. A few had even run off to play freeze tag, the runners clumsily weaving through the crowds of students amidst their attempts to chase the rest. All in all, it was a good time for everyone involved.
Except for one.
“Natsumi-chan,” the younger twin asks, “don’t you want to join in on their games?”
“N-no, Kasumi-chan, I’m… unable to keep up,” the older twin answers.
“Really? Come on, now! Surely we can find something to do that doesn’t involve too much energy,” Kasumi retorts. “Maybe we can use the swings!”
“E-ehe, that’s not—” Natsumi’s words are cut off by a sharp cough that sends her reeling. “…ah, easy for me.”
“Eesh, it’s getting worse, isn’t it?” she asks back.
“Y-yeah…” Natsumi weakly adds, still hunched over. “I don’t… know how long I’ll last…”
Kasumi hums in response. Slowly, she scoots over to her older sister from where they’re sitting and rests her head against her shoulder.
Their reverie is broken up when a girl - younger than the twins, with blonde hair held in shoulder-length twintails and blue eyes – runs up to them with that same big smile she always has.
“Na-chan! There you are!” she shouts, before turning to Kasumi. “And hello to you, too, Ka-chan!”
“Hey, Anna-chan!” Kasumi exclaims back. “Took you a while!”
“…it’s good to see you,” Natsumi adds, “though… what kept you?”
“Oh, it’s just Hii-chan insisting that I stay behind and help her clean up the class!” Anna says. “Always saying things like, ‘Shirase-san, you’re supposed to help out with this’ or ‘Shirase-san, you’re not supposed to do that’ and all that, as if me hanging out with the others didn’t matter!”
Anna finishes off by letting out a ‘hmph!’ and scowling.
“I mean, it is our class, after all,” Kasumi retorts, chuckling. “What’s wrong with cleaning up the place every now and then?”
“Y-yeah… it’s just that… I kind of need that place cleaned—” another sharp cough cuts Natsumi off. “…and everything.”
“You… actually, I don’t know what to say to that,” Anna’s expression deflates.
“Maybe acknowledge the fact that even if I hadn’t nagged you for it, you’d still be cleaning up the classrooms for Kuwayama-san?” a third girl cuts in.
Both sisters turn to face the newcomer – a tall girl with red eyes and black hair held in a high waist-length ponytail – as she crouches in front of the trio.
“Ehh! You could’ve at least not acted like a condescending jerk over it, Hii-chan!” Anna whines.
“It’s not ‘condescending’, it’s ‘deigning’,” Hitomi retorts.
“It helped my sister, though!” Kasumi adds.
“…the dust-free room helps,” Natsumi weakly finishes.
Anna sharply sighs and plops herself down next to Natsumi. A moment later, Hitomi walks up to Natsumi and crouches in front of her.
“Kuwayama-san, how are you feeling?” she asks.
“…the coughs are hurting a lot more,” Natsumi answers, “a-and I… get tired easily.”
“She’s been like this since last week, too! You think her sickness is getting worse?” Anna cuts in.
“Maybe…” Hitomi hums. “Still, you shouldn’t be at school. You won't be able to rest a lot in here.”
“She’s at least still able to get by in PE, though,” Kasumi retorts.
“…I can still… do PE,” Natsumi repeats, “…a-and still walk from home to school.”
“That’s not good enough, Kuwayama-san,” Hitomi shakes her head.
“Still,” Anna cuts in before Hitomi can continue, “why don’t we spend recess seated here together? I have a game I want to teach you three that we can all play sitting down!”
“Ooh! Natsumi-chan needs those!” Kasumi cuts in. “You have no idea how often she sits down below a tree on recess, so much so that she refuses to let us play with others!”
“…that sounds fun,” Natsumi adds. “I’m in.”
“See? I told you this is going to work~” Anna grins, poking Hitomi’s ear and earning a scowl from the ravenette girl.
“Just… don’t rub it in me, please,” Hitomi retorts.
“I won’t,” Anna giggles, before she claps her hands. “Now, let’s play! I call this game ‘blank anagrams’!”
Anna reaches into her skirt pocket and pulls out a pocket English dictionary.
“The rules of the game are simple,” Anna explains. “I’m gonna give you some letters and a letter length, and you get one point by giving an English word that matches the length! Oh, but the letters can be arranged in any order, so you have to fill in the blanks AND move the letters around to make a word! Got it?”
“Sounds tricky,” Kasumi pipes up.
“…wouldn’t it be a little complicated, though?” Natsumi asks.
“Nah, you two don’t worry your pretty little heads, Na-chan and Ka-chan! That’s why I have this little dictionary here for you and Hii-chan to use,” Anna holds up the dictionary. “So, who among you two gets to use it?”
Natsumi glances at Kasumi, then at Hitomi.
“…eh, I’m following your lead, Natsumi-chan,” Kasumi says, sheepish.
“R-right,” and with that, she raises a hand to Hitomi. “Rock… p-paper… scissors!”
Hitomi holds up an open palm. Meanwhile, Natsumi holds up two fingers.
“It’s alright, I can do without a thesaurus,” Hitomi says, handing the pocket dictionary over with a smile.
“You’re just saying that because you got 100 on English last week, didn’t you?” Anna cuts in.
“At least I didn’t need to cheat on the test,” Hitomi retorts.
“HEY! How’d you find that out?!” Anna raises her voice. “I swear, if you’re gonna rat me out to Shiomi-sensei, I’ll—! GET BACK HERE!”
Both Kuwayama sisters burst out laughing as Hitomi rolls aside and takes off in a dead sprint away from the tree, weaving through the crowd with an irate Anna hot on her heels. Many of the students playing tag end up chasing them by accident, with one of them even tagging Hitomi and getting chased by her in turn during an opportune moment.
“They’re having fun, aren’t they?” Kasumi asks.
“…it does look like Anna-chan isn’t serious about the whole thing,” Natsumi answers, before hastily adding, “…b-but she totally cheated, didn’t she?”
“Oh, sure, everybody saw it,” Kasumi giggles. “I swear, even though she’s the oldest teacher in our school, Shiomi-sensei feels like an ostrich with how far her head’s buried in the sand.”
“P-probably a sign of her aging health—” two coughs, cutting her off. “…or something…”
“…I was gonna say she’s a lot like you, Natsumi-chan, but then I realized that your condition comes from your allergies instead,” Kasumi says after a brief pause. “Never mind, though. Should we?”
“Yeah…” Natsumi nods, and the sisters’ hands raise once more. “Rock, paper, s-scissors!”
Natsumi’s hand forms a closed fist, while Kasumi’s forms an open palm.
“Alright, I’ll give you the letters,” Kasumi chuckles. “So, I have in my hand the letters A, N, and K, and I want you to give me four-letter words. What words will I get?”
“A-ah… first off, you’ll get the word…” Natsumi begins listing off.
In the end, the voices of the three girls under the tree soon rise to match those of their peers across the field. Natsumi’s voice may be weaker, and Kasumi’s voice may be unheard of to all, yet thanks to Anna and Hitomi’s involuntary help, their noise soon joins the chorus of voices that Natsumi has never managed to find her place in. And so, for the rest of the day, Natsumi is no longer lonely.
*---*
In stark contrast to recess, the end of school is far less exuberant.
Many of the students leave Kotakunoaruiro Elementary School in small groups, following their peers as they file out in succession. Much of their banter revolves around after-school activities, not that it stopped many of them from asking the others if they could hang out at their homes to play. A few mostly kept their discussions limited to homework, though they didn’t talk much with their peers beyond that. Nonetheless, for many, the trip home from school was a more tranquil affair.
Except for three.
“Haaa-ahh…” Anna yawns, throwing her hands up. “…I’m tired from chasing Hitomi around all recess…”
“Maybe you should’ve focused on running, not screaming at me for grilling you in response to you cheating on a test,” Hitomi retorts.
“Hey, it’s not my fault I’m unable to study at home!” Anna snaps back before sighing. “Still… did you two enjoy the game at least?”
“Yep, we definitely did!” Kasumi answers.
“…I got up to six words every round,” Natsumi adds.
“Hehe! Told you it would be fun!” Anna giggles. “We should do that again tomorrow! For real this time!”
“I-I’ll start then,” Natsumi says, handing the pocket English dictionary back to Anna.
“Well, if there’s nothing else…” Hitomi turns to Natsumi. “Kuwayama-san, I’ll see you at school tomorrow.”
With one final bow, Hitomi turns around and leaves the school gates behind. One can hear a student shout “Kazano-senpai!” from a distance as she disappears from view.
“Welp, that’s that, and… see you two tomorrow! Bye, Na-chan, Ka-chan!” Anna waves at the two as she runs off.
“Bye! Thanks for letting us borrow your dictionary!”
“…s-see you tomor—” a sharp cough sends them off.
Once both her friends have left the premises, Natsumi turns around and walks away with Kasumi in tow.
“Hey, Natsumi-chan?” Kasumi pipes up as they walk. “You’re still feeling that pain in your belly every time we walk home, don’t you?”
Natsumi shakes her head with a hum. “…it’s replaced by the coughs, I think…”
“It’s still pretty bad, then,” Kasumi concludes. “I wish there’ll come a day when you’ll be healthy like Anna-chan or Hitomi-chan. Don’t you?”
“…I wish that t-too…” Natsumi weakly nods. “…but you know… what they’ll say.”
“Yeah…” Kasumi’s expression deflates. “I’m not ready to go, but… at some point, we’ll have to let go of each other, you know? For your sake.”
“…true,” Natsumi sighs.
Kasumi nods, and she falls in step before taking Natsumi’s hand as they continue walking. Gazing upwards, the two sisters catch sight of tree sparrows up a tree they pass under, chirping from where they perch.
“Looks like the birds are still here,” Kasumi remarks.
“Y-yeah…” Natsumi nods. “…i-it’s like… they have no care in the w-world.”
“To their benefit, or to their peril?” Kasumi asks, turning to Natsumi.
She hums in response, before she turns to Kasumi and answers, “…m-maybe their peril?”
“You think so?”
“Y-yeah… they don’t get to make noises like… this.”
Natsumi clears her throat – earning a cough in the process – and takes a deep breath. With a bright smile, she lets out a ghastly howl in what can only be charitably described as a failed attempt to mimic a wolf’s howl and owl’s hoot at the same time.
“Fnahahahahahaha!” Kasumi points at her sister. “You look AND sound ridiculous when you do that! It’s like you—”
“MUCKLED DAMN GHOSTS!”
Natsumi jumps upon hearing the scream, turning to a nearby house. There, on the front porch, stood Richard, the old lunatic from the USA with a goatee, who’s brandishing a toy dart gun that he’s waving in the air.
“Where the spookies be at, huh?!” he yells. “C’mere! I ain’t scared’a ya! I’mma give y’all the ‘PEW-PEW Treatment’! C’mere, ya ghosts!”
His rant ends with him accidentally pulling the trigger. The shot dart misses a tree branch and zips past the perched sparrows, causing them to scatter.
“H-Henderson-san… i-if there were any ghosts…” Natsumi deadpans, “…you’d have s-scared them all off by now.”
“Hwat? I… oh,” his expression immediately deflates. “…welp. In that case, I’m gonna go back to bed. Bless ya, kid.”
Natsumi lets out a sigh as Henderson goes back inside, shutting the door. Neither sister knew where the dart went.
“Seriously…” Kasumi pipes up, breaking the silence. “…what’s with that old coot?”
“…I think… h-he’s just insane,” Natsumi answers.
“Yeah,” Kasumi nods. “Let’s just go home.”
With that, the two sisters head over to the house next door to Richard’s.
The first thing that caught their attention once they enter their place is the sound of sizzling, coupled with the unmistakable smell of grilled tuna. Sakuya, their flaxen-haired single mom, sat on one dining table chair with an expectant look and a bottle of pills next to her.
“Welcome back, Natsumi,” she calls out, standing up to greet the sisters.
“I-I’m home…” Natsumi weakly responds.
“We’re back!” Kasumi cuts in as their mother takes Natsumi’s bag off her shoulders. “Hey, I’ll be heading straight to change, okay? I’ll be back!”
“W-wait…!” Natsumi calls out as Kasumi sprints up the stairs, leaving her older sister behind.
“She’s definitely the energetic type, hmm?” Sakuya asks, smiling.
“Y-yeah…” she responds, looking up with a pained smile.
“But that’s for later,” Sakuya interjects. “Now, while we wait for your sibling, why don’t you get a few early bites for yourself? I made some grilled tuna fried rice for all of us.”
Natsumi nods and lets herself be led to the dining table by her mother. Once seated, she tries to reach for the rice bowl, only to be stopped by a painful cough that left her cheeks resting against the table as she took deep breaths.
“Goodness me, your condition is getting worse,” Sakuya shakes her head.
“…I know, m-mom…” Natsumi weakly retorts.
“It’s not just that anymore, Natsumi,” she adds. “You don’t look like you’re able to hold on for much longer. Are you sure you don’t want to see the doctor?”
At the mention of the doctor, Natsumi frantically shakes her head with a whine. She then sighs, pressing her face against the table.
“…I don’t know if… I’ll lose Kasumi if I do that…” she mumbles. “…I know she’s not here, b-but… she’s still my twin sister…”
“I know, Natsumi,” Sakuya quietly says, not daring to comment on Natsumi’s fetus-in-fetu and how Kasumi’s stillbirth somehow led to it happening. Eventually, she gently pushes the fried rice bowl and says, “still, we’ll have to deal with it at some point. For now, why don’t you eat and take your medicine before you rest?”
Natsumi nods and gingerly picks up her food before the meal begins in earnest. Kasumi joins them soon, and the three spent much of it talking about the new game that Anna had taught them both. Natsumi even promises that someday, once she’s healed, she’ll invite her mother to play blank anagrams with her at home during summer break.
Once the meal is over, Sakuya kneels beside her daughter and feeds her one pill for the day. It tastes, almost vaguely, like an orange chewy candy.
“Now, get some sleep, okay? I’ll join you once I do the dishes,” Sakuya says, gently patting Natsumi’s shoulder.
“O-okay, mom,” and with that, the two sisters walk up to their bedroom.
Changing out of her school uniform, Natsumi takes her time to look at the wall mirror. There lies her own visage – waist-length straight brown hair and yellow eyes, clad in the white pajamas that she’d worn since the start of elementary – and after a moment, Kasumi comes to take her side.
“You… y-you don’t have a reflection,” Natsumi notes, solemn.
“Funny, I don’t recall having one,” Kasumi chuckles as they both gaze at the mirror. Only Natsumi’s gazes back. “Oh! Tell me, Natsumi-chan! What’s it like to have a reflection?”
“W-well…” she tries to explain, “…it’s like… you can look at yourself e-every time you stand… in front of a m-mirror, a-and… you have a s-shadow.”
“That’s it? Come on, there’s gotta be more to it than just that!” Kasumi teases. “Here, let’s say… I can have others look at me, too. How does that sound?”
“…that’d be…” Natsumi murmurs. “…you have no idea… h-how much I want that…”
“Hehe! See, you know,” Kasumi exclaims. “Still, since you don’t really have my reflection at the moment… why don’t we pretty yours up?”
She steps back behind her older sister, fingers lightly pressed against her cheeks, and then carefully shifts Natsumi’s frown into a smile. It looked awkward, as though it was the first time she’d smiled like that, yet it was no less real.
“Fantastic!” Kasumi smiles, letting go of Natsumi. “Now, I want you to make a promise for me, okay, Natsumi-chan?”
“…w-what is it, K-Kasumi-chan…?”
“Promise me that when I’m gone, you’ll still smile like that,” she asks. “Okay?”
She looks at her own smile, proudly reflected in the mirror. Well, if one were to surmise that the mirror has a sense of pride, that is. But Kasumi certainly did, and if she was able to make Natsumi into who she is, then the mirror can be said to have a sense of pride.
“…I will,” she finally says.
“Excellent,” Kasumi smiles. “Now, let me tuck you to bed, okay?”
Natsumi nods, and her younger sister soon leads her over to the bed they share. With a single shuffle and some shifting on Natsumi’s end, the older sister quickly falls asleep from the medicine, leaving Kasumi free to join in and cuddle her in bed.
“Love you, big sis,” Kasumi whispers.
With one last look at the radiographs showing Natsumi’s fetus-in-fetu taped to the wall, she falls asleep once more.
*---*
When the rupture finally came, it was during PE class the next day.
The class was ostensibly about a relay race. While Natsumi tried to participate early on (with Kasumi sitting out the whole thing and cheering from the sidelines), she couldn’t make even one relay pass before her coughing fit forced the teacher to pull her aside so she could rest. Now back underneath the tree she usually hangs under, Natsumi takes deep breaths as she sits beside Kasumi, clutching her abdomen.
“…i-it hurts…” she whines.
“Easy, Natsumi-chan,” Kasumi coos, hugging her older sister from the side. The younger sister’s touch seems to have soothed the pain a little.
“…I don’t know if… this can g-go on for much longer…” Natsumi says, pained.
“Exactly. That’s why you’re gonna sit down, and we’ll wait ‘til lunch, okay?” Kasumi winks.
“…okay—” another coughing fit cuts her off.
All around her, students began murmuring at the sight. Many had no idea that what she has is actually causing her to waste away like that; others, meanwhile, had run off to call the teachers for help. A few had even begun spreading rumors about what had happened, sending the kids into an even worse panic as their imaginations got the better of them due to their wild guesses.
Amidst the chaos, two emerge.
“Na-chan! Ka-chan!” Anna yells as she and Hitomi rush to join her. “What happened?”
“…t-the pain… flares up again…” Natsumi weakly mumbles. She lets out a yelp as her belly stings once more.
“Don’t move, just… s-stay there, Kuwayama-san!” Hitomi exclaims. “We’ll get you to see the teachers, okay?”
“…n-no, I don’t… wanna see…”
“Slow down, Na-chan,” Anna cuts in, kneeling in front of Natsumi. “Tell us what happened, what’s going on.”
Taking deep breaths, Natsumi slowly puts her hand on her abdomen.
“…K-Kasumi-chan… is in here…” she says. “…g-grown in…”
“Huh? But… isn’t Kasumi-chan here?” Anna asks. “Hii-chan, what’s she talking about?”
“I know,” Hitomi says, standing up. “It’s… hard to explain, but I’ve seen a book about it in the library.”
“Oh yeah! Let’s read it together, so we all know what happened to Na-chan!” Anna raises her hand.
Hitomi chuckles in response. With a nod, she and Anna carefully hoist Natsumi up and lead her away from the field.
Mercifully for both girls, the library was empty around the time they brought Natsumi in. After setting Natsumi down on the round table, Hitomi grabs a stepladder and runs off, scouring every shelf to find the book.
“…not here,” Hitomi murmurs, putting another book aside before reaching into another shelf. “Not here…”
Anna just sighs as she watches Hitomi go and turns her attention to Natsumi. The latter had fallen asleep, face planted on the table with her hands still clutching her pained abdomen throughout her sudden nap. Without much of a thought, she reaches out a hand and gently strokes Natsumi’s hair, smiling once she feels the girl getting roused from her sleep.
“I don’t know what’s going on here,” Anna whispers, “but we’re gonna find a way to help you, Na-chan. We may even be able to help Ka-chan, too! I’m sure of it!”
Natsumi lets out a weak groan in response.
“Found it,” Hitomi calls out, carrying a large book over to the table they’d gathered around. She sets the book down on the table and opens it to a specific page.
“I’ve heard of this from my parents before,” she explains. “Fetus in fetu, an incredibly rare, uh… condition? Yeah, that’s the word. A rare condition involving a twin that’s growing in the living twin, like some sort of… parasite.”
“You mean…?” Anna asks.
Hitomi grimly nods. “Yeah. Kuwayama-san’s twin is alive, technically… as a parasite growing in Kuwayama-san herself.”
Anna’s face falls. “…we can save her, right? Both, I mean?”
“I don’t know…” Hitomi mutters, frantically searching through the book for more info. “…it doesn’t say anything.”
“Aww…” Anna groans, distraught.
“Come to think of it,” Hitomi continues, turning to look at Natsumi. “The book does say that fetus in fetu is often removed when you are born. How did yours stay this long?”
“…Mom s-said… i-it was harmless…” Natsumi weakly explains, “…a-and then… K-Kasumi-chan appeared… so, if I w-were to have it removed…”
Hitomi just nods at the answer. Neither she nor Anna say anything about it, but Anna’s smile after the fact was enough to convince Natsumi that at least they were willing to believe her.
“Still, we’ll have to ask the teacher so you can go home,” Hitomi adds. “I’ll do it. Shirase-san, stay here, okay?”
“Okay!” Anna grins, hand raised.
With a nod and a smile, Hitomi sprints out of the library. The soundproof walls ensure neither she nor Natsumi (and Kasumi) could hear what is going on, leaving Anna to continue soothing Natsumi until she comes back.
*---*
They’d sent her off for the day, with the caveat that Anna and Hitomi help her get home.
As they’d suspected, none of the teachers knew where to even begin with helping Natsumi deal with her sickness. Most have not even heard of the term itself, though they quickly changed their tune once Hitomi explained the situation the best she could. The few who did were unprepared for the possibility that it could not only be present in a 10-year-old, but actively cause problems with her health. All of that was before they realized who – or rather, what – Kasumi actually was this whole time.
With everything going on, the two students are left hauling their sick friend out of the school building together on the teacher’s orders.
“Okay, Na-chan, which way do we go?” Anna asks, looking around.
“…th-there,” she points with a trembling hand.
“Right,” Hitomi nods. “Steady, Kuwayama-san. We’ll be there soon!”
Hoisting Natsumi on one hand while Anna hoists Natsumi’s other, the two girls lead her down the road leading to her house. Throughout the walk, Natsumi feels the color drain from her face as her trembling worsens every step of the way. Her eyes frantically search for Kasumi, not even stopping her glances and head turns even as she steadily loses the ability to resist the pain.
“…if only her mama’s… here to pick her up… instead of at work!” Anna grunts.
“We’re losing her,” Hitomi huffs. “Bodies grow heavy when people pass out…”
“How do you even know these things?!” Anna suddenly yells, nearly startling Natsumi in the process and forcing Hitomi to shush her.
“That’s not important now! We gotta…” Hitomi trails off when she sees Anna point at Natsumi.
Or rather, a now-unconscious Natsumi, having gone completely limp.
“…oh. Oh no…” Hitomi mutters, face pale.
“SOMEONE HELP!” Anna screams. “THERE’S BEEN AN ACCIDENT! SOMEBODY FAINTED!”
The last thing Natsumi hears is the sound of Richard’s door slamming open, right before the sounds cut away completely.
*---*
When she came to, Natsumi is laying on a bed in a white room.
“…whuh?” she mumbles. “…where am…”
“Natsumi-chan?” a familiar voice rings out across the room.
Looking around, Natsumi sees her standing next to the door on the other side of the room. Gone was Kasumi’s familiar school uniform that she and Natsumi shared; in its place is a girl with waist-length straight brown hair and yellow eyes, clad in a hospital gown.
“K-Kasumi-chan…” Natsumi mutters.
“Natsumi-chan,” Kasumi responds. “How are you feeling?”
Natsumi’s hand briefly reaches for her abdomen, but she feels nothing.
“…where’d… how did my pain disappear?” she asks.
“That’s because I…” Kasumi trails off, her smile turning melancholy. “…I’m about to go.”
“Eh! Wait, are you saying…?”
Kasumi hums, nodding. “When you passed out earlier, you were rushed into the hospital to have me excised from you as soon as possible. The doctors, mom, everyone… they’re all aware that if I’m allowed to stick around any longer, it’ll harm you. That’s why they…”
Her answer merits a sob from Natsumi, followed by another.
“…K-Kasumi…” she whines. “…I just wanted you to grow, to live the way I’m alive now… is it too much to ask for you to be able to thrive?”
“It isn’t,” Kasumi shakes her head, “but… I won’t be happy if you can't live, either. I don’t want to take from you what has been taken away from me.”
Her response begets no answer, for Natsumi had silently begun crying. Seeing this, Kasumi steps away from the door and kneels in front of her older twin sister.
“I know you have a lot of things you want us to do as twins,” she continues, “and I know that at the end of the day, you just want someone to grow up with – a sibling to call your own. And… if I had to be honest, some part of me didn’t want to die, either. But, well, when the only thing I am is a cell tucked behind a kidney and fat, I don’t have a choice, do I?”
“Y-yes, you do!” Natsumi blurts out. “If they’re going to remove you from me, they could at least try to put you into some kind of chamber to bring you to life or something! Or they can even put your soul in another body! I just… I don’t want you to leave!”
Kasumi simply nods grimly as Natsumi finally starts bawling her eyes out. She remains there, letting her older sister cry her heart out, before she finally looks at her would-be twin in the eyes as she calms down.
“Natsumi-chan?”
“…y-yeah?”
Their eyes meet, one last time.
“I can’t really want anything at this point,” Kasumi says, “but if there’s one thing I really, REALLY want… it’s to see you smile as you live without me. So, can you do that for me?”
With a sob, Natsumi finally nods.
“Excellent,” Kasumi whispers, smiling. “Now, then…”
She stands up, takes one last look at her recovering older sister, and walks over to the door.
“Love you, big sis…” Kasumi says. “…forever, even long after I pass.”
With one last look at her bereaved older sister, Kasumi steps out of the room.
*---*
She comes to in another white room. Only this time, her bed’s considerably less white, more green and gray than anything.
“Welcome back, Natsumi,” Sakuya says, looking over her bedridden daughter.
“I-I’m home…” Natsumi weakly responds. “…h-how was my…?”
“Your condition’s stable, and we’ve managed to excise the parasitic twin without issues,” the surgeon in charge answers, grabbing a stool to sit beside her. “Given a week or two, you’ll be back to school in no time.”
“What about her physique, doctor?” Sakuya asks.
“About that,” he answers, “we’ve excised the fetus after it’d done considerable damage to her. While we’re confident that she’ll retain all mobility after this, her body’s still impacted to the point where her physique will be weaker than normal for her age.”
“I see…” Sakuya nods. “I’m just… glad my daughter’s okay.”
“No word on whether you should’ve done this a long time ago?” the surgeon asks.
“No, doctor,” Sakuya shakes her head. “I’d assumed, back then, that this wouldn’t cause any adverse effects.”
“It is understandable,” he nods, “as fetus-in-fetu cases are often asymptomatic. Still, there’s a reason we usually would’ve excised it before the baby reaches two years old.”
Sakuya nods. Grabbing a chair, she sits beside Natsumi and looks down at her.
“Natsumi,” her mother asks, “how are you feeling?”
Their eyes meet, and Natsumi averts her eyes.
“…I miss Kasumi-chan already…” she says, choking back a sob.
*---*
Recess in Kotakunoaruiro Elementary School is never a quiet moment for many.
Across the school, laughter and cheers fill the air as students take to the field together and play rope-skipping with their peers. The rest had gone off to the playground, chattering and bantering as they go; some, meanwhile, had gotten the dodgeballs out and have set a portion of the field just for them. A few had even run off to play Marco Polo, exploiting the crowd of students to blend in and make the game more challenging for the seeker. All in all, it was a good time for everyone involved.
Except for one.
Natsumi had spent the entire day crying, huddled up in the corner of the classroom throughout school time. Now, as she sat under the tree that was once her and Kasumi’s abode in every recess period, her eyes fall upon the abdomen that now bore surgical scars, tucked under her school uniform.
Her reverie is broken up when a girl runs up to her with a look of utmost concern.
“Na-chan! The teacher said you’re having a really bad day today, and you’ve been clamming up all day! What’s going on?” Anna asks. “A-and… where’s Ka-chan?”
A sob. “…Kasumi-chan’s… gone…”
“She… what?”
“It’d been removed,” Hitomi cuts in. “Her fetus-in-fetu, her parasite… it’s gone, now.”
“And that’s why she’s…” Anna points at Natsumi, now having broken out in a sobbing frenzy over the reminder.
She barely had time to brace herself before Natsumi tackles her and begins bawling into her shoulders. Unable to do anything else, Anna simply holds her and gently sits the once-sister back down to pull her into a big hug.
“Easy, Na-chan,” Anna whispers. “With or without Ka-chan, we’ll still be here.”
She shoots a glance at Hitomi, prompting her to nod. Before long, she’d kneeled down and joined the hug with Natsumi.
In the end, Natsumi’s crying soon rises to match that of her peers across the field. Even so, the touch of her friends’ hands kept her to the ground, silently reminding her through her pain that while her beloved younger sister may not be, the rest of the world would still be there, waiting for her to live through existence with them.
And so, for the rest of the day, Natsumi is no longer lonely.