The Witch’s Sister’s True Feelings.
Shigure-san left around evening.
On Sunday, I couldn’t meet her because of work Yomi-san had asked me to do.
The week turned over, and Monday came around again.
“Morning.”
“Mm, ah…”
As I approached her seat to greet her, Shizuku looked up at me with dazed eyes.
“You don’t look well. Lack of sleep?”
“Not really.”
Saying that, Shizuku pulled a plastic bottle filled with some yellow liquid from her bag.
The label read “Oh Tea”, but it definitely wasn’t green tea.
“What’s in that?”
“Energy drink. We’re not allowed to bring anything except tea and water here, right?”
She declared the school rule violation matter-of-factly, inserted a straw into the opening, and took a long sip.
Drinking too much of that stuff isn’t good for you, though. Speaking from experience.
As I hesitated over whether to offer my meddlesome advice, Shizuku suddenly looked up.
“By the way, are you free after school today?”
“Free? Well, I suppose I am.”
Shizuku’s gaze travelled from the top of my head to my toes, then she hesitated slightly before saying.
“I’d like you to model for me. If you can stay still, you can look at your phone.”
It was a sudden request.
“Fine, but will I get paid?”
“…Two hours including breaks, one Starbucks.”
“Deal. But this is rather sudden.”
“Prep school assignment.”
“Oh.”
So it’s a portrait.
I wonder what people without friends do.
After school, I headed to the art room.
Shizuku set up a canvas on the easel and placed her phone on an empty chair.
“Right then, two hours starting now.”
A timer started ticking on her phone screen.
She’d said I could pose however I liked, so I settled into a comfortable position to look at my phone.
Even so, staying like this for nearly two hours felt pretty tough.
It feels even worse because photo shoots for instant cameras or magazines go so much quicker.
“A relaxed pose is fine. Take a break after about ten minutes.”
“Got it.”
I nodded, but soon grew bored of fiddling with my phone too.
With nothing else to do, I watched Shizuku keep her hands moving.
She was concentrating intently on her canvas, so I could watch without hesitation.
While searching for parts of her face that resembled Shigure-san and parts that didn’t, like a spot-the-difference game, I suddenly realised something.
Doesn’t she look a bit pale?
Her complexion was rather white, and her lips seemed dull too.
The way she occasionally pressed her fingers to her temples – was that because of a headache?
“Hey, Shizuku.”
“What?”
“You don’t look well. Maybe you should call it a day.”
“But…”
She pressed my fingers into the space between her eyebrows.
Beneath her eyes, I saw something familiar.
Deep dark circles. Proof of lack of sleep.
My heart sank.
“Are you getting enough sleep at night?”
“No… but I’m fine, really.”
“No, you’re not.”
My voice came out lower than I’d intended.
I stood up from my chair and moved to stand beside Shizuku.
Up close, her pallor was even more obvious.
Definitely sleep deprivation.
And yet, she was trying to force her body to function with caffeine.
Just like I used to.
I grabbed her left arm and pulled her towards me.
“Hey, what are you doing?”
“You’re having a nap in the infirmary. Come on, stand up.”
“I’m fine, I tell you. A few days without sleep is hardly worth such a fuss—”
“It is a fuss!”
My voice rose.
“…Sorry. But if you stay awake when you’re sleep-deprived, your autonomic nervous system will go haywire. Then, even if you want to sleep, you won’t be able to.”
Like me.
Everything breaks in an instant, but fixing it takes a long time.
“So, get some proper rest.”
“Ah…”
Shizuku looked awkward.
Probably because she remembered I had insomnia.
I took her hand. This time, she didn’t resist.
†
I laid Shizuku on the bed in the infirmary and sat down on the stool provided.
With her head resting on the soft pillow, Shizuku looked a little better than before.
“Think you’ll sleep?”
“…Not sure. I just drank an energy drink.”
“That one you were having this morning?”
Shizuku looked away. Hang on a minute.
“How many did you bring in?”
“…Three.”
“Are you daft?”
Not that energy drinks are inherently bad, but they’re not something you should overdo.
Especially when your body’s already weak.
People’s bodies break down surprisingly easily, you know.
“Why the lack of sleep?”
“…Futon.”
When I asked, Shizuku answered reluctantly.
“I’ve been sleeping on a futon since moving here, but back home I had a bed, so it just doesn’t feel right.”
“Did you tell your family properly?”
“No.”
Of course not.
If she told her, Shigure-san would definitely give up the bed.
“You should tell them properly.”
“…I don’t want to.”
“Huh?”
“I said I don’t want to.”
Shizuku rolled over towards the opposite partition.
Honestly, it annoyed me.
What was that about?
Did she dislike Shigure-san that much?
She’s such a kind person. I don’t get it.
Just as I was thinking about letting it all out and complaining, Shizuku murmured softly.
“…Because big sis would worry…”
“Eh?”
“It’s nothing.”
“Shizuku.”
When I called her in a slightly stern voice, Shizuku reluctantly began to speak.
“Since I came here, I’ve been living just with big sis…”
I knew that.
“Big sis is busy with work. So I don’t want to give her any extra worry. If I said the futon wasn’t right, she’d definitely insist on giving me her bed.”
You really understand her. Sisters, eh?
But that means…
“What?”
“Can I ask you something?”
“What is it?”
“Shizuku, do you perhaps really like that sister of yours?”
“Huh⁉︎”
Shizuku spun around sharply.
“What are you talking about⁉︎”
“But you said you didn’t want to cause her any worry, right?”
“…I don’t get it. It’s not about liking or disliking, we’re sisters.”
She said it in a sulky voice, but she was clearly flustered.
Which means…
Shigure-san had said things like “she might hate me,” but in reality, it was rather the opposite.
“Shizuku, since you moved in, what have you been doing about meals at home?”
“What’s this all of a sudden?”
“Just tell me.”
“I get pastries or ready-made meals, I sort it myself.”
“Why?”
“I’m already staying with her for free, I can’t burden her with meals too.”
“…Are you actually communicating properly with your sister?”
“But she’s tired from work, right? It’d be annoying to have her little sister pestering her about this and that.”
Shizuku snorted as if to say, “Don’t you get it?”
…Somehow, Shigure-san doesn’t seem hated at all, does she?