Chapter 17

14 This Is the First Step When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was Shizuki’s sleeping face bathed in the morning sun. She was breathing peacefully and gently in her sleep. In the soft light, our hair was mixed and fanned out together. There was the faint tweeting of birds, adding to the gentle morning atmosphere. I just knew the sky stretched wide and blue outside. “Morning, Shizuki.” I stroked her cheek gently. Her brow knit in protest before she slowly opened her eyes. “Good…morning…” Her groggy expression relieved me in a way. Shizuki’s painful past couldn’t be changed. From here on out, though, her future could be whatever she wanted it to be. I knew she’d open her heart to us one day. “Nnh…” I got up from the futon and gave a big stretch toward the morning sun. Today was Saturday. That meant no school, but… “What…? It’s nine already?!” I guessed staying up last night made me sleep in more than I meant to. Panicked, we headed to the dining room, still in our pajamas. Even for a weekend, it was strange that our big sisters hadn’t woken us up by now… Just then… “Huh…?!” Was this really the same house? The dining room and living room looked totally different! Colorful balloons hung from the dining room ceiling. The table we always ate our meals at was covered in a white tablecloth. There was a massive plate with all our favorite snacks stacked high. Our places were set with napkins folded into cute shapes. “What the…?!” As I stood there dumbfounded with Shizuki, Ichika and Nitori came in from the outdoor hallway. “Oh, you’re up?” “Morning, sleepyheads!” “Hee-hee-hee, surprised? Take a look!” I looked in the direction Nitori indicated. Happy Birthday Ichika, Nitori, Mifu, Shizuki! The living room wall was decorated with folded paper letters. “Surprise party accomplished! It’s birthday time!” Nitori laughed and jumped around as if to say, “Gotcha!” With a matching smile, Ichika hurried us along. “Come on, go and get changed!” “O-okay!” I obeyed and rushed to my room, quickly changing into my clothes for the day. I headed back down to the living room in a sweater. “Wow…!” Just looking at the gorgeous decorations dazzled me! The walls and ceiling were adorned with paper chains, triangle flags, and curled ribbons. Hanging from the living room ceiling were large, translucent balloons with confetti in them. There was even the number 13 covered in paper flowers. I spread my arms wide. It was like I’d stepped into a fantasyland. Everything was sparkly and shiny! “Amazing… This is really amazing! It’s like a dream! Huh?” Something weird was stuck to the living room curtain. What was this? Broken branches made from straws? Nitori giggled when I got closer to inspect it. “Ichika made that.” “I’m awful with these kinds of decorations…” Ichika sighed awkwardly. “I read online that wrapping straws in masking tape and arranging them in star shapes would make for cute wall decorations…” “And instead, ya made a real mess,” Nitori teased, to which Ichika looked annoyed. “That’s why I worked hard on those paper flowers and chains. I even did your share when you got bored and ditched me.” “I was…you know…busy making those confetti balloons. Putting in the confetti and blowing them up… That kinda stuff.” “You better hope they don’t pop. Those things’ll be a nightmare to clean. I told you it wasn’t a good idea.” “Ichika, you’re so picky. It’s fine. They look super trendy. Everyone overseas does this.” Oh…I got it. They’d been preparing for today the whole time, balancing out each other’s weak points. “So all that stuff you were whispering about was for this?” I asked, and Ichika looked at me gently and nodded. “We were really worried about a lot of things. After Shizuki rejected us and said she couldn’t be a part of our family, we just kept wondering if there wasn’t more we could do. Nitori and I both really love our family…but we weren’t sure how to express it.” “That’s when we realized, Hey, our birthday is coming up! So we thought, That’s it! The big sisters can throw a surprise birthday party for the little ones! and we got to work.” The two smiled. Warmth washed over my chest. I wasn’t the only one who’d been worrying. I really wasn’t alone anymore. “Today’s a special day! Come on, Mifu, I’ll do your hair. Salon Nitori is open for business!” “S-sure!” Nitori styled my hair in the bathroom. Soon I was looking at my usual braids and my light-blue hair clip. She carefully loosened some strands for balance, then gave it a quick spray. Happiness flooded into every nook and cranny of my heart like a fresh breeze. “This is the best birthday I’ve ever had!” I jumped for joy. The cute braid bobbed along with me. “Right? Four quadruplets, four times the birthday fun!” “Yep. A birthday celebration like this is anything but ordinary.” Oh! Ichika’s offhand comment reminded me. It wasn’t about being normal… No, it was because we weren’t normal that things were so wonderful. My worries washed away as if they had never existed. Even if we weren’t normal, even if we didn’t know what normal was, we’d be okay. We’d become a family for sure! I gotta call her out here. “Shizuki!” I yelled out to Shizuki’s room on the first floor. But there was no answer. Just as I thought, That’s strange, there was a faint creak as the dining room door cracked open. “Shizu! Come on, you’re next.” Nitori held the purple hair clip in one hand and beckoned to her with the other, but— “Huh?” —something was off about Shizuki when she came into the room. She was hugging herself and leaning against the wall like it was a struggle even to stay upright. Not to mention she was still dressed in her pajamas. “I… I… Today…” “What’s up?” “Do you feel sick?”