Change

“Aki-chan, we need to talk,” Haru said. Aki stood in the hallway.

“No,” she said. “No. No. No. No!” Her stomach growled with the worst timing ever. A sweat drop formed on her head. Haru tilted her head.

“I suppose you want breakfast right now, yes?” she asked. Aki laughed nervously and dropped her head. Damn it, she thought.

--------

Aki could barely eat despite her stomach growling earlier. Instead, her eyes stayed on her sister. Haru watched everyone else at the table as they ate. Aki put down her chopsticks.

“Okay,” she said at last. “What are you up to now?” Haru raised an eyebrow.

“May I ask what you are getting at?” she asked.

Her sister gritted her teeth. “You always do this! You just swoop in and take over everything. Why can’t you just leave me alone and let me be?”

“How old are you again?”

“Twenty-one.”

“Right. What exactly are you doing with your life? You aren’t getting any younger, you know?”

“I am not a child anymore!”

“I know. Which is why you need to quit playing around and get a real job.”

“I did apply for a job. What more do you want from me?”

“To grow up!” The whole time that the sisters argued, Mark and the rest of the family watched with a lost appetite. This was getting too painful to watch by the second. Natsu tried to quietly get up from the table.

“Sit back down!” Haru commanded her.

“But I have to go to bathroom,” the youngest sister complained.

“Do you really have to go?”

“Yes!” Natsu ran down the hall before the oldest sister could say a word. Aki gritted her teeth. Come back here, you traitor! Her eyes turned back to Haru.

“So why are you here?” she asked again. “You never answered my question.” The eldest sister cleared her throat.

“You haven’t made any progress in a year,” she said. “So we will be working here until you graduate and get a job.”

Aki sat back, frowning. “So you won’t leave me along until I grow up in your eyes?”

“That is correct.”

“I see…” Aki didn’t like this game plan at first, but then she began to see way to get free from her family. It would just require a little bit of friend. Her eyes moved towards Mark. Yes, he and his friends would do just fine.