Chapter Text
September 25th, 2010
Faraway Town, The Suzuki's House
9:30 PM
"MARI! MARI, PLEASE WAKE UP!" I scream holding my sister while applying pressure to the wound on the back of her head to stop the bleeding, "MARI, I am sorry, this is all my fault. I am a terrible brother..."
September 24th, 2010
Faraway Town High School
2:15 PM
The bell rings, ending the school day. I get up, grab my stuff, and start to head home. On my way out I hear someone calling my name in a loud annoying voice.
"SUNNY. hey SUNNY hey. are you up for a friendly 1v1 in basketball?" they ask, I turn to see KEL.
"Sorry can't" I tell him.
"Why? It's not like you have a lot of homework due tomorrow because that would be impossible because tomorrow is the weekend" he says completely oblivious to what tomorrow is.
"KEL, my leg hasn't fully recovered from last you challenged me to a 'friendly' match", I remind him of the injury he gave me, "Besides, I have a lot of stuff I need to do before tomorrow, especially since my parents are out of town".
"Wait what is tomorrow?" he asks before it clicks, "Oh ya, you and MARI have that private recital thing tomorrow".
I let out a sign before correcting him, "It's not a recital, KEL. It's called Solo Ensemble. There is a different".
"Not really. I feel kind of bad for MARI, having an older brother who is so particular with names and doesn't like fun" He says trying to poke fun at me.
"It's better than having a reckless older brother who doesn't think anything through and had no self-control like how HERO has it", I respond. If he wants to guilt trip me by calling me a bad brother using my flaws, I will do the same to him.
"HEY, I HAVE SELF-CONTROL" he shouts as we exit the building.
"Oh you do? I didn't know. When was the last time you used it?", I ask sarcastically.
"When umm... let's see, umm... Okay, I think you actually have a point" KEL says in a low voice. A rare sight to see KEL this sad looking.
"Wait you can actually think, that's a shocker. Well at least you expecting that don't really think things through. Admitting that you are wrong is growth for you" I tell him.
"SUNNY, your just being really mean now for no reason" he responds.
"I am just saying KEL" I tell him, "Why do you think I am always shutting down your ides for group activities? It is because you don't realize how dangerous they can be especially for the MARI and AUBREY. I don't want to see anyone hurt badly. When it comes to things you do by yourself, I don't really care that much because I know how athletic you are and that you can take care of yourself."
This leaves him in silence for a good amount of time. We are almost home before he says, "What sort of things do you actually need to do for tomorrow?"
"A lot of errands since mom and dad are out of town taking care of mom's grandpa since he fell really ill recently" I tell him as we approach our houses.
"There has been a lot of health issues with your grandparents and great grandparents recently", he says before turning towards his house, "Anyway see you later SUNNY".
"See you later", I tell him as I heard to my house to drop my backpack off before going out. MARI isn't home yet, that is to be expected since the middle school doesn't get out until three and it's currently two thirty-five. I will leave her a note for when she gets home letting her know I won't be back until later, I think to myself before writing the note and heading out again.
Faraway Town, The Suzuki's House
6:30 pm
The errands I had to do ended up taking a bit longer than expected. It is really annoying that the grocery store and tailor/cleaner are on opposite sides of town, but manageable on foot. When I open the front door, I am greeted by silence and almost complete darkness. The only sources of light are the last fading rays of sunlight and the dining room light. Sitting at the dining room table is MARI doing homework and is completely focus on it so she doesn't notice me walk in.
"Sorry, I took so long MARI" I tell her as I set a bag full of groceries on the counter. She just give me a nod of recognition but doesn't look up at before I go to hang up our freshly steam cleaned outfits for tomorrow so they don't get wrinkled.
"We should really do some practice runs through the piece we are playing for Solo Ensemble before we preform tomorrow, MARI" I tell her once I come back down stairs as I grab some food. We hadn't been able to work out a lot of time to practice together due to conflicting schedule and personal responsibilities, so we had to be practicing individually.
"That's tomorrow?" Mari says nervously.
"Yes, it is" I say, "don't tell me you actually forgot about it and haven't been practicing".
"I have been practicing as much as I can, but it wasn't been a lot and I forgot the actual date for the performance. That is all, SUNNY", she says in away that seems like she might be lying.
September 25th, 2010
Faraway Town High School
8:37 PM
The group before us is going over their time and I hear the judges are being extremely harsh with the 'critiquing' section. This doesn't make me feel that confident, and it doesn't help that MARI over all was only getting around half an hour of practicing every week.
If MARI can calm down, she should be able to play well but she doesn't seem to have a clear mind, I think to myself. I go to try to help her calm down but the group before us leave the performance room.
"SUNNY and MARI SUZUKI, you two are up now", the assistant, who lady that is helping things run smoothly, tells us.
Faraway Town, The SUZUKI House
9:25 pm
The performance went horrible, the judge brutally torn through MARI during the critiquing section. They didn't really say anything to me and what they did say to me was neither negative or positive, but that didn't stop them from tearing into MARI. She hasn't said a word since we got back and I can't tell what she is thinking but decide to give her space.
That was until while I was in the bathroom, I heard what sounded like something hitting the ground and splintering into a bunch of pieces. I quickly exit the bathroom to see MARI standing at the top of the stairs angerly like she just thrown something down the stairs. Then I see it, broken at the bottom of the stairs.
I become FURIOUS
"MARI! WHAT DID YOU YOU?!" I shout at her when I see my violin broken at the bottom of the stairs.
"I AM TIRED OF YOU NEVER DOING ANYTHING WRONG! NEVER MAKING ANY MISTAKES! ALWAYS DOING EVERYTHING PERFECTLY! WHENEVER YOU DO ANYTHING, IT'S ALWAYS PRAISE YOU RECIEVE FOR YOUR HARDWORK, BUT AS SOON AS I DO SOMETHING, IT'S 'YOU DIDN'T DO IT RIGHT' OR 'TRY HARDER' OR EVEN 'WHY AREN'T YOU MORE LIKE YOUR BROTHER'! EVERYTHING IS ALWAYS ABOUT YOU! NO ONE EVER GIVE ME PRAISE" She screams at me
"MARI, I PUT IN A LOT OF TIME AND EFFORT INTO WHAT I DO. I WILLING GIVE UP TIME THAT I COULD BE USING TO SPEND TIME WITH MY FRIENDS TO PRACTICE, SOMETHING THAT IT IS CLEAR THAT YOU DON'T DO! YOU HAVE TO WORK FOR PRAISE, IT ISN'T JUST GIVEN OUT. YOU BARELY DO THE BARE MINIMUM FOR EVERYTHING, SO OF COURE YOU AREN'T GOING TO RECEIVE PRAISE!" I snap at her, "ALL YOU ARE IS A JELOUS BRAT! ALL YOU WANT IS TO PROFIT OFF OF OTHERS WITHOUT DOING THE WORK YOURSELF! ALL YOU DO IS MAKE OTHERS SUFFER! YOU ARE A LEECH! A PARASITE!" I am barely keeping myself from pushing her.
MARI is AFRAID
She starts to step backwards as I continue to verbally lash out.
"YOU THINK YOUR LIFE IS HARD. I HAVE TO DEAL WITH YOU! I AM ASHAMED TO HAVE A SISTER WHO SEES THEMSELF AS ENTITLED AS YOU DO! AND AFTER EVERYTHIN I HAVE DONE FOR YOU, THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY ME, BY BREAKING MY VOILIN! MY LIFE WOULD BE MUCH, MUCH BETTER WITH OUT YOU IN IT! I WISH YOU WERE NEVER BORN AT ALL!" as those word leave mu mouth, without even seeing MARI's face, I instantly regret them.
MARI keeps stepping backwards but before I can apologize to her, she loses her footing and falls down the stairs. All I can do is watch in horror as my little sister falls. I rush down the stairs to find her head is bleeding badly and she is barely breathing.
"MARI! MARI, PLEASE WAKE UP!" I scream holding my sister while applying pressure to the wound on the back of her head to stop the bleeding, "MARI, I am sorry, this is all my fault. I am a terrible brother..."
Then someone walks into the room. It is AUBREY and she looks at us, at me, in utter disbelief.