2002
Osaka prefecture
Japan
2:00 PM
*Briiinnnnnggggg*
The dismissal bell let out a shrill cry, signaling to everyone – staff and students alike – that the school day is over.
"Alright everyone!" Sako Miyaki clapped her hands to get the attention of her classroom of preschoolers. "It's dismissal time! Let's clean up, get your stuff, and line up!"
"Haiiiii Sensei!" A chorus of seventeen voices answered her.
The children all stopped what they were doing earlier and began putting away whatever they were doing earlier. Coloring books were placed into bright folders, writing utensils were tucked away into plastic pencil cases and whiteboards were wiped clean before being stashed in canvas bags.
It took approximately three more minutes before the stragglers – who needed more of a push to become fully prepared for dismissal – got their bags and one more minute of coaxing before two neat lines were formed.
"Come on everyone!" Miyaki said after performing a quick headcount. "Follow me!"
The raven-haired woman began walking toward the class's assigned exit, taking quick peeks behind her to ensure the line remained consistent. There were a few times where large gaps appeared, but nothing a couple of stops in the hallway couldn't fix.
*Thuck*
Eventually, they reached the exit and Miyaki pushed open the preschool's front door. The children flowed out of the exit. Some ran, some walked, and some more patient ones waited for the tide of pushes and shoves to wane before making their way out of the school building.
Among the last to leave were a pair of twins, Hoshino Ai and Hoshino Yoru.
"Goodbye Sensei!!" The two waved goodbye to their raven-haired teacher, but only Ai verbalized the farewell.
Miyaki didn't seem to begrudge the older Hoshino sister on that fact and happily returned the gesture as the two walked to their mother. However, the educator's smile soon turned stiff when her gaze fell upon the woman. She didn't smile when her children made their way toward her. Hoshino Ayumi looked like she would rather be anywhere but here.
"You worried for them, Sako-san?" Sakuma Hideaki – the preschool's one and only janitor – stepped next to her after she put her hand down.
"A bit." The teacher admitted as she watched the three set off toward their home.
The Hoshino twins have been the subject of much gossip among the preschool's staff since their enrollment a few weeks prior. It started with the school's administrators because of several oddities – like the girls' lack of a father and the young age of their mother – on record. However, conversations quickly spread amongst the teachers once the two started attending classes.
Miyaki herself didn't participate in those discussions, but that didn't keep her from noticing things about the two. The Hoshinos aren't well off, that much was obvious from the quality of their clothing and the sisters' limited number of school supplies. But that alone wouldn't amount to much given how their preschool is the most affordable one in the neighborhood.
No, what truly stood out was how the two have noticeably less baby fat on their cheeks than their classmates. Additionally, Miyaki hasn't seen either Yoru or Ai take out any sort of packed lunch during their class's lunch period. That means either their mother was too poor to make them packed lunches, or she simply refuses to.
"You studied doctor stuff in college, right?" The janitor inquired. "Have you noticed anything weird with these two?"
"My years of med-school means bunk without a license, Sakuma-san." The educator replied. "But, I have and brought them up to the admins. They just said it's 'too early' and 'there's not enough evidence' for them to act."
"Hah…. I think it's pretty obvious that something is wrong." Hideaki sighed. "Why those office workers refuse to do anything is beyond me."
"This situation is beyond what we can do, Sakuma-san." Miyaki shrugged her shoulders. "Neither of us are qualified to take action, and this isn't something we can get the police involved in."
The custodian didn't respond to the teacher's words. Instead, he reached into his pocket to fish out a pack of cigarettes. He put one of the sticks into his mouth and held out the container to his coworker.
"No thank you Sakuma-san." Miyaki shook her head. "I have a meeting in half an hour."
"Hmm." Hideaki lit the end of the cigarette in between his lips. "Your loss."
Without another word, the woman turned around and retreated into the school building, leaving the janitor to enjoy his smoke break by his lonesome. Upon the steel door shutting behind him, the custodian took a long drag of his cancer stick before blowing out a puff of grey smoke.
When there was nothing left of the cigarette but its orange filter, Hideaki extinguished the stick between his fingers and flicked the butt into a nearby trash can.
[... .... .- -.. --- .-- / --- ..-. / .- -. / .. -.. --- .-.. / --- -- .- -.- . ...]
*Tap tap tap*
Ai's shoes clicked on the sidewalk as she trotted behind her mother. A soft breeze blew down the street, rustling the girl's violet locks as it drifted past. Pink petals fell from flowering trees around the Hoshinos after the wind plucked them off their branches.
The child's nose twitched as an almost overwhelming sweet scent of pollen wafted up her nose. An itching sensation bloomed within her nostrils and not long after-
"Achoo!" Ai stopped in her tracks and sneezed.
The younger twin sniffed before wiping the bridge of her nose and her upper lip. Luckily, no snot clung to her fingers when she pulled her hand away. But even so, the child began wiping her hand on her skirt. Just because there wasn't snot there didn't mean nothing had gotten on her digits.
*tap tap*
Ai felt someone tap her left shoulder a couple of seconds after she started cleaning her fingers. The girl turned to face that direction and came face to face with Yoru.
The older twin motioned toward their mother and the younger Hoshino sibling realized she had fallen behind. She quietly thanked her sister with a nod before rushing to catch up with her mom.
As Ai ran, a splash of rainbow colors flickered in the corner of her eye. She internally debated whether she should go check it out, or to close the distance between her mother and herself. The girl's curiosity eventually won out. She slowed her steps and backtracked.
It turns out her eye was caught by a bakery's display. Rows upon rows of cupcakes on clear acrylic shelves greeted her as she leaned closer to the glass. The groups of confectionaries stood like they were in the middle of a parade, proudly displaying their crowns of whipped cream alongside their jewels of sprinkles and fresh fruit. The pastries almost glowed under the orange lighting, practically screaming 'I'm delicious! Please come inside!' to anyone passing by.
It was then Ai realized her birthday was coming soon. April twenty-fifth is on Thursday and since today was Tuesday, that meant it was only two days away.
It should drum up feelings of excitement, of anticipation. But, the girl doesn't feel anything about her birthday. It wasn't like she doesn't know what a birthday should be. The characters in her anime all throw big parties, eat cake, and celebrate growing another year older. But try as she might, the youngest Hoshino child couldn't think of a time she ever did something like that.
She never ate cake, only bread, rice, vegetables, and eggs. There were never parties to celebrate getting older, just her mother telling Ai and her older sister that their age has changed. As far as she knows, it was just another day.
Once, the child had asked her mom why they didn't have birthday parties like in Hamtaro. Her mother sounded so tired when she told Ai that they didn't have the money to spend on throwing parties.
That made her angry. If they didn't have money for parties, what was the point of mom working all the time? Why did she almost never spend time with them if she couldn't do something for a day that was supposed to be special?
The girl tried to tell her mom that, but all those feelings didn't make it come out like she wanted to. It was then her mom snapped at her to go to her room. Neither Ai nor Yoru ate dinner that night, and bitterness was a pile of sand that sat in her empty stomach.
The girl sighed and pried herself from the shop window. Looking at sweets she'll never get to eat won't do anything but make her feel more like a lemon. Ai ran off to catch up with her mother, not knowing Yoru had gazed into the same shop window to take note of the prices.
[... .... .- -.. --- .-- / --- ..-. / .- -. / .. -.. --- .-.. / --- -- .- -.- . ...]
Two days later
7:49 AM
"Hmm hmm…" Hideaki hummed as he dragged his mop across the floor of an empty classroom.
The janitor pushed the wet sweeper across tiles, soaking any stain with chemicals and wiping them off with the braided head. When the tool started to dry from prolonged contact with the ground, the custodian lifted it into a nearby bucket.
"Sakuma-san." A small voice called out to him as he washed the cotton head.
Hideaki turned around to see a tuft of purple hair and two violet eyes almost boring into him.
"Oh, hello uhh…" The man trailed off in his greeting as he struggled to tell which Hoshino sibling was currently standing in the doorway.
"I'm Yoru." The older twin greeted, immediately understood what the cleaner was stuck on.
"Thanks." Hideaki nodded. "Hello Yoru-chan. Whaddya want with little ol' me?"
"You smoke." The custodian blinked in response to the girl's blunt reply.
"You can smell it?" The cleaner was surprised that Yoru knew of his habit, given that he only smoked at home and did his best to minimize the smell prior to going to work.
The girl nodded before reaching into her back pocket.
"Here." She held out six white tubes.
Hideaki stared at the paper sticks in silence. Why did the child show him these haphazardly glued-together paper straws? What did she want him to do with these?
"They're ciggies." Yoru bluntly told him after a couple moments of silence. "I want fifty yen for every one of these."
The janitor blinked again. What?
"Yoru-chan, why are you trying to sell me smokes?" The man asked, his voice bearing a mix of incredulity and concern.
"Ai's birthday is today." The older twin admitted. "Okaa-san doesn't get us anything for our birthdays. Ai see cupcakes yes-yesterday and she want it. I don't has money to buy them."
Hideaki took a second to process what the girl said before letting out a snort.
"Alright, I'll buy them off of you." The cleaner said before Yoru had a chance to protest his reaction. "Here."
He reached into his pocket and exchanged the "cigarettes" in the child's palm with a handful of coins.
"Thank you Sakuma-san." The eldest sister began counting the coins just as he pocketed those tobacco sticks.
Yoru then stopped.
"You gave me too much." The girl disclosed.
"Did I?" Hideaki playfully inquired.
"I can count Sakuma-san." Yoru was unamused by his mischievous attitude. "Here."
She put three hundred-yen coins in her other hand and held it out.
"Keep them." The custodian gently pushed the child's hand away. "Think of it as a gift from me. Buy something nice for the both of you. Ain't it your birthday too?"
The girl hesitated for a moment, before nodding and pocketing the money.
"Bye bye Sakuma-san." Yoru said before she turned to leave. "Thank you for buying them."
"Happy birthday Yoru." Hideaki called out. "And tell Ai I told her happy birthday too!"
As the violet-haired student's frame retreated past the doorway of the classroom, Hideaki took one of the "cigarettes" out and unfurled its paper covering. A collection of clipped butts rolled out once their glued together frame no longer held them together.
The man chuckled, at both the innocence and ingenuity of the five-year-old. It was nowhere near what a proper smoke should be filled with, but it came scarily close for something made by someone who couldn't even read.
The janitor crushed the paper and loose tobacco leaves in the palm of his hand and stuffed them into his pocket. Hideaki wasn't so addicted to nicotine that he would smoke home-made cigarettes made by an actual child. He'll throw them out when he gets home.
With that, the custodian resumed the song he was humming to himself and continued mopping the rest of the classroom.
[... .... .- -.. --- .-- / --- ..-. / .- -. / .. -.. --- .-.. / --- -- .- -.- . ...]
That evening
9:13 PM
"Good night you two." Ai's mom told her two daughters before flicking the light-switch to their room.
Darkness quickly creeped into the room like a dense fog, leaving the light flowing in through the entrance the only bright spot in the twins' bedroom. The woman then closed the door, dunking the room in complete darkness.
*Step* *step* *step*
"..."
"Ai." Yoru's voice came from the top bunk a couple of minutes after their mother's footsteps faded away. "Are you sleeping?"
"No, Yoru-chan." The girl answered, her voice barely above a whisper.
"Okay." The sound of shuffling and creaking quickly followed her sister's response.
*Tap* *Tap* *Tap*
Yoru then slowly climbed down the ladder of their shared bunk bed, quietly dropping to the floor once both her feet were on the bottom rung.
"What do you have?" Ai sat up in her bed and pointed at the box her sister was carrying.
The eldest Hoshino sister sat on the floor before shifting the paper container in her lap. After spending a couple of seconds wrangling the box, she managed to get it open.
Inside was some kind of small cake. Yoru set the container down and pulled something taped to the underside of the cover.
"Happy birthday, Ai." The older twin whispered, holding out the confectionary to her sister upon sticking whatever was in her hand into it.
Ai stared at the pastry. It was one of the cupcakes she saw in that bakery window two days ago. A candle with the number six sat off center, likely due to how dark the room was.
"It… for me?" the girl asked after accepting the sweet with both hands.
"Yeah." Yoru nodded as she set aside the box. "Eat it."
"How did you get this?" The younger sibling inquired. "I hope you didn't steal it! Stealing is bad Yoru-chan."
"I took the old ciggies from the tray in the hallway and made them into new ciggies." The child replied. "Sakuma-san gave me six-hundred yen for them and I bought the cupcake with them."
"Ah." Ai nodded. "But what about you, Yoru-chan?"
"Didn't feel right to buy for me." Yoru admitted. "I had money to get the bigger ones, so I got that and not two small ones."
"Then…" Ai unwrapped the button of the cupcake before sinking her fingers into the confectionary and breaking it in two. "Here, for your birthday."
Yoru took the offered half, cradling it in her hands while she watched her sister dig into hers. The older twin was initially hesitant on eating her half in case her younger sibling wanted more, but that hesitation vanished after Ai motioned for her to eat it.
Though there wasn't a party or gifts, the simple fact they had eaten cake made it the best birthday they ever had. Even if their mother freaked out and interrogated the two come next morning, the sweetness of the shared cupcake made it all worth it.
But little did the two children know, Yoru's act of sisterly love caught the attention of a certain crow deity. The god realized she had accidentally left a mistake to fester and seeked to snuff it out before it could unravel her plans, making this birthday the only one they'll share for a very long time.