The sun ray from my window hit Rise's sleeping face after I opened the curtains. She squinted, and I can tell that she was roused. The moment Rise opened her eyes, I asked
"Are you alright now? An unfamiliar ceiling, I know. You're in our house now, resting. This is much better than you sleeping under the bridge."
Stunned for a few seconds, wandering her eyes, she then asked, "H–how long have you been watching me?"
"The moment you flooded the pillow with tears." Rise tapped the edge of her eye, then hastily sat up and rubbed her tears off. I giggled, "You had such a bad dream."
Rise fidgetted her fingers and stared at it, "I'm sorry, Kou-kun. I got you involved."
"No worries. How's your dream?"
She pursed her lips, her hand caressing her left arm in a gentle way. "…Nee-san and I were like oil and water… We're too close, yet we can't touch each other… I'm such a dumb, selfish sister."
I shook my head. "No one said that."
"I just… I just want to give her the rest she needs. She shouldn't be doing things she doesn't want to do. I thought if I can replace her, she won't have to suffer anymore, and live the life she deserves, the normal school life she says I have. I don't belong to school, she doesn't belong to the spotlights. I thought doing this will make her recognize my potential… but I…"
Rise's gaze lowered, her chin dipping to her chest with a slumped back. Her chin quivering, she grimaced and tearfully muttered, "I was only… just… jealous." Tears continued to crawl down her cheeks whilst her cry went louder and louder, resonating back from the corners of my room. She buried her eyes onto my shoulder, her arms that lacked energy surrounded my waist.
I embraced her gently and rubbed her back. Her full-body tremors reached my skin. Her heartbeat hastened, nearly wanting to go out of her body. Her voice cracking, she whispered, "I shouldn't have done this. I shouldn't have… pursued my stupid dreams… When will I ever grow up…"
After her cries went soft, I replied, "You've already learned enough."
"I'm stubborn, clumsy, dumb, shy… How can I even catch up to her?"
"You can always try. Nothing's wrong with trying."
"Unlike her, no one… no one appreciates me."
In the peak of this moment, I swallowed and hugged her tighter, whispering to her ears directly, "… I do."
"D–Do you really–"
"And it's not just me, Rise. You don't realize there are other people that appreciate your imitation, your cosplays, your art." I slowly pushed her shoulders away from me, only to witness Sera standing.
Her eyes slowly widened, giving Sera, who was standing beside us, a dazed look, her trembling fingers touching her parted lips as she covered her mouth. What I didn't expect to see was Sera holding Rise's green notebook.
Sera smiled and said, "I'm glad you're alright. When you previously performed, I recalled the moments before I came here. Chaotic, struggling, that's the time I knew that there are wars that we can't win, and our only option is to escape. If not for this so-called 'make up', I wouldn't have to stop myself from crying."
Sera knelt down the floor and touched Rise's hand, speaking with a soft calming voice, "You made me realize the reason why I'm here. Thank you for reminding me what to do, Rise-san. If you don't believe the things you do, I'll always believe you. If you can't trust yourself–"
Sera removed the tangles in her braided hair, revealing her natural long ears to her, "– I trust you. I somewhat regret not saying this to you before, but I just want you to know that…
"I'm also your friend."
***
When Kou met Hina Satou's booth in the convention, Sera mentioned, "Kou-nii, was she the one we saw at Halloween? The one you thought you were friends with?"
"It's like you're lowkey implying that I only have imaginary friends. Well, famous fish attract the whole ocean. However, I still have some things to clarify with her. Just wait here."
After Kou left, Sera stood beside a pillar and leaned her back against the concrete. Two minutes passed, Sera sat in an Indian sit pose, her chin resting on her hand and her eyes wandering off into the ceiling. Her foot tapped in a rhythm, synchronizing with a song from her homeland.
With half-closed eyes, she whispered to herself, "It's been a long time. What should I do? Why did he even leave me here? I'm curious about that person too."
Just as Sera stood up, a woman with high energy, cosplaying Asami from the The Heroic Witch, approached her. Sera froze, excessively swallowing, as her eyes rolled from top to bottom of the cosplayer's outfit in a mix of shades of green and blue.
"Asami…"
The girl's eyes sparkled and gleamed, cheeks burning in red. Though her legs trembled, she bounced from foot to foot, like a joyful little rabbit, to Sera. She gripped her green notebook, the one that had Sera's signature, before her stomach.
Stuttering, she catched up to her breath and squealed, "S–Shizu-sama! I'm so glad I found you! W–Would you mind being friends with me? I mean–What are your socials?"
"Uhh… Socials?" Sera tilted her head again, pursing her lips. Her eyes squinted, and soon, it gradually widened after noticing her handwriting on the notebook's front cover page. "You're…"
The cosplayer suddenly calmed down and smiled at her. "Sera-san… I forgot to say… thank you for protecting me back then…" The cosplayer handed her the book forcefully, then ran away.
"Wait!" Sera tried to chase her, stretching her arm to her view, but she was grounded in her position. Her eyes glued down to the notebook, her eyebrows raised, her fingers slowly pinching the cover before opening it… A diary, starting at…
"When the room was dark, I was holding my Mom's hand…" Sera whispered, and halted when Kou came into picture. Sera hid the notebook behind her and asked Kou, "What did you two talk about?"
"Nothing." Leading the way, Kou flipped a polaroid. "She's just unaware of her sister's participation."
After Sera's performance, she went to Kou while the crowd initiated a loud applause. Her chest rose and fell with steady deep breaths. Her gaze swept across the sea of satisfied faces, and when she looked at Kou, she felt fulfilled. However, she felt Kou's smile was forced.
"You did your best, Sera. I'm so moved," Kou responded with an upturned face, rubbing her hair with his palm. The smile soon went flat as he uttered while bowing, "If we don't win this competition, blame it to my lack of competence."
Sera touched Kou's chin and said, "I'll never blame you, Kou-nii. Providing me with elegant clothing to show to the world, you also did your best. We'll go through this together, remember?"
Kou chuckled,"You already won the heart of the audience anyways. This is still a win for us."
Sera smiled with a tilted-back head as her muscles relaxed. The tense breathing vanished, until the air felt heavier around her. The strong steps walking towards the stage attracted both their attention. The cosplayer fixed her stare at the stage, unfazed. Even though Sera didn't know her name, she felt like she'd already seen her before… multiple times.
The cosplayer stood at the center of the spotlight, shoulder back and chin high.She pointed her weapon prop, a spear, towards the judges as the slow beat of drums initiated the performance.
The cosplayer's body performs stances of an unfamiliar yet striking scenery, the mixture of colors on her silk costume radiating light. For every cycle of a movement beat, she spun her spear left and right, each frame depicting a defensive ancient martial art stance against a hundred imaginary foes.
Her eyelids felt heavy and eyes involuntarily drifted shut. She kneeled on the ground, bowing, her weapon resting on the ground as she gripped it. Her discernible teeth clenched with breaths that went in and out. A subtle smirk appeared on her face before her body fell down the ground, claiming victory.
After the last drum beat, the air of calmness filled the air. The cosplayer controlled the crowd more than Sera who was also left in awe. Sera covered her mouth with her palm, her eyes watering, as each scene brought back the memories of the elven people that were lost in the war.
However, what Sera didn't expect was… When she looked at Kou, his hands went limp, his chin lowering, shivering. His eyes were stunned, pacing at far beyond nothingness. Sera's look became sullen, her lips pursing flat, her breaths became coarser, faster, thinking,
'So that is how cosplays should be? Will I really win? I feel like I'm only playing around.'
After the performance, Sera smoothed her clothing and cleared her throat before going backstage. She didn't even notice Kou negotiating with a potential cosplay agency where she can join. Across the hallway, she bit her bottom lip, not until…
A door before them banged open, witnessing Rise out of the room. When their gazes met, Sera noticed Rise's tears surrounding her widened ocean blue eyes, her eyebrows withdrawn, asking for help. After a few seconds of holding eye contact, Sera's eyes brightened, familiarity flooding her mind with memories.
She knew her. She was the shy girl who asked for her photograph at Shibuya. She was also the energetic girl who asked her earlier as a friend. As she ran away from their sight, she never felt the need to stop her, but she felt the urge to read the notebook.
As she got home, she grabbed the opportunity to read the notebook while Kou was away. For her, this was also a test to see how much she learned Japanese. But for some reason, her eyes deceived her. The writing inside the notebook became automatically translated to the language of the elves.
With her head flinching back slightly, she didn't have the time to be confused. While she was able, she analyzed every page, telling her how Rise lived her life since the start of her mother's incident. For every page flip, a tear drops down her cheek.
Before Kou got home, she had already finished up to the first blank page she encountered. What Rise experienced, what she felt, it claimed Sera like a virus. Crying solo inside Kou's room, she hugged her notebook like a pillow, uttering with a broken voice,
"I want to help her."
"I want to be her friend."