your older sister returns home from work and calls your name, and sits you down to talk about something serious. you're confused, but you follow her lead, settling comfortably on the bed with a shake of your head, still unsure what to expect. and what she says... definitely isn't it.

"Hey, if everything gets resolved and Shinjuku returns to normal... let's go see Mom and Dad, and then have a proper talk with them together."

while you're too caught off guard to respond, ichika continues, acknowledging your dream more directly than ever, and offering support you never thought you'd receive. no, you don't want to run the family business. that was never going to be the life for you. but you expected to have to fight for it all on your own, to work as hard as you could to force your family to listen for once, to acknowledge that you are, in fact, your own person, and that your dream isn't out of reach. but here is ichika, insisting that you tell them together, offering you a helping hand you never thought you'd get.

"They'll never know if you don't tell them, so they won't understand until you do," she says. and you're surprised to find yourself smiling back at her, relieved and excited to finally have someone in your corner, promising to root for you.

...but even that doesn't assuage your worries. tomorrow is new year's eve. x-day is still looming over the city. so you ask with hesitation, a little afraid of the answer, if they'd caught adonis already. and ichika agrees, except--

"...We haven't caught all of them."

and that's what scares you. that's why you have to ask, "But you don't need to be in danger anymore. Right?"

all you want is for your ichika to be safe. you've been saying it for days, over a week now, and not once has she listened. it's always been that she had something important to do. but if they've caught those adonis guys, then maybe... just maybe, she can finally sit out, rest, and stay out of danger.

you're afraid, and the way she hesitates makes you feel a little desperate. akito, your best friend, has already disappeared, arrested for some unknown crime. if ichika does, too... what are you supposed to do? it was bad enough that time when you were kids. even now, you remember it in sharp clarity - how scared you'd been when she disappeared from your side, the terror of seeing your parents, who were supposed to hold up the world, fly into a panic - how you'd clung to her and cried and cried and cried when that kid brought her back, hair wet with blood and in a daze.

you'd gotten her back that time. but now...?

softly, you plead, "Don't you go dying on me without even telling me."

"...I'll be alright. I won't die and leave you alone." she reaches out, resting a hand on your head. she always did that when you were younger, whenever you cried and needed reassurance. "But, there are still things that I have to do."

again, with that. again, she's going to throw herself into danger, and she asks you to support her. that's her dream, she says, and what are you to say to that? she is committed, and you'd be a hypocrite to ignore her dream after working so hard for yours to be recognized. hesitantly, with tears threatening to well up in your eyes, you agree.

"I..." a false start, as your voice betrays your anxiety. "I've always had a bad temper, taking it out on you. Maybe I'm in my childish rebellious phase. I've been irresponsible, and I haven't tried to understand how you feel."

a breath as you steel yourself, and you vow to fulfill your dream.

"I won't just be coddled like I have until now. I'm going to help my big sis." neechan. it's the first time you've called her that in years, and it brings your smile back. "So, don't you die on me. You make sure you survive and come back home."

"Of course," ichika answers easily. with that, she leaves you to get back to work. and your smile fades quickly, as you watch her back disappear through the door, wondering if it will be the last time you see it.