Gambling In Love

Chapter 20: Momobamis

"Ready to go?" Atari asked as Yumeko ran down the stairs with a coat on.

"Yep, I just need shoes," Yumeko told her sister as she put her shoes on.

"You sure you want to go?" Mary asked from the bottom of the steps, leaning against the railing.

"Mhm," Yumeko hummed, "They have to know I'm alive eventually."

"Okay," Mary nodded in agreement. "Just try not to get killed or poisoned or... whatever," Mary mumbled as she looked away, trying to act like she wasn't actually worried.

"I'll be sure to come back alive without any missing limbs or.... Whatever," Yumeko teased.

"Oh, fuck you," Mary mumbled as she walked over and slightly shoved Yumeko before calmly walking back to her room.

"Another time, then?" Yumeko yelled after Mary as she laughed.

"Oh my God!" she heard exclaimed from upstairs, though the sound was muffled by Mary's already closed door.

"You like the tsunderes, huh?" Atari teased as she and her sister stepped out of the house.

"Nope," Yumeko disagreed, "just her."

"That's cheesy," Atari cringed, but she smiled at her little sister all the same.

"Yeah, well," Yumeko shrugged, not finishing her sentence.

"She's likable," Atari said with a shrug.

"Well obviously," Yumeko said as she shoved her hands in her pockets.

Atari laughed as she put a playful arm around her sister, the two continuing to walk to the Momobami residence since it wasn't very far away. Another reason the families were rivals; they constantly fought over the land surrounding their properties.

"Are you sure you want to go back?" Atari asked one last time.

"I won't like it," Yumeko told her sister, "It wasn't the best time of my life, but I want to go."

"It 'wasn't the best time of your life'?" Atari asked questioningly.

"What'd you expect? Leaving me alone with them," Yumeko reminded her sister calmly.

"They promised they'd take care of you," the older girl fumed.

"C'mon, are you that naive?" Yumeko laughed a little, "All that training dad did, and you failed to remember that they're a family of lying manipulators?"

"Well, yeah, I knew that, but I figured that since they wanted you to help them so badly, they wouldn't do anything to harm you," Atari told her sister, "Obviously I was wrong."

"I guess I should thank you, though," Yumeko shrugged, "Since if you hadn't done what you did, you'd be dead, I'd be alone, and I'd still be stuck with them or dead too."

"You don't... You don't hate me for what I did?" Atari asked as tears filled her eyes.

"Of course not, you're my sister," Yumeko laughed, "You'll always be perfect in my eyes."

Abruptly stopping, Atari turned to her sister and pulled her into a tight hug. The older girl rested her head on her sister's shoulder and sobbed. Yumeko just smiled at her sister, not that she could see, while she rubbed her back.

While her sister was technically 5 years older, she sometimes forgot that because of the things she had been through, she had the mental age of someone her own age. Of course she'd have the same thoughts of inadequacy Yumeko did, and of course she'd worry that Yumeko would hate her for what she did. Yumeko wanted to slap herself for being so naive.