Red Line || Chishiya Shuntarō [✔️]

one

Fujisaki Ren felt hopeless.

At twenty, Ren should be living on her own, finishing up whatever courses she had for her tentative job options. But no. Ren was the guardian of her twin half-siblings who she had been raising since she was fifteen. Ren had to drop-out just to take care of her siblings and deal with the grief of losing her mother and stepfather in a car accident. Ren didn't think her last goodbyes to her parents would be them getting into the car, heading to the hospital to give birth to her new siblings.

The only good thing about the sudden goodbye was that her mother got to see her smiling face. That was the only thing that kept Ren going, knowing her mother saw how excited she was to have siblings, even if she was fifteen years older than them.

But at twenty, Ren didn't want to be mistaken as their mother, which was nearly every single time she went out of the house with Takeru. She could feel the eyes of the elders as she held her brother's hand on the train heading into Tokyo. Takeru was being patient while they rode the train, not making a single noise and holding onto the bar so as to not fall over on the busy train.

Ren could still feel the judgment eyes of the elders around her though. All thinking the same thing, trying to guess the boy's age and calculate when Ren got pregnant and ultimately gave birth. You'd think Ren was used to the side-eyes, but it never got easier.

Ren picked up Takeru as the train came to a stop. Shibuya Crossing was the busiest crosswalk in Japan, and Ren didn't want Takeru to get lost or hurt while she brought him straight to her friend's daycare for the day. Takeru's backpack was on Ren's shoulder as they walked off the train.

"Can I take my mask off, neechan?"

Ren shook her head. "Not right now. You still have a cough." Takeru pouted.

"I wanna see Kaida! Can't I go with you?"

It was the same thing every time Ren went to see Kaida in the hospital. Takeru couldn't see his sister while he was sick, even if it was just a lingering cough that the doctors assured Ren that was just fine. Even a lingering cough could be dangerous for Kaida.

Ren kissed her brother's temple, "I wish, Takeru. Kaida is sick," Takeru didn't quite understand why Kaida hadn't been released from the hospital yet. It had been two years since she was admitted. He didn't understand that Kaida was being taken care of by the lovely doctors and nurses, helping her through her cancer treatments.

Takeru just didn't understand.

"You could make her even sicker."

Takeru's pout fell.

Ren adjusted Takeru on her hip, looking around as she waited for the crosswalk. "Kaida is very sick, remember?" Takeru thought for a moment before nodding slowly and sadly. "You have to be completely healthy before you can see Kaida." Ren said.

"Can she come home soon?"

Ren wished she had the answer for that. The doctors were hopeful with the treatment plan they had in place for Kaida. Today was actually the reevaluation to see if the chemotherapy was actually working. It had been over six weeks since they started the new treatment plan, and the doctors spoke positively to Ren over the phone.

"I don't know." Ren wished she could tell Takeru that Kaida would be coming home soon. She didn't have the answers to that, she was more worried about paying more than when Kaida would be coming home. Ren wanted to make sure she could even afford a new treatment plan if this one wasn't actually working like the doctors hoped and prayed.

Takeru looked ahead as they started crossing the large street. Hundreds, if not thousands of people were walking in different directions. It was always eye opening to remember how many people actually lived in Japan, in Tokyo. Takeru was always awestruck with the people who walked around them and how tall the buildings were.