Two of a Kind: A Revue Starlight Fanfiction

Unwanted Message

A birthday was supposed to be fun. It was supposed to be a nice time to have fun with friends.

And yet, right now Akira was doing anything but that. She had woken up and gotten on with her day as normal. She got some letters delivered for her birthday, mostly from her friends who weren't able to see her in person today. And then she came upon a letter she wished didn't exist.

It was from her parents.

Akira couldn't recall the last time she had actually talked to them. It had been almost a year at this point. Why were they sending her a letter? She knew it wasn't going to be something trying to make amends. The letter had her dead name on it, after all.

She didn't know how long she had been staring at the letter for. She couldn't move. Too many thoughts were running through her head and paralyzing her.

Did she open it? Did she just throw it away without even bothering to see what it was. She didn't want to know but maybe she should at least give it a quick glance over?

"Akira~" A voice finally broke her out of her stiff posture.

"Yachiyo." Akira glanced over at where they stood.

Yachiyo was leaning up against the doorframe to the common room. They were eyeing up Akira with confusion.

"What's up? You're not very happy all of a sudden." Yachiyo questioned.

Akira glanced back down at the letter grasped tightly in her hand. "My parents sent a card..."

"Eh?!"

Even Yachiyo was surprised by that. They walked over and sat down beside her on the couch. They took the letter from her grip and looked the envelope over. They sighed as their eyes landed on the address area.

"What do you wanna do with it?" Yachiyo asked.

"I don't... I don't know." Akira replied. She still had no idea what she wanted to do about this. She was very tense.

"Do you want to read it?" Yachiyo questioned.

"Not really... but I feel like I need to." Akira mumbled, taking in a deep breath.

"Hmm..." Yachiyo sighed.

They were quite against Akira reading it. The last thing she needed was to be hurt on her birthday by her parents. There was no way anything good was written on this card. They hoped it was just a card that said son instead of daughter on it but they were worried it might be more.

"I... didn't think they even cared enough to do this." Akira said quietly, her gaze focused on the floor. "I thought they gave up on me. Would rather pretend I didn't exist."

"I think we all thought that as well." Yachiyo agreed. "I wonder what they think is going to happen by doing this? All I can see happening is giving you more of a reason to never speak to them again."

Akira just offered a shrug. It was hard to find her voice. Her anxiety was still high. The longer this was getting drawn out, the worse it was becoming. She just needed to rip the bandage off, didn't she?

Yachiyo squeezed one of her hands. "Do you want me to read it first?"

Akira looked over at them, slightly surprised. She hadn't thought to ask someone else to read it for her. But...

"Are you sure? It may say things about you as well."

Yachiyo blinked at her. "Oh... I totally forgot that was a possibility. Hmm... I can go drag Michiru here to read it if you want instead? I think she should at least know they sent you something."

"Okay..." Akira agreed.

Yachiyo got up and went off to go find Michiru. They took the letter with them. Just to be sure Akira didn't open it. They couldn't let her. Not until they knew what the contents were of this card.

Michiru was just coming out of her room as Yachiyo approached. Mei Fan was waiting for Michiru from the look of it.

"Michiru-senpai, can I steal you for a minute?" Yachiyo asked.

"Sure?" Michiru agreed.

They headed back toward the common room. Yachiyo stopped before they reached it.

"Akira's parents sent her a letter." Yachiyo held out said letter. "Can you read it to make sure it's okay for her to read? She's very anxious about what could be on it. I don't want her to get hurt by whatever it might be."

Michiru took the letter and looked it over. "Those assholes..."

She opened the envelope and took out the card. The outside simply said Happy Birthday on it. She took a deep breath and opened it. Yachiyo waited anxiously for her to say what was on it.

Michiru started to scowl as she read. Yachiyo was worried now. What had been written to make Michiru angry? That at least confirmed they were right to not let Akira read it unprepared.

"Senpai?" Yachiyo said.

Michiru let out a long sigh. "It's stupid bullshit about how they're right and she needs to come back and grow up."

"Go figure... anything about me on there?"

"Suprisingly no."

"Wow. Guess they probably just don't acknowledge that we're in a relationship."

"What are you going to tell Akira?" Michiru questioned.

"Just that it's nothing she should read." Yachiyo replied. "You can toss the card."

"Alright."

Yachiyo went back to Akira. She looked at them expectantly as they sat back down. The anxiety was very clear on her face.

"It was stupid stuff. Nothing worthwhile for you to read." Yachiyo stated. "Didn't even say anything nice about your birthday."

"I shouldn't be surprised..." Akira mumbled.

"I'm sorry. I wish they understood." Yachiyo hugged her tightly.

"It's okay. I have a much better family than them anyway."

"Michiru-senpai's family really has been great through all of this, huh?"

Ever since Akira officially cut off her family, Michiru's had really stepped up. Not that they hadn't through all these years, but their involvement in her life, and subsequently Yachiyo's, became a lot more apparent. Perhaps it was in part that they no longer had to worry how Akira's parents would react to it.

"You've also been a really great support through all of this." Akira said, "I really don't know how I'd have gotten by without you at this point."

Yachiyo offered a smile. "I could say the same to you. We both unconditionally accepted each other's differences."

"Yeah... we did."

"Well, how about we open up these cards now?" Yachiyo plucked a random letter from the pile nearby. "I'm sure our friends have a lot more lovely things to say to you."

Akira took the letter from Yachiyo's hands. She stared at it for a while, before she finally opened it. A feint smile appeared on her face as she read the card. That in turn made Yachiyo smile more.

"Oh yeah. I forgot to mention but I have a wonderful gift for you before we go out for dinner." Yachiyo said.

"Something to wear, I'm guessing?" Akira replied.

"Hair accessories, to be exact. The others helped make them too."

"Are you planning to do my hair?"

"Can I? I wanna make the birthday girl look stunning, after all." Yachiyo hummed.

"Only if I get to choose the style."

"Okay, but you have to see the accessories first before you decide."

"It's a deal then."