Life In The Spotlight

Chapter 5 (Present)

When Shu returned home, he started making dinner for Kirika. Honestly he was tired. He was studying for his SATs and had a ton of schoolwork to catch up.

Kirika was sitting in the living room watching cartoons with her friends. Then she squealed, "Shu! You're on TV!"

Shu shrugged. He was used to Kirika announcing that he was on TV every time she watched Beyblade Burst. Kirika was watching the episode where he battled Valt while injured.

Shu wasn't actually injured when filming, but he had sprained his ankle once as a kid, so he had known what to do.

Just as Shu served his famous spaghetti to Kirika, the door opened and his other sister came in.

Sora, now twenty one, had a job as a junior reporter for the newspaper. She loved her job as she enjoyed writing.

On this particular day, Sora was more excited than usual. She flashed a silver engagement ring. "I'm engaged," she said.

"Really?" asked Shu in surprise.

"What's engaged?" asked Kirika.

"It's when you ask someone to marry you and they accept," said Sora. "Wait until Mom and Dad hear about this. Isn't it great?"

"That's nice," said Shu. He knew that Sora had been dating this man named Matt Silva for a while. Although Shu had sworn off romance, he was glad that Sora had found her true love love.

"Someday," Kirika was saying now. "Someday I will find my true love."

"I'm sure that you will," said Sora. "Oh, I heard that your show was renewed for one more season. Isn't that great?"

"Kind of," said Shu. "But I'm not sure if I want to act anymore."

"But you love acting. And you enjoy your role," said Sora. "I know that it was disappointing that you were hardly in Quaddrive, but..."

"No. It's just I don't like being a celebrity," said Shu. "It's wearing me out. I have to go to this talk show on Friday when I would rather be enjoying myself. I feel so tired, but I can't rest. I still have exams to worry about, and I will be a senior in a few months..."

Shu could feel the tears coming and turned his head away. He didn't want Kirika to see him cry.

"Oh Shu. You're putting too much pressure on yourself," said Sora. "I know that you have been pulling all-nighters to study for exams. You're working way too hard. Remember what happened to your character when he overexerted himself?"

"He hurt his shoulder," said Shu.

"Exactly," said Sora. "And then he passed out after battling Valt. You're going to pass out during exams if you keep this up. You're tired. You need sleep."

"But what about Kirika? I still need to run her bath, read her a bedtime story, check if she's done her homework..."

"I'll take care of it," said Sora. "You go to bed and sleep. I'll make you breakfast before work tomorrow so you can have a little bit of a lie-in."

Shu sighed. "But you have a job. Won't you be tired?"

Sora sighed. "Typical of you, always worrying about others and never about yourself. I wish that you are a kid again. Then I could carry you to bed and read you a bedtime story."

Shu sighed. He knew that Sora was right. He was so tired that he could barely keep his eyes open. He wanted to just sleep on the dining table. But he couldn't go to sleep now.

"I promised Rose that I would tutor her," said Shu. "She has been struggling with her Math homework. And it's due tomorrow."

Sora smiled. "So the two lovebirds are going to do their homework together?"

"Sora! Not you too! I am not in love with Rose."

"Shu, you keep talking about Rose with that same dreamy expression. Besides, I know love when I see it."

"I can't be in love," said Shu. "I am not ready to date again."

Sora sighed. "Shu, I know that it's tough for you after Seina, but Rose seems to genuinely care about you."

"I... I can't risk it. You don't know what it's like to have your heart broken. Matt has always been wonderful to you."

"Shu, when I watched you suffer after Seina tortured you, I was heartbroken," said Sora. "There's nothing that hurts more than watching your loved ones suffer. And you can't just avoid love because of one bad experience. What if your character stopped Beyblading after the Red Eye incident?"

"He wouldn't be able to help Aiger or Lain," said Shu.

"Exactly. Of course, I understand that you still need time to heal. But I assure you that once you find your true love, you will be so happy."

Shu hugged Sora and cried. "I wish that I could turn my heart off," he said.

"But then you would never be happy," said Sora.

"Yeah, but I wouldn't be heartbroken," muttered Shu as his eyes closed.

Sora looked at her brother sleeping on her lap. "I think that you need help," she said. She gently brought Shu to bed and tucked him in.

"Sora, why was Shu crying?" asked Kirika.

Sora patted Kirika's head. Her little sister was smart, but Kirika didn't completely understand the concept of romantic love and heartbreak.

"It's nothing, really. Shu just had a bad day. Come on, let's get you ready for bed."