DIAMOND GIRL

Prologue

AO3 LINK: http://archiveofourown.org/works/2487854/chapters/5520515

The first time he ever lied, Mikoto Mikoshiba had been all of eight years old.

"Aw, c'mon, Mikorin." The dark-haired girl had said back then, pulling at his wrist so he couldn't go away. "Just this once?"

"First of all: no." The redheaded boy had all but spat out, trying to wrench himself free of his sister's grip with admirable force. "Second of all: Yu, would you please stop calling me 'Mikorin'?"

"Nah. If I did, then what choice would I have left to use when referring to my precious little brother?" Yu drawled, pulling on said precious brother so they now lay side-by-side on the fluffy bed.

"Call me 'Mikoto', at least. That's my actual name, yanno." Mikoto huffed, sitting up, swatting at his sister's fingers - which were attempting to tickle the hell out of him. He then crossed his arms and tried very much to pull the disappointed face their dad would always pull when they did things like keep the cookie jars in their closet or stay up late sharing ghost stories well after their bedtime. As Mikoto happens to have their father's coloring and their mother's fine-boned features, however...

"See, that right there! You'd make a perfect heroine, Mikorin!"

"Thank you - wait, what part exactly are you gonna make me go as here? I thought you were the prince, Yu? And like hell am I gonna be the heroine!"

"Aw, too bad, you would've been cute in the dress," Yu whined, her mouth in a frankly endearing pout. "Cuter than Chicchan, even."

"Tsch - fine, whatever, okay? I'll go." Mikoto sighed, knowing even then that no matter what he does, he'll never be immune to his sister's puppy-dog eyes. "But why am I wearing this wig again?"

"Like I said - your hair obviously screams 'Mikoshiba'." Yu had said, sitting up to fix the wig on tighter over her brother's head. "Just like our dad and grandpa and great-grandpa and too many forefathers to count. And after all the effort I've done so Senpai could only know me as 'Kashima' - if he knew I was related to the Mikoshiba heir, my cover would be blown, I'd lose all my friends, Senpai would hate me, and my life would be but an empty shell of what it had become -!!"

"You're overreacting."

"I'm telling the truth! Believe me, Mikorin, you don't know how things could get out there."

And she was right - Mikoto didn't. Where Yu had pleaded and cajoled their parents to have her go to grade school as "Kashima" - their mother's surname, still reasonably wealthy but not as eye-catching as their legal, billion-dollar-worth Mikoshiba - Mikoto had to be cajoled, in turn, just so he could turn up to his daily tutorials. Where Yu thrived on the applause and attention of her peers (of some unnamed "senpai" of hers, in particular), Mikoto lived for his alone time, for the hours he spent holed up in his and Yu's shared room playing video games, tending to their balcony garden, reading the fairytale romance novels Yu kept leaving behind.

"Then why do I have to go and do this thing anyway?"

"...because I'm your big sister, and you love me?"

"I don't."

"Aw, you wound me, darling," Yu had said, pressing a hand to her heart in mock-agony. "And not just because you say such ill words, but because you didn't even make an effort at lying."

"Eugh, whatever."

"Anyway, seeing as I've got this and all, it doesn't seem like I've got a choice," Yu sighed, nodding towards the gigantic cast obscuring one of her pale, long legs.