CAROUSEL miya atsumu

two. QUEEN BEE BE ALLERGIC TO HONEY

          GENETICS ARE A FUNNY THING. Kame likes to acknowledge that. She knows that her parents like to acknowledge it.

Her and her brother don't share a strand of DNA and here they are, both children of Tatsuzo Yorataro and Waragi, both born on the same day of the same month of the same year, six hours and nineteen minutes apart.

          For instance, Kame's allergic to honey. Deathly allergic, so allergic that her mother can't even open the jar without Kame's self-proclaimed death. Her eyes would swell up and her throat would begin to close if it got close to her face, not even mentioning the damage that bees could do. As for Tora, he was fine on the allergy front. He's just the picky eater among the two.

And that morning, chaos erupts on all fronts. Her mother has to work an emergency shift, and Tora's late for his volleyball meeting before school and he left the jar of honey for his plain greek yogurt on the counter.

Holding her breath, Kame closes the jar and shoves it in the freezer. Petty as it is, she can feel the tickling feeling in her throat as she makes herself a cup of tea. It's a routine, she cherishes it. A cup of green tea in the morning as she washes her hair in the morning. As a student who sticks to her non-athletic status, Kame gets to sleep in a bit later than her brother, the apparent volleyball superstar.

          They spent their childhood in different circles. Tora playing kickball rounds with the other kids in the alley and Kame trailing behind various neighbors that told her stories and gave her attention and affection that she didn't otherwise get from two parents that work full-time to pay the rent. It only made sense that their physical differences would only widen from there.

          "Kame, mornin' sunshine." Eiji calls out from the crosswalk. In his hands are two warm sweet potatoes. Kame smiles, routine is nice.

          "Good morning, nice day to skip school, don't you think?" She responds, her arm looping through his. The bright pink cast that's dutifully protected her healing right arm makes everything feel more bulky, but it's been well adapted into the routine.

          "Yes, but like, drama though." He sighs wistfully, they're both thinking of the emails screenshotted in his phone detailing a boiling exchange between their principal and the Board of Education representative. It's been a few days since the field trip taken to celebrate the beginning of a new school year.

She sighs, "Drama."

Thus the Princess and her Prince set off for the first day of school like they aren't already late for homeroom with their snail pace.

          It happens first with their schedule assignment, the ultimate shift of power. It's how they can tell that something's desperately wrong. For years they had been living under the tyrannical rule of money moves. The current generation of Inarizaki students never knew a time when things were equal, liberation was so far from them that they never dreamed about it. It was easier to pretend things like equality or double standards didn't exist under the thumb of something as powerful as money.

          "Yah, Miya, why are we in the same class?" Torakichi taps Osamu's shoulder blades. He just redid his hair so it was holographically silver in the light. It was very distracting actually, but no one minds. It's the only way they could distinguish Osamu from Atsumu a distance away.

          It's common knowledge for all of the students that the kids with money and power got into the upper classes, everyone else was just there to make the top classes stand out. Tatsuzo Torakichi belongs in the latter category, while Miya Osamu belongs in the previous category, it goes unsaid. Tora just happened to elbow his way onto the volleyball team so he has a considerable leg up when it came to popularity.