A few rays of early morning sun pushed past the curtains and into the room. They fell on a teenage girl, one who had school starting in just one short hour. Her phone beeped in a familiar jovial alarm.

Hina's eyes shot open. She reached out with one hand to silent the device, climbing out of bed in almost the same motion. She flicked the lights on and changed into her school uniform quickly, eager to see the day. She could already hear another family member moving around the house. Her parents both went to work far earlier than the teens needed to wake up for school, so it could only be one person.

A few minutes and one hair brushing session later, Hina was ready to emerge into the house. She pulled the door open and wasn't surprised to see the lights already on in the hallway. Even though Sayo's school started half an hour after Hina's, she always woke up before Hina and was probably in the kitchen already. She worked hard like that.

As expected, Sayo sat at the kitchen table. The older twin was already dressed for school and had left her bag by the door. She didn't react when Hina entered the room, instead continuing to eat her cereal.

"Good morning Onee-chan!" Hina practically skipped over to where Sayo sat. "What kind of cereal do you have?" She peered over Sayo's shoulder instead of waiting for an answer. "Ooh, looks boppin. I'll have some too!" Hina hopped over to the kitchen to pour herself a bowl. She was midway through adding milk when Sayo finally spoke.

"Must you be so noisy in the morning?" She asked between bites of cereal.

"I'm just so excited for band practice today!" Hina poured some milk in her bowl before grabbing a spoon and carrying her food back to the table. She placed it on the surface a little too hard, causing the milk to sway and almost tip out of the bowl. "We're playing the new song together for the first time, though we were supposed to do it last week." She sat slightly turned in her seat, body facing Sayo. The other teen still faced directly forward, her bowl almost empty. "I still don't know why we didn't, it isn't that hard. Do you have practice today too Onee-chan?" Hina scooped a huge spoonful of cereal into her mouth while looking at Sayo for a response.

Sayo did not provide that response. Instead she stood up, taking her bowl with her. She walked away from the table and Hina turned to watch her wash out her bowl, spoon dangling childishly out of the younger twin's mouth.

"Onee-chan?" Hina removed the spoon and tried again.

"Yes, I do." Sayo replied bluntly. She placed the bowl and spoon in the dishwasher, closing the device with enough force to make noise. "I'll be going now." Sayo added with little fanfare.

"Okay!" Hina grinned. "Wanna walk home together after practice?"

"I'll have to pass." Sayo picked up her bag, walked over to the front door, and slipped her shoes on. She opened the door and left without another word.

Hina waved as the door swung shut. "See you later Onee-chan!" She called, even though Sayo probably couldn't hear her any longer. With a satisfied hum, Hina returned to her breakfast. That had gone pretty well, she thought. Sayo actually spoke with her that morning! She said more than "don't come in my room" and "go away."

Maybe mornings were the best time to talk with her older sister, Hina mused as she crunched the cereal. She pulled out her phone, setting tomorrows alarm for a few minutes earlier.

Another day, another alarm. Sayo opened her eyes slowly, fighting the impulse to just go back to sleep. She stretched slowly, turned off the alarm, and checked the time on her phone. It was about ten minutes earlier than she normally got up and, for a moment, Sayo wondered why she tortured herself like this. But as she shook off the fuzziness of sleep, Sayo remembered.

Hina had been especially annoying in the mornings lately. She always seemed to be waiting to ambush Sayo out in the kitchen and she talked incessantly the entire time they were there. She blabbered on about how well her band was doing and when the next show was and how Sayo's band was doing and how school was going and blah blah blah. Sayo could barely handle conversations with her in the evening, let alone in the morning when she was still half asleep.

So, Sayo started setting her alarm earlier. It was only about five minutes at first. Those extra five minutes didn't seem to make a difference though. Hina still managed to be there somehow, running her mouth at the kitchen table or calling out from her room.

Now Sayo set it to ten minutes earlier in the hope for some peace and quiet. She got ready for school at her usual pace, optimistic when she didn't see the hallway light on under the door.

When Sayo exited the room, the hallway light was indeed off. Letting out a sigh of relief, Sayo continued about her morning. She grabbed a bowl of cereal, dry today, and sat down to eat. For a few minutes the only sound in the house was the crunching of cereal. With the calm, Sayo could almost pretend she was still asleep. She finished the meal quickly and stood up to wash her bowl.

Then, as if on cue, Hina appeared. "Good morning Onee-chan!" The noise grated against Sayo's ears as she ignored the loud greeting and continued the process of cleaning up. "The weather looks great today! Do you have band practice this afternoon? I don't, so I'll be home early." Once everything was put away, Sayo picked up her bag and put on her shoes. Hina had grabbed some food, Sayo couldn't see what, and was watching Sayo get ready to leave. "Onee-chan, do you want to go to the mall after school?"

"I have practice today." Sayo felt a twinge of annoyance at the question, despite not answering Hina's earlier question about whether or not she had practice. She walked to the door, opening it to leave.

"Alright then, see you tonight!" Hina seemed unperturbed by her tone, waving her off as usual.

Sayo almost responded, almost turned back and said, "see you later," but she didn't. That would only encourage this asinine yelling at ungodly hours of the morning.

For the first time in her life, when Hina stepped out of her room before school there was nobody else in the house. Her parents both left over an hour earlier, which was expected, but Sayo being gone was not. Hina had even gotten up a whole fifteen minutes earlier than usual to make sure she could talk to Sayo.

As it was though, Hina had no choice but to eat alone and head of to school. The walk felt like it took longer than usual, even though she went the same way every day. Once she was in class, Hina found herself staring out the window, wondering why Sayo left so early that morning. Did she have morning band practice? No, they had a middle school student in the group, so they couldn't have morning practice. Was there some kind of emergency? That wasn't possible either, since their parents would've let Hina know. Or maybe it was the case and they just didn't want Hina to worry. Either way, the whole situation wasn't very boppin.

The day dragged on far too slowly for Hina, but it did come to an end eventually. She didn't have band practice that day, so her afternoon was free. She sat at her desk for a few minutes after dismissal, thinking through her next actions.

The obvious choice was to walk to Sayo's school. Since they started later than Hina's school, they also ended later. If Sayo didn't have band practice, then they could walk home together. It would be a great chance to make up their lost time from the morning.

With that thought in mind, Hina left her school and set off towards Sayo's. The walk took about twenty minutes, so she still had a few minutes to spare when she arrived. Hina leaned up against the gate, waiting for the students to dismiss.

A few minutes later they started pouring out of the school. Many students passed by, a few even glancing Hina's way as they passed. She barely noticed, only looking for one person.

"Onee-chan!" Hina called out when she saw Sayo approaching the gate. Sayo's eyes widened in surprise when she met Hina's gaze. "Over here!" Hina gave a big wave.

"What are you doing here?" Sayo stopped in front of Hina, her tone cold and a distinct frown on her face. "Shouldn't you be home by now?"

"I wanted to walk home together." HIna beamed at her sister, hoping to flip that frown around.

Sayo sighed, the frown still present. "I guess we are going to the same place." She started walking out of the gate, and Hina followed with a pep in her step. She always enjoyed spending time with her sister.

"Why did you leave the house so early this morning?" Hina caught up to Sayo and walked directly next to her, looking directly at her twin as she asked the question.

"No reason." Sayo cleared her throat. "I just needed to get to school." That answer was suspicious, Hina thought.

"But your school doesn't start that early." Hina mused, one hand on her chin. "Unless you're getting extra tutoring… is that it?" It would make sense, Hina knew that Sayo had a harder time in school than she did.

"No." Sayo scoffed. "I am not getting extra tutoring." She increased the pace of her steps. pulling ahead of Hina.

"Then why?" Hina continued to ask. Then, she thought about something she'd said to Aya before that led to interesting results. "I want to know so I can understand you better, Onee-chan."

Sayo stopped mid-step, putting her foot back down. Hina had to stop just as abruptly, almost passing her twin.

"I just had to get out of the house." Sayo spoke quietly and smoothly. "It's been so busy and noisy lately, I can't handle it so early in the morning." Her eyes were cast towards the ground, refusing to meet Hina's gaze.

"Oh." So that meant, Hina thought, that Sayo left early to avoid her. She didn't want to talk to HIna because she was noisy. "I didn't realize." Hina managed to say, wondering what else she didn't realize about Sayo.

"No, you clearly didn't." Sayo's tone was biting as she resumed walking towards home.

"I just wanted to spend time with you." Hina followed behind her, focusing more on speaking than on walking as she justified herself. "That's all. I'm sorry if I disturbed your mornings."

Sayo looked back in surprise. "Thank you." She said slowly. "For apologizing. I suppose I am sorry as well, for leaving this morning before you awoke."

"It's no problem at all!" Hina pushed a smile on her cheeks, bouncing to catch up to her sister.

They walked the rest of the way home without substantial conversation.

That night, Hina thought long and hard about what to do.

An alarm beeped.

Hina switched it off with her usual precision. She looked at the clock, noting that it read her old alarm time before any of this waking up early stuff began.

She got out of bed, got ready for the day, and stepped out into the hall.

Much to her surprise, Sayo still sat at the kitchen table. Hina was about to call out to her, but then she remembered. Be considerate, she told herself. Be quiet.

"Good morning Onee-chan." Hina said in as calm of a voice as she could muster.

Sayo inhaled sharply and turned around. "Good morning." She replied at an equal volume.

"Can I join you?"

"Yes."

End note: I'm not exactly sure about this piece, but I'm posting it anyway. I wonder if these two characters will ever mend their relationship. It's so broken the way it is in canon and it is going to take a lot of effort from both of them to fix it. I think they need to start by listening to each other.