“Ongo Subara!”
Hana clapped politely, smiling as a group of girls sitting halfway back in the sea of teenagers stood and whooped loudly for their friend. “You got the camera ready?”
“For the fourteenth time, yes, mama.” Izumi laughed, but she checked the lens cap of the device in her hand again anyway, just to be sure.
“Yuki Sozano," came the principal’s call, and a short, pudgy blond boy in a red blazer and black pants strode up onto the stage.
“How many more,” Yui asked, adjusting her sunglasses. Her head was killing her, and the constant booming of names through the auditorium's speakers for the last two hours was doing her no favors.
Ayako looked over to her left at her next-youngest sister in her black pantsuit and orange silk blouse. Not sure if she's having withdrawals or a hangover, but at least she's here and she's dressed up, she thought. Hana Takahashi’s eldest daughter glanced down at the ivory cardstock program in her hand, which was open to the second-to-last page. “Five.”
“Sato Taizama!”
Akane tapped Nodoka Shimizu urgently on the thigh through her red silk kimono, pointing to the right side of the stage. The ceremony organizers had lined the students up alphabetically, separating the girls to one side and the boys to the other. In a long line of girls wearing identical red and white pinafores, it was easy to mix them up at a distance, but Akane would know that shock of red hair anywhere.
”There she is, Ma!”
Nodoka squeezed Akane’s hand tight, and Akane herself was squeezed firmly about the shoulder from the seat to her right.
“I can’t believe this is happening. I'm so proud of her,” Soun said, choking back a sniffle.
Akane turned her head, beaming with joy up at the mustachioed man. “Me too, Dad. She worked so hard for this. You have no earthly idea.”
“Goji Tadashi!”
The boy in front of the line stepped forward, bowing deeply to the school principal and several teachers who were seated on the stage before shaking the principal’s hand and being handed a red vinyl folio embossed with gold foil writing on its cover.
Mei snapped photo after photo, as fast as her little Polaroid camera could click, hoping to catch one where Ranko was looking back toward the audience. The redhead was swaying on her heels in what Mei could only assume was a combination of nerves and excitement.
“Oh, honey, that piece of crap’s not gonna do you any good from way back here. Try this? You can pick up a hair out of place from a hundred meters away with mine.” Smirking, Nabiki lifted a black strap over her neck from around her navy blazer and handed the blue-haired girl on her right a Canon camera with a long telephoto lens. Just don't ask what I originally bought it for, mmmkay?
“Makoto Tagano!”
“Do you think you can see us back here, Father?” Kasumi Tendo waved up at the line of girls on the right side of the stage, receiving no acknowledgement. She wore a long pink dress, her hair tied back in a matching mauve ribbon, and her mother’s pearl necklace. I think you would have loved your fourth daughter, Mother. She really is incredible.
“I'm not sure, sweetheart. But we will get to visit with her after the ceremony, I'm sure.” Soun reached to his right, gently squeezing his eldest daughter’s left hand. He was mindful not to apply too much pressure and risk hurting his hand on the new gold and diamond solitaire she wore on her third finger.
“Keiichi Tekaga!”
Sitting up in his seat, Noboyuki Matsuyama clapped his hands excitedly as a muted round of applause rose in the packed auditorium for the next boy in line. “Here we go!” He blushed as his girlfriend hugged him close around his waist.
Yui reached over, squeezing Ayako’s hand with a smile despite her raging headache. “She fucking did it , sis!”
Aya nodded, mouthing a silent thanks to Kage for staying home with Jun in order to enable her to join her sisters for the monumental moment in their family’s history. “You bet your ass she did. I’m just glad to have helped a little.”
“Me too,” Yui said with a smile.
The principal took a sip of water from a plastic bottle as if he knew he might have to shout the next name at a higher volume, leaning forward into the microphone at his podium again. “Ranko Tendo!”
“RANKOOOOOOO!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
The excited squeal from a seated group of girls near the front of the stage was deafening even over the twelve guests Ranko had brought on her own. Each graduate was only afforded six tickets, but Kumiko and Etsuko had both donated a few of their extras to enable her to invite more well-wishers.
“Good news,” Mei said with a giggle to Nabiki. “I found where the cheerleaders are sitting.” She zoomed into the center of the mass of screaming girls with Nabiki’s high-end camera, catching a great candid photo of Kumiko Iwata standing and clutching her diploma in her hand as she cheered for her best friend.
The cheering in the auditorium was louder generally as well, possibly due to Ranko’s popularity as cheerleading captain, and possibly due to her status as a celebrity.
Blushing, Ranko strode across the stage in her Yusue school uniform. She bowed deeply to each of the teachers sitting on the stage, with especially bright smiles for Ms. Kanzawa, Mrs. Tanaka and Ms. Zaito. Her warmth toward her three mathematics teachers was slightly more muted.
She gave a final, formal bow to the principal, reaching out with trembling hands for the red faux leather portfolio. The faculty organizers had asked the students not to open them on stage, but Ranko could not help herself. She flipped the landscape-oriented folder open, running her fingers over the embossed words on the ivory certificate framed within.
Ranko Tendo is hereby awarded this Diploma in recognition of the satisfactory completion of all the responsibilities and requirements for high school graduation as determined by the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture. Certified by the undersigned this twenty-third day of March, 1992.
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Principal Ikaru Mosato
Yusue Vocational High School
“Thank you, Principal Mosato.” Ranko beamed, reaching out to shake his hand.
“You are most welcome, Miss Tendo,” he answered, beaming at the greater-than-normal volume of camera flashes in the auditorium. “And may I say, all of us at Yusue are proud to have known you.”
Ranko blushed as she was ushered past the principal’s podium, holding up her folio and waving to the cadre of cheerleaders as she approached them.
“TENDOOOOOOO!”
Ranko looked up for the source of the sound of the bellowed cheer, grinning at the blond young man standing next to her biological mother with his hands cupped around his mouth. She scanned the row, spying her wife, all three of her parents, all six of her sisters and her best friends. Seeing Mei leveling the high-powered camera at her, Ranko held open her folio toward it, and blew a kiss in the direction of Akane as more flash bulbs began to flicker.
“Zuko Tosaru,” the principal called as Ranko descended the steps from the stage to rejoin her friends.
----------------------------------------
I swear, Ranko thought, her cheeks aflame. All those nights I spent alone out in the cold, I never could have imagined this. I mean, graduating high school, sure. Never thought that was gonna happen. Never thought I was gonna go to college. Never thought I’d be on tour with my band. But this, more than anything else.
She sighed happily, melting into her mother’s arms.
I never thought the day would come when my ribs would be sore from having too many people hug me.
“Mom, thank you so much for this. I thought you were crazy when you took me to get that test, and you told me how amazing today would feel. I didn’t believe you then, but you were right. You’re friggin’ always right.” It was so strange to hug her and not smell leather, but Hana had opted to wear her gray pantsuit again. Dressed up for me twice in two weeks. One more, and I think she gets a free sandwich someplace.
Hana smiled warmly, kissing her daughter through the slightly frizzy red hair atop her head that had been mussed somewhat by the breeze outside the Yusue High auditorium. “Comes with the territory when you’re a parent, I guess. They send you an instruction manual.”
Pop’s must’ve got lost in the mail, Ranko thought with a smirk.
Ranko turned as another pair of strong arms enveloped her. “Hey, Dad!” She beamed up at Soun Tendo. The sheer wattage of her smile could have powered Tokyo for a week. “I friggin’ did it! Can you believe it?!”
Soun crouched a bit, wrapping his hand gently around the back of his youngest daughter’s head and pulling it forward, kissing her softly on the forehead. “I can, because I believe in you. I’m so, so very proud of you, Ranko. Graduating from high school is a monumental achievement for anyone, but with the challenges you’ve faced…”
“Nah, I’m okay, Dad.” Ranko’s eyes surveyed her family, clutching the red folio containing her diploma under her arm as if she feared someone would try to take it from her. “I am wanted, I have worth, and I have people who care about me. That’s all you need.”
“You’re damn right it is,” came a feminine voice from behind Soun, and Ranko’s face somehow brightened further still.
“Yui…”
“Get your ass over here, little sister.” Yui wrapped the redhead tight in her arms, lifting her up off the ground and spinning her around. “Do you have any idea how happy I am right now?” She still wore her sunglasses, but it seemed as if the ibuprofen Nodoka had given her was working at least somewhat.
Ranko giggled as she was twirled in the air. “I’ve got a pretty good idea. You’ll never have to do math homework with me again, Teach.”
The blonde cackled. “Yeah, that doesn’t suck either.”
Ranko bit her lip as she was returned to her feet. “Hey, Yui? Can I… talk to you for a minute? Like, just you and me?”
The elder girl smiled warmly. “You bet, Ran-chan.” She followed as Ranko led her away from her family to a green wooden bench near the bus stop, taking a seat next to her youngest sister. “What’s up? You got all serious all of a sudden.”
“I…” Ranko looked up at Yui, a streak of mascara mixed with salt water running down her cheek from her right eye.
“I owe this all to you.”
Yui shook her head, sighing softly. “No, you don’t. I helped, sure. That’s what sisters do. But you did the hard work. You showed up. You fought for it, every day. You took the worst it had to give and kept going, and I am so freakin’ stupidly proud of you for it. You just have no idea, kiddo.” She blushed, smiling a bit. “I guess I shouldn’t call you that anymore, miss high school graduate.”
Ranko shook her head, wiping her eyes. “I’m always gonna be your kid sister, Yui. I’m always gonna look up to you.”
The elder girl sighed, her head drooping a bit. “I’m… not sure that’s such a good idea these days.” Her eyes raised as she felt her hand being squeezed.
“It will always be a good idea, Yui. I’ve learned so much from you. You were… I wanted to be you. When I first got here. When I first met you all. You were…” Ranko sniffled, biting her lip.
“I was eighteen years old when I met you, Yui, and… you were my very first hero. And…” The redhead squeezed her sister’s hand again. I’m not sure it’s the right time for this, but this is the best state I’ve seen her in... shit, in weeks.
“I need you to be a hero again now.”
Yui scoffed. “I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about, Ran-chan. You got the world by the balls. Startin’ college next month, goin’ on tour, got somebody who loves you more than all the stars in the sky… We should all be so lucky.” Her flippant smirk evaporated as she saw the seriousness in her little sister’s eyes.
“Heroes fight the good fight. Heroes give us examples to live by.” Ranko turned on the bench, taking both of her sister’s hands in hers. “And heroes get up when they get knocked down.” Yui felt a tear drip onto the back of her hand, it having dripped from her sister’s chin.
“Things are falling apart around here, it feels like. I’m gonna be a continent away, Aya and Mei have their own shit going on, Izzi’s so busy with her fashion stuff, Akane can barely breathe with her school, and she’s breaking my heart not coming with me as it is. It feels like Mom’s getting a year older every day she has to hold everything together on her own. You’re the glue that holds this family together, Yui. We need you. I’m really scared, leaving while everything is all fucked up like this. But I’ll be able to sleep at night while I’m gone, knowing the heart of the Phoenix is beating again, if you’ll just find a way to get up.”
Ranko sighed softly, fidgeting on the bench in the school uniform she wore for the final time. “I know you’re hurting, Yui. I wish I could take it away from you, and I wish I could tell you when it was gonna stop, but I can’t. What I can tell you - what I can promise you - is that the steps don’t start getting easier until you start taking them. No matter what any of us say or do, you’ll stay in this hole you’ve been in forever until you decide it’s time to climb out. I love you, Yui. Mom loves you. The girls love you. I know that’s not everything you want, but it’s not nothing. It was enough to save my life. It was enough to save all our lives.”
Ranko nodded, tapping into a reservoir of strength just to be able to speak without devolving entirely into a sobbing mess. She squeezed her sister’s hands tighter, waiting to continue speaking until Yui made eye contact again.
“Because… that’s what heroes do, Yui. When people are scared, and they’re hurt, and they’re down on their luck, and everything’s gone to shit, heroes save lives. And you’re my big sister, and you’re my hero, and I fucking need you, and so I’m begging you: save your own. Please come back to us, Yui. I know it’s gonna be hard as hell, but I need you to try. For yourself, and for us all. Please.”
The elder girl sniffled, lowering her head and wiping her nose on the sleeve of her blazer without releasing her sister’s hands. “When the hell did you get so smart, kiddo?”
Ranko blushed, finding a gentle smile. “Well, I did graduate high school an hour ago.”