Yukino Yukinoshita walked in front with a cold expression on her face.
They headed to the next ride. Since it was another swaying-type attraction, Yukinoshita Haruno simply sat down on a chair outside the queue and said lazily, "Big sister is a little tired and needs to rest. You two go play first. We'll be together later."
This time, it didn't feel like a simple sibling spat. Kiyono felt a bit guilty, while Haruno just smiled and patted his back.
The two exchanged a look, then joined the line.
Because the line was quite long, the couples in front and behind them were chatting and laughing. Among their ever-extending conversations, one topic in particular caught their attention.
"Locals in Chiba call the Ferris wheel here 'The Land of Happiness.' They say that couples who reach the very top exactly at 8:30 p.m. will receive blessings from the god of love, and that's also when the lights are at their most beautiful."
"I could make up ten urban legends like that in a day…" Kiyono shook his head. He had never believed in such things, but out of the corner of his eye he saw Yukino Yukinoshita looking at her phone with a very serious expression. He had no idea what she was checking.
Time passed, and their turn finally came. After rounding the last corner, they reached the boarding platform.
Kiyono sat down in the car. Yukino quickly put her phone away and sat beside him. As the car started to move, she gradually realized something, and her expression immediately tensed. She gripped the safety bar tightly.
This attraction was "Waterfall Mountain." Light strips embedded in the ice rocks lit up one after another, illuminating the artificial glacier like a sapphire mine under moonlight. Icicles hung overhead, and their small car slowly drifted along the ethereal blue ice river.
"You can come a little closer, Princess," Kiyono said, like a knight.
"Good thing my sister isn't here…" The black-haired girl pursed her lips and stayed quiet, only silently leaning against his shoulder. The scent of camellia shampoo mingled with the fairy-tale aroma of cedar, wrapping around him.
Soft, beautiful music flowed out, telling a story about weasels and ferrets along the way. Each time the animatronic weasel blinked, it made a faint mechanical click.
"You won't tease me like my sister does, right?" the girl's gentle voice blended into the music.
"Didn't I hold your hand the entire time on the roller coaster?"
"You'll protect me, right?"
"Why are you repeating yourself?"
Feeling that warm sense of reliance, Yukino's body relaxed, and her gaze softened slightly. She turned to look at a group of frogs playing in the water, splashing each other in the pond.
"Anyway, I really do hate my sister."
Yukino picked up the earlier topic again.
Their relationship had become like this entirely because of Haruno's teasing personality, Kiyono grumbled inwardly. He'd already heard from Yukino that the last time they rode a roller coaster together, Haruno had deliberately pulled her hand off the guardrail.
But—
It was only because he stayed so close that he understood.
"You like Haruno too, don't you?"
The car continued its leisurely journey.
"Family relationships are truly strange. Every action the other person takes ends up affecting you. Precisely because you're so close, you can't see yourself or them clearly."
Yukino didn't answer directly, but she didn't deny it either.
An older sister who was like a perfect superhuman. An older sister she "hated," yet didn't want to be hated by. Admiration, envy, trouble, inferiority…
She paused, then added teasingly, "By the way, out of everyone in my family, the one I dislike the most is Kiyono. I don't really like him that much."
"That extra line was completely unnecessary!"
After Kiyono finished complaining, he added, returning good for evil, "I see things very clearly. Yukino has always been a noble and beautiful girl."
Yukino Yukinoshita sighed, her voice as clear as flowing water. "I told you last time, that's just some fantasy you've imposed onto me… After all these years, you still haven't seen me clearly?"
Her expression carried a faint loneliness.
"When you said you admired my ideals, I was happy. I have always wanted to be that kind of person. I thought I was getting closer to my ideal and receiving recognition. But the real me is just an ordinary person who can't even firmly uphold her own will, who wants her family's approval and has never really earned it."
What kind of girl was Yukino Yukinoshita?
Sharp-tongued, intelligent, aloof, exceptionally capable. Yet beneath that seemingly strong exterior, when facing her family, she was fragile, self-conscious, afraid to resist, used to giving up and running away—
The car entered a stretch of darkness.
The two of them looked at each other's fading outlines.
"I don't think that's true."
He gave a gentle smile.
"If we're talking about flaws, I could list far more of your strengths. Even at the cost of your own time and energy, you still extend a hand to those in need. You aren't swayed by other people's opinions. You're very competent. You gave me dignity twice. You do shrink back a little in front of your family, but you still keep trying on your own. You're not willing to just give up."
He must have admired and looked up to that Yukino, and even after living together for years, that still hadn't changed.
Could that feeling be called love?
"Honestly…"
In Yukino's clear eyes, something cracked like ice crystals.
At that moment, she suddenly remembered her current goal: she wanted to succeed her parents in business and politics.
Without a doubt, this sprang from admiration for her sister, and from wanting her mother's recognition. But at some point, another, more important reason had joined in, and that was definitely—
The car clanked and began to climb, and before long they reached the top.
The car stopped mid-air, with a tranquil blue waterfall below.
Overhead hung a huge, full moon.
Pure white snowflakes gently fell on them, then melted away.
From here, they could see beyond Disneyland's grounds. The volcano-shaped attraction at DisneySea glowed red in the distance, and even further out, the nightscape of the New Metropolitan Area spread before them.
The sea of lights formed by countless windows shimmered like a starry sky—this was Disneyland's night view.
Under the bright moon, Yukino said, "Kiyono."
She turned her head. The giant castle, pale under the lights, appeared in the corner of her vision.
Standing before that castle was Yukino, wearing a pure white coat, smiling with tears in her eyes.
"I want to be someone you can always look up to. That's why—"
The sensation of falling into a bottomless abyss washed over her.
The first thing Yukino did upon exiting the attraction was buy a bottle of hot tea from a vending machine. Her face looked awful.
"So, you're afraid of heights too, huh?"
Standing beside her, Kiyono took one look at her expression and muttered to himself.
"I would say I don't particularly like them," Yukino said, holding the hot drink and turning her head away. Wasn't that just another way of saying "I'm scared"?
"I should have picked the aquarium," Kiyono said apologetically.
"I don't particularly like amusement parks, but…" The black-haired girl looked off into the distance. A small ripple appeared in her clear eyes as she let out a gentle sigh.
"Now, I don't dislike them anymore."
"Just asking—do you have anything else you 'don't particularly like'?"
Even childhood friends who grew up together had things they didn't know about each other. Kiyono now realized this and wanted to learn more.
"Even if you ask like that… I can't think of anything right away," Yukino said, tilting her head, showing a rare clumsy side.
"First off, dogs."
"I know that."
"Then things like monsters."
"I know that too."
"…What about yourself?"
Yukino set her drink on a nearby bench, held her phone, and looked up. Maybe because she was still a little dizzy, her eyes looked especially gentle and lovely.
Before Kiyono could answer, Haruno—who had been waiting not far away—ran over with a cheerful smile, using her finger to poke her sister over and over while teasing her.
After she finished teasing Yukino for a while, Haruno leaned over to Kiyono's ear and whispered, "I feel like… something secret happened between you two?"
"It's the magic of the amusement park," Kiyono replied.
"Oh? Does the magic of the fairy-tale castle favor wicked women now?"
Yukinoshita Haruno gave an ambiguous smile.
The two of them chatted for a bit, while Yukino quietly pulled out her phone, checked the time on the display, and muttered, "Eight o'clock…"
The next attraction was the Ferris wheel.
At Disney, you usually line up for one ride while reserving another, which made their schedule move along much faster.
They hurried to the Ferris wheel and waited for the next round.
Yukino Yukinoshita looked up at the slowly turning giant wheel and calmly thought, That's just a metaphysical gimmick made up for marketing. In reality, it's basically the suspension-bridge effect from being in a cramped private space while gazing at pretty scenery. There's no need to take it seriously… She was just approaching it like an experiment, determined to dispel all illusions.
"Little Kiyono, the Ferris wheel is sacred ground for confessions," her sister said, baiting him.
"Hmph, that's just a mass-produced romantic cliché for shallow guys. If I were to confess, I'd design a scene that fits both people's hearts much better," Kiyono said.
Both Yukinos felt their hearts stir—they couldn't help imagining what kind of scene would move them.
"What kind of romantic method would little Kiyono choose?" Yukinoshita Haruno asked with great interest. "By the way, the answer in little Yukino's heart is, 'Confessions don't need to be constrained—'"
Her mouth was covered.
The atmosphere between them gradually reverted to its usual noisy chaos.
A strange thought flashed through Yukino Yukinoshita's mind.
Next year… everything will change, won't it? Will they still be able to laugh together like this?
She let out a soft breath.
Soon, their turn came.
Yukino took a step forward, full of subtle anticipation—but suddenly, she stopped.
Standing behind Kiyono and her sister, she inadvertently saw Haruno's side profile as she looked at them—
Her older sister was gazing at the young man with a gentle expression as soft as water.
There was a warm focus in her sister's eyes, quiet and tender; that gaze almost seemed to melt into light.
In that instant, an indescribable anxiety surged in her chest, yet she couldn't look away.
This was someone unfamiliar—her sister.
A dream-like amusement park, dream-like winter snow, and, for a moment, a blindingly dazzling sister.
Yukino fell silent for a moment, then turned around, walked against the flow of the crowd, and stepped out through the exit.
Kiyono noticed and turned his head in surprise.
"What's wrong?"
"I'm feeling a little dizzy. I'll wait for you outside." Yukino held the boarding ticket in her hand, paused, and gave a small, gentle smile.
"…"
The attendant just happened to signal for boarding, and before Kiyono could say anything else, the safety bar descended like a gate, and the cabin door shut with a thud. In the instant before the door closed, their gazes slowly locked.
The snow still hadn't stopped.
The flakes were fine and soft, like ornaments, glittering and dancing outside the window.
The Ferris wheel slowly rose.
In that subtle, floating sensation, Kiyono leaned back into the cushioned seat and met the gaze of the woman sitting across from him. Yukinoshita Haruno looked straight at him, smiling gently, with only the soft turning of the machinery echoing in their ears.