~Shota's POV~

Miki was in tears by the time we finally reached the teacher's lounge. Hizashi panicked thinking someone had bullied her. I kicked him until he was bloody for putting her through a hellish first day of school and making her a social pariah. As I was about to inform him his stunt had thrown her into a complete panic attack, Miki gently tugged on the back of my shirt and shook her head. She didn't want Hizashi to feel even guiltier. I spared him the details of how severely he'd upset Miki and left it at that, not wanting to upset her any further.

The next two weeks went by smoothly, as Hizashi learned his lesson. Miki appeared to have made friends with the girls from my homeroom class as I noticed her sitting with them every day at lunch. I felt relieved to see her interacting with kids her own age and seeming comfortable enough in their presence. She seemed to get along well with Yaoyorozu and Jiro. I was glad to have run into them when Hizashi had sent Miki into a panic attack.

The Saturday before the Sports Festival was Miki's 16th birthday. I was finally able to move around without pain. I was still heavily bandaged but could now move my arms and hold things between my casts, at least enough to manage feeding myself and carrying small things.

As was his tradition, Hizashi woke the entire apartment building at the crack of dawn as he burst into Miki's bedroom singing a loud rock and roll version of happy birthday. I peered through the doorway and winced sympathetically as Miki awoke in a panic and fell out of her bed. She landed in a heap on the floor taking several blankets with her in the process.

"Happy Birthday, Miki-chan!" Hizashi yelled so loud Miki and I both winced.

Miki sat up off the floor still wrapped in a fleece Hello Kitty blanket. She rubbed her back with a grimace of pain before looking to her ridiculous brother with a smile.

Hizashi picked her up off the floor as she let out a cute yawn and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She beamed and threw her arms around him. "Ready for the best birthday ever?" Hizashi squeezed her tightly.

Miki looked at the clock on her nightstand in confusion it was six in the morning. She noticed me in the doorway and an adorably shy smile spread across her lips.

"Happy Birthday." I smiled at her while stifling a yawn. Hizashi really needed to find a better time for his noisy birthday tradition.

A faint blush spread across her pale cheeks and she hurriedly hid behind her auburn tinged honey golden hair. Thinking she was just trying to be cute, Hizashi squeezed her again and rocked her in his arms. "Miki-chan is the cutest." He swooned. "Right, Shota?"

I felt a strange fluttering in my chest and awkwardly coughed in an attempt to make it go away, "right." I answered before he could continue pestering me until I agreed with him.

Hizashi looked over at me curiously, normally I'd put up much more of a fight. He shrugged it off and returned his attention to Miki as she desperately tried to break out of his strong hold. Miki wasn't very strong and had never had an interest in being a hero. As a result, she'd never really had to train for anything and was—for the most part—defenseless.

Hizashi affectionately kissed the top of her head, "you get ready for the big day and we'll get going."

Miki once again looked at the clock in confusion before looking to me in hopes I'd be able to reason with her crazy brother. I sighed and looked to Hizashi, "where are we going at six in the morning?"

"It's a surprise." Hizashi beamed before releasing Miki from his hold and pulling me out of her room.

I sighed and allowed him to steer me back to my room. With his help I was able to get dressed for the day. I'd tried to wear one of my usual comfy black jumpsuits but he insisted on making me dress nicer in one of the very few black suits I owned. It looked ridiculous with all my bandages but I wasn't really in a position to protest too much. Once I was ready, he dashed to his room to change and returned in a slightly more punk rock red suit. His hair that normally defied gravity was pulled back in a neat loose bun.

Minutes ticked by and Hizashi looked down at his phone before smiling as I was sure some thought of Miki crossed his mind. "I bet she fell back asleep." He chuckled.

"Sounds like the right idea." I grumbled grouchily not liking being awake at this hour.

Miki's door opened slowly and she stepped into the hall wearing a cute white dress with sheer sleeves. She wore a white ribbon in her hair and had a pair of silver heart shaped earrings in her ears. She was the very picture of innocence and purity.

Hizashi stared at her, his mouth agape. "Miki-chan, I can't let you leave the house looking so cute and grown up." He panicked.

Miki looked down at her outfit with a slight frown she didn't understand what he meant. She tilted her head to the side curiously in response to Hizashi's mini crisis before turning her bright green eyes on me.

Hizashi reluctantly allowed us all to leave the apartment without making Miki go change after I'd pointed out he'd only be satisfied if he stuffed her in a parka and Miki smacked him when he'd begun to consider it. We left the apartment and Hizashi dragged us to the station. We boarded the bullet train to Osaka. It was about a three-hour ride. Miki had never been a fan of the bullet train; it made her nauseous if she was too close to the window. Hizashi took the window seat and sat her between us.

Still tired— as her ridiculous brother thought it was okay to wake up the entire building at the crack of dawn— Miki struggled to keep her eyes open after a while. Not long into our journey I felt her head drop onto my shoulder and turned to find her slumped against me sleeping soundly. There was a sweet peaceful look on her face as she snuggled closer to me in her sleep. My heart started to race; I could hear it pounding in my head in response to her close proximity. The sweet scent of her shampoo permeated the air around me, it was a pleasant sweet smell that I suddenly wanted to drown myself in.

As I looked down at her sleeping form, fondly, I thought of the tradition she and I had for her birthday. It started on her eleventh birthday, after the candle incident. She was upset and nothing Hizashi or I did could calm her down. I picked her up startling her enough that she stopped her crying and carried her to the nearest toy store. I set her down and told her to pick something out. She was so confused by my actions she wandered around in a daze until she found a Hello Kitty plush. We returned home and took a pleasant nap on the couch. Every year after that it was our tradition for me to take her to a store so she could pick out a new Hello Kitty plush then we'd take a nap on the couch. Perhaps she was getting too old for that tradition. Thinking on our tradition, it didn't seem to feel as innocent as before.

A moment later there was a bright flash as Hizashi snapped a picture, blinding me in the process. "That was completely unnecessary." I grumbled in annoyance as my vision turned somewhat spotted.

"Look how cute she is." Hizashi turned his phone around flashing the photo at me. I glanced at the screen to see the photo. Miki looked adorably sweet and pure but what caught my attention was the expression on my own face. I was glad it was covered in bandages as the soft tender smile in my eyes was enough to worry me.

She was stirring me up. "My arm is starting to hurt; will you take her?" I lied thinking it would be for the best if she weren't so close to me.

Hizashi tucked his phone away and gently picked up Miki's sleeping form. He sat her in his lap placed a hand to her head guiding her to rest her head on his shoulder.

Miki woke with a cute yawn as the train came to a stop at Osaka. She looked momentarily confused to find she'd somehow moved from her seat during her sleep and tried to wriggle out of Hizashi's hold but he was reluctant to let her go.

The three of us exited the station at Osaka just before ten A.M. Miki walked between us looking around curiously wondering why we were here. Hizashi was brimming with excitement, akin to a kid at Disney World. He must have been planning this day for a while. I was shocked he'd managed to keep it a secret from Miki and I. Secrets were not Hizashi's strong suit he tended to blurt everything that came to his mind the moment it happened.

"First, breakfast." Hizashi beamed and draped his arm across Miki's shoulders whisking her away.

We came to a stop outside of a Hello Kitty Café. Miki's bright green eyes lit up in delight as she spotted the Hello Kitty Wonderland. She probably would have run off on her own to look at everything if Hizashi didn't have a firm hold on her. She was practically buzzing with excitement. The café looked like a Hello Kitty factory had blown up. The walls were covered in a wallpaper that looked like a mashup of thousands of Hello Kitty comic pages. There were a few large paintings with light bulb frames depicting cute scenic images of Hello Kitty and her friends along the walls. All the chairs were pretty pastel colors and all the tables appeared to have a different hello kitty poster under a layer of resin. All the employees wore cute Hello Kitty bedecked attire.

Miki was delighted to find our server knew sign language once the young man arrived at our table to take our order. They had a very exciting looking conversation signing at speeds I was sure would put any ninja in Naruto to shame I had a feeling she was gushing about how cute everything was and the server was just as enthusiastic in his love for Hello Kitty. Hizashi looked between the pastel painted young man and Miki worriedly and kept inching closer to Miki. I sighed worried he'd end up in her chair if their conversation continued.

Once he possessively put his arm around Miki, our server realized they'd been talking for too long and apologized before taking our orders. After finding out it was Miki's birthday, our server brought her a large Hello Kitty button that said 'Happy Birthday' on it. Miki got a fancy latte that had a cute Hello Kitty drawn in the foam and the staff brought her a complimentary pastry. Hizashi spotted a candle and dramatically stopped them from lighting it. After that, we were able to eat our breakfast in peace.

After breakfast, we went to a nearby museum that was entirely dedicated to Hello Kitty. It had plenty of cute spots for pictures which Hizashi took full advantage of and had even forced me into a few despite my mummified appearance. Miki looked happier than I had seen her in awhile as she explored the Hello Kitty museum.

I looked to Hizashi curiously as Miki wandered the gift shop. "Why are we so dressed up?"

"That's for the next part." Hizashi grinned.

"What's the next part?" I sighed.

Before Hizashi could respond, he turned and smiled as he spotted Miki. She ran to him and threw her arms around him, leaping into his arms. He chuckled and wrapped his arms around her and spun around with her causing her to giggle silently. I erased her quirk sensing she wanted to say something to him.

"You're the best big brother, ever. Thank you, Nii-chan!" Her soft sweet voice nearly crippled him. He had a goofy grin plastered on his face as he hugged her close.

I told her to go pick something out for her birthday. Her cheeks reddened and she shyly wandered away. Hizashi returned to normal and continued on with our conversation as if nothing had happened.

"That baking show she likes is doing a Hello Kitty special and they're filming it in front of a live audience today, I managed to get tickets."

"She'll love that." I smiled.

We left the Hello Kitty museum and headed to the studio where the baking show was being filmed. Miki was in awe. She loved baking and would probably have been taking notes if she'd had a notebook on hand. We got to sample several of the cakes, for being a part of the audience. Miki's smile made it all worthwhile.

After the baking competition it was close to dinner time. Hizashi led us to a fancy restaurant near the Tempozan Ferris Wheel. Our server at the fancy restaurant also knew sign language much to our surprise. We managed to avoid candles and had a nice meal. Miki was stunned by their pretty plating techniques and took pictures of all of our plates. It was cute to see how excited she got over little things.

Once we finished dinner, night had fallen. Hizashi led us to the giant Tempozan Ferris Wheel. It was lit up in a rainbow of lights. Miki seemed a little nervous about getting on. I wasn't sure she was a fan of heights. The three of us got on the Ferris Wheel in the enclosed bubble-like gondola. Miki was nervous when the ride was moving but seemed to calm after awhile as she sat between Hizashi and I.

We reached the top and had an amazing scenic night view of Osaka. There were so many lights from all the buildings in the city, Miki was mesmerized. As we reached the top, there was an explosion of color in the sky as fireworks were lit nearby. Miki jumped at the sudden explosion before a bright smile lit up her face as she realized what it was.

After the fireworks, we returned to the station for our three-hour ride back. Miki looked as exhausted as I felt but still looked happy as could be. She fell asleep on the ride back hugging her new Hello Kitty plush in her arms.