Shield Hero Fanfic
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The night after I got home, Mom called me to her room. She had been watching TV when she saw something about a new manga, and it made her think of me. I was so relieved! But before I could thank her for the thoughtfulness, my mom stopped me with an admonition: “Listen, you’ve been gone all day long. Don’t just sit there in front of the TV! Come help your mother!”
I stood up as obediently as an elementary schooler, but Mom wasn’t done yet. “You haven’t changed your clothes since we got back from that picnic. Go take a bath.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I said, heading toward my bedroom.
But then I heard her call out, “You’re going to need a change of clothes tomorrow too.”
So now I’m standing in front of the closet, trying to decide which outfit is best.
I can’t wear anything too fancy—it would be weird if I went on stage in the same outfit as the day before.
And I don’t want to put on anything too casual either… What should I do?
I try on several options and finally come across a white blouse that looks nice. It’s kind of tight around my chest though like maybe it won’t button? Maybe I’ll just tie one side behind my neck like that Japanese guy did… Ohh, what am I thinking? No, that’d be even weirder!
After changing into the blouse, I head down to the kitchen. My mother isn’t there yet, so I make some tea and bring it over to my little brother. He has a book open beside his bed; he must have gotten tired of reading. I ask him how he liked my play.
He doesn’t look up. “It was really good!” he says without looking at me. “You were great onstage!”
That makes me happy. I’m glad they enjoyed it.
My mom walks through the door a few minutes later. She takes my brother by the hand and leads him off to the living room.
“I’ve got a surprise for you today,” she tells him cheerfully. “I hope you don’t mind, but I invited your friend from school to come to visit us.”
As soon as my brother hears the word “friend,” his eyes light up.
Mom sits him down in front of the TV while she starts preparing lunch. When she comes back, she hands me a dish towel and gives me some instructions. “Go get washed up.”
When I walk past the bathroom, I hear voices coming from inside. I can’t tell exactly what’s going on, but the sounds of laughter are loud enough to reach me from outside the room.
Hmm, I wonder what’s happening in there. If it’s anything like last time, I should hurry to get washed up or I might miss everything. So I go straight into the bathroom and turn on the water to the shower. As the hot water pours out, I stand under it and wait impatiently.
Then I hear a knock at the door.
“Who is it?” Mom calls out.
“Mizuki wants to know if you’d be able to open up the door so she can come in.”
Mom sighs heavily.
“Sorry, Mizuki, it’ll just take a minute!” I yell back. Then I wrap myself in a big bath towel and run down the hall toward the guest room.
“Oh, hi, Mii!” I exclaim happily as soon as I open the door. But then I freeze.
There are two other people in the room, too…
“Oh, it’s Mii! And this is her sister…”
It’s Mizuki, and she’s holding hands with one of the boys from the theater group who came over last night. His name is Hiroaki.
“I heard from Mizuki about your play yesterday,” he says quietly, still smiling. “Congratulations.”
I blush and give him a small bow. Then I notice that both my brothers seem pretty embarrassed, too.
“Um, Mizuki told me that she’s here because you wanted to see her?” I ask, trying to sound casual, but I can feel my face growing hotter by the second.
Mizuki smiles nervously. “Yeah, um, we’re having a sleepover, but I didn’t know if it would be okay for you to join us…”
She looks so nervous! I feel bad for teasing her like that… Wait, no. I mean, why shouldn’t she come over and hang out with us? We’re family after all!
Mizuki seems relieved when I tell her it’s fine, so she and Hiroaki quickly change into their pajamas, grab some snacks, and settle down on the sofa. Soon I hear giggling and whispering from behind the closed door, so I figure they’re playing some game or something.
“How long do you think they’ll stay?” Mom asks from her spot by the stove, where she’s frying some fish for lunch. “The sun will be setting soon, so I don’t think we should leave them alone much longer.”
“I thought so, too,” I say. “Maybe I should go check on them now?”
“Are you sure, Miu-chan? I can go instead,” she offers kindly.
But I shake my head. “No, I’ll go. Just give me a sec.” I turn back to Mizuki and Hiroaki. “Hey, guys, I’m heading out. See ya!” I call as I rush out of the guest room.
***
I peek my head into the living room and find Mizuki and Hiroaki still sitting on the sofa, talking quietly together. It looks like they’re sharing a secret, but it’s hard to overhear what they’re saying because of the way they’re facing each other. So I decided to sit down next to them and strike up a conversation. “So how was the play yesterday?”
They both jump and startle me so badly that I nearly fall off my chair.
Hiroaki grins sheepishly as he turns to me. “Uh, thanks for asking, Mizuki,” he replies, his expression still serious.
“It wasn’t bad at all!” Mizuki adds quickly. “We were glad to have so many friends in the audience to cheer us on!” She beams happily.
I smile along with her. “That’s great! I bet they were impressed, too.”
Suddenly, the front door opens loudly and someone walks into the living room. I hear Mizuki gasp and cover her mouth. The person standing there is wearing a big parka and a hat—someone dressed all in black.
“Miu-chan!”
“Mom?!”
“What happened to you?! You look like you’ve been crying!”
“Ahh… I guess I kind of got a little emotional during the performance…”
Mizuki covers her face in embarrassment, and Mom rushes over to hug her tightly. Hiroaki comes around behind Mom and starts rubbing her shoulders.
“It’s fine, Mizuki,” he says gently. “Everyone has their good and bad days.”
After a few moments of quiet, Hiroaki turns to me. “Mizuki was wondering if you could open up the door so she could get outside. It’s starting to snow really heavily…” He points to the window beside me.
Mom looks over at the clock hanging on the wall. “Oh, dear… You’d better hurry and go,” she says with a worried expression. “Your dad will probably be getting anxious soon.”
Hiroaki stands up and gives a quick bow. “See ya later, Mizuki!” he calls out as he heads toward the front door.
“Wait! Hiroaki, wait!”
He stops and turns around. “Huh?”
“You promised to help me make a surprise for Dad! If you’re going home, then I might as well go with you!”
He hesitates for just a moment before giving a small shrug. “Okay, but we need to go fast. The storm’s coming in even stronger than expected…”
Mizuki nods excitedly and hurries back to the guest room. As she passes me on the stairs, she whispers to me, “Thanks for inviting us over, Mii! I had such a fun time!”
***
When I arrive home, I see Dad pacing anxiously in front of the TV. “Is it over already?” he asks when he spots me.
“Yep! I saw it with Mizuki today!” I answer proudly.
Dad gives an exaggerated sigh of relief and sits back down on the sofa. “I’m so glad. Thank goodness. Well done.”
“Well done? What are you talking about?” I ask.
“Don’t worry, Miu-chan,” he replies with a grin. “Everything turned out okay.” His mood immediately lightens.
I turn around and look at the kitchen entrance. Mom is standing there with a bowl full of ice cream and a spoon in hand. I walk over to her and take a seat next to her.
“This is a special treat for you tonight, Miu-chan. Enjoy!”
She sets down the bowl in my lap and pours me some cold vanilla ice cream. “I know you’ve been working extra hard lately,” she continues, “so I made this for you, my brave daughter. Here, eat it while it’s still nice and cool!”
I dig my spoon into the ice cream and take a taste. Ohhhh… this is delicious! It must have been made from fresh milk because it’s so creamy and rich. My heart flutters as I savor its flavor and texture of it. When I finish eating it, I glance up at Mom and noticed tears in her eyes. “Are you okay?” I ask her.
“Yeah, I just wanted to do something nice for you after your big debut today.” Mom smiles through the tears, wiping them away with her sleeve.
“Mom, thank you! This was the best present ever! But… why were you crying just now?”
Her face suddenly crumples. “I… I’ve been so worried about you…”
“Worried about me?” I echo in surprise. “Why would you be worried about me? I didn’t think things were that bad.”
She wipes her face again and takes another bite of ice cream. “That’s exactly why I cried,” she replies quietly. “There was something bothering me. I thought I had everything figured out, but I realized today that I was wrong.” She bites into the ice cream once more.
“You don’t need to feel sorry for yourself because you can’t sing anymore. That’s not who you are. And that’s what makes you so amazing.” Her eyes shine brightly with pride. “The reason you lost your voice was that you were trying so hard to impress everyone else… but you’ve finally learned to accept yourself—and it’s only gotten stronger since then. Isn’t that right?”
I nod enthusiastically. “Yes! Yes, yes!” I shout out. “I’m not going to give up just ’cause I can’t sing anymore! There’s still a lot I want to accomplish!”
Mom reaches over and wraps her arms around me, holding me tight. “Good girl, good girl… I’m proud of you, Miu-chan.”
We sit like that for a long moment, and then I pull back. “Um… Mom?”
She looks up at me. “Hmm?”
“Where did you get this ice cream?”
She points down at the bowl resting on my lap. “From the freezer. Your dad brought it home the other day.”
“My dad brought home ice cream? Is that why it tastes so great?! He’s so great!”
Dad walks in just as I finish speaking. “What’re you two doing here all of a sudden?” he asks, looking confused.
“Oh… We were just having dinner together,” Mom tells him.
“Ohhh… yeah, I guess we were!” Dad says awkwardly and heads off toward his room.
Mom smiles sadly at me. “I’m so glad you finally got your voice back, Miu-chan,” she whispers to me. “It’s been awful to watch you suffer these past few months…”
“You were so kind to keep worrying about me, Mom.”
After a while longer, Mom pulls herself away from me and heads upstairs. I wave goodbye as she disappears inside her room, my chest bursting with emotion. The rest of my evening goes by smoothly, and then the next morning comes around before I know it.
On my way home from school, I run into Shizuka in the hallway. “Hiya!” I say, smiling at her.
“Hello, Miu-chan!” she answers happily.
I notice that she’s wearing one of my outfits today, and my heart skips a beat—not just because it looks nice, but also because it’s such a surprise. I wonder if she borrowed it from my closet without asking permission. Well, it doesn’t matter… it’ll probably end up getting dirty or something anyway, so it wouldn’t really bother me if she took it.
“Hey, listen,” she begins, “you’re coming over tonight, right?”
“Yes, Mom said I should come over after school.”
“Excellent! See you later!”
Shizuka walks off in the opposite direction of where I’m headed, but when she turns around she gives me a quick wave and then disappears down the hall. It’s almost time for me to leave for my afterschool lessons, but I make sure to wait until after school for Shizuka—because I want her to see what I look like now.
The End