Five Faces, One Promise

Ichika, Nino, Miku, Yotsuba, and me. Strangers see one face copied five times. We see five completely different people who happen to share a mirror.

We were born looking the same so that we could spend our whole lives proving how different we are.

It took me years to stop measuring myself against my sisters and start standing beside them instead. One of them is braver than me. One is gentler. One is far cleverer. I used to find that crushing. Now I find it steadying — whatever I lack, the family already holds.

Whatever happens to any one of us, the other four will be there. That is not sentiment. That is a promise, and I intend to keep my fifth of it for the rest of my life.