Technical Difficulties (Brother's Conflict)

Chapter 15!

Hi the author is currently bringing you this chapter on her second all nighter in a row, starting at 6 AM might I add, after reenergizing her last three fried brain cells with butter pecan ice cream which she has been deprived of because of her recent illness but now she can stomach food and drinks other than water so hurray for that! Still doesn't fix the insomnia tho---ALSO the drawing above do be mine and I wish Nageki's face didn't get fucked up but things could be worse so   -_- it izz what it izz

It was now finally the weekend and Mei was not in the mood to be dragged around an expo on video games by her over elated gamer sister. She personally, despite her best efforts, had not found time to bother Nageki as of yet so other than an occasional cat nap she had been running on barely any rest for weeks now. "Mei look! I didn't even know that they'd have the concept art out for the second installment yet!"

Ema was dragging her to stall number 5000, a large grin stretched across her face as she stayed seemingly unaware of the fact that her younger sister was probably on the verge of passing out. "Last one! The event with our brothers is starting soon."

Ema made a noise of agreement but some part of Mei doubted she had actually listened to a single word. Eventually they did end up back with Yuusuke while watching the whole act the twins were putting up for their game, Panzer of the Dead or whatever. Mei was doing just fine leaning against the wall and focusing on not falling asleep in the slightly darkened room, that was until Tsubaki caught her eye grinning with a little salute towards her. She would of thought there was a wink mixed in there but it was impossible to tell with the bangs over one eye. He turned his gaze back to the crowd and she let the involuntary shiver she'd held in go up her spine. 

"Mei are you cold?" Mei turned to her sister with an even more tired looking expression than when they'd entered the auditorium area. It was clear that Mei was wearing an oversized sweater over her shirt and jeans, even though she was still carrying a coat, because it was cold out but that definitely wasn't the problem with the older girl's question. "Ah-sorry, I didn't mean-"

"You must be more tired than me today after all of the scrambling around you did earlier. Get something to drink to clear your head of all the cobwebs soon, alright?" Mei laughed a bit as Ema put on her half-laughing half-pouting expression, trying to grab the shorter girl into a bear hug. 

A lot of what happened after was blurry, maybe it was because she hadn't slept in a long time or that the drink that Tsubaki had handed to her with a grin wasn't able to shock her awake because she couldn't feel the temperature of the clearly chilled bottle. She was definitely hearing their conversation about the new anime and how excited they were, but when Tsubaki turned to her she couldn't any words out. In fact, she felt like she could barely raise her head from its tilted position where her eyes were stuck staring at the floor.

"Mei, are you sure you're alright?" Ema was at her shoulder after the few moments of silence caused by her lack of response, once her hand landed on the skinny arm of her younger sister it was enough to get her brain seemingly functioning again.

"Ah, yeah I Just got lost in thought for a second. I hope you two get the roles you want. I'm sure you'll both do great at the auditions." Everyone in the room seemed at least a bit worried, this even including Yuusuke, but she could tell they were trying to brush it off if she clearly didn't feel like addressing it. 

"Thanks, we'll be sure to tell you both first when we get the roles!" The amicable conversation was about to continue on normally again when a phone ringing cut through the voices. 

"Ah, sorry. I have to take this." With that, Mei found a perfect excuse to slip out into the hallway and get out of the tiring atmosphere. "Hello?"

"Why haven't you come to see me?"

"You sound like a child begging for attention." Mei finally started to open the drink that had been handed to her, hoping some would clear her head of the sudden dizzy spell.

"I am childish and begging for attention so you're correct, now when will you come?" She let out a sigh as though she were annoyed, but she wasn't in fact a part of her was relieved that she'd see him soon. 

"I can stay over tonight if that's alright with you." She was factoring in that they probably weren't getting back from the event until it was around dinner time and if she took a nap then she wouldn't be able to convince herself to get out of bed. 

"That's what I call a perfect deal. Do you want me to pick you up from home? In fact, depending on where you are now I might just swoop in and kidnap you from whatever you and your sister are doing." She tried not to let her laugh become audible, because she knew he would feel like he'd won. 

"Currently I'm at a game expo I was invited to by my brothers because they had a presentation for the new game they were releasing as the lead voice actors." She leaned back against the wall with a sudden wince, feeling some pain crawling up her legs, she really did have to keep up with her physical therapy better.

"Sounds like something that you'd only appreciate if you'd gotten a decent amount of sleep, it's a shame that you had no way of achieving a full eight hours and enjoying your time out-"

"Stop being salty like some high school girl who got ghosted and come pick me up from the station after we leave if you really want me back that badly." She heard the shuffling of some papers and a few rapid sounding keystrokes on what she assumed was his laptop. 

"Guess I'll be seeing you soon Kitten." At the nickname she hung up on him, not wanting to give him the right to call her that since it really was just to tease her. Even though he wasn't there to see her reaction, however, didn't mean her face didn't flush the slightest bit at his current pet name for her. 

She let out a shaky sigh as she fished around in her small bag, coming up with a bottle of painkillers before swallowing two along with over half the bottle of tea she had been handed previously.

 'Alright,' she thought, 'let's go break the news that I'm leaving early for a work problem with my manuscript from a few days ago.'