We Are Young

Track 04: Hot Air Balloon
..aka “Our Little Sister Wendy Can’t Be This Cute”

“So bored to death you held my breath and I tried not to yawn.
You made my frown turn upside down and now my worries are gone.”
— Owl City

Jellal was scrutinizing himself in front of the mirror. For the umpteenth time, he ran a hand through his spiky blue hair and pat his jacket down. After a few more minutes, and after hearing Mystogan’s sigh, he finally stood back.

“Brother,” Mystogan said without being prompted. “You look fine.”

Jellal looked at his twin. “Of course you’d say that. I look like you.”

“I mean,” Mystogan sighed, putting down his book. “I knew what you were going to ask, so I answered.”

“Wha—”

“Whenever you go out to visit Erza with cake, you stare at yourself for five hours in the mirror and then ask me if you look alright.” then before Jellal can argue, Mystogan continued: “Pretty much like a girl in love.”

“Oi.” Jellal glared at his brother. Mystogan was cool, calm and collected at school and towards other people but when he was inside the house, Jellal just wanted to punch his sarcastic brother in the face.

But he won’t. Not right now, because Wendy was sitting on the other couch reading her own book and smiling too amusedly to not be listening in.

Jellal glanced at their twelve-year-old little sister and then as if on cue, Wendy looked up from her book at looked at him. “Jellal-nii, why don’t you buy flowers this time?”

The siblings looked at the paperbag in the table, which contained, undoubtedly, a box of strawberry cheesecake for one.

Mystogan let out a small grin. “YES, Jellal-nii. Why don’t you buy flowers THIS time?”

Jellal hated it when his twin emphasized words. “Shut up, Mysto.” — and then he turned with a patient smile towards Wendy and said, “Please ignore whatever Mysto-nii says. Flowers, I believe, are for courting ladies and while Erza is a very… um, attractive… lady, I am not courting her.”

Wendy frowned. “But Mysto-nii said—”

“He lies.”

Mysto then raised an eyebrow in honest confusion this time. “Wouldn’t too much cake make a girl fat, though?”

“…She doesn’t seem to mind.” — then he followed that up with “She’s… athletic, so she keeps fit. I think.”

Wendy spoke up again. “Jellal-nii, you always look so happy whenever you go out and buy cake and then go to her.”

Mystogan took the liberty to explain, “He’s in love—”

Jellal quickly cut his brother off. “She’s a special friend—”

“TOTALLY IN LOVE.”

“Just shut up, brother. Please. For your own good.”

“You read manga, right, Wendy? Then you can see he’s just smitten.”

Wendy looked back and forth from his brothers and then nodded slowly. “Yes, all signs do seem to point there…”

“Manga is not a reliable source.” Jellal scolded.

“Manga is where most of my ships eventually becomes canon!” Wendy said.

Jellal sighed for the umpteenth time in that conversation. “I give up. Think what you want, we’re just friends and the cakes do not have any hidden agendas. Erza is an understanding, strong and beautiful young woman who has her priorities straight and I believe as old friends we are just catching up to each other, no romantic intentions whatsoever…”

Jellal looked up to see Mysto smirking at Wendy, and Wendy blinking up at him.

“What?”

“Mysto-nii, you’re right. Jellal-nii is in love.”

“WHA—” From the corner of his vision, Jellal noted Mystogan raising a fist in success.

Wendy continued. “He’s just feeling friendzoned and he thinks after being separated for like seven years or so, he’s not good enough for Erza-nee.”

“I am done here.” Jellal declared, rubbing his already aching temples and picking up the cake. “I’ll be… back for dinner.” With that, the blue-haired young man trudged towards the door.

Mystogan turned to his sister. “I’m proud of you, Wendy.”

“I HEARD THAT!” — Jellal shouted from just outside the house. His brother and sister laughed out loud.

Mystogan let out one last chuckle of amusement before turning back to his book. Wendy looked at him for a while. She indeed got her love of books from her brother. This one, in particular.

“Mysto-nii, you don’t go out much…” Wendy remarked.

“I’ve always been this way.” Mystogan answered patiently with a shrug.

“You have friends, though, right?” the girl said, all of a sudden uninterested with her reading.

“Of course.” Mystogan replied. The other students at Fairy High were crazy, but they were good people and he had gotten used to them in just one week of his stay. Plus, they didn’t mind that he was silent — the most talkative he had been was with Erza because he was teasing her with his brother. At Fairy High, even though he was quiet, he didn’t feel left out, and he considered them his friends. In his former high school, he had been an outcast because he was quiet and he mostly kept to himself. This new school didn’t seem to mind that. Even this morning, his classmate Alzack invited him to go with the other guys in their class to watch a movie. Mystogan politely declined, saying he had other plans for the day, but he did appreciate them inviting him even though they didn’t know him that much yet.

“It must be nice.” Wendy said. Then she turned to the white cat lounging near the kitchen window. Ever since they’ve moved to Magnolia, she hasn’t had any new friends. Charle was the only friend she had here… “I don’t have friends yet.”

“Hey.” Mystogan called out gently. His sister was a really shy girl and it must have upset her greatly to leave the friends she had already made. “Cheer up, you’ll get to make friends eventually. It just takes time sometimes.”

“But I’m so shy, and I’m not good at talking… I also don’t know what to talk about.” Wendy said, looking down miserably. “And they all look so close and sometimes I don’t feel welcome… I feel so lonely at school. Everything’s… unfamiliar.”

Wendy was in her second year in junior high. Mystogan had always known that his little sister was extremely shy and most of the time she’s not even self-confident. The only people Wendy ever really opened up to were their parents, her brothers Mystogan and Jellal, and her pet cat Charle.

“Wendy, come here.” the young man said, gesturing to the free space beside him. Wendy timidly walked over and then slumped herself beside her big brother, leaning against him. Mysto draped an arm around the girl’s shoulders. “Are you being bullied or are the other kids mean?”

“No, it’s not that.” Wendy shook her head, not looking up at her brother. “It’s just… I really miss Cait Shelter.” She wrapped her arms on her brother’s torso. Wendy was a really sweet girl and Mystogan always boasted to his twin how he was closer to their sister. Jellal always got annoyed.

Mystogan smiled. She missed her old school. Cait Shelter, back in their former town of residence, was a really small private school, and Wendy only ever had two or three close friends. She had been closer to her teachers. It just so happened that Cait had been planning to close down, and that’s why when Jellal got admitted to Sorciere in Magnolia, the whole family simply decided to move. Wendy would need a new school as well, anyway.

“It can’t be so bad.” Mystogan said. “You still send e-mails to them regularly, right?”

“Yes, but I still miss them.”

“Missing them is good. But Magnolia is your new home now, so you should learn to love it as well.”

“Well, Jellal-nii is loving it very much.” Wendy giggled.

“I know.” Mystogan smirked. “And hey, if you really can’t make friends, I’ll take you to meet mine.”

“Your friends?” Wendy looked up at him, taken aback. “They’re in high school!”

“They’ll like you anyway. They’re good people and I’m sure they love small kids.”

“I’m twelve, I’m not small.” the girl pouted. “And will Erza-nee be there?”

“Don’t worry. If Jellal doesn’t take you to see her, I will. Just to piss him off.”

Wendy laughed. “I can imagine Jellal-nii’s face already.”

Mystogan chuckled. “What can you see?”

Wendy furrowed her brows and puffed her cheeks and tried to do an impression of her other big brother. “E-Erza, it’s n-n-not that I don’t want you to meet Wendy b-b-but don’t listen to anything my siblings say! They lie!”

Both of them laughed again, then Charle jumped towards Wendy’s lap and the girl stroked the cat’s fur cheerfully. Somewhere else in Magnolia, a passerby said ‘bless you’ to the young man who had sneezed for the fifth time that day.

“Oh, I almost forgot.” Mystogan said, watching his sister play with their cat. “Our next-door-neighbor told me we should come over and have dinner with them sometime.”

“Was it the man who brought the delicious oden last time?” Wendy said. She liked that oden. It was really good. Although Mysto was the one who attended to him and Wendy only heard the man’s voice, she thought that the man must be really friendly and kind.

“Yes. I think he mentioned that he owned a restaurant, but he said that next time he’s cooking, he’s going to invite us over. He also told me he has children. Maybe you could make friends, after all?”

“I hope so!” Wendy said, smiling weakly. She thought to herself that she’ll have no problem liking other people… maybe other people will be the ones who wouldn’t like her.

“Hey.” Mystogan said, cupping his sister’s face to make her face him. “They’ll like you. Stop it with the self-esteem issues already. You’re brilliant.”

“Aw, Mysto-nii.” Wendy smiled, this time a little more cheerfully. “You’re biased.”

“I’m not.”

“You are!”

“Oh, I swear I’m not. Ask Jellal—”

“He’s biased too!”

“Why don’t you just believe us when we tell you you’re the best?”

Before Wendy can answer, Charle jumped away from her lap because her big brother had started tickling her sides. For a while she forgot about her lack of self-confidence and laughed freely.

All of a sudden, Wendy was sitting up straight and she hurriedly looked at her bedside calendar. “Oh, it’s my birthday!”

“I just said that.” Jellal said, smiling in amusement.

“We’re going out?” the girl looked up at him.

“Mm-hm.” Jellal nodded. “So go down and eat breakfast. Mysto’s cooking your favorite.”

“He is?”

“He told me to tell you he is, but really it’s mom who cooked. Mysto just heated it. Now before he starts thinking that I’m keeping you up, better come downstairs.”

Wendy was still looking up frantically at her brother as he led her out her bedroom. “Where are we going?”

Jellal gently pushed the girl to climb down the stairs. She wasn’t even looking at where she’s going. “We’re going to the park, then watch a movie, then maybe we can eat lunch out, and then… you know.. a little walk around town…”

“Can we go to the bookstore? Are there bookstores in Magnolia? I just go to school and then back home so I don’t know…”

“Yeah, seeing as it’s you, me and Mysto, we will definitely stop by a bookstore.”

“May I bring Charle? Charle will be lonely without us here—”

“Yes, bring Charle. Of course.”

Jellal delighted himself in seeing the girl’s eyes light up just a little brighter with every question she asked, her smile becoming just a little happier with every answer he gave.

Wendy and Jellal entered the dining room just as Mysto had served the omelettes in the dining table. Charle was already in her spot, drinking milk from her bowl.

“Good morning, birthday girl.” Mysto said with a small smile. “Eat up, we’re going around the town for the day.”

“Thank you so much!” Wendy exclaimed in delight, clapping her hands before sitting down and digging in the delicious breakfast. “Where are mom and dad?”

“They went to work, but they said they’ll be here by dinner to celebrate. They can’t miss your thirteenth, right?” Jellal said, sitting himself down too.

“Mom said she’ll be baking cake while we’re out. And dad gave us money to spend on you.” Mystogan continued.

Wendy thought that her brothers only ever acted like the typical twins who finished each other’s sentences when it came to her. It made her feel very special.

The girl simply smiled. “I can’t wait!”

“But you should. And make sure to chew your food first.” Jellal said, laughing.

“Hai, hai!” Wendy said, thrilled. She pat Charle’s head lightly and then returned to eating.

Jellal looked at Mystogan as his twin sat down. Mystogan simply shrugged and the siblings started their breakfast.

When Mystogan told Jellal about Wendy’s problems last night, Jellal had immediately asked what they should do.

“Well, since we promised to take her to watch a movie and eat lunch out for her birthday, why don’t we make the best of it? Take her around town?”

Jellal thought it was an excellent idea. Wendy was really shy and even though she opened up to both her brothers, Jellal knew that Wendy was closer to Mysto — they’re both bookworms, after all. Mysto had been the sickly kid, so when they were young, as Jellal was playing outside, Mysto had time to play with little Wendy.

That doesn’t mean that Jellal loved their sister any less, though — so, knowing the town better than his twin, he planned the day well.

His itinerary was simple: the town square with lots of little shops first, then they’ll have lunch in Yajima-san’s family restaurant — he ate there once and it was delicious — then they’ll let Wendy pick a movie. After that, they can walk around the mall and visit Wendy’s bookstores and maybe, if she wanted girl things or something they may still have some bills to spare. It was basically just a walk around town — maybe Wendy can make some new friends. She was just shy but she’s charming, and her brothers think that it really shouldn’t be that hard to like her.

After the siblings dressed up, they set off for their day. Wendy clung to both of her brothers’ hands as they walked, Charle keeping up by their feet.

The day was going to be good, she knew — she could feel it.

Her brothers tensed and then looked at her with innocent smiles. Jellal was quick to answer, “Well, it’s a… um, bar.”

But Mysto had been more frank. “Wendy, it’s a host club.” Jellal gaped at his brother. “What? She knows what that means, she’s a smart girl.”

Jellal sighed.

“Oh.” Wendy said, then looked down. “Wow.”

“You wanna go there?!” both her brothers exclaimed.

She quickly looked up at them, blushing. “N-N-No! Y-You wanna?”

“No!” they answered in perfect sync. “We’re not going there!”

They turned to see the club owner, Bob-san, waving towards them, and behind him, three sparkling handsome young men striking poses and offering roses.

“Okay, what about in there?” Wendy said, pointing towards the nearby toy store.

“That’s better.” both commented, then the siblings headed towards the toy store. Wendy went over to look at the enormous collection of plushies immediately. After a few minutes, she contented herself with a small white cat plush she told them she’d hang into her school bag — she said it looked like Charle, but with wings. Jellal insisted that she can get something bigger, thinking that his sister must think it’ll cost them plenty, but Wendy said that it was just enough.

Charle, sitting in Mysto’s arms, glared at the plush for a while but dismissed it soon enough.

It turned out they didn’t have to buy Wendy a big plushie. When they got out the toy store, a guy with dark blue hair and a crazy smile ran over to them, carrying a big bag of stuffed toys. He was screaming “BABIES!” — and he practically pounced on Wendy. “Hey little girl, do you want one of my babies?”

Wendy blinked. “Huh?”

Both brothers interpreted this as actions of a child molester and they instantly stepped forward protectively, but the man simply rummaged through his big toy bag and offered a big stuffed cow.

“Here, take it! I hate cows!”

“B-Bu—”

“You don’t like cows, too?”

“U-Um…” Wendy hesitantly took the toy. “T-Thanks?”

“You’re giving those away for free?” Jellal said, cautious.

“I won them at shooting games.” the guy said. “And I hate cows. Take care of that baby, little girl!”

“Uh, okay.” Wendy said, nodding warily.

“Thanks! Gotta go now!” then he was running down the street screaming “I’M LATE FOR BAND PRACTICE~!” although he didn’t sound worried enough.

Wendy tried call out to the ‘friendly’ guy, thinking he was strange but she should still be polite… “O-O-Onii-san, what’s your name?!”

The guy stopped a couple of yards away and looked at her. “Call me Bix! Bye-bye!” He waved happily and then ran away again.

“Bye-bye…?” Wendy said, waving back. She looked up at her brothers. “He was nice but I think he should go see a doctor…”

“Look,” Mystogan said, looking down at his sister. “Magnolia is a friendly place.”

“The people are friendly.” Jellal agreed. “You just have to get used to how they are as people.”

“I see that, yes.” Wendy said, trying to smile, clutching her new toy cow to her chest. “Can we go look at those accessories?”

The twins turned and saw the girl’s accessories shop across the street.

“Sure.”

The woman on the shop was a beautiful young lady named “Sherry” based on her nametag. When she saw the boys, she stood up and abandoned her manicure kit to smile charmingly at them. “Welcome to Sherry’s Accessories-!”

That’s when she noticed the little girl standing between them. She immediately headed for them and crouched down in front of Wendy.

“Oh, what a cute little sister you have! C’mere, girl! What’s your name?”

“Wendy, ma’am.” Wendy said, smiling shyly.

“Oh, don’t call me ‘ma’am’! I’m Sherry! Are you looking for necklaces? Bracelets? Perhaps something cute to tie your hair up? Or earrings for those cute little ears of yours?”

The Sherry woman tried everything on Wendy, and, figuring out that her brothers must be willing to pay for anything their little sister liked, the saleslady tried her best to sell her most expensive items.

But to her surprise, Wendy was the one who insisted on a simple handmade bracelet which cost extra cheap, and Sherry sulked about not making good profit as they left.

“Wendy, are you sure you only want that?” Mystogan asked as they walked a little further around the square, his sister marvelling at the cute little bracelet.

“Yeah, we could have bought you that nice necklace she was offering. It looked good.” Jellal said.

“Mm-hm.” Wendy shook her head. “I like things small and simple.”

Alright, that made both twins melt.

They ended up buying more little items around. A new mug, a cellphone dangle Wendy chose for all three of them, a pair of really simple blue sandals and a new collar for Charle.

Wendy was immensely enjoying just looking at the other items and then buying something small from the shops she liked.

Both brothers were thankful that unlike other girls, their sister was incredibly easy to shop with. Had it been any other girl, their arms would have been full of bags and boxes three hours in.

“Since she was a wee girl. Almost like my own daughter. Why didn’t you say so earlier, my boy?” the chef laughed. “Next time you buy, I’ll make sure to put in extra cream. Erza-chan likes it best that way. Maybe it’ll help your chances, hm?”

The chef pat Jellal’s arm before going back to the kitchen, just as Jellal began insisting that he didn’t need to “help his chances” whatsoever.

“Huh, you just got approved, I think.” Mystogan said, chuckling.

“I don’t need any approval.” Jellal said, looking down, stabbing the meatballs on his pasta with more force than necessary.

“It’s not like you’re courting Erza-nee, right?” Wendy said, smiling.

“Right!”

“We don’t believe you.” Wendy replied, cheerful. She high-fived with Mysto and they laughed when Jellal simply rubbed his aching temples. His siblings gave him headaches. Every. Damn. Time.

Jellal asked, “Will you two please let me live this down?”

They were smiling. “Nope!”

“I want to watch the phoenix priestess one. The premise sounds nice.” Wendy said.

“At your service, ma’am.” the twins chorused and she looked at them with a grateful smile. Jellal went over to the counter to buy tickets.

“Am I gonna do both of your chores to make up for today?” Wendy asked.

Mystogan simply pat her head and then ruffled her hair. “It’s in the house.”

Wendy looked down and smiled shyly. “It must be troublesome, hanging out with me because I look lonely, when you can go out with your friends—”

Then her brother did something he has never done before.

He hit her on the back of her head.

“OW!”

“That’s for being stupid.” Mysto frowned.

Wendy looked up at him with teary eyes. “W-What-..?”

“We like going out with you not because you look lonely. We just want to do it, so don’t ever think you’re being too much trouble.”

“But you two are so cool and all the people like you and I… I don’t know what to do or what to talk about, or where to go… I’m—”

“—the cutest little sister in the world.”

“M-Mysto-nii!”

“What?”

“That’s embarrassing!”

“What’s embarrassing?” Jellal asked, offering them each their tickets. “I had to convince them to let Charle in. So why do you two look like you hate each other?”

Mystogan huffed. “Wendy was being weird.”

Wendy looked at her other brother. “Mysto-nii hit me on the head!”

“YOU DID WHAT?!”

Mystogan rolled his eyes. Jellal looked at him as if he was a criminal. The calmer twin simply said, “She was going on about how we’re cool and she sucks and we shouldn’t go with her.”

Jellal hit her head too.

“JELLAL-NII!” Wendy whined.

Jellal crouched down to the girl’s level. “You’re cool, Wendy. It’s just that we’re cooler.”

“That doesn’t help.” Mysto sighed.

“No, but we mean it. You’re cool.” Jellal chuckled. “Let’s just go inside before we miss the movie.”

Both boys started forward and then looked back at Wendy as the girl stared at them. She smiled, then followed.

“Jellal-nii, Mysto-nii, why do you like hanging out with me?”

Both boys stopped. They looked at each other, and then at their little sister.

“Because you’re cute.”

Wendy blinked. They both stepped forward, but then they turned again and looked at her.

“What brought this on?”

Wendy always knew that she probably did something wrong when the twins are saying the same things at the same time.

“Well…” Wendy tried. She was doing fine until a little while ago when on their way across the mall and towards the movie house, Mystogan was approached by a group of teens apparently from his class. They were asking him why he dropped out from their plans last night and if he still wanted to go with them to hang out at someone’s place, but Mystogan politely declined, telling them it was a really urgent change of plans. Wendy didn’t know that her brother had to cancel a plan with his friends just to be with her.

Then on the movie house, Jellal was greeted by two pretty girls from his school who both asked him if he wanted to go see the action movie with them. He also declined.

Seeing as how both of them had these really nice friends, Wendy felt like a liability.

Her brothers are big boys now — they’re young men! And they’re made to escort a shy little girl because she doesn’t have anyone to go with her…

“Well?” Jellal encouraged.

“Well, I saw you with your new friends, and they all look so kind and they sound so fun… I feel like you’re being forced to stick with me after finally being able to make friends of your own—”

That was true. Mystogan had been a loner and Jellal had been this perfect student who was too prioritized with his studies, and they didn’t have a lot of friends before. Coming to Magnolia considerably loosened both of her brothers’ guards. They smile more often and go out more often now, perhaps because the people are kinder.

One of them chuckled — Wendy was too busy with her thoughts to know which one did. So she looked up, only to see them both smiling silly at her. “W-W-What?”

“Wendy, you’re really being silly now.” Mystogan shook his head.

“Do you want to know what those girls earlier told me about you?” Jellal asked, crossing his arms across his chest.

“W-What, were they.. um, annoyed..?” Wendy asked, nervous.

“Well, they told me you’re cute, and I’m adorable, being a good big brother to you.” Jellal smirked. “See, having you is like automatic plus points.”

“Ignore him and his womanizing ways.” Mystogan said, brushing his brother off. “My friends think I’m so lucky to have a cute little sister who doesn’t look like she’s out to destroy my life plans.”

Jellal continued, “And you know what? We can boast out that you’re shy so you’re not terribly whiny, and that you’re simple so you’re not demanding. You’re quiet so you never get annoying… You’re smart, so you can keep up with us…”

Finally, Mystogan pat their sister on the head. “And to top it all off, you’re humble so you don’t get big-headed when we say good things about you.”

Wendy tried to keep the tears from falling.

“Oi, DON’T CRY!” both her brothers said at the same time, as if to punctuate their ‘reasons-you’re-the-best’ speech, and that made Wendy laugh, all tears forgotten.

“You two can be creepy, you know?”

“Well, suffice to say, you’re not an annoyance for us.”

“You’re more like our lucky charm.”

Wendy shook her head and smiled. “Fine, fine! Stop it now, I’m feeling so spoiled.”

Jellal shrugged. “Well, we’re feeling like we’re missing a certain movie…”

“Oh, no.” Wendy said, her eyes widening. “We should go now!”

Her brothers held out a hand each.

Feeling better than ever, Wendy took those hands and the trio ran inside the movie theater.

Grandine smiled at her only daughter, then at her sons, who were both smiling proudly at themselves. “Dear, they just have a complex.”

The boys looked at their mother incredulously — “We do not!”

“They so do.” Grandine laughed, then simply watched again as her sons went back to eating and Wendy smiled at them before returning to her meal.