The Star - Part 1 (Patreon)

A multi-caption commission for Maiya Jessica Wright.  Pictures property of Otona Omutsu. 

"Is this seriously the best way to do this?" Sakura asked, scowling down at her 'wardrobe' sceptically. 

"If you don't want to help, that's fine," her little sister shrugged. "I mean, you said you would, and I did make you the star, but you can always back out..."

Sakura rolled her eyes; Mika always did this. Any time Sakura had any doubts about something that she wanted her to do, she would try to guilt her into it, make her feel bad for having taken the time to think about it a little more than the younger girl, before just jumping in. If Sakura did say so herself, she was usually right, too, not that Mika would ever give her credit for that.

"I just think there has to be something else you could do," she shrugged. "Nobody is really going to think that I'm a student there..."

"They don't have to!" Mika sighed. "That's not the point... I knew you didn't get it!"

That was another one of Mika's tactics, trying to make Sakura feel stupid for not agreeing with her, even though Sakura was older, and, at least according to her, smarter. It was as if, ever since Mika had grown taller than Sakura, all of that became invalid, like height was the only real indicator of maturity and intelligence.

"Why don't you do this?" Sakura suggested. "You know exactly what you want, anyway... Then you won't have to try to direct me, you can just do it yourself, and I'll film it."

"Oh, please," Mika practically snorted. "You don't know anything about cinematography, or framing, or mise-en-scene, or..."

"Fine," Sakura cut her off. It was true, she didn't; she doubted Mika actually did, either. They were probably just terms she'd heard, and tucked away to throw into Sakura's face in moments like this. Maybe in her intro to film class she'd learned about them, but Sakura wasn't even convinced about that... She could just as easily have been making them up.

That class had already been more trouble than it was worth. One little class, and now Mika thought she was the next great director, running around and recording everything, usually without bothering to warn anyone first... It would 'ruin the naturalism', supposedly. Sakura shuddered to think of how much footage there was of her walking out of the bathroom after a shower in a towel - before she could resort to the heels or padded bras that made her feel and look a bit more mature - or sitting on the couch watching a show meant for little kids, if only because she had actually been staring at her phone and hadn't bothered to change the channel, even if the footage made it look like she was totally engrossed in the TV. Who knew what else the girl had caught in secret?

Their parents were no help, either, when Sakura tried to get them to make Mika stop it, or at least erase some of the more embarrassing recordings she had. They told Sakura she should encourage her sister, that she could grow up to do great things with her hobby, if she worked at it... Sakura was pretty sure that was a dig at her, and the fact that she had been out of college for almost two years now, and still didn't have a job.

And then, as if to show her up, Mika had gotten some new daycare to pay her to make a training video for them, just to start... If this went well, they'd promised to let her do a commercial as well, something that people would actually be able to watch on TV. Sakura, snarkily, thought that part would never really come to pass, although, honestly, that was probably the jealousy talking. Mika was still in school, and already doing getting job offers... The only money Sakura was getting was a cut of what the daycare was giving her sister, and only if she went along with this stupid plan...

"Come on," Mika urged, sensing that Sakura was out of arguments, "Get into wardrobe... We have a lot of work to do."