"Surely even a caged bird is allowed to sing..."

"... Is it not?"

"What defines a person?"

Takahashi Yui had nothing to define her as a person. Nothing but her unyielding love towards her family.
For them, Yui would give anything, including her own freedom and personhood. So when the leader of Kirigaya-Gumi—the largest yakuza group in Kanto region—had offered her family's freedom in exchange for hers, she knew which choice to make.

Profile

Appearance

• Prelude
• ３月３日

"Yui-chan, we're so sorry..."The construction manager had prostrated himself before her feet, and yet, despite the news he brought, Yui couldn't bring herself to shed any tears.Her eyes were dry as they were hollow. Recalling the silent conversation she'd had just the other day."Please raise your head, sir..." her voice was akin to whisper, "it's not your fault."And she knows it's true...

The echoes of the ticking clock filled the heavy silence between the only two inhabitants of the six tatami apartment who are still awake. Yui had tucked her little brothers and sisters to sleep. Their eyes were still wet with tears for their mother whose ashes they'd spread into the sea today.Yui herself couldn't shed any tears, no matter how much she wanted to. She wanted to cry, to scream, she wanted her mother back as much as her siblings do, yet she couldn't. She wondered why.Why did mother have to die? she found herself asking. Why her? Shouldn't it be the reckless driver who'd hit her along with her brother and run? Why did her mother had to die while the one who killed her run free? Did they even lose any sleep after what they did to her? After causing so much grief? Yui's head was filled with so many questions, but no matter how hard she ponders for answers, it won't bring her mother back nor will it fill the gaping void in her heart where her mother had been.Sat across her at the cramped kitchen table was her father. Still clad in his mourning clothes, shoulders slumped as if he was carrying the weight of the world. Yui poured him a cup of tea and squeezed his coarse and calloused hand to remind him that she's there.She can feel her father's hand trembling as he began to sob. Yui raised her father's face so he could see her amidst the tears and put her palm on her chest.I'm here, she told him.She took one of his hands and wrapped it around hers, I'm with you, she told him.She rose from her seat as his sobs broke into a cry and pulled him into a tight embrace, we're together, she told him.She knew it's not enough and it will never be enough but she's there for him and she always will be. When spring comes and she graduates from school, she'll work hard to provide for their family. She'll do her best to take care of her siblings too and raise them into fine adults. She knew that she could never replace her mother but she will never let her father carry this burden alone.As his cry subsided and he pulled away from her embrace, he signed to her with his shaky hand,"I'm sorry"

They said a pile of rubble had crushed him to death, but Yui knew her father.Her father had left with a silent 'goodbye'. He let the weight of the world crush him without letting her carry some of it. And now that rubble had fallen on her and her alone.I'm here, she'd told him, but he won't be there for her.I'm with you, she'd told him, but he wouldn't stay with her.we're together, she'd told him, but he left her alone.

• ３月３日

A slice of chocolate cake with a thin candle stuck to it was set on the bedside table in a hospital room."Onii-chan, happy birthday." She said softly to the slumbering man on the hospital bed."I got your favourite again this year," she smiled as she lit the candle, "if you don't want me to eat it all, you should wake up and eat it yourself."Her remarks were met with silence—except for the beeping of the heart rate monitor and the dripping noise of an IV drip.As was last year, and the year before that."I'll blow the candle now," she held the man's thin hand that was connected to an IV drip, "but next year, make sure you do it yourself, okay?"She made a wish that she always made for the past seven years.May their family always stay together.May her brother come back soonAnd yet, her wishes seem to get further and further out of her reach."Do you remember, onii-chan? We used to fight every year over who gets to blow the candle first," she chuckled, "or who gets to pick the cake's flavour—since we could only afford one slice each year.""We fought a lot over silly things, didn't we?" She smiled, "like how you kept boasting about being 'the big brother' despite being born only a few minutes earlier—or how I insisted that today is my birthday alone since it falls on hinamatsuri."The man was silent. Only the monotonous beeping of the heart rate monitor to indicate that he was still alive."Never thought I'd miss our silly fights," she squeezed the man's thin hand. "It turns out, being the oldest and spending my birthday alone isn't nearly as fun as I thought.""Do you remember?" She picked the cake and the fork that was set on the plate and began to eat it, "we had never had enough of the birthday cakes because we had to share the thin slice every year, but you'd always give the last bite to me.""Now this slice feels too much for me...."She set aside the half-eaten cake on the bedside table and squeezed the man's hand."Next year, you have to help me eat your share, okay?" Her hands trembled and hot tears were threatening to fall from her eyes, "I'll even let you blow the candle."The monotonous beeping of the heart rate monitor filled the deafening silence as hot tears dropped to the man's hand which was still as a corpse."Onii-chan," she sobs, "come back to me..."

• Prelude

Family

Takahashi family had never had much, but they had each other and they were happy...
...until that incident.

高橋理
Takahashi Aya
—36歳で亡くなった—
母

Yui's gentle and loving mother was taken away from her in a fatal drunk-driving incident along with her unborn sibling. She left behind a big shoe for Yui to fill in.

高橋清治郎
Takahashi Seijurou
—40歳で亡くなった—
父

Yui's father was a man of few words, but he did everything he could for his family. The drunk-driving incident that befell his wife and son was a huge blow for Takahashi family that had left him with a great debt to pay for their medical treatment. He died on a worksite accident soon after his wife's passing.

高橋佑
Takahashi Yū
(27)
兄

Yui's other half was a bright and dependable young man. With him, she feels like they could face anything. And yet, that incident had put him into a deep slumber with no hope of ever waking up again. They said even if he wakes up one day, he will never be the same.
But Yui still clings to the hope that her twin brother would come back to her one day.

高橋響
Takahashi Hibiki
(19)
弟

Takahashi Hibiki had never seen eye to eye with his elder sister. Left the family three years ago.

高橋恵
Takahashi Kei
(16)
弟

Takahashi Kei talks with his fists better than his mouth. As the only man left in Takahashi family, he's fiercely loyal and protective towards his sisters and niece.

高橋玲
Takahashi Rei
(16)
妹

Takahashi Rei is an aloof girl who mostly keeps to herself and never asked much for anything—except when she scolds her twin brother for getting into too much trouble.

高橋千夏
Takahashi Chinatsu
(12)
妹

Little Chinatsu lost both her parents before she had any memory of them. She could not mourn for the parents she never knew. She could only love the one she know; her older sister Yui, who's always been there for her for as long as she could remember.

高橋愛唄
Takahashi Aika
(9)
娘

The firstborn daughter of Yui and the head of Kirigaya-Gumi. Unwanted by her father because she couldn't be a heir to the group. Lives with her mother and the Takahashi family.

桐谷亮栄
Kirigaya Akihiro
(5)
息子

The coveted heir to Kirigaya-gumi. Taken away from his mother immediately after his birth to be raised as a son of Kirigaya family and the heir to the group.

桐谷昌弘
Kirigaya Masahiro
(3)
息子

The spare heir to Kirigaya-gumi. Like his brother, he was taken away from her to be raised as a son of Kirigaya family and was never allowed to be seen by their mother.

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Family

The people Yui found and built connection with along the way.

Rei Fumiya

Yui found Fumiya to be a kindred spirit whom she can't leave behind and one of the few people she can rely on. Yui considered him to be a part of her family.

Ragnael Faust

For Yui, Ragnael is a father she's been longing to have. She will be forever grateful to him for choosing to adopt her and the rest of her family.

Seraphina Ignis

In the kind and caring Ignis, Yui found a presence of a mother she's been longing to have.

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