Summary
While trying to watch the news and wait for their mother to come home, Haru finds her patience being tested as Mina continues throwing a tantrum. She tries to quiet her down until overhearing the report on a mother who abused her infant daughter because she wouldn't stop crying. This inspires Haru and she picks up a toy knife belonging to a kitchen set and threatens to punish Mina if she doesn't stop. Mina stops crying out of confusion, and their mother shows up. Both girls happily run over to her but as Haru tries to tell her about the award she got in school she is cut off mid-sentence. She picks up Mina and announces that she will be making stew for dinner -her favorite- then she asks Haru to pick up the toys.
Haru, who is already in a foul mood over being ignored and having to eat a meal she dislikes demands an explanation as to why she has to do it when they're Mina's toys. Her mother explains that she is the older sibling and Mina has to get cleaned up for dinner, not only that but she was also playing. With that she disappears into the other room, leaving Haru to angrily pick up the toys while thinking about how unfairly she gets treated. Mina never has to do anything, and when she was younger her mother made her clean up her toys or else she would threaten to throw them away.
Further inspired, Haru decides to teach Mina the same lesson by picking up one of her dolls. She approaches the window nearby and holds it out, threatening to throw it away if she really doesn't want it enough to put it back when she's done playing. However, Mina bawls and her mother slaps her for being so cruel. Haru is mortified and runs off to her room in tears.
As she cries, Haru complains over how unfair her life has become since Mina was born. She wishes that she could escape as she crawls into bed, and she observes the star-filled evening sky while pleadingly asking that even if it was just for one day, if she could become the child who got attention. Taking refuge beneath her blanket, she continues to cry until she drifts off to sleep as a shooting star shots through the sky.
The following day an angered Haru remains beneath her blanket as her mother angrily tells her not to spend all day in bed- even if it is winter break. She isn't surprised when she acts more gentle with Mina though, threatening to tickle her if she doesn't get up. Haru refuses to move from her spot, but suddenly, she is startled upon realizing she isn't in her own bedroom! She's become Mina!
Attempting to figure this out, Haru is startled by the crying coming from the hallway and she and her mother look to find Mina, who has been put into her body on the floor, crying when they realize she's wet herself. Her mother tries to calm her down as their father joins them and wonders what happened while he prepares for work.
Haru is led into the kitchen and is quickly spoiled by her parents; just as she wanted. They make her an adorable breakfast, and gush over wanting to spend time with her- even to the point of her dad asking if he could skip work to enjoy time with Mina since he always gets home by the time she's in bed. Their mother scolds him for thinking so carelessly as Haru wonders how frequently this occurs.
As this is going on, Mina remains to herself hiding behind a wall until their mother spots her, asking if she's thrown her dirty clothing into the wash like she said. Mina attempts to tell them what is going on, saying here are two Mii, but her parents believe she's just making a strange joke and tell her to eat breakfast.
Their father takes off and as the girls finish breakfast, their mom prepares to leave, telling Haru that she will be in charge since neither of them have school to get to. She takes off and Haru tries to figure out what to do as a distressed Mina keeps to herself. While she isn't interested in making things easy for her, she decides a game of house could calm her down, offering to be the baby. Mina delightfully agrees when Haru decides to imitate Mina's behavior from the day before by throwing a tantrum.
However, her plans backfire when she observes Mina spot the nearby knife that wasn't put away. She picks it up and grabs one of Haru's limbs while scolding her, saying that bad children should be chopped up as punishment- just like how Haru had. Haru is horrified by this display of behavior and realizes how serious Mina is, and due to their switched bodies she no longer has the strength she once had and is unable to free herself.
To her relief, their mother returns and slaps Haru hard enough to send her to the floor and drop the knife. She angrily tells her off while checking on Mina to make sure she is alright before wondering if she did something wrong to make her eldest daughter lash out so violently. She is grief stricken by this event and remains there, waiting for her husband to get home as Haru, frightened and ashamed of what happened rushes into another room to pull out an old photo album. She observes several pictures of her birth and various events that occurred as she overhears her parents speaking in the other room.
In this time, Haru realizes that she has simply forgotten how much she was loved...
Meanwhile, Mina continues to cry in Haru's bedroom.
As Haru worriedly thinks about what could have happened if her mother didn't show up when she did, she is caught off-guard when she arrives to embrace her before she goes to bed, having forgotten to earlier. She heads off into the kitchen to talk with her husband, and voices her concern wondering why Haru would even think of doing something like that. Her father reminds her that Haru had been acting weird that morning as well, then he recalls a conversation he had with the neighbor about Haru's recent award and how the picture she took being placed in the district hall. Her mother is surprised, having not been told about it, and he claims that he was as well; he didn't mention it earlier due to having to leave for work.
Unable to sleep, Haru is shown observing them from the hall as they wonder if she might be feeling lonely and is acting out. Haru remains silent and begins to feel even worse for what she's done, unable to tolerate seeing her mother in so much pain like this. She never wants to see this happen again and decides that she must set things straight the following morning. When she will change back into herself and can properly make amends.
With nothing left to do she gets back into bed and falls asleep.
Hours pass and Haru is awoken to discover she's still not in her body. She is alarmed and snaps out of her sleep-induced daze realizing Mina is carrying her down the hallway. Frightened, she calls for help but Mina quickly shoves wadded up tissue into her mouth to silence her. She leads Haru to the same window that Haru threatened to throw her doll out days prior, reminding Haru of what she said to her. If she doesn't want something it will be thrown away, and she does not want Haru!
Haru is scared out of her mind realizing that because their apartment is up seven stories high she could never survive a fall from this height. She cries for help as Mina steps onto the small balcony and holds her over the railing.
Suddenly, Haru is thrown onto the floor and she's been put back into her body!
She happily realizes that it must be morning now, but her joy is shattered by the frightened scream belonging to her mother. She suddenly realizes that Mina is gone, and that their parents had just witnessed her drop her sister off the balcony.
Later that day, a family is shown preparing for dinner while watching a news report about the event. The reporter explains that Mina was discovered having been dropped from the seventh story window and died on impact. When her corpse was to be collected, they were shocked discovering it was in several, separate pieces; as a result, her family has been put under strict investigation under concern that she was abused.
As the mother of this family finishes making dinner, she sighs with relief and remarks on how peaceful her own home life is. She remains blissfully unaware of her uneasy, bandaged up younger child as he sits next to his amused older brother. In the night sky, another shooting star passes.
Tropes:
- Big Brother Bully: Implied with the older son in the family at the end of the story.
- Death of a Child: Mina at the end of the chapter, and the infant at the start of the chapter.
- "Freaky Friday" Flip: Between Haru and Mina. It's implied it will happen again between the two brothers at the end of the story.
- Gory Discretion Shot: Mina's death is symbolized by her empty blanket fluttering to the ground, but the credits page includes a drawing of her face-down corpse in a pool of blood.
- Hoist by Her Own Petard: The body swapping spell wears off just as Mina begins to drop Haru off a balcony, so she ends up falling to her own death in her own body.
- Infant Sibling Jealousy: Haru still harbors these feelings even though Mina's now three years old.
- Offing the Offspring: At the beginning of the story, a news report mentions a mother killing her infant daughter because she wouldn't stop crying.
- After Mina's death, the condition of her body led to an investigation being held out of concern she was abused.
- Sibling Murder: Mina nearly did this to Haru, first coming at her with a knife and later almost dropping her off a balcony, only for the body-switching spell to wear off at the last moment.
- The Unfavorite: Haru thinks she is this. Late into the story she comes to remember that her parents still love her.
- Wish Upon a Shooting Star: Haru set off the plot of the story by doing this.
