16 / 03 / 2019 - Daito, Prefecture Osaka, Japan.
Massaging his throbbing temple, pondering what he should ask first, his eyes narrowed to a slit, hazy, lost in thought.
After a while, "First and foremost, what is Rhythm? And why did you name it so?" and this is what he found after mulling it over for a moment.
Raising his head, he looks at Irina to see if she gets what he means.
'The naming itself won't come from nothing; being named as it is means that she has a defined understanding of it.'
And as if she understood something, her posture gradually straightened, crossing her hands above her chest, while her brow furrowed as if thinking hard.
Akane's hand made its way down and crossed above his chest.
"Hmmmm…." Eyes looking to the ground, pursing her lips while humming.
Akane just sat in silence, looking over to her figure, mulling over what to say, neither in a hurry to urge her nor anything, smiling slightly, and after a while, the answer came by itself.
"Let me start with this then…" coming to terms with something, she whispers and lifts her head, "…ummmm, to answer, Rhythm for me is some kind of tune or rite?—"
A bit uncertain about something, she seems a bit slow, pressing her hands above her lap, but again, Akane is not in a hurry; he waits for her until she finishes her line and nods.
Noting her brother as she glances secretly, who is listening, she feels lighthearted for a bit, thus her voice becomes more fluent.
"—Actually, this comes from three or maybe four, and after thinking much about it… Maybe I know what triggered this."
Nodding his head once again, this time, he focuses more on what she needs to say as she is lost in thought,
"You know, people in the end are full of lies, right? Or maybe it's just a 'human' thing?"
Lowering her head, she whispered in a low voice, shrugging her shoulders a bit at the end of the sentence as if in irony, but… reflected in his eyes was not sadness nor that innocent face.
Yet, it was indifference as if mocking that very thing itself, a human.
"I don't know, they seem to be full of contradiction and chaos at their own very heart? Perhaps, like an actor on a stage?"
Then again, Akane doesn't seem concerned or to have any particular feeling about this,
"So, when I saw them, or adults… I just want to see what's beneath their mask. What's beneath their endless lies and contradictions?"
Then she lifted her head once again, smiling brightly towards him, the warmth and innocence in her eyes were back, like everything was a mirage, through those narrowed eyes…
A vertical pupil, sky-blue eyes clear as a mirror.
"As if granting my wish, it is such a small thing… but it surely shakes my heart, from that day—" making a pinching motion with her fingers,
"—I can perceive the 'timing' or even 'predict' an action one or two seconds ahead."
Unfazed by it, Akane's heart skips a beat, his hands loosen, but the thought is not of how cool it is of what she said next, it is the cost itself.
"How, how, how? It's cool, right?" She put her hands on her hips and puffed her non-existent chest, followed by a clapping sound from Akane, timed perfectly.
"Yeah, yeah, wonderful, I can get a gist from it. Anything more?"
Replying plainly, as if tired of her antics, instead, he asks if she has anything further to add, while his fingers tap rhythmically above his elbows.
"Ahh, yes, since that day, I have trained this ability of mine, then you know, nii-chan! I can also pull up this string of tune, you know!"
Made a firing motion and closed one eye, to that big brother's stinky face, and that's what he thought. Letting out a sigh, Akane raises one of his hands and flicks her temple.
"Ouch!" covering her forehead in pain, she sticks out her tongue. "Be serious," Akane warned her. His gaze was tired and weary; all of these things and events seemed to wear down his patience.
'Oh Serpent, is this also one of your trials?' the thought passed by his mind, but then vanished under the sea of rebuttal, to which he calmed down again.
'Probably not, this brat is troublesome as ever before Serpent appears.'
"But yeah, Aka-nii, the world is like a puzzle, you know? What do you think is the biggest factor of accidents in the world?" Standing up from her seat, she walks around his room, hands on her back.
Akane is unmoved from his seat, but his head and eyes are tracking her movement regardless. "You can't sit still, can you?" he complains plainly, but it is useless after all, as she ignores it.
Then, stopping beside the desk, she looks over the windows, "It is human error, nii-chan. People's mismatched pattern, and then combined with timely timings—"
Watching the cars and pedestrians go, her mouth upturned, eyes bright, her two hands mimicking an explosion, "—boom, there you go, an accident, death, and fatalities."
But then, she turns her head towards him, "One time, I tried it once," but before she was able to continue, Akane cut things short, "and you were paralyzed for a day."
Her expression is a bit melancholic, "Yes, and it is just to change a sliver of timing, of a foot, for a fraction of a minute, then I collapsed. But… I'm awesome, right?"
As if done with her story, she walks back to her seat and sits down, heaving a breath, "Huuhhhhh…" then leaning back towards the soft chair lazily.
A moment passed in silence while neither was talking.
Akane, who is impassive from the start, opens his mouth slightly to say something since he thought that she was done, but then, "Ah, lastly, I forgot one thing, nii-chan. There's a fog that blocked my understanding further, but I don't know what it is."
Facing him, he watches that brat's cheeky smile as if she had won, "It hinders my comprehension, and even until now, I can't progress at all." Right as he clenched his hands, his patience seemed to tether.
"If you can allocate this much energy to do something meaningful, then you'll probably reach my level soon, but alas, are you finished now?"
With the words, her expression seems to falter slightly, pouting her mouth.
Waiting in silence for a moment, he did not want any more interruptions, so—
"Based on your description, it seems I have nothing more to say about this. You are not as clueless as you would be, and you have your own patterns, as well as the conclusions that you have reached."
Then, raising one finger, he identified one problem and, as she said it herself,
"That fog is probably your 'dragon' selves." Related to themselves is only everything, and this is his plausible explanation.
Shifting his seat slightly as if a bit sore after sitting for a long time, he continued his explanation, to which Irina had listened carefully as she looked at him seriously,
"This has also stuck in my mind for a certain long time… our mother is human, our body is human, we act like humans, but then again—"
As if knowing what he wanted to say, she tightened the hem of her shirt, "—Our father is a dragon, and then where did everything go, have you doubted it?" Akane asks into the space itself.
Are they mistaken? Are they in the end human? Normal humans? What a joke. Akane's eyes were flashing with a hint of red.
"Your power and your body itself are proof of this, you were a Dragon inside and out, but why are we human again? This is the question that should be pondered."
Up until the end, she is relieved as if on the edge, letting out a sigh as her body slumped down; she didn't know that the root cause was so simple, yet it really soothes the concern in her heart that had lingered for a long time.
"For now, I can't say for certain how to liberate what I call 'dragon selves,' but the sign that you had approached this fog is worth studying about for later."
After saying this, he studied her peculiar reaction; her body was relaxed, but her face was confused. "Relieved?" said to trigger a reaction; she is startled, but then raises her body.
Looks at him, in silence.
"I'm a bit afraid, you know, father is obviously not human, but you have to wonder why the gene of our mother won, or perhaps— she is probably not human too?"
She is the first one to break it, but instead of any more questions, the questions took a strange turn, then she shook her head while murmuring absentmindedly, his face turns strange for a second, what the hell is in that mind.
But ignoring that much, there's a more pressing matter at hand.
"So, your ability now can sense an entire area directly? It's unusually big, but I didn't have much reference to compare with. Now, tell me?"
Knowing what he means, her eyes turn away guiltily, while flashing a nervous smile,
"Uh, the izakaya, buildings, and park coincide with the routes to the center of Osaka, and for the two—"
Stuttering, her voice lowers at the end, just like a buzzing mosquito,
"—the residential area is not far from the school, but the warehouse is… just a coincidence that I felt something when I passed by it."
Hearing it, his eyes turn cold for a moment, and she knows it too as she glances at those cold silver-reddish eyes in fear before she nervously explains further,
"Uhh, I was just following it for a moment, and then after my instinct of danger kicked in, I ran away after that."
His fingers dug deep into his elbows, partly anger, but the other was anxiety about what she would do,
"You… you are too reckless, from now on, you can't go to strange places again, got it?"
He didn't want to restrict her freedom, but he also did not want her to get hurt or even consider some possibility that he did not want to think about.
With this, his heart turns restless as the blaring red is in his vision.
But before he loses it, one thing, the things that he overlooked, come into his mind as he gazes at the trembling girl,
'This is not her fault, I shouldn't blame her, not her fault, this is not her fault…' With this in mind, his heart turned lighter slowly.
Closing his eyes for a moment and regulating his breath, 'I must warn them, even if I can't tell Cia-neechan directly, but implicitly should be okay, I'm not alone after all.'
After composing himself for a few seconds and opening his eyes, he forces his mind to calm down, so, "Your side is done, then I'll tell mine. But—" before he starts his own story.
He looks sharply at her; his day is awful, and he is already annoyed by everything that happens, so,
"—I don't want any more interruptions unless I ask you to, if you have any doubts swallow them, and then you can let it out at the end of this, got it?"
Nodding hurriedly, she covers her mouth with two hands, her crystal clear eyes wide, unaware of what she saw through those perceptions of hers, Akane didn't care now, as it is the main point.
"Four days ago, I did an investigation as you said, sparing every 10-minute window for each observation, and I found nothing, until now."
Straightening his body, he places his hands on his knee.
His face is still plain as it is, but the hint of red persists throughout his eyes as he narrates further, looking out of the window,
"But today is different, and the anomaly arises from the 'residential area' that you've marked."
Still, his eyes moved, then fell to his sister, who is silent yet tense,
"It is just a random encounter, or perhaps because I've spotted it. A strange hooded figure, he appears to be normal, but his behavior itself contradicts it."
'Hmmm.' Her eyes shrank with the mention of his last sentence, caught by the still active Observation, without running an Analysis, he could guess something here.
But she tells him first without him needing to ask, causing him to pause for a moment.
"Uhhh, is that figure a chain smoker who is often going in and out of a studio on the side of the road?" Correct answer, but that's not something that he has to rejoice in.
He opens his mouth halfway through, before she continues once again,
"It's just that I've spotted it too, but I've always adhered to my feelings, that if I had stayed any longer there, I would be harmed…"
After finishing, she glances furtively towards her brother, who is silent and closing his eyes, but… flicking her gaze lightly to his hands, they are tightly clenched, white and pale.
'Oh no, I thought he was joking at first.' The mischief that is planned in her heart and the excitement of it are extinguished, leaving only horror in her heart as she watches her brother open his eyes.
Calm and hazy like still water.
"Shirakami Irina, Почему вы не сказали об этом конкретно? (Why didn't you say this specifically?)."
Gulping, she is sweating bullets at this moment, lowering her head, but it is also the question that she didn't expect.
His voice is controlled, but a hint of discomfort can be felt by anyone who hears it.
"Был один конкретный человек — мужчина, чей ритм жизни был «на грани». Это было не «какое-то ощущение, что что-то не так». Это означало, что этот человек не был человеком.
(There was one particular person—a man whose life rhythm was "on the edge." It wasn't "some feeling that something wasn't right." It meant this person wasn't human.)"
"Я… я не знаю, я думал, что это не имеет значения, потому что в этом не было ничего странного, но из того, что ты сказал…
(I… I don't know, I thought it didn't matter because there was nothing weird about it, but from what you said…)"
She instinctively explains herself to retort to him, but as her words go on, she realizes something and raises her head; her face is blank, but she purses her lips hard enough.
Ignoring it, he breathes, and continues with his own story, but this time his face is visibly darker and frostier than ever,
"I followed him as he went through the mountain, and guess what?"
"That same person, that hell of a man, turned into a reptile, a crocodile! Can you believe it, Irina? If this is not enough—"
His voice strained, eyes a bit bloodshot, he restrained himself, "—There are another two of them, and until now, yes, you guessed it right!"
"We are not alone, we are not the only advanced beings or outliers out there! And there's probably more out there, infinite possibilities out of everything." He stops, again letting out a breath.
It is unknown how many times he let out a sigh in one day. But the thought of how close Irina is to danger is what makes him angriest, and the thing is, 'I'm powerless to do anything.'
That said, he can't be harsh on her while also tolerating her behavior, narrowing his eyes into a slit, once again he is tired, but there is one last thing that he needs to confirm.
"You haven't told this to Cia-neechan, right?" Again, forcing rationality to the front of his mind, he asks his younger sister, his voice devoid of its earlier aggressiveness.
"No…" She lowers her head; apparently, she is sensible enough to know her mistake, "I'm sorry, nii-chan…" an apology came out, while her crystal clear eyes are trembling.
Silence for a moment, Akane finally smiled slightly, his face faltering and partially tormented, as he stood up from his bed and approached her.
"I'm not particularly angry, you know, aside from this, you are really amazing to be able to detect or even know this particular thing, the one who should apologize is me… not you."
Lowering his head in front of her, a figure with particularly small, white-silver hair within reach, ruffling up her hair.
"I'm sorry for leaving you for these nine months, and I'm also terribly sorry that I can't do anything to protect you out of all of this mess."
Then, lowering his body to a crouch, his hands made their way to her hands and grasped the trembling ones,
"But… from now on, everything will change, as you have me and you can think about the future, where it is more exciting, right? So. Cheer up!"
His eyes fully gleaming in red, consuming all of the pond itself, but regardless, those ripples are not fake; he is truly trying to cheer her up, for there isn't anything that she needs to shoulder.
Hearing this, her trembling body stops, the sorrowful face brightens, and only now, then she is smiling, her cheeks red just like a kid she has to be, "Yes!" Her eyes are devoid of any tears.
The clear eyes are reflected amidst the murky, dark, and deep red, grasping his hands back and giggling happily, "The future would surely be wonderful! Ahahahah," leaning on her backrest.
Knowing that she has something to look up to, he took back his hands, and then,
"Even your useless, deadbeat brother Ayato can also be put to use after all of this—" Standing up, and looking out of the window, is the smiling face.
"After all, what can shape a man better than the pressure that he needs to face? You think so too, right? Ayato."
Indecisive as always, you would be, I would bring calamity for you to face if needs be.