16 / 03 / 2019 - Daito, Prefecture Osaka, Japan.
Akane's room. Late Afternoon.
In front of him, Irina sat across on the chair of his desk, legs swinging, waiting.
They'd been at this for over an hour.
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. In silence, looking over to her figure, who was mulling over what to say, neither in a hurry to urge her nor anything.
He is smiling gently, and after a while, the answer came by itself.
"Hmmmm…." Her head is facing the ceiling, pursing her lips while humming.
"Let me start with this then…"
Coming to terms with something, she untied her hands and raised one of her fingers, while the other hand was placed above her lap.
"…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, and 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."
Akane nod his head once again. This time, he focuses more on what she needs to say as she is a bit lost in thought, then her eyes brightened.
"You know, what I noticed? Adults say one thing and do another most of the time, no… no… no… It's all the time!"
Leaning forward, beaming with a smile, looking at her perplexed brother, she is more excited about this, like knowing the secret of the universe itself!
"Our teacher often said, uhummm… 'Honesty is important', but then she often lied to the principal about why she was late…"
Then she pulls her body and leans on the backrest, closing her eyes and then crosses her hands, her face is mysterious as she mimics the voice of her teacher.
"Then, there is Cia-neechan, who said 'We are family,' then confiscated my sweets, eating them behind my back!"
"Oftentimes, she always mysteriously locked herself up in her room like a hikkikomori!"
Tilting her head, she nods to herself and becomes more enraged at the end. Her lips flat, cheeks puffed up like a squirrel.
Then she opened her eyes, like a hawk, her eyes sharp, leaning forward, stretched her hands out and under his silent gaze, the index finger touches his nose.
"That's why! So I figured it out. People are just actors. They wear the masks. That's all they are!"
Akane sighed heavily, raising his index finger and then moved out her fingers out of his nose to the side, his eyes half-lidded, it is tired.
First, he didn't even want to correct her, whether it was wrong or not, or if it was right or not.
All in all, her observation is legit and true. But the conclusion is incomplete; the rest of the piece, everyone would have their own conclusion.
She did see a pattern, but without sufficient data to interpret it, she left without an understanding of her own.
Lifting his eyelids, he opened his eyes. Since for him, the definition of masks is because they're 'afraid', no? It is humans' way of survival to adjust their state to fit in.
Some to deceive, some to protect, there's nothing that states it must be one single truth.
"Yes, Irina's so smart, your brother is very proud of you!"
Still, he mustered a smile toward her, where she pulled back her finger and crossed her hands as if 'Praise me more!', and at the very least, this little gremlin has not changed at all.
But apparently, she is not done yet, so he had to restrain his mind for a bit to listen for a while longer, put his hands back above his chest, and crossed.
Looking into the smug brat, he seems to see a sliver of vertical pupil in her sky blue eyes, his heart tightened for a moment, but in a blink, it disappears.
"Then, whoosh— " she opened her arms wide " —from now on, —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, but 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. Is it done now? Have we arrived at the main point now?
"Yeah, yeah, wonderful, I can get a gist from it. Anything more?"
Replying plainly, he complained for a bit, 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, reaching and leaning forward, and flicks her temple.
"Ouch!"
Covering her forehead in pain, her eyes winced, but then she stuck 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, but still, he couldn't even resist her at all, though.
'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 in 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,
"—kachow, there you go, an accident, death, and fatalities."
But then, she turns her head towards him, her expression half-serious, "One time, I tried it once," but before she was able to continue, Akane cut things short,
"And you were paralysed 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, then leaning back towards the soft chair lazily, like a slumped kitten.
"Huuhhhhh…"
Raising one of his brows, are we done? He is halfway to sleep, now.
A moment passed in silence while neither was talking; he was waiting to see if this brat was playing on him right now.
Akane, who is impassive from the start, parted his mouth slightly to say something since he thought that she was done now, 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, right as he clenched his hands, his patience seemed to tether, calm down, it is not worth it at all.
"It hinders my comprehension, and even until now, I can't progress at all."
"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 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 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 centre 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."
"But it's all right, okay? Everything is under control."
His fingers dug deep into his elbows, partly anger, but the other was anxiety about what she would do, safe? You call that safe? Under control?
"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 thing that he overlooked, comes into his mind as he gazes at the trembling girl, his minds cooled down.
'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 that he can start his own story.
"Your side is done, then I'll tell mine. But—"
He looks sharply at her; his day is awful, and he is already annoyed by everything that happens. He cannot resist her, but knows that he can deter her!
"—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 was 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 behaviour 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?)."
Unknowingly, he switched to Russian, their mother language, to remind her of the situation now, he is serious.
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 realises 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?"
Akane said quietly.
"I watched him transform himself."
Rubbing his face, Irina pondered, her mouth agape as she wanted to say something, but decided against it.
"Into a crocodile. A full reptile. A humanoid crocodile, that weirdly, standing on two feet — literal."
Silence, then—
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 behaviour, 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 were trembling.
Silence for a moment, Akane heaved a breath, then smiling gently, 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 apologise 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 them, warm and tiny.
"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.
Ge 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 then begins to brighten, rubbing her eyes 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, too, is happy for her.