"I… Wanted to visit my brother," proclaimed the girl while timidly trying to look into my eyes.

…Did Shirogane have a sister?

It was the first thought that appeared in my mind. Well, seems like he did. However… That doesn't explain what exactly she's doing here. Isn't it's usually the elder siblings who visit the younger ones?

Either way… I looked around, at the bushes and the white wall of the building. There was a large spider hanging on it… That wasn't a very suitable place to have a talk, so while the girl was staring at me awkwardly, I proposed:

"How about you go in?"

"Ah, no, I mean… If you insist."

She nodded.

Seems like she was a polite kid.

Wonder if it will make it easier or harder.

We went into the building and entered the Dojo.

I walked to the mat and sat down on it.

The girl froze in the middle of the hall.

On her back, she was carrying a large backpack. It was blue, the color of her uniform.

Once we came into the room, her awkwardness became even more obvious.

There's no way we can have a serious talk like that.

"You can sit down," I said, showing to her the free space on the mat. The girl nodded and timidly approached me. Once she found a place to sit, we both turned to face each other. After that, several more moments of silence followed, and at last, Shirogane's sister said:

"I wanted to visit my brother; I… was hoping that he will be here."

I nodded.

The girl was trying to sound polite, but honestly, it was a little bit ridiculous considering her age.

"I see. Sorry, but he hasn't joined the training today..."

"I... I see..." the girl nodded and bit her lips.

Once again, there was a silence between us.

I sighed inwardly and said:

"So... Did something happen to him?"

"Ah, yes, but..." she seemed to be hesitating on whether she should tell me.

I need to convince her somewhat... Hm...

"He's my friend, you know," I said suddenly.

"Friend?" the girl shivered and looked at me with surprise in her eyes.

"Yes," I said in a serious voice.

"I had been worried about him as well, so, if something has happened... I would be glad if you told me."

The girl stared at me with a surprised expression; then, she lowered her eyes. She stayed like that for some time before finally she made some decision on her mind and started telling me the entire story:

"My brother, he… Got himself into a bad company."

I felt as if it was not a sister, but the mother of Shirogane who was speaking with me.

Oh well, that was somewhat funny. In its own way.

And so she told me the story of Toshihiro (Shirogane's name, I think I should refer to him as such from now on so I won't confuse him with his sister) falling into depravity.

Turns out, Toshihiro wasn't such a nationalistic bastard before. There was a time when he didn't concern himself with the fate of his country but was a simple kendo-loving boy. He was honest, brave, hard-working... It was really hard to believe, to be honest, and seeing how starry-eyed became the girl while telling me all that, half of that stuff was probably just her fantasy.

However, one could tell that Toshihiro really was a better person some time ago.

All of it, however, has changed once he got himself into some gang.

After that, It became rare to see him home. And when you did, there were usually some bruises on his face.

His little sister was very worried because of that.

It was very stressful for her to see her a little bit stupid but dear brother turn into a delinquent.

However, with the beginning of the new academic year, Toshihiro has done something that you won't really expect from a delinquent. He joined a Club. A Kendo club.

Now, it needs to be mentioned that he was a real fan of that sport back in the day. While in elementary school, he amassed a great collection of trading cards with famous swordsmen that he holds dear to this day. He could name you every kendo-master since the nineteenth century. He was a real geek, basically.

What's more, Toshihiro was actually visiting the training sessions of the club…

His sister, Yuki, was very happy because of that. She was so glad, that she started to spy on him…

Yeah, you definitely can see a lip of logic at that moment of the story.

When Yuki was talking about her reason for spying on us, she did sound very vague. Probably because it was an embarrassing topic to her.

I'm just guessing here, but I think the reason for it is that the sister was simply fond of seeing the redemption of her brother. Or something like that.

I'm not sure.

Either way, seeing how the girl did not mention their parents at all while telling me this story, I could make some guesses about the state of their family. It was not very united if the mother and the father didn't care about their son being almost a criminal.

So, if they didn't care about their son, they probably didn't care about their daughter either. The girl, Yuki, was lonely. And that's why she cares so much about her brother Siro.

At the final portion of her tale, the girl gripped her tiny first and told me:

"Shiro… My brother… He didn't come back yesterday. At all. I thought he will be here, in his Dojo, but… It seems he didn't come here either. I'm sorry for bothering you," she said and bowed.

"Don't worry about that," I said slowly.

"Thank you," said the girl and then started hesitating.

"I…" she took a phone out of her backpack.

"I tried to call him, but he didn't answer. He doesn't really like it when I phone him, but he always answers, but this time…"

She lowered her eyes, looking at a loss.

Well, maybe he's just drunk after yesterday's night assault? Or maybe he lost his phone while running away? Either way, that's not something a little girl should concern herself with. I think it will be better to ask the authorities to help… It will be logical.

Sadly… Heroes usually aren't fond of logic.

While I was looking at the sad face of the girl, thinking about the best way to convince her to call a police, a shrill voice rang inside my head:

[You have discovered a new Story Ark!

Genre: SpoCon.

Mission: Find your rival and make him abandon his evil ways and come back to the family.

Reward: 30P]

…F&ck.