“That was a tight squeeze, Evie.”

“I’m surprised that we managed to fit three people in the back of the car, since just two of us in the back are usually bad enough.”

“I’m sorry I had to bring everyone along.”

Yui said apologetically to her soon-to-be new dorm mates.

“It’s a small and old car, so it can’t be helped.”

Kato shrugged as he got out of the front seat.

They all stepped outside to meet the front doors of the orphanage that Yui belonged to, in the heart of the ghetto. Though the buildings in the so-called gentrified city were already densely built enough, the ghetto was even worse. In the part of the city they live in, the storefronts were at least ten feet wide, and that was way below the average. Here, Kato guessed that every storefront was probably only eight or less, utilizing every bit of open space they could.

The buildings were tall enough and the streets were narrow enough to block out the sun from the ground during most of the day, though today the sky was overcast so everything was greyer than usual. This particular sector of the ghetto, the Causeway, was one of the better ones. While the general state of the buildings and cleanliness of the streets were still not very good, at least the smells were normal enough. It also helped that, for whatever reason, the triads did not have their main bases here. Most of the gangs’ traditional territories were in the Nine Dragon Fortress area.

“They got rid of the smell of garbage! Mostly!”

Teto stretched her arms and took a deep breath in as she was the last to get out of the back of the car. Once upon a time, the three siblings were also orphans who lived in the ghetto, albeit at a different, smaller orphanage. Like most of the inner city, the Causeway was busy and waves of people flowed about on the street.

“Yui, you’re free to go to your room to grab your belongings. I will take care of everything else. Once you’re done, we can meet up right here.”

“Really? I don’t need to do anything?”

“Nope. Most of the arrangement is already done. We’re only here for my signature and your luggage.”

Having parked and locked the company car on the side of the road, Karl waved to the children as he went inside the building. The storefront was inconspicuous with little to no indication of the nature of its occupancy, and like the others, it was not very wide. From the outside, it looked like this tenancy occupied both the ground and second floor. Above the front was a faded plastic banner that probably used to read “Causeway Lost Children Centre”.

“What I wanna know is why you two wanted to come along.”

Kato asked his two sisters trailing behind him.

“To follow Kato around.”

“To follow big brother around!”

Two answers followed, one in a monotone voice and the other in a cheery voice.

“Eheh. Never mind I asked.”

Kato scratched the back of his head as he smiled awkwardly, feeling a little embarrassed to have it said out loud with Yui present, who laughed softly at the siblings in front of her.

At that moment, Yui realized that the three kids in front of her would become her brother and sisters, essentially right now. A tingly sensation welled up inside of her, one of a pleasant nature. It was a feeling of anticipation for a future that was bright and promising. It was something she hasn’t felt in a very long time, and she couldn’t help but smile widely at them.

“... is there something wrong with us?”

Kato noticed the smile and asked cautiously. Though Kato had no qualms about Teto, it was mostly Evie that was embarrassing to him.

“No, nothing’s wrong.”

Yui held on to her smile, seemingly unable to get rid of it. But then the heel turn came from where Kato least expected.

“Evie, let’s get going to the game shop!”

“Ah, the true purpose of our journey. Let us leave before someone else starts complaining again.”

“I can't believe you would follow us on official business, just to go to the game shop. So much for following me around.”

Teto pulled Evie by the hand and started walking down the street while Evie ignored Kato’s complaint. In moments, they merged into the sea of people which flowed endlessly through the streets.

“We’ll be back in twenty!”

Teto called out to her brother, tiptoeing up and waving her hand above other people’s heads.

“Okay!”

Like any brother with a serious case of little sister complex, he waved back furiously in her direction, feeling exasperated that he didn’t know if she could see or hear him.

“Aaaaaand, they're gone. I should’ve guessed.”

Kato put his face into his hands, obviously sad to see his sisters go.

“At least you have one sister still here by your side.”

Almost as though reading his mind, Yui said as she walked up beside him, still smiling brightly. Touched, Kato slowly removed his hands from his face and let himself be captivated by that smile. Perhaps it was because of the uniqueness of the people he grew up around, he unmistakably felt a familiar emotion behind her words. One that felt similar to Mirabelle’s aura.

“Let’s get going as well.”

Her heart skipping a beat, Yui pulled Kato along by the hand towards the steel doors next to the storefront, which opened to a narrow set of damp cement stairs that led to the upper floors above the storefront.

It turned out that the post-foster ward was actually a few floors up above ground level, past a couple of other floors that held the open dormitories for the younger children. It was probably the case that this particular set of stairs were owned by the orphanage since the doors were open to each floor they passed. At the top of those stairs was where the post-foster ward was.

Through the door, they entered a crooked and decrepit concrete hallway, complete with garbage, dust and cracks. Some of the cracks were damp, indicating the existence of recently free-flowing water. Steel-grilled doors of varying conditions lined the sides, and the low ceiling had small incandescent light bulbs hung at regular intervals, but it was still day time so they were turned off. Instead, meagre amounts of natural light shone through the window in the stairwell behind them and at the other end of the hallway.

“Wow, the condition of this place is not too bad.”

Kato quipped as he saw the desolate state of the floor. Secretly, what he was saying held a bit of truth as he and his sisters also drifted through orphanages as young children. Yui smiled a bit at his quip.

“It’s been like this since I’ve known it.”

At the end of the corridor was the door to Yui’s small room. She reached for the keys to the rusted steel grill, but Kato noticed something odd with the door. His brain already leaping to conclusions, Kato pushed Yui aside and reached for the handle to shove it open, and true to his suspicions, it did.

“The lock got busted up.”

Kato muttered under his breath. He proceeded to shove open the sliding door behind the steel grill to reveal the room before them.

“Oh dear…”

“I’m pretty sure your room is usually not like this, right?”

Yui was visibly spooked by the state of her room. It was a cramped studio flat with an old bed, a closet, a dirt-covered window, and a small wooden desk, but apart from those structures, her belongings were a mess. Her drawers were pulled out of the desk, strewn across the floor along with its contents. Clothes, bed sheets and notebooks were laid haphazardly over the room, and the small washroom tucked away next to the entrance was also in disarray. It was as if a localized tornado swept through this room and exited through the open window.

“Do you have any valuables here at all?”

“Not really. It’s mainly my clothes, but otherwise nothing much else. I carry most of my valuables on me.”

Yui flashed her wallet out as she waded into the messy room. Wasting no time, she pulled out a battered duffle bag from the closet and began folding the clothes that were out all over the floor. Whoever barged in and wrecked her room seemed to have done a very thorough job. But this was not the time for them to investigate. It was time to gather whatever was left after the break-in and leave this godforsaken place.

“That flex of the money.”

Kato shrugged and followed Yui into her room and also began picking up the clothes, piling them up beside Yui. There were lots of clothes here for a poor orphan, but it was expected given the nature of her work.

Although he did not hold any ulterior intent; in fact it was in his daily routines with Teto, but it was still a bit too much for Yui as he scooped up her undergarments.

“This is quite something.”

Kato squinted hard as he examined a frilly and see-through garter he picked up from atop the bed.

“---ah?!”

Squeaking at what he picked up, Yui blushed and averted her eyes from Kato as he dropped it next to her.

“I guess your job calls for it, but seeing it for real is still something else. It’s definitely right in my strike zone.”

“Stop talking about it already!”

Yui retorted as Kato chortled heartily at her response, clearly teasing her from her first reaction. She still refused to look up at him as she was still red-faced. Instead, she eyed the piece of undergarment that he dropped next to her intently, thinking deeply about what he had said.

“If you really like it…”

“What?”

Looking up to find the source of the echoing voice, she realized that Kato had already disappeared into the washroom to clean it up. The burning feeling on her cheeks turned off as she returned to reality. Sighing in relief while pouting a bit, she returned to folding the clothes he gathered for her.

“Nothing. I was just wondering, what does this mean, my room being searched through and all.”

She turned to the big elephant in the room. It certainly was worrying that her room got turned inside out.

“It’s been more than eight hours since those bastards were last seen. On top of that, they were merely People’s diploma students, so their school day ended after lunch. There would have been plenty of time for them to rummage through your room and leave no evidence of their intents.”

“Hah…”

Kato sounded really cool just now, but since it gave off an Eon-like aura, it didn’t inspire any awe in her. Nevertheless, his explanations still made sense.

“If you can’t remember what key items you had in your room that might give them any impetus to do something else, then it’ll just be a waiting game until we either encounter the next hurdle or you suddenly remember something.”

Kato came out of the narrow washroom with towels and toiletries in his arms, and placed them next to Yui.

“Here, take whatever.”

“Thanks.”

Scratching his head, he continued to try to make sense of the situation.

“But without more intel, it’s hard to piece together the story. They came back from school to trash your place. Then what? What’s their objective?”

Kato thought out loud as he sat down cross-legged in the tiny crevice between the bed and the desk, while Yui, sitting atop her bed, continued to fold her clothes expertly and dropping them into her duffle.

“Revenge? They’re really petty, I know that much. They probably don’t know that I’m leaving with you though.”

“What else is that Ethan guy associated with? Do you know anything else about him and his connections to this place?”

“No, not much. He’s the son of the director of this orphanage. As far as I know, he’s connected pretty close to the business here.”

“Business? What kind of business are we talking about? I assume it isn’t just the charity farce.”

“Of course it isn’t just a charity. All of the orphanages in the inner city, not just the ghetto, are transfer points for human trafficking. Besides the real native orphans here, many children from abroad come through here in transit. They stay in a complex basement setup below this building. Whether they’re connected to the organization or not, I’m not sure, but I would guess they are not, because I would have been exposed already if that was the case.”

Yui told Kato of the grim reality of life in the ghetto. Though Kato and his entourage were not exactly unrelated to the criminal elements of the city, he still felt a bit sickened by it.

“So that’s how it worked. They could be middlemen working with the organization, they could be not. The pieces are still too disparate for me to get an idea. What about your workplace? What kind of associations do they have?”

Yui pursed her lips while she watched Kato’s figure, sitting on the floor motionlessly with his eyes closed. Kato noticed her hesitation immediately and opened his eyes to stare right back at her. Turning pink again, her indigo eyes avoided his gaze for a second time, but then she realized that her initial discomfort was dispelled. For a split second, she really wanted to step forward and wrap herself around Kato. Though her heart never failed to skip a beat in his presence, at the same time she felt completely at ease, and she found herself to very much cherish these moments in time.

“Most likely run by the organization. I’m not sure exactly how they’re connected, but it’s also one of the few places that are de facto legal, so that’s the biggest piece of evidence for that connection.”

What she meant by that was that the city authorities mostly turned a blind eye to their activities because Eternia were actually the authorities. But as Eternia was a big organization, it was not exactly as simple as a mob running the city. Probably, factions of Eternia within this city forged a delicate balance between the light and dark sides of the law.

“So in some way, you’re connected to the organization. Are you on good terms with your employer?”

“Definitely. As much as how immoral our line of work is, people aren’t always evil. They helped me out a lot, especially keeping my identity a secret. Whether that’s out of goodwill, I don’t care, but we have a mutually respectable relationship.”

“So you’re well-liked by your employer and presumably your clients.”

“It seemed so to me.”

“But you really have no idea what exactly goes on for the smuggling of children that happens here?”

“Nope. The real orphans here are just like any outsider. We almost never see the children they smuggle through here.”

“Hmm. This puzzle is still a bit hard. Do you think they know where you work, now that they’ve went through your room?”

Yui took a moment to try and recall anything that would give away her nighttime job. She scanned her tiny room for any visual cues that could trigger any memory of incriminating things she left in her room.

The moment she glanced over one of the empty drawers, she remembered, and her face hardened.

“Ah. There was an old business card in one of those drawers. It has the address and everything, and perhaps unfortunately, the information on that card is probably still accurate.”

Yui said sombrely. Kato closed his eyes again, continuing unperturbed.

“You can never guess that these things could happen, so don’t sweat it. Then the question comes down to that trafficking operation’s affiliation with the organization. Which mob are they a part of?”

“Which mob?”

“If this orphanage is directly associated with the organization, then like you said, your job would have been found out a long time ago. So they must either be only business associates or part of a different mob. Either way, it’s likely they’re outsiders.”

Kato surmised. Apparently, it wasn’t only Eon who could play detective.

“What happens if they’re outsiders?”

“I still don’t know, dammit. I wish Eon was here to read the future.”

Kato seemingly gave up as he laid his back against the desk leg behind him. It turned out that the detective role from Kato only went so far.

“Read the future?”

Yui asked as she put the last piece of clothing away and into her bag.

“Ah, I should let Eon explain that. It’s his---”

Then a distant, sharp glass-breaking noise startled the content atmosphere around the two children. Kato jumped to his feet and ran to the door to look out into the creepy hallway.

“Must’ve been downstairs somewhere. Hope it’s not Karl, but we should get going anyway. They might be after you too. Done?”

Looking back into the room as he stepped out into the musty corridor, he suggested their next course of action.

“Done and dusted.”

“No need for a teary goodbye?”

Yui giggled at the pretention in his voice. She slung the duffle bag over herself, bounced up from her seat and caught up to Kato, who was waiting right outside the door. Natural white light filtered through the window at their end of the hallway, illuminating the wide grin on Kato’s face. She took one last glance at the tiny room behind her before she answered.

“More like good riddance.”

“You’ll make good rapport with Eon at this rate.”

“Always have.”

“Oh god, what have I done.”

They both shared a laugh before they took off for the stairs at the other end of the corridor.

Glass shattered as a hatchet was thrown out the front window of the orphanage. Lying on the ground was a tall goon in black, who apparently had his weapon forcibly disarmed by the gentleman with greying hair tied in a small ponytail. Behind the fallen goon were two other men in black, alarmed by the abilities of this old moustached man in front of them.

“I’d rather we bury the hatchet here, everyone. I already have literally, but let’s also do it figuratively.”

Karl wiped his forehead gracefully with a handkerchief, with a smoothness befitting of the upper class. From behind him, the young but tall receptionist boy reared back and fell off of his seat, but caught himself on the desk before he took the fall to the floor.

“What… what kind of people are you?”

Ethan Henderson stuttered as he pulled himself up and peeked above the counter.

“Oh, so you’re the one who set me up, then? Care to explain yourself?”

Karl asked calmly. His voice held no anger whatsoever.

“No way, this can’t be happening…”

Ethan muttered to himself, ignoring the old man in front of him. The despair on his face was telling of his defeat already.

“Not only was I suspended from school, my position there is all but gone. Now, even the Seven Tools cannot win for me.”

He continued to mumble to himself while the men before him watched on.

“Seven Tools? That’s the mob, eh.”

The Seven Tools was one of the crime syndicates that operated in the Causeway. They were a neutral criminal organization in relation to Eternia, so Kato’s guess that they were just middlemen was very close to the mark.

“Karl! What’s happened?”

Kato stormed into the lobby from the front door while Yui followed closely behind him.

“Some goons got in the way, but they weren’t as strong as they thought they were.”

“Speak for yourself. You’re sweating all over.”

“And it seems you have not broken a sweat. Well done.”

Kato immediately went back to normal mode after he saw that Karl was in no harm. Yui, too, let out a sigh of relief.

“I took down two goons in the stairs already. Need help?”

“You’re always welcome to help.”

Of course, two burly men lay unconscious in the staircase that led to the dorms. For Kato, these pawns were not even a match.

However, Ethan was not amused at Kato’s arrival. The defeat on his face quickly warped into contempt, but he could do no more than stare at his enemy. Rather, his body shook in fear as he had already lost to Kato’s overwhelming physical power. He was trembling at the sight of Kato, yet his eyes were full to the brim with hate.

“If you’re done, Karl, we can just leave now.”

Kato said nonchalantly and shrugged. The two other suit-clad men stood by quietly, clearly waiting for orders from Ethan, but none were forthcoming. Passing by those goons without looking back, Karl nodded at Kato and made his way to the door.

Sparing a glance over at Ethan, Kato instinctively backed off, grabbed Yui and pushed her behind him, shielding her from Ethan’s sight. Like Kato suspected, an attempt was made at Yui’s life, but Ethan did not expect Kato to again protect Yui. Not in this setting, miles away from school.

Kato knew that he likely would become this guy’s enemy, and possibly be subject to some kind of attempt at revenge again in the future. But Yui was a classmate he would not allow to suffer this kind of injustice. And if Ethan does return with a vengeance, Kato might have to terminate him permanently. At least, that was how he thought it might play out.

“If you have any other smart ideas, the organization will not be as forgiving to your life as it is now.”

Kato, like his sisters, had a peculiar set of common sense. It was not so much ingrained by their Eternian upbringing as much as their experiences as lost children before their time in Eternia. Though they understood the fragility of life and cherished its fragments of happiness, at the same time they held little back when time comes to take life away, even if it was painful to do so.

Ethan slackened his arms upon hearing the threat from Kato. It was hard to know if the threat fuelled him further or cowed him. His face once again distorted, this time into a mixture of fear and frustration, but still wordless. He slumped back onto his chair, his eyes still staring at the three guests, who were turning around to leave the shop for the first and last time.

Resting his mind after a tumultuous day, Kato sipped from a cup of green tea in a loose t-shirt as he peered out of the caged balcony-window of their flat. It overlooked a narrow street below, where his sisters sat on stools on opposing sides of a small wooden folding table, while Sisi sat in a lawn chair on the garage’s near side, watching on. As he was only one floor up, it was not hard to make out what they were doing: playing a trading card game. Their duel was illuminated by the lights in the storage garage that Karl owned on the ground level right below them.

Clad in light t-shirts and shorts too, his sisters showed a lot of skin, to Kato’s delight. Their figures were still a grand sight to behold, no matter how many times he had seen them. Even in their sloppy outfit, Evie and Teto nonetheless stole the eyes of all the boys in the neighbourhood, including their brother.

But of course, none of the onlookers dared to approach them; at least the ones in the know. Every now and then, a new challenger who didn’t know who the sisters were would approach them, only to return rejected and doubled over from a kick to their crotch. Learning from experience, they would join their predecessors in their silent vigil that was enjoying the eye candy the sisters provided.

“Area Zero, effect, target.”

“No response.”

“Chain, effect.”

“Chain, Called, targeting Raye in the grave.”

It was well after dinner and the sun had disappeared a while ago. The neighbourhood street they had set up their game on had old but reliable lampposts, and small vehicles and mopeds were parked along it. Across their supposedly pedestrian street was the rear of retailers and restaurants, which faced the major street on their other side. When on their way to school, they would walk between those shops to the main street and then west along it until they met Eon, who lived in a newer apartment that was built right on the main street.

Kato, too, played this game with his sisters. In fact, he wanted to join them too, but he thought he would pass on tonight’s session.

Earlier, the five of them together first toured around the main street and their shops, and then the maze of concrete village hamlets and back alleys behind their apartment. After that, Evie and Teto opened shop with Sisi watching and they’ve been playing there ever since.

Meanwhile, Kato and Yui had returned home to show her around and have her settle in. While they were touring around, they debated whether to fit four children in one place or not, and she was eventually given the empty bedroom in the siblings’ side. To Yui’s surprise, their side of the apartment was probably as messy as the scene in hers in the ward just hours ago. Thankfully, the vacant room normally avoided the storm that was Teto. Either way, Kato cleaned up the living room as much as he could, and at last it looked clean for the first time in years.

“Kato, can you get my clothes?”

Yui called out from the shower. The shower room was tiny, and if you were to bring dry clothes inside, it would only get wet. The moment the children grew tall enough to leave the showerhead in its holster, they didn’t bring their clothes inside anymore and left it outside on a stool. Because they were always together, someone could always help out if need be.

Kato moved away from the match going on below him and towards that shower stool right outside its door.

“Here you go---”

As he opened a crack in the door to hand over Teto’s old pyjamas, he found that his arm was being held onto by a hand that reached out from inside, stopping him mid-sentence. Her hand was still wet from the water, soaking the point of contact.

“Are they still downstairs?”

“Yeah, they’re still at it.”

Kato blinked, but otherwise stood still in his spot, unmoving. Something in her voice told him that he should let her speak, so he did.

“Sorry, I just thought that, somehow, this is probably one of the few moments I would get alone with you.”

“Your intuition is very close to the mark, for sure.”

“Well, we were in the same class for, like, ten years? You’d think we’d notice that Evie and Teto were attached to you at the hip.”

“And they’ll continue to be, hopefully, for all time.”

They laughed soundly. Life certainly could be strange and surprising.

“You were the one who wanted to have me adopted, right? That’s what Evie had said.”

“Yes. It’s because Eon predicted the need to get you out of the ghetto. There were only two options. One was somehow have you move into the school residence. Impossible unless we pay for it, which naturally led to the second option: to make you a part of our family.”

“It’s another one of his ideas, eh. How smart is Eon, really?”

“Too smart for his own good.”

“So you’re actually the tame one. How unexpected.”

“I have my moments of madness. There’s gotta be a balance somewhere.”

“That’s true, for Eon too. Surprisingly, he’s far more reliable than you.”

Yui stifled a giggle while Kato gave a small sigh. It seems like Yui would be joining Eon’s side of the comedy act.

“My defects aside, you should thank him for planning this much out. No joke.”

“Then I’ll have to thank him tomorrow.”

Both remained where they stood, and the door continued to separate them. A moment of silence floated between the two, as Kato waited patiently for Yui to continue.

“… why did you save me? Normally, people don’t go this far to help a classmate.”

Yui asked, filled with hope and anticipation.

“Really? Then I’m just not a normal person, then.”

“…”

She waited quietly for a real answer from Kato. He noticed the silent response from Yui too, so he took a moment to brace himself and carefully replied.

“It’s because I thought of you to be one of us, an Elite. We’re kindred spirits.”

Kato took another breath, refocused his thoughts and continued.

“I’ve always thought of you as a special friend to our circle of troublemakers, and I’ve always been a person of loyalty, so I can go to any lengths for those I care about.

“You’re no different. A friend in need is all that takes for me to give it my all. Is that a satisfactory answer?”

Kato waited calmly for Yui, who hadn’t budged at all yet. They remained in the longest stretch of silence yet, and perhaps even in the history of the von Habsburg residence.

On the other side of the door, Yui’s heart froze. She knew that she shouldn’t expect to hear the answer she so desperately wanted, but she never thought it would hit her so hard. She could feel that her tears would start flowing like they always did, but she could not back down from this unwinnable fight anymore. Because she realized how precious happiness could be, she did not want to leave it behind with feelings left unspoken.

Slowly, she opened the door with her free hand, revealing her towel-wrapped figure to the boy in the navy-blue shirt. Her red hair was still wet and heavy, partly covering up her distraught face. Her other hand continued to hold onto Kato, still not letting it go.

Looking up at Kato’s face, she could see a serene expression painted there. She could not read anything from it except for the mute kindness that he put on there. From that alone, she could only think that she could not receive the kind of happiness she sought for.

“No, it wasn’t. Can you give a better answer?”

“No, that’s the best I can give.”

“Is there really nothing I can do?”

She made a bittersweet smile at Kato from under the cover of her hair. Kato’s expression did not change. Instead, he watched Yui expectantly, waiting for her to spit out her heart in front of him. His silence was his answer; he could not answer.

Yui wanted to desperately hold onto her hopes, no matter how slim they were. She was surprised that she still had this kind of passion within her after being tossed and thrown around so cruelly in her miserable life. Perhaps because of this, she had the motivation to reach out for the happiness in front of her, even if it was impossible to reach it.

“Kato, I love you.”

“I know.”

The smile on her face disappeared, replaced by a frown that was distorted with anguish. She let her tears flow from her eyes, blending with the water droplets on her face. She couldn’t feel the cold that was closing in on her exposed skin as her mind froze in time. In that moment, her world ended, but she herself still had not, so she had no choice but to live on.

“Then, from this point on, I’ll be your older sister.”

Yui took a moment to compose herself before she forced a smile through her tears, stepped forward and held Kato’s face in her hands, staring into his distant eyes. Mere inches separated their bodies, and yet Yui felt as though Kato continued to hold her at arm’s length.

Kato’s hand reached for hers, weaving his fingers between hers and holding them gently. By now, they could feel the cold as the moisture had the time to take away the warmth from her fingers.

“Welcome to the family, big sister.”

No longer able to face him, she buried her face in his chest and sobbed quietly into it, letting herself accept that this was as good an ending as she could get.

“Is Sisi going to walk with us to school every day now?”

The children were on their way to school, and only after three days their party members increased by two people.

“Non. Sisi is only here today because she wants to know how the children are in the morning. Looking after them is mine responsibility, after all.”

“Are you their grandma or something?”

“Yes. In a sense, Sisi is. In fact, Sisi is also your guardian too, so you’d better behave in front of Sisi.”

“Wait, when did this happen?”

“Heh. That’s what you get for being friends with mine dependants. Mine responsibility extends to you as well.”

“What the fuck, the long tentacles of the organization extends to the lowly civilian.”

“Strange choice of words, but Eternia is the de facto government in this city, so using the original expression with ‘arm’ and ‘law’ still works.”

Eon and Sisi walked ahead of them to discuss various topical subjects, as expected of an old person and an inquisitive young man with interesting ideas. Usually, Kato was supposed to be flanked by his two sisters, but today was slightly different. To be specific, every day from now on would be slightly different.

“Thank you very much, Eon. I wouldn’t be here without your help.”

Yui addressed and bowed to the grandmaster of plans in front of her.

“No need, Yui. Just a day’s work in my books.”

Turning to Yui behind him and waving, Eon accepted her gratitude, surprisingly with little fuss. Walking alongside Yui was Kato, her foster younger brother. Behind those two were his remaining sisters, Evie and Teto, still hung over the hours of play-testing they did yesterday night.

“Kato, are you all right? You didn’t get enough sleep yesterday?”

“No, I didn’t. Well, I’m also not a morning person.”

Despite what happened the night before, Yui seemed bright and sharp this morning. It turned out that she could rise and shine a lot better than Kato, who tended to be groggy and zombie-like in the mornings.

“…at least make yourself presentable. Your collar is folded backwards.”

Sighing, Yui chided Kato for his sloppiness. As she reached over to fix the collar of his dress shirt, Kato suddenly broke out of his morning stupor at the sweet scent of Yui. Feeling the heat on his face, Kato tensed up slightly as she flipped the collar back into place.

His nervousness did not go unnoticed. Yui was, after all, the older sister. The corners of her mouth folded up ever so slightly.

“There. All done. Feel more awake now?”

“Feel more---?”

Kato stopped himself. How did she know that? He looked at her in surprise, but she already removed herself from him.

Yui’s smile was as bright as her heart now. As if mirroring her mood, the sun appeared between the clouds, lighting up her delicate figure and her fiery red hair.

“It’s time to wake up from the dream.”

And move on.