They all stood silent for a long, long while. Suzuka’s mouth was gaping wide. Haruto simply stood frozen in place. The girl with the blue hair kept looking up at him in tiptoes, smiling ear to ear.
Feeling the cold sweat run down his neck, Haruto took a step back, and then another, and then another, until his back was right against the corner wall’s surface.
(Nope. Nope, nope, nope. Let’s leave while we still can…)
The small girl didn’t relent, though. She ran right back up to him, instantly closing the distance, time and time again.
“Umm… Master? I didn’t know you had a little sister…?”
“I don’t!” he said. “I’ve never seen this person in my entire life.”
Upon hearing his words, the blue-haired girl’s eyes widened even further, her lower lip trembling in frustration. Still, she didn’t give up.
“What’s that!? What do you mean, you don’t know me!?!? You’re my big brother! We used to live together!”
Haruto, though, simply stumbled back once more, unable to escape the weird middle schooler.
(What’s going on…?)
He wanted to call out to Suzuka for help, but his voice would get caught in his throat each and every time. He just couldn’t wrap his mind around this weird person, and the confusion was completely taking over him.
“I… I mean… Look, kid…” he barely managed. “I don’t know you, I don’t have any siblings. I don’t know what the hell you want, but you better back off unless you want to have your head impaled with a windshield!!”
Upon hearing that, though, the mysterious girl started to sob out of nowhere. Her eyes filled with tears.
“You really don’t remember me…? I’m Akane! I’m your little sister! We used to play together all the time!! I’ve been looking all over for you!!!”
“Yeah, right. I always lived alone! That’s it, as far back as I remember.”
“I’m sorry. Mama wanted to leave one day, and I couldn’t stay… I would’ve stayed with you if I could, but… but… I couldn’t… But I still wanted to see you again!”
“And then, what? _You just coincidentally died when I did and came after me? That makes no sense! Are you mental?”
“I’ve been here longer than you… It was really lonely, you know? But I… I wanted to see you again, big bro! I saw your name on… on… I thought I could find you if I looked here…”
(She’s… telling the truth?)
Her profile screen showed her as a level 25, therefore a more experienced player than him. Her wheel-name really was ‘A.K.A.N.E.’.
He squinted his eyes. He didn’t have a sister. He couldn’t possibly have one. He had two parents whose names he couldn’t remember. He had… ‘Maki’? Could it be…
Behind him, Suzuka activated her skill, holding a large fireball over her head, seeming flustered at the scene.
“Should I dispose of her, master? She looks suspicious.”
He held his hand out, requesting that she stay back. There were some questions on his mind, now. As improbable as it was, he had to confirm it.
“Maki…”
“... Eh…?” the blue-haired girl furrowed her eyebrows, tilting her head to the side.
“Your real name. If you’re really my ‘little sister’, then you’ll have no problem sharing it with me, right? Or does it make you uncomfortable?”
“Big bro…?”
“Your true given name. Is it Maki?”
“Maki...?”
The girl seemed surprised for a moment, but immediately she sprung back up, smiling at him again.
“You remember mama!?”
“Wait, mama!?” he stuttered.
“Maki Fujiwara! She’s my mama! We used to live all together!! Do you remember now?”
He felt a strong jolt of pain run through his head at that moment.
Fujiwara? Maki Fujiwara!?
It fit. That girl was right. She’d guessed the name.
The woman from his past. Maki Fujiwara. And there was someone else, indeed…
“Your name, then… You’re Akane Fujiwara?”
“Yup! Do you remember me now, big bro?”
“Nope. Not a bit.”
“Huh!?”
“Honestly, I don’t remember much about anything, but… Well, if there’s even any truth to what you’re saying…”
Then again, she could also have learned about his family, somehow, and just be spouting random stuff to fill in the gaps and trick him into going along with whatever she said.
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But what were the chances? There were so many people in this place… There had been so many people in the other world, too, several of which wouldn’t end up in the Cyberway, in any case.
Everyone in the family aside from him should be dead. Of that he was certain, because, up until the day he died, he could clearly remember having lived all alone in a small apartment in Saitama. His parents were gone, and he didn’t have any uncles or grandparents as far as he was aware…
So, taking that into account, this girl had still known him well enough to remember Maki’s name better than he had.
And even if she was lying, at the end of the day… Really, what did he have to lose from hearing her out for just one moment?
“...Alright.” he exhaled. “Let’s say, for the sake of argument, you really were my little sister in the past life. For starters, who is your father? Was it my father, too?”
“... No. My father was a construction worker who did jobs in Tokyo. Mama was still in touch with him for a long time.”
“I see. Then, he wasn’t living with us, correct?”
“Yeah. I was living with mama, you and your dad!”
“Okay… But let me see if I get this straight… Your mother is Maki Fujiwara, right?”
“Right!”
“But Maki Fujiwara was not my mother. She died before I could even remember her properly… Anything about her, at all…”
“Really?”
“Yes. So, at most, your mother was living with my father, so… so… You’re not even my sister at all!!! What the hell!?”
“But I am! We were living in the same home! Don’t you remember!? We played together all the time!” she whined again, determined to make him see things her way.
Turning his eyes away from her for a moment, he tried to take another deep breath. Cool his mind. Think things through a bit more. Whether she was really his sister or not was not the point here. The point was, she was undeniably linked to his past somehow, and could likely help him get on par with things he’d otherwise have had no idea about.
His parents’ identities, Maki’s relationship with his father… His own relationship with Akane… Those were all things he would only gain from knowing about, even if some of the information he got was faulty, or just bogus.
However, that was the last thing he intended to do. It terrified him.
He could only remind himself time and again of that night. The nightmare he’d had. The few fragments and glimpses he would get once in a while. Whether they actually even belonged to him or not was, once again, not the point. She was linked to them in some capacity.
And did he really want to remind himself of such things again? Did he truly want to know all the details… If he’d forgotten his past so easily like that, it was likely for good reason. The pain of his memories could have been far too much to endure through…
Perhaps, it truly was something he would be better off not remembering.
“Big bro? Do you remember me now? Just a little bit would be fine, right?” she sniffled.
Rejecting his past and moving on… That would be the best thing to do right now.
That girl in front of him was just another loose memento he needed to get rid of, or wasn’t she?
Should he even bother? Should he still hear out her babbling, anyway?
“I just… I… I missed you…” she went on. “I just wanted to be with you again… I looked all over for you! When I heard you were here, I never stopped until I finally found you… So, please remember me a little, even if it’s not much… Please, big bro. Just gimme another chance…”
Her teary eyes didn’t go very far in convincing him otherwise. Well, it wasn’t like he remembered her all that much. There was a glimpse, or another… Until eventually there had been too many.
His skull ached once again. There were innumerable glimpses. Far, far too many to take in. He couldn’t label them, he couldn’t say exactly what each of them meant. They felt like little more than unintelligible garble. But it was intimate garble, as well. He couldn’t run away from it.
She was not lying about having lived with him at some point. He could feel it in her words. He could feel it, in the back of his mind, that she was more familiar to him than he could even imagine.
But that was a chapter of his life that was long over.
She didn’t belong here now, did she?
They had separated before for a reason. He didn’t need to know why; to know that it had happened already told him more than enough. He should go on with his own afterlife, and she should go on with hers, as they had both done before.
Akane Fujiwara was nothing but more baggage he had to let go of…
Keeping her around would only serve to remind him of it again. It would serve to remind him of his old world. Of his old family. Of the solitude.
Letting go of her would mean to renounce all of it without recourse.
He only had one little sister. There was only one Akane Fujiwara. He was certain of it. This one was the only one there ever was, and was the only one there would ever be, without a doubt.
Did that change what she represented to his new life, though?
Should he leave her there? He could just go on with Suzuka and ignore whatever this brat was trying to tell him. He could ignore the pain that hid itself in her words. In her face. He could throw those thoughts away. Discard her smile.
He could, likewise, bring her along, but would he truly be able to bear the brunt of everything he’d forgotten? He had forgotten it to begin with, which meant he had been unable to bear it once before. Why should he be so arrogant as to think he could take it this time?
The boy gritted his teeth. Old, mysterious wounds had returned to haunt him, and it was up to him to decide what to do with them.
Or maybe it's up to you guys! Should he face Akane and his spooky past, or just leave to go take down the Godfather without her? Then again, just because we focus on one thing now, doesn't mean we can't focus on the other later, since it's not a life and death choice this time (yet) :P
Also, what would you like me to prioritize with the story at this stage: more girls for harem or more threatening villains to fight (explore the rest of the Cyberway lords and stuff)?
Y'know what? I'll even make a poll!
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