Novel I Won't Kill Myself for the Second Time (Ch.01-49)

Discussion in 'Community Fictions' started by Erineko, Mar 5, 2018.

  1. HaoYang

    HaoYang Member

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    I really like the title of this story. It reminded me an opening line Stephen King wrote. "You've been here before."
     
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  2. Erineko

    Erineko Well-Known Member

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    Part 10 - Curse's in the air.

    Part 10

    [1 PM. Don’t forget.]

    This short message was a replacement I received instead of today’s food delivery. I still had about two hours to decide on how to deal with it. The sweet bribe I had prepared for Aura was going to be repurposed. New clothes and neat appearance were already checked off. Even the unruly, short, jet black hair was finally tamed.

    Why was I getting so nervous just from the perspective of meeting Victor’s younger sister?

    A simple question.

    I couldn’t get Votr's words out of my head, pretending that she was my real sister became impossible. Victor was someone who had never lied to her. That was her most important bond with him.

    I’m going to change myself no matter what! - This was my new mantra, at least an updated version of it.

    Meeting with Vio was the first step required to achieve that.

    According to the plan I made, it should more or less look like that:

    Meet with Violet → Fulfill her whims → Create the right mood → Take her somewhere where we can talk in private → Tell her about Victor’s soul demise → Convince her that I’m telling the truth → Grit my teeth and allow her few free hits → Burn the bridge between us.

    It was the first time ever, that I was going to destroy a relation not for my own sake but for someone’s. Telling her everything would also double as my way of paying the old Victor for using his body and belongings.

    I hope you’re watching this Votr. I will show you that I can change.

    There were two big problems. First, I had no idea how to convince her without making her think that Victor’s brain circuits burned out. Second, I really wanted to run away and forget about it.

    “Pathetic. Alright! Let’s go!”

    I still had a lot of time, but to avoid unnecessary thinking it was better to keep moving. Completing a reconnaissance mission in Café Nirvana wouldn’t hurt.



    While riding on the bus I noticed that some people were looking at me strangely. Were the effects of yesterday’s hangover still present?



    The Café was situated near one of the city squares. It was relatively snow and mud free and paved with dark flagstone. There was a statue of some famous person in the middle. I never paid much attention to such monuments, but this one was rather interesting. After all, it depicted a short-haired girl in a partial armor, holding a two-handed sword.

    The sheer amount of details that the artist managed to include on this bronze statue was incredible. Her hair looked as if they could move with each blow of the wind. She had a lonely look on her face as if waiting for her beloved. No expense was spared on her bust area.

    There was an information plate on the pedestal:

    ‘This statue to the memory of Lady Isabella Esther. To whose foresight and genius Eprya owes its existence and prosperity.

    Was unveiled on 3rd March 1957 - the 500th anniversary of the foundation of Eprya.’

    This statue was over sixty years old, which ruined my impression of it being a relatively new one. Till now I was ignoring this island’s history, but checking it out later might be a good way to kill some time.

    Oh, right behind Lady Isabella is the place of my judgment - Café Nirvana.

    From the outside, it looked normal, except for the big and stylish signboard.

    When I went inside one of the waiters greeted me and led to an empty table. Thanks to it I was spared the embarrassment of standing agape. Why?

    Inside, it wasn’t even close to what I had been expecting. Instead of a fancy, girlish place, it looked as if someone had moved the time back to the Victorian era. Waiters and waitresses wore butler’s and maid’s outfits. Not the sexy type, the old style heavy type.

    While looking around I caught the attention of one of the waiters and ordered a cup of tea and a slice of lemon cake.

    The whole place was full of vintage Tiffany lamps. The dim light coming from them was emphasized by strategically placed curtains and highlighted rows of old photographs.

    I had some experience with similar places, but they were all cheap knock-offs. In here, I was sure that each piece of the furniture was a genuine, expensive antique. I wouldn’t be surprised if they told me that this super-expensive-looking-porcelain-cup on my table had been used by Queen Victoria herself.

    One mistake, twitch of hand and I can say goodbye to money. How am I supposed to relax in a place like this? Damn me and my poor man’s senses. To make it worse, even here people are glancing at me. Maybe I should have worn a suit or something…

    To distract myself I used Three Answers. I was curious. How was it going to work without a clear target around.

    As for its cooldown, once a day meant that the skill was being reset every day at midnight. I didn’t have to wait twenty-four hours after using it.

    One - Action: Asking the waiter with gray hair about the job offer.

    Reaction: A possibility of scheduling a job interview.

    Two - Action: Telling the waiter with gray hair ‘I know about the seal that blocks all light’.

    Reaction: Attracting the attention of the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 11th, 15th, and 19th.

    Three - Action: Going to the men’s toilet and standing on the toilet bowl.

    Reaction: A possibility to obtain ‘the doll that leads astray’.

    What the… what is wrong with those choices?!

    Only the first one was normal, but something was definitely not right with that gray-haired waiter and I… had to follow the third option at any cost.



    At least the toilet was normal. No fancy additions or expensive adorning, otherwise this standing on the bowl part would make me feel uncomfortable. Alright, I felt nervous anyway.

    I was hiding in one of the cubicles. To make it look as if no one was inside, I left the door slightly open. It was less suspicious that way.

    Just as the question 'how long I have to stay here?' appeared in my mind, someone came.

    Two sets of rather heavy steps.

    “Here.”

    The sound of a lighter.

    “Thanks.”

    “I thought you quit smoking? You were talking about it like a month ago.”

    “As if I could win against that cursed thing. How can you ask that after dumping it on me?”

    The voices belonged to two middle-aged men. I wasn’t sure, but I might have heard one of them before.

    “So, where it is now?”

    “You really want to know?”

    “Uhm… true, forget about it.”

    “Third communal cemetery. Buried under the name of Dorothy D. Olly."

    “Why did you tell me?!”

    “They say that sharing the burden with someone makes it lighter. I was the one who had to put it there in the middle of the night. Want to try it next time?”

    “Leave me out of it.”

    “Heh, trying to make use of that was a mistake.”

    “True words. By the way, what’s with that name? Dorothy D. Olly, really?”

    “Don’t look at me like that. Boss was the one who ordered the tombstone.”

    “At least that name’s better than the one he gave his cat. How can…”

    They left before I could hear the rest. I waited for about five more minutes and went back to the table.

    On the way, I glanced over the customers. There was only one person who fit the description of a middle-aged man, but he was sitting alone. It wasn’t the right person or the other one had already left.

    Well, it didn’t have anything to do with me.

    Now that I could take a deep breath, I started to question myself and my Three Answers.

    Not only the results were way more incredible than before, but two of them had been openly announcing ‘do this to enjoy the chaos’. This power could become an unexpected ace or a prelude to my downfall. Treating it with care was a must.

    But where did that sudden surge of courage came from. Is acting first and thinking later a result of me trying hard to change?

    Yeah, right. It's obviously a side effect of some other things that have happened to me recently. The only question is… which one of them exactly?

    Votroadan’s soul reformation? Shouldn’t work outside of his domain.

    Being possessed by Rora? She should have her hands full with tuning.

    A side effect of my power? Maybe after using it I simply have to pick one of the options.

    The suspicious gray-haired butler? According to the second option, first I had to somehow attract his attention.

    The creepy item they were talking about? ‘The doll that leads astray’.

    If it really was calling of a doll from the grave… it made a huge mistake.

    Me at a cemetery? Digging out a cursed item from the grave? In the middle of the night? Alone?

    That doll has better chances with convincing Sora to become independent from Shiro.


    Still… I have to think of some precautions. After all, it can try to brainwash me to do its bidding. What is the weakness of cursed dolls? Does it even exist? Or screw that, holy water and salt are multipurpose enough.

    “Brother?”

    “Huh? Ah! Vio. Sit down please.”

    Is it 1 pm already? For a moment, I totally forgot about Vio and our meeting.

    The priority of the running tasks in my head had changed somewhere along the line, so I set ‘fulfill Vio whims’ as critical again. I stood up and offered to take her parka… which was ignored, as she started to remove her winter defenses herself.

    Today’s Vio didn’t have her woolen hat, her slightly curly hair was gathered into a cute side ponytail. She wore a girlish dark-blue one-piece dress and striped black and white knee socks.

    It greatly shook my conviction to burn that bridge, as some people would kill to have such cute, pretty and…

    “I will start ordering now, you better be ready.”

    … cheeky little sister.

    “Please keep it under 250$. That’s all I have on me.”

    “I was only planning to eat my fill, but don’t worry brother, I will stand up to your challenge and use it all with care.”

    She paused for a moment as if checking my reaction.

    I was only looking at her with a smile, which seemed to ruffle her feathers.

    "Waiter!”

    Not even consulting the menu Vio called for one of the maids stationed all around the floor.

    “Please bring every position from the cake's section.”

    “E-everything milady?”

    “You can fill up the gap to reach 250$ with as many cups of your best tea as needed.”

    “Yes milady.”

    Maid's voice quivered only for a second before returning to its servile tone, a true professional.

    In the meantime, I was inspecting cake's section of the menu. There were twenty positions on the list with prices varying from 5$ to 25$.

    For about 40$ you can buy enough food to last a week, two if you are trying to be economical…

    “I-it’s too late to back down b-brother. S-since you didn’t s-stop me, I-I r-really did it!”

    “Hmm? What’s wrong with that? Watching you eat it all will be fun. You’re not going to say that you won’t be able to, right?”

    “I AM EATING IT ALONE?!”

    “And the tea, don’t forget about the tea. Just how many cups will come? Just how many perilous trips to the lavatory my little sister will undertake? Just how many weeks you won’t be able to even think about a cake again? Oh the drama to come, the mysteries to uncover. Please eat and drink everything you ordered with care.”

    All color drained from Vio’s face. Now I was sure. She couldn't use that sharp tongue of hers since we were in a public place. Was she worried about her public image or family name?

    Later on, the backlash was going to be great. That is, it would be if there was any ‘later’ for us.
     
    Last edited: Apr 9, 2018
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  3. Erineko

    Erineko Well-Known Member

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    Part 11 - Forgotten bribe

    Part 11

    “Spare me. I can’t, really can’t eat anymore....”

    “No. There are four more slices left.”

    “Let’s at least ignore the tea. Those two tables that the service got here, what do you see on them?”

    “Sea… a sea of tea, but no! Don’t give up!”

    “And it’s already cold!”

    “Please don’t worry milord, we will immediately prepare a new batch to replace it.”

    Said one of the butlers standing among the onlookers.

    “”PLEASE DON’T!””

    We stopped the over-zealous service from bringing us more shame.

    “We got this far already. They are even willing to offer us a discount if we conquer everything. We can’t give up!”

    “Vio, come on. This is a fight we cannot win…”

    “When did you become so weak-willed, brother? Amato won’t run from a challenge! We’re fighting to save your wallet.”

    Her motivational speech got us a round of applause, a third one.

    Looks like she's having fun.

    At first, I had an overwhelming advantage, but Vio had quickly turned the tables on me. ‘Did you forget why we came here in the first place?’ she had said. This one sentence had blown up all my defenses like a Panzerfaust.

    To gain her forgiveness and proceed according to my plan, I couldn’t remain in spectator mode.

    “There are only twenty-three cups of tea and four slices of cake left. Please take care of at least half of them before I am back brother.”

    “Again?”

    “I’m smaller than you, it can’t be helped.”

    “But you went like five minutes ago.”

    “Are you really counting the number of times your little sister went to the toilet? That’s gross.”

    “Yes, I’m counting it. They gave us only three toilet breaks per person and you’ve already used yours. Whatever, go if you want to lose.”

    “Ugh…”

    “So, let’s give up?”

    “No.”

    When the service had started to bring plates and cups one after the other, the attention of the whole café had been gathered on us. Café staff had used this chance to turn the entire situation into a promotional event. By the time that even the grey-haired waiter had offered us a discount proposal, we had been surrounded by tens of curious onlookers.

    “Brother, something’s wrong…”

    “What do you mean?”

    “I can only see seventeen plates. Didn’t you say that there are twenty different positions on the list?”

    Hearing her question one of the maids making bets on the side hurried to explain.

    “Please don’t worry milady, the last three cakes are already being baked.”

    “Cakes?”

    “Yes milord. The last three on the list, the most expensive ones, are whole cakes.”

    “D-don’t c-cry brother. W-we c-can do i-it!”

    “I’m not crying Vio. I’m just removing liquid sugar to make room for some more.”

    “”...””

    Vio cut off a piece of one of the angel cake slices and tried to force herself to eat it. She was about to bite when her gag reflex kicked in. Seeing her fighting against it I grabbed her arm and forced it down.

    “We give up.”

    “Milord is that your final decision?”

    “Y-”

    “Brother!”

    One sharp word stopped me before I could agree. There was a hint of threat and disbelief in it. Vio looked at me with her emerald eyes, the will to fight was still burning deep within them.

    “Yes, we surrender.”

    I remained adamant in my decision. Vio lowered her head unhappy.

    “Everyone please a round of applause for our brave challengers.”

    The fourth round of applause, the biggest one. I wish they would stop already.

    The grey-haired waiter took control of the situation and organized the aftermath. Some maids and butlers were dispersing the gathered people to their own tables, others were taking empty plates and cups.

    “Milord shall we prepare the remaining orders for a take out?”

    “No need. You can do anything you want with them.”

    “As you wish milord.”

    After obtaining my consent they took all that was left and removed the extra tables. When everything was cleaned there were only three people left - us at the table and the grey-haired butler standing nearby.

    “Milord, please refrain from other activities like this in the future. If required I can provide milord with a list of establishments that are better at organizing such events. I’m convinced that they will be a reasonable alternative to our humble place. Please forgive me for my insolence, but as the milady looks tired I will bring the bill immediately.”

    In other words, he was politely telling us to get lost and not to come here again.

    I paid and led Vio outside. She kept her head down and stayed silent. At this rate, it would be impossible to advance my plan.

    “Aaaaah~ this was fun and I can barely move. My belly turned into a cake storage.”

    I was smiling at Vio while patting my stomach.

    “Brother?”

    She looks surprised, let’s try taking it a bit further.

    “Why the gloomy look? Don’t worry about that old guy words, people with a stick in their arse tend to be irritable. As if this is the only café in the city. The challenge itself was impossible, they wanted to kill us with those last three cakes.”

    I tried to tousle her hair lightly.

    “Please stop.”

    She rejected my hand and moved two steps away. There were no signs of improvements in her mood.

    Damn it, I suck at this. It looks so easy in anime.

    “Brother, let’s go to your place.”

    “Alright.”



    During the entire way to my flat, she didn’t say a word. I was thinking hard about how to start a conversation, but there were no openings in the thunderclouds surrounding her. The strangest part was that she looked more angry than sad. Was my attempt to improve her mood really that bad?

    Back in my living room, we sat at the table, which I should probably rename to the confession table. This was at least the fourth time that an important conversation was going to take place here.

    Where exactly did it go wrong? We were having fun at one moment and the next she starts producing A.T. Field. How am I going to say anything now.

    “Brother you’ve changed.”

    Vio took the initiative after a period of silence. She stopped looking at her feet and switched to a perfectly straight sitting position with her hands on the knees as if she was preparing for an official meeting. I followed her example and corrected my posture.

    “Brother, please tell me what’s happening to you.”

    “What do you mean?”

    “You cleaned your flat.”

    “It was high time to do that, bathroom was close to declaring independence."

    “You changed your image.”

    “I just wore a clean set of clothes and combed my hair.”

    “Just? Strangers on the streets are glancing at you as if you were a famous star, this change can’t be described as ‘just’.”

    “Hmm? Were my improvements that effective? So that’s the reason behind all those looks.”

    “You started joking and even… listened to my request.”

    There was a small pause in her voice and for a second a smile had appeared on her face, but it was quickly erased.

    “Vio listen I-”

    “Let me finish first please. I’m really happy about those changes, but how could you change so much in such a short time?”

    “Well, I-”

    “I’m still talking. I know it was my fault that we got in today’s situation, but how could I predict that my miser of a brother won’t even squeak when I tried to spend all his money?”

    “It was a necessary expense a-”

    “Still talking! Touching your money isn’t that one of the worst things one can do to you?!”

    “I don’t really care, becaus-”

    “Stop bullshitting me!”

    “I’m not, liste-”

    “You would never agree to this! What’s worse you even accepted our defeat like a loser! You were a scum! A trash! An idiot! A miser! A worthless placeholder! But you never NEVER were a loser!”

    “That’s bec-”

    “The brother I know would vomit on the spot to make more space in his stomach and force me to do the same just so he could win!”

    “I’m not yo-”

    “And the worst of all, did you lie to me?! Just what the hell is happening with you?!”

    “FOR GOD’S SAKE I’M TRYING TO TELL YOU SO SHUT UP FOR A MOMENT!”

    There was silence. During our exchange, we both stood up without even noticing. Vio was breathing heavily with tears streaming down her cheeks, shocked by the sheer volume of my shout and she… started smiling.

    Once again I allowed my anger to take control, but the feeling of remorse lasted only for a second. I couldn’t understand her reaction. Why was she smiling through the tears after I screamed at her?

    “Finally.”

    She said this one word, wiped out her tears with hands and sat down. I started to suspect that she was faking it, but her red eyes and the continued sniffling claimed otherwise.

    “Vio listen, I’m sor-”

    “Don’t.”

    “What?”

    “Please don’t apologize. I don’t want to hear it. Just explain.”

    “Alright. It may sound stupid and you probably won’t believe me, but I’m not your brother. The body’s the same but the soul has changed.”

    “Huh?”

    Now that’s a reaction I can understand.

    “I don’t have any way to prove it, but believe me it’s true.”

    “Wait, wait, wait… let me think.”

    “Think?”

    I would love to know how this girl’s head works like. Shouldn’t she be more shocked and deny my words?

    “From when?”

    “When what?”

    “From when you’re in my brother's body, you dimwit.”

    “I know what you meant, I just didn’t expect it.”

    “Just answer.”

    “From Friday's morning.”

    “That would explain it…”

    “You believe me?”

    “No, but… otherwise, it doesn’t make sense. People don’t change that much in a day or two, not my brother.”

    With an elbow on the table, supporting her head, she was deep in thought. Vio even closed her eyes, which gave her an ethereal look that could be disturbed by the smallest of my gestures.

    This was going in the exact opposite direction to my plan. In Victor memories, she was easier to understand. Was I making a fundamental mistake somewhere?

    That’s it!

    I was looking at everything through the prism of my assumptions, without even taking other factors into consideration. In Aura’s situation I had a more open mind, which helped me to grasp most of the feelings behind her tears, but here I was like a toddler with a square block, who tried to fit it into a triangle hole. Of course it wouldn’t fit.

    From Vio’s perspective her brother was a person who never paid her any attention, never lied to her and never gave up. On the other side, there was me, who tried to make her laugh, paid attention to her whims, occasionally said a white lie and surrendered easily. Everything was clearly highlighted by her words.

    Earlier, was she trying to provoke me to turn back into the brother she knows?

    I still couldn’t find the most important part, the true essence of her feelings, but I felt that now I at least could understand the surface of it.

    “What about my b-brother? What happened to him.”

    “His soul is gone. I’m afraid that it won’t ever be back.”

    “I see. So he’s gone from this Friday?”

    Is that a relief? Is she happy that her brother’s gone? Why is she so particular about the date?

    No that’s not it.

    “Yes. When we met at that time it was already me in his body.”

    “I see, that’s good. Very good.”

    “Good?”

    It was hard to peek under her calm expression. However, I was suspecting that opposite feelings were mixing inside her, ready to blow up, and Violet’s superficial tranquility was just a passing illusion.

    “Did you expect me to cry and scream?”

    “You just did.”

    I answered on reflex, even though now I knew that the reason behind it was different.

    “Every word you say convinces me that there’s really a different mind inside my brother’s body. You don’t understand anything.”

    Tears started forming in the corners of her emerald eyes. She was close to her breaking point and just stayed calm through sheer willpower.

    “I hope that at least some of your doubts and bewilderment are gone.”

    “Were you… worried about me?”

    “I just didn’t want to ruin Victor’s record of never lying to you.”

    “How do you even know about that?”

    I pointed at my head.

    “Body’s the same and he left his memories inside. Still, I guess this is a goodbye.”

    “Huh? Why?”

    “What do you mean why? I’m not your brother, right? You don’t have to care or worry about me anymore, I can buy my own food as well.”

    We looked at each other and I was sure that this confused look on her face was a close relative of the one I had.

    “Wait, did you thought that after telling me this I would run out from here, never to see you again?”

    “Yeah, kind of.”

    Did I again make a mistake due to my own assumptions?

    She sighed deeply and started massaging her temples.

    “Are you stupid? Oh, my bad, you already proved that one.”

    “It’s good that you’re feeling better.”

    “Hah! Don’t compare me to yourself, I’m not that weak.”

    She hit her chest to prove the point...

    “Wipe out all the tears first before saying that.”

    … and hurriedly moved to clean her face with the hem of her dress.

    “Hey! Don’t do that, you’re a girl after all. Aren’t you ashamed?”

    I turned my head to the side to avoid looking at her underwear that matched the dark blue dress.

    “A-ashamed of what? You’re my brother after all.”

    In opposition to own words, she immediately corrected the clothes and a shade of red appeared on her cheeks.

    “I already told you, I’m not. Well, I guess believing in it from the start was asking for too much.”

    “And that’s why you’re an idiot. Define for me the meaning of word 'siblings'.”

    “Two or more people with the same parents?”

    “In other words, it’s all about the blood in your veins and whose body is in your possession now?”

    “That can’t be that easy? Can it? Just because we share the same blood? But it’s not exactly my blood and those aren’t my parents. We didn’t even know each other few days ago!”

    “Do you know your siblings before they are born? I will just have to treat you as my new brother.”

    “But what about your feeling? Are you really willing to accept a new person in your brother’s body? Won’t this face remind you of him every time you see it?”

    “So you’re not a total dimwit after all…”

    She stopped in the middle of her sentence. The situation was changing faster than the prices of oil. Was it really alright to allow it to follow this route?

    “...but you don’t understand me.”

    “Trust me I would love to.”

    Vio gave me a gentle smile, one that could melt an iceberg.

    “You’re nothing like Victor, Vincent or Viktoria. They would never worry about something small and stupid like understanding me.”

    I didn’t say anything and just listened to her attentively.

    “Did you know that when we were in the café earlier that was probably the most fun I ever had with a family member? Screw that old waiter, let’s go there again and make him go bald from stress. I will think of a proper plot this time. Yeah, you’re stupid and in comparison to Victor you lie and aren’t strong. My brother wasn’t such a loser, but you’re also funny and talking with you…”

    In the middle of her sentence, she stopped. The chaotic mixture of feelings and internal turmoil forced her to make a tactical retreat.

    “Please continue.”

    “Screw you! Look, I can curse as much as I want and you won’t even bat an eye! You should know from my brother’s memories what happened when I did that at home. Fuck! Fucking fuck!”

    Fuck and screw were probably the most severe words in this girl’s vocabulary. In my opinion, it was better for her to stick to brain meltdown and useless piece of society as they did more damage to their targets.

    “Fuck…”

    I stood up and gently placed my hand on top of her blond head.

    “Hey, tell me.”

    “Yes?”

    “This is my brother’s hand?”

    “Techn- Yes.”

    “But he would never do something like that and yet why does it feel so warm?”

    Was the bond between them one of kindness and care? No. Violet only one-sidedly observed Victor from afar, maybe he was her symbol of independence from their family and symbols tended to be cold and heartless.

    “Aren’t we connected by blood? I’m your new brother.”

    “So that’s it.”

    She moved her head a little and I started stroking it, which was probably what she had wanted.

    Can I really follow this route?

    “Why… Victor whyyyyy.”

    It was finally starting, a first serious crack in her outer layer of self-control. Each time I gently moved my hand it got bigger and deeper.

    “Broootheeer!”

    The dam in her heart burst. This time I didn’t hesitate and pulled her small body up to hug with all my might. She didn’t resist and clung tightly to my chest while bawling her eyes out.

    Now I did it, I really did. I seriously made a mess out of this girl's heart.
     
    Last edited: Apr 9, 2018
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  4. Donutmindme

    Donutmindme [dounut][Zodiac:Golden snake][PROcrastinator]

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    You did it! /o/ George! You did it! I’m glad everything went well. :)
     
  5. ChickenBakuba

    ChickenBakuba Well-Known Member

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    Imouto route:blobparty:

    Is it just me or is your english somehow getting much better
     
  6. Erineko

    Erineko Well-Known Member

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    You can try rereading previous parts. For the last three days I was correcting them and reading all kinds of english grammar guides, tips and explanations. It was horrible and boring as hell, but now I can spot a lot more mistakes, btw I just reread this part and corrected 7 of them. If not for this I would be releasing a 3k words part twice a day.
     
    Last edited: Mar 23, 2018
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  7. ChickenBakuba

    ChickenBakuba Well-Known Member

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    jesus that’s impressive
     
  8. Erineko

    Erineko Well-Known Member

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    Alright... I might have colorized it a little, let's make it a 2k word part once a day ;)
    Otherwise the quality would suffer just like me when searching for a job.
     
    Last edited: Mar 24, 2018
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  9. Erineko

    Erineko Well-Known Member

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    Part 12 - Fraudzillas

    Part 12

    ‘And who knows, maybe then you will be able to heal that broken heart of hers to your own liking? It’s still not too late. Think hard about it.’

    Remembering Votr’s words didn’t help. I was really planning to break contact with Vio after our today’s meeting but somehow it had spectacularly failed.

    By failed I meant me sitting with hands crossed in the living room and Vio occupying the bedroom.

    Three hours ago, when she had stopped crying and an uncomfortable atmosphere had been slowly contaminating the area, I had offered to take her home. She had refused and had said that she needed some time for herself.

    That was how I lost the access to my bedroom, by now Vio was probably soundly sleeping inside. As the door to the bedroom was equipped with a simple lock, which I had already confirmed to be in use, I couldn’t even go and check on her.

    Knocking is an option, but how am I going to see her sleeping face if I have to wake her up first to enter?

    I chased away stupid thoughts flying around in my head and went back to the main dilemma. Turning Votr’s prediction into reality was the last thing I wanted. The key was hidden in Violet’s behavior. I had to fully understand her in order to create healthy siblings’ relations, which was already a partial fulfillment of that demon words… shit.

    Can she so quickly accept her own brother’s death? The bond between them wasn’t a strong one, they weren’t close at all, and yet she knew him inside out. Is she seeing me as a replacement for Victor or something akin to an upgraded version? That’s possible.

    Alright, let’s go through everything one more time.

    Victor the rebellious black sheep of the Amato family, who never gave up. He never lied to Vio and was never kind to her and yet she was visiting him every day. She even smiled after I shouted at her like Victor.

    ‘Finally.’

    Why did she say that word? Was me acting like Victor a good thing for her?

    ‘Please don’t apologize. I don’t want to hear it. Just explain.’, ‘From when?’, ‘No, but… otherwise, it doesn’t make sense. People don’t change that much in a day or two, not my brother.’


    When I gave up on that eating challenge, she had this sad, disappointed look as if someone had betrayed her.

    ‘I see. So he’s gone from this Friday?’, ‘I see, that’s good. Very good.’

    She was particular about the exact time and happy with my answer.

    ‘Every word you say convinces me that there’s really a different mind inside my brother’s body. You don’t understand anything.’, ‘So you’re not a total dimwit after all, but you don’t understand me.’


    That was when something in my brain clicked and connected the dots.

    Wait, it was that simple?

    ‘You’re nothing like Victor, Vincent or Viktoria. They would never worry about something small and stupid like understanding me.’, ‘Brother scum. You’re somewhat different today.’

    I really spent so much time trying to understand something so obvious? Her going around and repeating ‘brother, brother’ was an effective smoke screen.

    ‘You would never agree to this! What’s worse you even accepted our defeat like a loser! You were a scum! A trash! An idiot! A miser! A worthless placeholder! But you never NEVER were a loser!’

    For the love of heavens, I even thought of it before!

    ‘...maybe he was her symbol of independence from their family and symbols tended to be cold and heartless.’

    She NEVER saw Victor as her brother!

    For her he was akin to the incarnation of her most important principles, that’s why she got so angry when I started destroying the meaning behind them.

    Victor’s death was the best guarantee that every value she saw in him would forever remain unchanged. That way he became a true symbol, which was both a sad and happy occurrence from Vio’s point of view.

    ‘Won’t this face remind you of him every time you see it?’

    ‘So you’re not a total dimwit after all…’

    Could there be a better solution to her problem? Victor is gone and everything she connected with him will be forever burning brightly in her memories, and yet this body is still alive and is even willing to become a real kind brother.

    I guess it’s true that bird’s of a feather flock together. She may be a bit broken.


    There was no point in further pondering over this topic, the details were known only to Violet. I decided that asking her about it sometime in the future might be a good idea, especially now that I had changed my mind and became her new brother.

    I was convinced that it was the right route to choose. Though I wasn’t looking forward to meeting with that damn demon again…

    After forcing most of my grey cells into turbo mode, I was now craving for some relaxation. There were only two sources of it in the flat. One required a screwdriver, which I, unfortunately, didn’t have and the other was connected with a time-consuming scan of the entire laptop to get rid of that malware. Being spied upon everything I did wasn’t my cup of tea.

    I turned on the machine and let the anti-virus do his work. In the meantime, I went to grab my smartphone from the jacket’s pocket. Due to the whole mess with Vio, I didn’t have a chance to check it from the time of our meeting.

    There were three messages on it.

    One from Adam:

    [How it’s going mate? Everything’s fine with Rora?]

    [She’s using Akarin’s special skill, can’t notice her at all.]

    One from an unknown number:

    [Rora’s still inside?]

    This one was probably from Aura, so I replied:

    [You can take her back as soon as she’s out. I will let you know immediately.]

    And the last one was also from an unknown number:

    [Good evening Victor!

    Here’s a weekly report of your lovely sister Viktoria’s achievements (there are too many of them so I will just choose one per day):

    Monday - I won 12,000$. All I did was to pick up a scratch card from the ground, which turned out to be a winner.

    Tuesday - On the way to school I saved a young boy from being run over by a truck, the local newspaper had asked me for an interview, again.

    Wednesday - Our school mid-term exams results were out. Randomly picking boxes on the answer sheets wasn’t enough to stop me from scoring 100% in everything.

    By the way, you should come back to school already. No one’s going to make fun of you again I promise!

    Thursday - That day was horrible! When I was out with friends, singing karaoke, some pushy people tried to scout me. Despite my refusal, they followed me home. Luckily, one of them climbed over the fence so I could watch my dogs having fun.

    Friday - It was incredible! I couldn’t believe it myself! I didn’t have a day like that in over a year or two. Nothing, absolutely nothing happened, can you believe that? I still wonder if maybe there was something going on and I simply missed it.

    Saturday - Mother insisted on taking me and Vincent to some fancy restaurant and we agreed. Food wasn’t bad, but It's annoying when everyone's watching you eat. At least Vincent had fun, he brought another two young ladies home. I turned down all invitations, why those men want me to be happy while all they do is stating the obvious?

    Sunday - This is the day I love the most! After all, I can write to you about everything and you’re obliged to read it. I still regret forgetting to include a point forcing you to reply at least once per message.

    Maybe you know where’s Violet? She’s still not back, I asked around, but no one knows anything and she’s not answering her phone.

    Love you dearly
    Viktoria]

    Ladies and gentlemen, here she is, Victor’s twin sister Viktoria in all her glory.

    The person against whom Victor could never win. The goddess of good luck. When he had refused to have anything to do with her, she had somehow obtained a court order forcing Vic to read one her message a week.

    Yes, somewhere out there was a guy whose job was to monitor this one message and check if it was marked as ‘read’ in their system.

    Her weekly reports were always like that. At the first glance, they might have looked bizarre, absurd and innocent, but that was only her public face. In reality, she could be compared to an unpredictable natural disaster.

    Victor never truly understood and found it strange, how someone like that could even exist. But thanks to Adam, I knew that it was connected with the supernatural aspect of the world - Triple The Disaster. If she had a challenge mode it also meant that she had a power of her own.

    From the look of it, it was probably the source of her unnatural luck and worked in a passive way.

    She had to be avoided at all cost.

    At least in theory, because in practice if I wanted to set my life straight I would have to go back to school and face her.

    This Victor’s legacy is annoying like always.

    I went to the bedroom door and knocked.

    “Vio? Are you sleeping?”

    After a minute of knocking, I heard someone moving inside.

    “Vio?”

    “Yes?”

    “Open the door please, it’s time for you to go home. I can walk you there if you want.”

    “No.”

    “What do you mean no?”

    “I’m not going back, you dimwit.”

    “What? Why? Come on, open the door.”

    “No.”

    Does she still need some time to organize her thoughts?

    “Alright you can go back later, but at least send them a message that you’re fine.”

    “No.”

    “You don’t expect me to send one, do you?”

    “Just ignore them, they won’t do anything.”

    She was lying as there was no way that Viktoria would allow Vio such degree of freedom. I was starting to get worried about her refusal to come out.

    “Yeah let's do that, but can you let me in?”

    *Thump*

    “Nya-!”

    There was a short sound of something soft falling on the floor and the tone of her voice from behind the door turned strange as if she was talking through a pillow.

    Nya? Just what is she doing in there?

    “Vio? Are you alright?”

    “I’m not coming out!”

    “Fine, fine, but at least let me in.”

    “Nooo~.”

    “Why do you act like a child?”

    “Because I caaaan~.”

    “And you think I can’t get those door open hmmm?”

    “Well, can you?”

    She was seriously underestimating the guy who had spent over an hour thinking on how to see his new younger sister’s sleeping face. So what if there was no screwdriver around. This simple lock was nothing compared to the one in the front door, all I needed was a kitchen knife.

    I quickly brought one and started unscrewing.

    “Bro- hey you! You’re coming or not?”

    “Just a moment please.”

    One screw down, three to go.

    “How should I even call you?”

    “Brother I guess?”

    Second’s gone.


    “No. That’s reserved for Victor. Pick something else.”

    “But aren’t I your new brother?”

    “This is this and that is that. Think of something or I will start calling you fraudzilla.”

    Third one’s removed.


    “I’m looking forward to hearing you call me that in public.”

    “...”

    Alright, let’s try my luck.

    “What about calling me onii-chan?”

    “The heck is that?”

    “You don’t watch anime?”

    “No. You know that Viktoria hates it right? There’s a ban on this stuff in our house.”

    I stopped removing the last screw for a moment, this conversation was more important. After a quick memory search, I realized the terrifying truth.

    “How can it be… she’s more of a monster than I’ve imagined.”

    “I know right?”

    “I will have to educate you properly, let’s start from calling me onii-chan.”

    “I don’t like it,”

    Goodbye my dream.

    “What about onii-san, onii-sama, onii, nii, nii-san, nii-chan, nii-sama?

    But! There’s still hope!


    “Aren’t all those choices kind of the same?”

    “As if! Let me explain, oni-san is used whe-”

    “Stop, stop, stop I somehow don’t want to hear it. It creeps me out.”

    “Your brother feelings are hurt.”

    “So you want me to sound like a sweet airhead?”

    “Wouldn’t hurt to try right?”

    “Sure, after you kill me first and stuff a speaker inside.”

    “Whose wallet did you destroy today hmm?”

    “Victor’s!”

    Ugh...

    “In whose arms di-”

    “Stop! Leave this topic alone. I don’t want to think about it.”

    “Sorry.”

    “J-just… just tell me one thing. Are you the one responsible for this situation?”

    This was an important question and I had to answer it truthfully.

    “No, it happened regardless of my will.”

    I sat on the floor, waiting for her answer. Depending on how she would react to my words, our whole relation could change.

    “I will believe you for now... I just need more time. So what should I call you, come on give me something good already.”

    Uff... I got carried away, but it’s good that she’s strong enough to leave it alone and change the topic.

    “Give me a minute. It’s not easy to think of something on the spot.”

    “What was your previous name? You had one right, it’s not as if you just appeared out of the condensed mass of human’s race stupidity?”

    “Come on! I’m not that stupid!”

    “I had to reduce the number of insults used while talking with you, as I worried that you wouldn’t be able to understand half of them!”

    … that one hurt.

    “George Ruslan.”

    “Hmm… George Ruslan and Victor Amato. Let me think.”

    “See?! It’s not that easy to pick a nickname.”

    “I got one already~.”

    “I’m listening.”

    “After combining George and Victor I created a new name for you - Gigolo!”

    “Like hell I will use it! And there’s not even a trace of Victor in it. You just took ‘g’ from George!”

    “There’s ‘i’ and ‘o’ though?”

    “Just imagine it. You calling me your gigolo in public. That’s a weapon that will destroy the both of us.”

    “... you’re right. I take it back. Let’s pick one that fits mine in that case. Amethysts are violet.”

    “That’s not exactly a good choice for a man’s name.”

    “Muuuu~.”

    A cute muffled sound reached my ears. Was she lying face down on the bed?

    “Told you it’s not easy.”

    “I will take Ame from the mineral and chan from the ones you wanted earlier, Ame-chan, how about it? It’s passable in my opinion.”

    “Please spare me…”

    “Huh? Why? Not good?”

    “I will first have to explain the meaning behind different oni-chans.”

    “Ok! Not good. Understood. I will just pick one at random, who cares if it has some deeper meaning or not.”

    “Well, I do a little. You still remember that we aren’t changing my name but just picking a way for you to call me right?”

    “... can’t think of any. All the good ones are girlish and the rest is lame. I guess it’s your win, nii-san. Ehh, this will be hard to get used to.”

    “Really?! Say it again please!”

    “When I feel like it~, so you’re coming or not? I’m getting hot in here.”

    “Oh right, just a moment.”

    I forgot about my original goal and was sitting outside the door enjoying the conversation until she reminded me of it.

    The last screw lasted only for a second. After removing the unscrewed lock, opening the door wasn't a problem anymore.

    “Just… just what the heck are you doing?”

    The secret behind her muffled speech was discovered. Tightly wrapped in the quilt, she was stuck in between the bed and the wall. Only the tip of her blond head was sticking out.

    “Waiting for you to help me you idiot!”

    “B-buahaha!”

    “Don’t laugh and help!”

    “Hehehe, a moment please.”

    “Huh? Help me first! I really can’t move.”

    I went for the smartphone. It was a perfect chance to increase my ‘precious memories’ folder content.

    “How did you even end like that?”

    “I was just rolling around… what’s this sound?”

    “Don’t worry about.”

    Aaaannnd one more from this side, perfect. Ok, this should be enough.

    “Ok, I will get you out now.”

    “I’m sooooo glad you had your fill of laughter. N-o-w h-e-l-p!”

    All I had to do was to move the bed and loosen her trap. Vio quickly understood that her range of movements had increased and crawled out of the quilt. It must have been hot in there as there were drops of sweat on her red face.

    “Freedom!”

    She made a victory pose and stretched like a cat.

    “Were you talking with me like that from the beginning?”

    I sat down on the bed and watched her happy face, while she was smoothing out her disheveled clothes.

    “Almost, but I was expecting you to force the door open and not to start a lengthy conversation!”

    Vio tried to look at me with reproach, but that big grin of hers ruined the desirable effect.

    “Blame yourself, you should’ve just told me to help straight away.”

    “Well, maybe, but…”

    “But what?”

    “... I was having too much fun to stop in the middle.”

    This is unfair! How can she be so cute?

    I stood up and patted her head, she narrowed her eyes like a cat and demanded to spoil her more.

    “Oni-san, I've got a request.”

    “I’m listening.”

    She took off my hand from her head and clasped it tightly.

    “Can I live with you from now on?”

    “...”

    “...”

    “Say again?”
     
    Last edited: Apr 14, 2018
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  10. Erineko

    Erineko Well-Known Member

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    I combined two pictures googled from the depths of the internet and made a black&white version of how I imagine Victor and Viktoria look like:

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Mar 23, 2018
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  11. Donutmindme

    Donutmindme [dounut][Zodiac:Golden snake][PROcrastinator]

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    Nice~
     
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  12. Erineko

    Erineko Well-Known Member

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    Part 13 - Scheming and shaming

    Part 13

    Vio tilted her head to the side a little and asked again,

    “Oni-san, can I live with you from now on?”

    I gave her the biggest smile I could muster, to which she had responded with one of her own. Following after that was the sweetest, nicest and gentlest answer I had in store.

    “My lovely, cute, scheming little sister, listen to me well. There’s no way in hell I will agree to that.”

    Oh, she froze.

    I must admit that her methods were super effective. Actually, they were too effective. Carefully planned words, moves, and gestures, everything tailored to achieve the best result. Probably even her getting stuck wasn’t a simple accident.

    Looks like I’m not the only one who did his homework. She has no idea what oni-san means? That ame-chan was an accident? Good joke. I bet she was trying to find the most convenient way to handle me.

    She finished restarting.

    “O-oni-san, p-please think about i-it again. Why not?”

    Her plan wasn’t perfect and she had trouble dealing with unexpected occurrences.

    I released my hand from her grasp and sat down on the bed.

    “Vio, you’re good. In record time you pinpointed my weakness and made use of it with care, but I could still teach you a lot when it comes to lying to obtain the desired result. The ratio between the truth and lie must be kept in a certain, very delicate balance, otherwise it either won’t work or raise suspicions. You mixed in one lie too many. With perfect timing, you started using the concept of onii-san, but earlier you said that you knew nothing about it. Drop the act and tell me your true goal.”

    “So the sweet airhead didn’t work?”

    “Your sharp tongue fits you more.”

    We exchanged piercing looks and smiled at the same time. This time it was a different type of smile, one that wasn’t a tool.

    “In that case, what about a loyal tsundere type?”

    “Are you really asking me that?”

    She twirled once, highlighting her golden hair, crossed arms and pouted.

    “It’s not as if I want you to care about me baka!”

    “That style’s old! Which era is your knowledge from?”

    “Old but gold you idiot. I had a very limited access to stuff like that. Be happy that I already know that much.”

    “Alright, but seriously we won’t get anywhere like that. Were you testing me or something?”

    Vio returned to her relaxed stance and moved to sit on the other side of the bed.

    “I don’t know, really. It seemed like a good idea to get some extra points in your book. Hey Gio, how should I feel about all this?”

    “Gio?”

    “Gio fits Vio or do you prefer when I call you dimwit?”

    “Gio’s fine. So there wasn’t any big scheme or anything behind it?”

    “What scheme? Wait, you said that you moved into this body regardless of your will, but what exactly did you mean by it? What are you hiding?”

    Either she was a natural at changing topics or I was worried unnecessarily and Vio really just wanted to move in to the flat.

    “Well, I don’t really know how did it turn out like that in the first place, but stick with me and you may be in for the ride of your life. That’s all I will say for now.”

    I’m not sure if telling her about all those superpowers hidden around is a good idea, but giving her a tip or two can’t hurt.

    She shifted her knees on top of the bed, moved closer, grabbed my arm and started shaking lightly.

    “Please, tell me oni-chan~.”

    “You’re already confused enough about today’s situation, organize your thoughts first and we will think about the rest later.”

    “Muuuu~”

    “Acting cute won’t work.”

    But it’s a feast for the eyes and heart.

    “Will you tell me later?”

    “Yeah, I promise to tell you ‘later'.”

    “What about setting an exact date?”

    “Huh. You can set as many of them as you want, but won’t find my signature anywhere. Give up for now.”

    She stopped pestering me and moved to look out the window. This time the silence wasn’t as uncomfortable, but it still had a long way to go before it could turn into a truly relaxing one.

    “Maybe you’re right. I should go home, it’s already dark.”

    Her small figure, standing motionlessly with her back turned to me, was emanating melancholic and lonely vibes.

    “Let me take you home.”

    “Idiot, I just need to call and they will send a chauffeur to get me.”

    As Victor was already bereft of such privileges I forgot about it.

    “Got it.”

    I said that with the intention of walking her to the door, but she was still standing near the window, without showing any willingness to leave.

    “Gio… can you let me live in here? I don’t want to go back to that place.”

    “Why?”

    I could at least hear her out.

    “I hate it, that house is sick. Everything is turning around Viktoria, recently even father started to be influenced. When I’m there I feel like a puppet, no matter what I do, everything must be according to her plan. Viktoria’s ‘training sessions’ are getting worse and the few friendly faces I could recognize among our staff were replaced by newcomers. Did you know that from the time when Victor had left she started distributing timetables which we have to follow to a minute?”

    “It got that bad?”

    “Yeah… and you are probably aware that when someone tries to resist ‘that’ happens, so people are just obediently listening to her.”

    “She’s a control freak.”

    “I… I always was j-jealous…”

    With a trembling voice, she was looking for the right way to express her feelings.

    “You wanted to reject everything and be freed from it like Victor did?”

    “Y-yes...”

    That’s why she schemed to run away and move in here. The previous Victor would never agree to that, as this could ruin everything he set up for himself. After a brief search, I found a situation when she had asked him for help and had received some really harsh words in return. That was probably the moment when he had died as her brother and became her symbol of resistance.

    If I refuse she will be taken back by force, but if I agree there’s a good chance of convincing our father to let her do as she wants and this will also resolve one other problem.

    “Vio are you willing to pay the price?”

    “What price?”

    “You will have to live the rest of your life in shame.”

    She turned to look at me with a face full of confusion.

    “What are you talking about? I don’t under-”

    “Just now, you were trying a ‘sad story approach’, right?”

    I had only one word in my mind when she lowered her head to avoid the eye contact.

    Bullseye.

    “It was quite good, you didn’t mix too many lies and choose the right words. Don’t look so depressed, it has worked after all.”

    “You agree?!”

    “I already said it, in exchange you will have to live the rest of your life in shame.”

    Oh? I wonder what exactly is this little girl thinking now. Her face oscillates between ‘no way in hell I can’t go that far!’ and ‘but, but, this may be my last chance for freedom’. Let’s see what conclusion is she going to reach.

    I watched as Vio started walking in circles, if she was a computer I would say that someone gave her a paradoxical problem to solve:

    The next sentence is false → The previous sentence is true.

    Oho? She stopped.

    Vio was opening and closing her mouth repeatedly, either searching for right words or fighting with herself to say something difficult.

    “If… if w-we keep it tame at first… l-like p-petting and stuff, then maybe late-”

    “Wait you stupid girl! Don’t finish that sentence!”

    “...”

    That was way more than I was expecting! One day I will really have to open her head and examine the inner workings. However, that red lantern of a face she has right now is incredible, should I set it as one of my goals to check if she has an even redder one?

    “Then what do you want from me?!”

    “You’re embarrassed? In other words, you’re feeling shame. Like I’ve said a life full of shame is the price I demand. As for this small prelude, I will think of it as a payment for all the mind tricks you tried to pull on me.”

    “...”

    “As for the rest, I want you to call me onii-chan for the rest of your life.”

    That was my target from the very beginning. No way I’m going to give up on this sweet drug coming from her mouth.

    “That’s it? You only want this?”

    A tone full of disbelief dominated her voice.

    “Yeah, only that. By the way, care to enlighten me to what was going inside that head of yours? I’ve got a feeling it was incredible.”

    With one hand on her red brow, she looked like someone who was close to declaring that there was no meaning in life.

    “Give me back my resolve you crazy bastard.”

    “Wrong! It should be ‘give me back my resolve you crazy oni-chan’, repeat it now or I will change my mind.”

    “... a second please.”

    She took three deep breaths, massaged her cheeks, took another deep breath and moved closer to me. Seeing her outstretched arms I caught her intention and pulled her into a bear hug.

    “Onii-chan, you’re a sick fuck.”

    “Shouldn’t it be ‘I love my oni-chan?’, anyway, you pass. We will talk about the details later, for now go home and prepare everything. You can move in tomorrow and I will somehow get you an permission from father. Viktoria won't be able to do anything that way.”



    The day was almost over. Lying in the bed and summarizing everything that had happened I was mostly thinking about my younger sister.

    A day full of Violet.

    I was looking forward to the perspective of living with her under one roof. She was cute and smelled nicely. We were also broadcasting mostly on the same wavelength, so talking with her was fun. Teasing was even more fun but was connected with the possibility of being hit by her returned fire.

    Other than that, the laptop was finally clean of malware and prepared for the future use. I had also spread some salt near the front door and had made a circle with it around the bed, hoping that it would be enough to stop whatever that thing was.

    Cleaning it later is going to be a pain in the ass.

    At the end, I started pondering over the matter of soul reformation. Things didn’t turn the way I wanted, but overall it was a step in the right direction. There were some ulterior motives involved, but it was the same on Violet’s side, so I didn’t worry about it.

    It might have turned ugly if she was more emotionally attached to the previous owner of this body. Luckily, that wasn’t the case.

    When I had almost fallen asleep I heard the sound of vibrating phone, which was lying on my neatly folded clothes in the corner.

    Convinced that it was a message from Vio, I went to check it.

    I was wrong. It was a message from Adam.

    [I’m on my way to your place. Get ready to go out. Aura's missing.]
     
    Last edited: Apr 9, 2018
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  13. ChickenBakuba

    ChickenBakuba Well-Known Member

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    Eh you shld make the picture coloured

    Maybe you can bleach their hairs golden
     
  14. Erineko

    Erineko Well-Known Member

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    I actually only once mentioned that Victor hair was dark blond and never said a word about Viktoria (but since they're twins it should be the same). That's why I only had to change it in one place and now they're both jet black. However, Violet and Vincent will stay blond.
     
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  15. AardwarkThe2nd

    AardwarkThe2nd (R-18 writer) Aardwark, the king of aardvarks!

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    Ah sorry, was busy liking every OP post I read until now. Nice story, really like it. The whole theme of self reflection and change is done really well and the 'mystery in modern world' is done pretty well. MC actually changing and revealing his transmigration to little sister was a moment filled with feels. MC's power is really fucking weird and his new comrades and seem like they are going to screw him over quickly.

    Ending comment: Really like this, especially the unique style that your writing has. It doesn't seem that you are aping xianxia, JP slice of life or any franchise like a fanfic, it has a 'flavor' of sorts that marks it unique.
     
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  16. Erineko

    Erineko Well-Known Member

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    Part 14 - There's always an old warehouse involved

    Part 14

    I was sitting in the backseat of a car driven by Aura’s mother, next to her sat Adam. This situation was undoubtedly connected with the words ‘Aura’s missing’.

    Outside the car were rows of poorly lit warehouses. Piles of trash were decorating the sidewalks and there were so many holes in the road that instead of filling them up it would probably be easier to remove the hilly parts. This would look like a place that people treated as a garbage dump if everything wasn’t covered with a thick layer of snow that had the propriety of changing even the trashy alley into a tranquil scene from a movie.

    Roughly ten minutes after the message, I had been taken by them. I had thought about resisting, but their grave expressions and the taser in Adam’s hand had changed my mind. Not that he had used it on me, but given a reason he probably would.

    There was one question I had been avoiding during my last conversation with Adam. Maybe I was waiting for him to tell me on his own, maybe I was worried that I would not like the answer or maybe my brain simply wasn’t thinking straight after all that had happened that day. Probably it was the combination of all those factors, in the end, I had never asked about it.

    Just what exactly do you want from me?! Why did I have to become her pet, couldn’t she get one from the store?! What did you want from Victor to the point of killing him?!

    If being subtle didn’t work, it was time to put my foot down.

    “Adam, expla-.”

    “One more word and I will raise my knife stabbing skills using your flesh.”

    The irritation in his voice was almost visible.

    “...”

    “Good.”

    It wasn’t the first time I tried talking to him. The answers he gave me were mostly among those: ‘we don’t have time for that’, ‘don’t talk, move’, ‘shut up’, ‘I will shave the taser up your ass if you don’t shut up’.

    Will it kill him to answer a question or two? The last few minutes we were driving in complete silence.

    “We’re getting close.”

    It was the first time Silvie said something since they had taken me.

    “Good, I was worried TET will try to take her out of the city.”

    “No, it can’t be them. We’re following all their rules, so they have no reason to do anything.”

    “Then who?”

    “What about that guy who wanted a new ticket, but had no money to pay? Now that we’re closer I can tell that Aura’s in that old warehouse we dealt with him before.”

    “I see… that makes sense. If it’s that bloody fucker I can kill him without holding anything back.”

    “Send a message to the Checker and ask him about the number of kidnappers.”

    It was hard to peek from the backseat, but it looked like Adam had taken out his phone and after a longer while there was the sound of an incoming message.

    “This… bloody old goat.”

    “What? There’s more than one of them?”

    “No, no, don’t worry. It’s just that he wrote the answer with letters and not numbers.”

    “One right?”

    “Yeah, o-n-e. Triple the cost.”

    The tense atmosphere in the car relaxed after those words as if the worst case scenario had just been avoided.

    “Just make sure nothing happens to Aura.”

    “That’s a given.”

    Piece by piece, connecting hints from their conversation, my mental reconstruction of the ongoing event was progressing steadily. I changed my tactic of obtaining information to a more effective one.

    “Aura’s been kidnapped? Is there anything I can help with?”

    Even though I feel like the one being abducted here...

    “Catch.”

    Without a delay, Adam tossed me the taser. Startler, I somehow managed to not drop it under the seat.

    “You know how to use it?”

    “Yeah, I had one before.”

    Is he that confident that he can handle me with ease even if he gives me this?

    “Good, just make sure to protect your own ass, I will take care of the rest.”

    Well… Rora’s still inside me, they know where I live and I have this entire pet contract going on. Oh fuck it, if I can’t avoid getting involved, at least I will make sure that Aura’s safe.

    “You trust him?”

    Silvie apparently didn’t agree with Adam’s action.

    “Ah, hahah- ekhm. Not really, but he’s harmless and, like it or not, but he’s a part of Rora’s network now.”

    “I don’t understand her at all. Weren’t we going to give him a fake and forget about it? Those girls even lied to me about his age.”

    The ‘him’ you’re talking about is sitting behind you, but whatever, please continue I want to know more.

    “You know that Rora likes to pose herself as the mastermind who reveals her plans not through words but actions.”

    “Isn’t she just basing everything on instinct alone?”

    “... that’s possible.”

    Alright, now that they seem to be more relaxed I may be able to ask a question or two.

    “Ms. Toril ar-”

    “That’s the place, let’s go.”

    Before I could finish we’ve arrived.

    The building we stood in front of had an old mesh fence, barely resisting the pull of gravitation. Instead of even looking for an entrance, Adam had kicked down one of the poles holding it together and the entire section fell loudly.

    “Should we make so much noise?”

    I asked worried about the consequences of his action. Rescuing Aura unhurt was something I actually wanted to achieve.

    “Noise is exactly what I want mate, it’s easier and safer to deal with the hostage situation than surprising the guy.”

    It this guy nuts? What about Aura? Shouldn’t we try to sneak our way in? I also don’t see any car other than ours, how did the kidnapper got here, it’s not as if he had carrier her on foot, right?

    “There are three of us and if it’s true that this guy is alone we can easily…”

    “Don’t think and just follow.”

    My advice was effortlessly brushed aside.

    Adam led us without hesitation, he probably knew this area well. The dim light from the streetlights and cloudless night were more than enough to substitute for our lack of flashlights.

    I walked a step behind Adam and Silvie. With a taser in one hand, I was looking around for some other weapon, like a metal pipe or at least a thick stick. Their attempt at rescuing Aura was ridiculous, but they were so full of confidence that my worries started to be influenced and almost seemed silly.

    “Aura started moving.”

    “Is he taking her away?”

    “No, she only moved a little, he will probably try negotiating with us.”

    “Perfect.”

    A rusty half-open door was the last obstacle before we could get inside. I was preparing myself for anything, even for the situation where I would have to hurt or maybe even kill someone. Of course, only as a last resort. If possible I would love it if they actually had some kind of a plan.

    Adam had a relaxed look as if he got tired of tensing his face muscles, while Silvie stayed vigilant. Except for the knife Adam had tucked behind his belt, I was the only one armed with a taser and a small old hammer, which I found lying around.

    Just in case I was also trying to recall everything I knew about the art of negotiation.

    I looked at Adam, who was about to force open the door, and wanted to ask if there was something I should be careful about to not ruin his plan, but when he saw my face he quickly looked away. Silvie shook her head slightly.

    “Amateur… Amato, make sure the kidnapper knows where we’re coming from, don’t try to hide or fight him. We don’t want to force that guy to do something unpredictable. Go in after Adam, I will go last.”

    I nodded. Opening the door was accompanied by an incredibly loud noise of metal scraping against metal. If there were any other kidnappers in the nearby warehouses, they would probably all come here curious.

    I took one last deep breath and went inside, tightly holding my weapons.

    The hall was illuminated only by the moonlight coming through big glassless windows, but even that was more than enough to conclude that... there was no one inside. Worried that the kidnapper may be hiding somewhere I carefully looked around, but there was literally nowhere to hide. It was just one big empty space without even a box, crate or anything like that. I turned back to look at Silvie and said:

    “Are you sure this is the right place? There’s nothing here. How did you even knew where to look in the first place? Maybe there was some kind of mistake, anyway, we shoul-”

    “A, haha, hahaha, hahaha, haha, I can’t, can’t keep it any longer haha, ha, hahah, ha. Silvie, explain, I can’t. Ha, hahaha, ha, hah need to breathe.”

    Adam burst out laughing and before I could understand the situation Aura’s mother took the taser and hammer from my hands. She had an amused look and a smile that was entirely different to the one I saw when dealing with her last time.

    “Adam, this guy is good. Obedient, didn’t try to run and was even preparing to fight. Rora’s instincts may have been right after all.”

    “A, hahah, ha, hah yeah ha, hah I’m starting to think, haha, ha, hah so as well.”

    Adam couldn’t stop laughing and leaned against the wall, trying to collect himself. I followed his example and sat down on the spot exhausted. Freed from tension and fighting against the rising anger I finally realized what they were trying to do.

    In comparison to the situation with Violet, this time it was me, who was at someone's mercy. I lacked the information to distinguish the truth from lie and could only follow blindly.

    As the idiot was still in the happy-go-lucky land I placed my bet on Silvie.

    “This was a test? The whole ‘Aura’s been kidnapped’ was a lie?”

    “Call it training instead, as for Aura she’s soundly sleeping back home. I know you’re angry, but allow me to explain first. We have our reasons for doing it that way.”

    I pointed at the giggling idiot.

    “Is having as much fun as possible your reason?!”

    The volume of my voice increased with each word I spouted.

    “Please ignore the idiot. The doctor said that just the fact that he doesn’t choke on his own saliva was already a miracle and forcing him to think on top of that could endanger his life.”

    Adam just shrugged his shoulders, as if listening to stuff like this was a daily occurrence for him.

    Is she trying to appease me by saying that or bullshit her way through? I won’t move from this place till they explain everything properly.

    “What do you even want from me?”

    “Relax, I will explain everything, but let’s go to my car first. It’s a long story and sitting here, on the cold concrete, is not good for your health.”

    Her words made me realize that it was indeed cold, a fact that my brain had been trying to tell me from the moment I stepped outside the car, but busy with turning the mind gears I had to put it aside.

    Well, it’s not as if I can’t refuse to move from the car.
     
    Last edited: Apr 18, 2018
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  17. Erineko

    Erineko Well-Known Member

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    Part 15 - Dead girlfriend got better

    Part 15

    We were back in Silvie’s car. Adam took out three cold cans of coke from the glove department and distributed them among us.

    “I will start from the very beginning so it may take some time, save the questions for later.”

    Said Silvie after taking a short sip. Adam just sat with hands crossed behind his head and looked bored, while I was recalling everything I knew to prepare myself for the incoming battle.

    “The first time when Aurora used her powers was at the age of five. Her friends in the preschool started disappearing one after the other and yet no one noticed anything. Even I wasn’t an exception from this rule, only when people from TET came and explained everything I understood the situation.”

    “TET has money, influence, people and most of all the ‘seal that blocks all light’. Treat them like something akin to an esper police mate.”

    Interjected Adam, apparently unable to hold himself back from commenting.

    “Yes, it was them who explained to me the details and instructed on how to deal with the situation. Aura had been using her power on people subconsciously and as a result some of them had died.”

    “The moment when someone tries to make a situation involving ESP public, the Seal comes into play and erases involved people’s memories mate. You may also call it superpowers instead of ESP.”

    “Adam, stop cutting in. Ekhm, the Seal is one of the pillars of TET power. We suspect that it may be someone's passive ability. As long as you don’t try to actively reveal the situation to the public or when you’re on TET authorized whitelist you won’t be affected.”

    If it’s true, that could explain the holes in Victor’s memories. Did they really have to wait so long before telling me this? ‘For your and her's sake’, yeah, right. He was just too lazy to explain it properly and used a convenient excuse.

    “But what about the physical evidence that can’t be erased?”

    Like pictures, movies, letters. There are even vague traces left online.

    “A, haha, haha they’re building a new asylum in our city as the old one has run out of vacant rooms. The worst cases are people who fall into a ‘loop’, they forget about it only to find some pictures and stuff and then they try to make it public and they forget again and it repeats till they break. There’s this doctor who even thinks it’s some kind of a local disease.”

    “That’s a rather forced solution…”

    If there were only one or two people like that it could somehow pass unnoticed, but I was wondering what would happen in the case of a whole city stuck in a loop.

    “Yeah mate, TET knows the risk of this getting out of control so be careful. Even if you’re on their whitelist if you force the Seal to work without a good reason you may become one of the looped. By the way mate, you better avoid leaving Eprya as the Seal only covers the Maiden Island and the moment you try to leave it will always activate.”

    Based on his explanation, either TET was a huge and powerful organization with iron discipline or the esper society was small enough to control it freely.

    “Let me continue. My Aurora’s situation was special as natural born espers called Gatemakers are very rare, there are only five of them in the whole country.”

    “Country, not a city?”

    Five?

    “Yes, but as most mana spots appear in Claymore and surrounding cities, people searching for more power tend to gather here. To become espers others have to use a ticket near a mana spot and win the demon’s challenge. TET’s slowly working on increasing the number of people with superpowers under its control. That’s where Adam and that girl come into play.”

    “Yup, we were just your old poor orphans selected by evil people for their experiments. They gave us tickets, made us espers and told to protect Aura."

    When Adam was busy playing the role of a pierrot, Silvie only sighed deeply and corrected his version.

    “Aurora’s mental state at that time was bad and TET offered me a solution involving that girl ability.”

    “Why do you call Rora ‘that girl’?”

    “Because before using her ability on Aurora she was a different person. After that, one of them started calling herself Aura and the other Rora. Both of them have changed and it's as if my daughter was split into two pieces with someone else mixed in…”

    A tinge of sadness was imbued into her voice. I could only imagine how a mother would feel after making such choice for the sake of her daughter.

    “Don’t worry mate, it was Rora’s first time and she went a bit too far, it won’t happen again. By the way, my position in their deal was like a freebie attached to Rora.”

    “You just followed all on your own. Anyway, it wasn’t all that bad, now I have two cute daughters and one stupid son.”

    “A, haha, hah, yes mother.”

    “Mother?!”

    I accidentally allowed my shock to spill outside.

    “I’m Rora’s and Adam’s legal guardian.”

    “Adam Toril at your service mate. I’ve got a confession to make… I’m dating my own sist- ugh.”

    With one swift move, Silvie crushed the empty can on Adam’s head.

    Hah! Serves you right for trying to make me jealous. I’ve got a cute little sister of my own. She even calls me onii-chan and I never heard Aura or Rora calling you anything else than ‘Adam’. I win.

    “Go, take a walk, your head’s overheating when you try to stay serious for more than five minutes.”

    Silvie sharp voice left no room for negotiations, it gave me a clear understanding of the power relation between those two.

    “Yes mother.”

    He really left and she even locked the car...

    “I hate it when people interrupt a serious conversation with stupid jokes.”

    “Haaa… yeah me too.”

    I will better keep my mouth closed.

    “Anyway, that would more or less cover the basics. Let’s move to the next point. As a Gatemaker, Aura can make those drawings of black squares, they’re used as tickets to open mana spots and meet with demons and they’re also a really pricey commodity.”

    “You sell them?”

    “Yes. It’s a good income, but mostly we just scam people and give them a fake after a little demonstration of Aura’s power. After that, we just tell them that it’s really unfortunate that it didn’t work, but it’s stated in the contract that they have to pay anyway. That’s how I think you got dragged into it.”

    “Aren’t you worried about that whole Seal?”

    “Remember, you must first actively try to make the public aware, but if you keep the amount of truth to the minimum and carefully avoid spilling critical information it won’t activate, otherwise people would lose memories every time someone says ‘superpowers’ on TV. Also, no one will believe a person who just goes around speaking nonsense about espers without a solid proof. Still, those are only my own conjectures, TET won't answer any questions about it.”

    “So how did it turn like that in my case?”

    “Sorry, but I only know that Rora decided to change everything by herself and she’s the only one who knows the true story behind it. She likes to show off so try talking to her with no audience, it will make her more likely to listen.”

    In other words, I wasn’t the only one gathering information. Silvie was also confused by this development or was lying to me with a straight face. Just recalling how she had acted last time we met made my doubt-o-meter beep.

    “What’s this Rora’s network that I’m part of?”

    “People protecting Aura with the power of Rora’s ability. I’m not an esper, but I’m part of the network as mother category, which allows me to feel the position of my daughters. The closer we are, the more precise it becomes.”

    “Something like a GPS?”

    “Yes, something like that. The situation we tried to recreate today was based on something that had actually happened twice.”

    “Aura’s been kidnapped twice?”

    For a moment I was wondering how can you kidnap someone who can make you bend to her will with a slight touch, but after putting myself into the kidnapper shoes I realized that simply using a taser from a distance would do the trick.

    "Aura and her power, her ability to make tickets, the ability to identify mana spots. It's like a tempting triple win for some people. The possibility of her being abducted again exists all the time, even though we’re acting a lot more careful now.”

    “To tell you the truth… it was ridiculous. If that’s the method you’ve used to rescue her previously, you guys are incredibly lucky.”

    “Not really, you don’t know Adam’s ability. If something similar ever happens, just do as we did today. Trust me, the hostage situation and open negotiations are the best way to handle it.”

    “Why won’t you just tell me about this ability of his? I won't have to worry that much next time.”

    “It’s our trump card, the fewer people know about it the be-”

    Our conversation was interrupted by knocking, outside the passenger's window stood Adam with a sad face. He probably tried to come inside only to find out that the door was closed. Silvie was just watching him with a bored look for a moment before she opened the door.

    “A, haha, ha thank you. It’s cold you know?”

    “I know, that’s the point. Well, let’s go back home, it’s really late and I'm worried about Aura.”

    “She should be fine, it doesn’t happen that often.”

    “Yes, but usually Rora’s with her.”

    “Just don’t drive too fast.

    As I had no voice in that matter, she started the car and soon we were driving through empty streets.

    I hope they won’t forget to let me out near my house.

    There was still enough time left for a question or two so I decided to make a good use of it.

    “Isn’t Aura important to those guys from TET, why do you even have to worry about her getting kidnapped?”

    “They are only strict when it comes to their rules, other than that they won’t intervene too much in the matters of other espers and I’ve turned down their offer of protection.”

    “Why?”

    “I didn’t want to pick my daughter’s future for her.”

    “And there’s me! There’s nothing to worry when I’m around mate. By the way Silvie where’s my taser?”

    “...”

    “Silvie?”

    “...”

    “Don’t tell me…”

    “You can go and grab it tomorrow.”

    “Oh come on, you left it there?! What if it breaks due to the cold? That thing cost me quite a lot, what am I going to do with the batter alone?”

    Battery?

    “Adam… you took out the batter before giving it to me?”

    “Of course mate, why should I risk you stunning me from behind? But, the face you made when you said ‘I had one before’, a, haha, hahaha, haha, did you thought that just pressing a button will work? You didn’t even notice that it was lacking a battery, real stunning master.”

    “I… kind of had a lot on my mind at that time…”

    “Don’t tease him too much Adam, he already deserves a praise for not panicking.”

    Her words hurt. I promised myself to learn more about tasers and stun guns after coming back home.

    Alright let's change the topic, there’s no point in getting depressed now, this is probably my best chance to ask about the things that are bothering me.

    “You’ve mentioned it before, but what are those TET rules?”

    “Rule number one, misusing the Seal will result in removing the offender from the whitelist.

    Rule number two, trying to obtain mana spots discovered by TET will result in removing the offender from the whitelist.

    Rule number three, misusing your esper power will result in removing the offender from the whitelist.”

    Recited Adam with a momentous voice.

    “That’s it? That almost sounds like they’re the good guys.”

    “Yeah mate, that’s it and did we ever said that they’re the bad guys? I wouldn’t call them good though. I actually wonder why did they even made three rules, when all they need is the last one. Think about it for a sec, they can classify anything they don’t like as ‘misusing your power’ and wipe out your memory. Now you get it why they're the top dogs in esper community? Luckily for us, they’re actually trying to remain neutral. By the way mate, I actually forgot to ask you an important question, what’s your ability? You’ve got one now right?”

    “I would like to know about it as well Amato.”

    As I was expecting this question to come I already had prepared an answer that downplayed my skill but wasn’t a lie.

    “When someone asks me a question, like you just did, I can use my ability to analyze three potential ways of answering and their consequences. For example, by using it I learn that answering with truth will result in you believing me, answering with a lie will make you doubt me and the third one is rather random like answering with ‘I love Nyaruko-chan’ will result in you looking at me with pity.”

    “Come on mate, the thing you just described is called 'thinking'. Why lie now? That can’t be tru-”

    “You can ask Aura to check it later.”

    ”...”

    “Amato, I can now understand a little why Rora instinctively gave you the pet category. My condolences.”

    “I concur… it’s so shitty that there’s no point in even trying to make it better with mana.”

    I may have just shot myself in the foot… It is rather random, but it’s not as bad as I described and giving it more mana wouldn't hurt.



    We spent the rest of the way in silence. There were some more question running around in my head, but after analyzing the situation I found out that there was a huge problem with them.

    Becoming Rora’s pet is just her whim that no one truly understands…

    The death of Victor is a thing that only Rora knows the details of…

    Oh yeah! In the end, what did they want from me? Wait… wasn’t it to scam the old Victor out of money that went wrong due to Rora’s change of mind?


    ...

    That greedy girl is hoarding all the key answer! She acts like a player who keeps the elixir in case of emergency and when such case finally arrives, the elixir is still not being used due to the possibility of an even bigger emergency.

    Before I could think of any other good question they already drove me back home.
     
    Last edited: Apr 10, 2018
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  18. Erineko

    Erineko Well-Known Member

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    Part 16 - Vecuronium bromide?

    Part 16

    Ouch. What was that?

    “Oh? You’re awake? Be nice and don’t move for a min-”

    Startled I jumped out of the bed, trying to assess the situation. The room was already brightly lit, I must have slept for a rather long time after yesterday’s night trip.

    A gorgeous monochrome girl was elegantly shifting her position from squatting to a standing one. She was just a few centimeters too short to stand with me eye to eye.

    Strangely, she was barefoot.

    Her long legs were mostly covered by a pleated white skirt, its left side had a slit similar to the one found in a cheongsam, but it was held together by a row of small black buttons.

    The girl wore a simple black blouse, adorned with white frilly elements, revealing her slender and pale arms. Its chest area was pushed outwards considerably. On her neck, there was a delicate white choker held loosely with a single string of black fabric.

    Long raven black hair was flowing freely down to her waist, with the exception of two strands enslaved with silky white ribbons, as if its owner couldn’t decide between two different hairstyles and took the best parts out of each, which only made it more striking.

    There was no balance between her mostly black top and white bottom, seven out of ten onlookers would beg her to reverse the color pattern. The remaining three wouldn’t care anyway too busy thinking about doing all kinds of kinky stuff with her.

    Relentlessly, the moment when I had to look upon her face arrived. I was trying to avoid it for as long as possible due to her eyes. Would it make sense if I described them as a green cosmos held together in two glass beads? If yes, that’s good, because those words described them quite accurately.

    There was also the fact that I recently started seeing a similar face in the mirror.

    Both she and Violet might have been described as emerald eyed lovely girls, but I should never compare them aloud in my little sister’s presence as each of them held a different kind of charm and it could be hard to convince Vio about the importance of her own key points.

    Viktoria was holding an empty syringe in her hand. She looked at it with an unhappy face.

    “You had to move? Now the entire dose went in, you prefer the hard way? So be it.”

    “What do you mean?”

    A strange prickling sensation was spreading in my whole body, every move I made was sluggish and clumsy.

    “Don’t you have any better last words? There’s like twenty seconds left before it kicks in.”

    Shit, this is the worst case scenario. Fuck! If only I knew that agreeing to Vio’s proposal would end like that, but it’s still too fast. Did that brat sell me out straight away? After being such a smartass to her I’ve lowered my guard after all…

    Isn’t there anything I can do?

    I moved to grab my smartphone from the corner but stopped after two steps. It was gone. Resigned, I turned my attention back to her and said:

    “Checkmate?”

    “You could at least try to hug me. I’m really happy to see you again after so much time, how are you feeling?”

    “Fuucf…”

    No more words came out as I was starting to lose control of my tongue and only unintelligible sounds were being produced. What’s worse I could feel the strength leaving my body. With my back to the wall, I slowly slipped down to the floor.

    I’m still conscious, so it’s a muscle relaxant after all. Fuck I’m an idiot! It’s… it’s getting hard to breathe?! Just… just how much did she use…

    “Hoooff…”

    “How I learned about it? It wasn’t that hard you know? My little sister was gone for half a day and was walking in the air after returning. Seeing her so happy I simply had to confirm where, with whom, how long, why, what for and other details like that. Can you imagine how surprised I was when she told me everything?”

    “Tffuufee...”

    Give me the tube. The tube you blockhead! Air! I need the fucking tube! I know you’ve got one, you always do!

    “Hoo? A riddle? Truffle? Are you hungry? You won’t die if you skip a meal or two. I know, since you’re now so buddy-buddy with Violet you want to know how is she? Silly, I wouldn’t hurt my own possession. She just won’t be able to come out from her room for some time.”

    “Hss-shh…”

    Viktoria! Viktoria for the love of god! I need air… air! AIR!

    “My dear Victor, you broke our rules. I will be taking you back home.”

    “hhsSsHHhh…”

    Please, I beg yOu, help me. fuCK I will Do aNYthing… help, plEASe help, ViKTOria! I will be yours! HELP! Breath! AiR! Viktoria, AIR! Help you fUCKIN biTCH… i'M dyinnG!

    “Hmm? Did I forget about something? You’re turning blue. Does it have anything to do with all that salt on the floor?”

    “h…”

    Help, soMEOnE hElp mE! Help vikToRIA! It's getting dark, HElp me! I can’t breathe! HeLp! VIKtoRIA! I'M FUCKING DYING! HELP! AIR! I NEED AIR! HELP ANYONE HELP! Anyone, it's black... please help I... can not see... anything...

    “Hmm?"

    "..."

    "Oh! The tube! Almost forgot about the tube. Got it here… now… gently… Hey! Don’t try to move your tongue, I’m working here… one wrong move and I can seriously hurt you, but don’t worry, with my luck I just need to push it and it will go into the right place all by itself. Aaaaaannnnnnddddddd done. How is it?”

    Short - sweet - fast - euphoric - frantic - blissful - shallow - exhilarating - gasps for air dominated the bedroom.

    I will… fucking… kill you… bitch.

    “I’m going to check how you’re living in here, so be nice and don’t move ok? Who knows, maybe it will be me and not Vio who moves in, it seems like fun.”

    She said that line in a sweet voice, turned on a heel and left the room excited about the incoming flat search.

    My insides were boiling with rage that had no way out. All I could do was to wish her death and blame myself for not preparing any countermeasures despite possessing all the relevant knowledge.

    This situation was the result of me underestimating her. According to Victor memories, she shouldn’t have done something like that when there was even a slight possibility of it being leaked to the outside world. Was this what Vio had meant by father getting influenced? He was always the only one that could rein her in. Still, there was a ray of hope left. Vio hadn’t told her everything. Otherwise, Viktoria wouldn’t even bother with talking to me. In her eyes, I was still her dear twin brother.

    As for the rules she had mentioned. At the peak of their war, Victor had some influence and power in their mansion, which in turn made it harder for his twin to act, back then she hadn’t been that lucky. However, with time the power balance had started to shift in Viktoria’s favor and Victor, foreseeing his incoming defeat, had made a deal with her.

    He had agreed to turn over almost everything he had in exchange for her disappearing from his life, though as I found out he had been secretly dissing her online. Well, she as well had forcibly modified their deal and added the rule about that one message a week, but other than that she had kept her word.

    And then I had appeared.

    Apparently Victor had understood her a lot better than I did and knew that Viktoria counted even their siblings among the possessions that had been turned over to her, while I was convinced that taking Vio in wasn’t a breach of their rules and there would be no problems with her coming to live here, which, as I had just discovered, was a misunderstanding on my side.

    Should I use my power or not? Forget about moving, I can’t even speak, but my power has to give me three options, so it may actually increase my chances to obtain something important.

    Which way will it be, a super useful one or incredibly shitty? Will Bitchtoria luck influence it or not?

    If she discovers that her dear brother’s soul is gone… I’m doomed. There will be no mercy.

    Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please. Pleeeeeeaaaase work. I beg you my great power give me a way out of this situation.

    One - Action: Blinking twice with the left eye.

    Reaction: Left eye will be moisturized.

    Two - Action: Thinking about the content of the
    C:\Programs\TS\sound\default\config\are\traps\gay\or\not\investigation\evidence
    folder that had been destroyed in the previous world.

    Reaction: A minuscule possibility of the user giving up on life as a man.

    Three - Action: Reconciliation with own fate.

    Reaction: A minuscule possibility of the user finding happiness.

    “Hey, what’s that? Did you really fall so low?”

    Said Viktoria upon coming back to the bedroom with a can of dog food in her hand that Vio had brought previously, it was open.

    There was no hope left. Using my power only worked to reinforce Adam's words that… I had informed Aura about the situation.

    “Is this some kind of fetish or maybe it’s actually good… should I try it or not?”

    She was eyeing the can curiously and tried to read its label when the can slipped out of her hand and fell on the floor scattering bits and pieces of grey paste.

    “So it’s not good after all. Lucky~. How did it get in here? Were you curious about it and wanted to give it a try?”

    No matter how many times I tried to remember Adam words it only strengthened the feeling that Aura had been informed and I understood that no amount of salt or holy water would protect me against something that was coming from the inside.

    “This is boring, I should have chained you or something so you could talk. This flat is also nothing special.”

    Viktoria took out her phone and was about to call someone when it rang. She answered it immediately with a smile.

    "Vince, I was just about to call you. Bring two of the stronger guys to Victor’s flat and a big bag."

    It’s her! Back then and right now it’s her! Thank the heavens you’re here Rora! Help me and I will become your loyal puppy!

    "Yes."

    Rora? Are you there?

    "No way!"

    There was no answer and the situation was turning worse with every minute.

    I can’t move, can’t speak, I breathe through a tube and they’re coming to take me away. On the other hand, by now Aura should have informed Adam and Silvie and they won’t let anything happen to Rora right? I may be able to hitchhike a rescue.

    "Ok, see you, bye bye."

    All I could do was to wait, pray to Rora, and observe as Vic’s twin was rummaging through my closet, throwing out the clothes kept inside one by one.

    “You’ve changed your taste. I see, that’s why you look a bit better, well omitting the dripping saliva. Want me to wipe it for you? Blink once for yes.”

    It’s not as if I wanted her to do that, but she simply sat down in front of me and waited till my eyelids moved on their own. My face was in a terrible state and the eyes weren’t better, so I hoped that this barely recognizable movement of my half-open eyelids would remain unnoticed.

    “Got it. Don’t move.”

    She took one of the shirts that were previously tossed aside, slowly wiped out the area around my mouth and even carefully removed the drool gathering inside, making sure not to affect the working of the endotracheal tube.

    One day you will regret this.

    “But why? I still don’t understand. What convinced you to try stealing my Vio? Did you thought that after becoming an esper you could get back at me?”

    She knows…? My head was already dizzy and now it got even worse.

    Bored with the lack of reaction she stood up and sighed. After a moment of tapping her pointing finger against own lips, she made a gesture of a person who just thought of a good way to kill some time.

    From the skirt’s pocket she took out a different phone, it was mine.

    “Let’s see… oho? There are actually people who write...”

    Along with her diminishing voice, the atmosphere in the room had changed.

    With each passing second, the entire careless aura that had been surrounding her from the very beginning was being replaced by one full of hatred. One that made her whole face contract in rage, one responsible for the furious shaking of her hand holding the phone.

    “That fucking whore. She went and made you hers? THAT FUCKING WHORE! How dare she take my possession?! How dare she?!”

    She tossed the phone against the wall with all her strength. At the moment of contact, there was a loud hissing noise and a small explosion. Pieces of plastic scattered all around the room, a white cloud of smoke appeared in the air. The phone battery had exploded.

    Not even a fragment had hit her. Seeing a flashy manifestation of her luck was breathtaking.

    Viktoria wasn't trying to make any more small talk and was about to check something on her phone when we heard someone’s steps coming from the corridor.

    “Vince, you’re finally he-”

    Before she could fully turn around there was a short bang followed by the crackling noise of running electricity.

    Adam stood by the bedroom door with a taser in his hand. The probes shot by him… were lying half a meter away from their target.

    “Aa, haha, haha, give me a sec, let me try again.”
     
    Last edited: Apr 10, 2018
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  19. Erineko

    Erineko Well-Known Member

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    Part 17 - Retro soul

    Part 17

    “I give you three seconds to disappear from my sight or I'm calling the police.”

    Viktoria said in a commanding voice imbued with anger, acting as if any possibility of her getting hurt was nonexistent. In that time Adam had removed the used cartridge from which a snakelike wire extended, tossed it away and switched the taser to a stun gun mode.

    “Yeah, surreeee!”

    He rushed at her, trying to close the distance with a few powerful steps, but as soon as he made the first one, he slipped on a large piece of a grey paste and crashed face first on the floor. Not only all the energy he put into attacking turned against him, but he also failed to properly break the fall.

    The taser had slipped out of his hand and landed right next to Viktoria’s bare feet.

    She picked it up with an unamused face as if this was just another daily occurrence in her life.

    “Bad luck Mr.Robber?”

    I’m counting on you, Adam! She's bluffing about the police, but for heaven’s sake do not try to attack her! Use that power of yours or something to take me away. Rora, I beg you, if you can, please tell him that.

    With a silent hiss of pain, Adam slowly rose from the floor, leaving on it a bloody face print. His nose was bent to the right at an unnatural angle and a small stream of red was flowing down from it. Viktoria was waiting for him to stand up.

    “That kind of hurt…”

    After his second unsuccessful attempt at attacking, he became warier of her, to which she responded by slowly closing the distance between them. Adam tried to maintain it, but stopped after few steps, realizing that somehow his legs became entangled in the wire that he himself had shot upon entering the room.

    “What the hell?”

    He couldn’t move without removing it first unless he wanted to risk another painful fall. In response to his words Viktoria just sighed slightly, sped up and placed the taser against his chest, but nothing had happened.

    “Huh? It's broken? Impossible…”

    “A, ha, haha, can’t press the button?”

    “You!”

    She swung her free hand aiming for Adam’s broken nose, but the expected impact never happened. Her hand stopped right before the target as if she was only trying to scare him.

    The calm mask of Victor’s twin sister cracked and revealed a glimpse of a shocked expression beneath.

    “Why?!”

    “Trade secret.”

    Using the moment when she was distracted, he pulled the taser out of her hand and immediately pressed it against the nape of her neck.

    “And bang!”

    Viktoria jumped away from him scared, but that was the only thing that happened. This time it was Adam’s turn to be shocked, the taser didn’t work.

    On one side of the room stood my confused rescuer, while on the other there was an equally dumbfounded abductor.

    Just to be sure he tried pressing the trigger again and there was almost no delay between this action and the appearance of the crackling sound of running electricity.

    “The hell is wrong with that bloody luck of yours?!”

    “Why I can't hurt you?!“

    They shouted at the same time, while I as an observer was the only one who understood a portion of the bigger picture of how their powers were interfering with their hostile actions.

    The problem is time, Vincent and his lackeys can arrive at any minute now and I’ve got no idea how exactly Adam’s skill works like. Can he deal with all of them at the same time?

    A strange situation when both parties were unable to decide on their next action happened, but instead of standing there motionlessly or risk harm due to the lack of knowledge of the foe’s ability they moved on to make the best use of this temporary ceasefire. Adam took out the knife and cut the wire restricting his movements, while Victoria took out her phone and made a call.

    Shifting his attention in between her and me, Adam initiated one more attack attempt and was about to throw the knife at Viktoria, when during the swing the blade came out of its handle, flew straight at the ceiling and got stuck in there.

    “This is bloody ridiculous.”

    At the same time, Victoria's call connected.

    “Vincent! Where are you! Wha-. No… I didn’t really… no, I promise… father wait, don’t!”

    There was a sudden change from her commanding tone to a meek and servile one.

    My rescuer decided to ignore a target that couldn’t be harmed and changed his plans. Using the fact that she was busy talking on the phone, he wanted to lift me up.

    Father? Did father decide to interfere? Thank god!

    “Yes… I understand… No, I really didn’t do anything… Please don’t shout... I’m coming back… I know that Violet’s not a toy… I will be back home soon.”

    When the call ended Viktoria stood with a blank face as if she forgot about our presence. The changes in her voice, pale face and first signs of tears were finally noticed by Adam.

    “A, haha, ouch, ha daddy’s girl in trouble?”

    His voice made her snap out of it and in a fit of rage she wanted to throw the phone at him, but in the mid-swing her hand froze, unwilling to listen to her commands. This only served to further fuel her anger and she changed her target to me, but hesitated. For a brief moment she was switching her gaze between the two of us and it looked like she finally managed to realize that he came here to my rescue. In the end, Viktoria only snarled shortly at us and left the room in a hurry.

    I’ve got a feeling that I owe Violet big time… No, wait. It was her fault to begin with. Let’s say we’re even now.

    Three minutes after her departure Adam decided to lay me down on the bed, after which he finally relaxed and started whining from pain.

    “Damn it hurts. Is it broken?"

    He tried to feel around the new shape of his nose.

    "Ouch, ouch, ouch… bloody hurts, but that girl sure was a beauty. Hey mate, look, I got my nose broken for you, in exchange help me to get that monochrome twin of yours into my harem.”

    I hope it stays crooked for the rest of your life.



    About twenty minutes later Aura and Silvie came to my flat. They were late due to the fact that one was working and the other was in school, only Adam who, after recovering his taser, was en route to home could respond to the emergency call received from Aura on time.

    Silvie took both me and the idiot to the hospital where we learned that luckily for him, the nose was only displaced and could be easily set back in place, his face would stop looking like a balloon after about three to five days. Though we had to sell some bullshit story to the doctor as to how I got such a huge dose of muscle relaxant into my body, my family’s name came into play and did some work for me. Thanks to that visit and the passage of time I recovered most of my strength.

    I kept the endotracheal tube for the future use.

    During the information exchange with Silvie and the rest, I learned that they had some knowledge about Viktoria, her challenge mode and power, but they were severely underestimating the amount of mana she had gathered to strengthen her ability. Adam knew that she was lucky, but thought it was more like a luck in gambling type of skill. To begin with, how did they obtain that information? Apparently, it was disclosed as a warning from TET after Viktoria once came close to breaking their rule number three.

    She was probably the only esper widely known in the entire esper community where everyone did their best to remain anonymous.

    I asked about the connection between Rora and Viktoria, but they had told me that there was none. My VIP seat had allowed me to observe Victor’s twin misunderstanding as to Adam’s true identity. She probably saw him simply as her daily lucky chance for a heroic act, in this case stopping a robbery, at least till the moment of discovering that she couldn’t hurt him, which meant that she didn’t know that he was connected to Rora. On the other hand, my destroyed phone hinted strongly that some kind of a connection between those two girls had to exist.

    I got Adam to explain some of the inner workings of his skill. It was a type of an on/off power where he could choose its target and prohibit that person from performing any hostile actions. In other words, Viktoria didn’t hesitate to throw the phone at me, she simply couldn’t do that. I found it hard to believe that there was no weakness in his power.

    Oh! I almost forgot. The stupid front door that wagged its tail in front of every intruder was gone. Simply gone. No trace left. How did she do that? Was it connected with her barefoot state? How did she even manage to do anything with it without waking me up? Heaven’s help me I would love to know that.



    [Do you want to confirm the purchase?]

    I clicked ‘yes’. After this simple move, I barely had 100$ left on my account. Today was only the 5th of February, which meant that some harsh days were in store for me before this month ends, but I was convinced that there were things in one’s life that simply had to be done.

    “Can I play now?”

    Asked Aura sitting on the chair next to me, curiously eyeing some game icons that were on the laptop's desktop.

    “Sure, I will go and check how’s Silvie doing.”

    “No, stay.”

    She grabbed my shirt in a slightly threatening manner, which I was already getting used to as it had happened many times today.

    “I will be back in a minute.”

    “I will go as well.”

    “If you want to.”

    Since the time Aura had learned that I (Rora) was in danger she became my shadow, no trace was left of her previous animosity or indifferent behavior. Back in the hospital, Silvie had told me to let her do that for a while and she would stop after calming down.

    “By the way, Aura, how’s Rora and her tuning? You talked with her right?”

    “Still needs more time and try not to use your power, it’s not helping.”

    Now that I think of it, she always seems to ‘wake up’ right after I use it.

    “Got it.”

    We moved from the living room to the bedroom, where Silvie was busy removing salt, blood, dog food, used taser cartridge with thin metal wires, melted plastic pieces, stain left on the wall after the battery explosion and one blade stuck in the ceiling.

    At first, I was going to do it myself when they had brought me back from the hospital, but as soon as I had started, after two rapid moves, I had spread on the floor in all directions like a slime. The aftereffects of the drug prevented me from any work for the rest of the day. Seeing this and since Aura wasn’t planning on letting me go anytime soon, Silvie had offered her help.

    “Amato, how?”

    Asked Silvie pointing at the knife's blade above.

    “Ask Adam, he did that. Do you want something to drink?”

    “No thank you.”

    She still had some work to do and I felt Aura pulling me back to the corridor.

    “Something’s wrong?”

    “The smell of blood, I don’t like it and it’s cold. Let’s go back and play.”

    She’s incredibly cute when she acts so docile, watching me with her big brown eyes and tilting her head, creating silver waves of hair. What’s more, she’s only interested in the inner me! Completely ignoring the outwards appearance.

    Ehh… I kind of miss Vio. Cute is good, but it’s way more fun to mess with that blondie.

    I made sure that the temporary cardboard barrier, stitched together with duct tape, was still pretending to be the door and went back to living room, where we had a brand new electric heater set on max.

    While Aura was busy checking the content on my hard drive, I was trying to recall Violet’s phone number. Vic never bothered to remember it and I had a tendency to rely only on my phone’s memory.

    Nope, nothing, can't remember it. Should I visit home tomorrow? I can’t leave it for later or it will only fester and create more problems in the long run.

    But when I think of meeting with Bitchtoria... Maybe Violet will be fine without my help? She somehow managed to get father involved... Still, Bitchtoria had said something about Vio not being able to leave own room.

    Damn, what should I do?

    “Let’s play this.”

    “Hmm? Ohoho~, now little girl, you’ve just won my attention. I hope you’re prepared to spend the night here as it won't end fast once we start.”

    Aura nodded slightly and started downloading the game. It was Civilization II. I put aside my worries for later and decided to focus on playing with her.

    “How did you even found this old gem?”

    “I like to read about and discover for myself games that people tend to call iconic. For example, last time I spent over two weeks playing Fallout one and two. I must admit that it’s really hard to find the kind of climate they have in new games. Especially when you play it for the first time, not only there aren't any tutorials that treat the player like a three-year-old, but everything simply seems so different, strange and fascinating. Learning and discovering it by yourself, after that starting your second playthrough with the help of obtained knowledge and using exploits that you had no idea even existed before is the thing I love best.

    In Fallout, I really like the part when the dialogues change if you create a character with low intelligence that goes around and only communicates in ape sounds. Walking around the wasteland as an idiot only interested in ice creams and shiny things, who still has the mission of the chosen one and the fate of the world on his arms is a lot of fun. Even the rewards you obtain are sometimes better since there are lots of side quests available only for idiots.”

    I was speechless, not only I learned that she could speak well if the topic was aligned with her interests, she also had a true old-school gamer soul!
     
    Last edited: May 2, 2018
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  20. Donutmindme

    Donutmindme [dounut][Zodiac:Golden snake][PROcrastinator]

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    Pfffffff I jus love how cocky he is.
    Hmmm was that intentional?
     
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