Putting Lily behind my back and heading into one of the doors in the penthouse, was a guest room of sort greeting me.
The first thing that greeted me was Heimlich haughtily leering at my way.
Grasped in his hand was a leash that was connected to Dorothy lying on the bed.
It really is a nauseating sight, I thought subconsciously.
"I'm here to take you back, Dorothy."
"!"
"Let's go back home, Maria's waiting for us."
*Throb*
As I mentioned Maria's name, I didn't fail to notice Dorothy's short flinch, as if she'd felt something emerge from her heart.
No, I couldn't have failed to notice something like that.
"Hmph, don't make me laugh."
Even despite all that, Dorothy shot back my way with an icy cold glare, signalling her disapproval.
"You stole my sister from me, and now you're talking about 'going back' now? 'Home', you say…?"
Her words sounded like a desperate man's jeer, giving up on everything in the world.
"You took everything I had away from me! Where I was supposed to be and my precious sister! And you have the guts to come now, and talk about 'going back home'?! Someone like you is better off out of my sight!"
Heimlich, who was busy cackling at Dorothy sobbing sorrowfully, joins in the conversation.
"I'm sorry but this girl is mine now! There's no place for someone like you to butt in between now."
"Shut up, you."
"What?"
"Gone deaf? Just sit there like a good boy and shut up."
"Haa, look at this little monkey strutting around…"
Perhaps Heimlich was disturbed that he couldn't casually watch the quarrel between me and Dorothy; his face contorts its shape in rage, in response to my taunts.
"W-Wait a second! He's nothing but air! Swaggering around shooting off his empty threats is all this person can do! Just let him go back like this!"
-.
"Wait."
Towards Dorothy hiding behind her façade, telling me there really is nothing wrong, I supress my emotions to the very minimum and flatly continue on my words.
"Are you really sure you won't come to regret this decision you've made?"
"Yeah."
「But that's not the place I should be at anymore.」
"I regret nothing."
「That is why this is my 'punishment'.」
"I see. Is that so?"
Gazing into Dorothy's teeth-clenched face of determination face to face, I think back on the unfinished question I've asked from back then.
"If that's what you really think, then let me just ask you one thing. Why?"
"W-What do you mean?"
I'm not asking for the 'reason' as to why there can't by any other way.
Yes.
"I'm just curious."
「I'm asking, for someone like you saying such thing, why you-.」
"I'm just curious as to why someone like you, with not even a shred of regret in her mind, is shedding tears before me – I want to hear a proper answer to that! Dorothy Ivalice Blackhazel!"
Ah.
"Ahhh…!"
At those words.
At that moment, the lock located deep within Dorothy's heart opens widely.
The sealed letter inside her heart rips open.
◇ ◆ ◇
That stupid brother, the same brother I was so adamant on rejecting, smiles and extends his hands this way.
Because he wanted to "take me back."
"Ha-hauu…!"
The something clotted inside my heart comes close to breaking down. The sorrow I've welled up inside me comes crashing down like water pouring out of a collapsed dam.
"Stupid…! Stupid, stupid, you stupid idiot Onii-san…! Why, for some like me, why did you…!"
"Why did I come to save you?"
"Everything turned out like this, because of you!"
"Of course, it is my fault."
I've no thought of denying that.
It's my fault. It's because it's my fault.
"And, you're talking about 'taking me back' now?! Then what happens to the decision I've made? What's going to happen to my resolve?"
"It's because of that I've come to take you back, isn't it?"
"If you're acting like that, then who am I supposed to hate…!"
Looking at the sobbing Dorothy, I confirm inside my heart.
She's not isolating herself.
She's not giving up.
Right now is when she needs an answer. The answer that will fill the void inside her heart. The answer that will save her from this despair.
"If you're just looking for someone to hate, then that fella over there with 'I'm the bad guy' tattooed on his forehead will do, so that's not a problem."
"Wh-what?!"
"Next is about your determination and resolve… Well, to be frank, I don't think I'm the one that can give you the answer to that."
I couldn't understand from the beginning.
Why are you wasting your effort trying pin down people here and there for every little thing?
I knew.
I knew from the beginning the answer to that stupid question.
What you truly needed was not some justification to the decision you've made for yourself.
"But."
No, it's exactly because of that I can say this right now. I can answer you.
"Aren't we a family?"
It's because we're a family.
This isn't the place you're supposed to be at right now.
Yes, the place for Dorothy Ivalice Blackhazel is still there.
That's why I've come here to take you back to where you're really supposed to be.
"What else could you possibly need then?"
"Stop acting like you're some retarded big-shot, you little shit!"
And it was then.
*-Bang!*
All of a sudden, a gunshot reverberated throughout.
Not towards bottom of the wide-open night sky, but towards my chest instead.
"Eh….h?"
The one responsible for the gunshot is none other than Heimlich who could do nothing but stand by and listen to our conversation.
"You retarded bitch, it's like all this pointless drama is affecting your head or something."
He spits out incoherent profanity and insults, huffing and puffing with rage.
"Wh-what did you…?"
"What do you think I did? I gave your damn brother another hole to breathe through!"
Unable to contain his anger, he violently pulls on the leash in a contorted expression.
"Kuh, ahuu…!"
"What? Family? Where you're supposed to be? What a load of bullshit!"
Heimlich marches toward me in anger and stomps down furiously on my fallen body like he was possessed. It's as if he transformed into a madman, drunk on impulse and losing himself in the moment.
"S-Stop!"
"You shut up!"
*Wham!*
Did he not realize he was up against a girl? With no hesitation, he slams down on Dorothy's face with full force of his anger.
"I think you're mistaking yourself as some hero from Marvel here? Whatever hero illusion you have, there's no Superman in this world! Nor is there Batman! Same with Spiderman! Do you finally understand now, you rubbish loser?
In the end, he gets tired from his own rampage and squats down right in front of me, still gasping for breath.
"What, you're still alive?"
Heimlich pulls on my hair, laughing as if he's exasperated at me.
"If you have any last words, you better tell me them now."
"You're… correct."
"There's no Superman in this world… Nor is there Batman. You're correct. Absolutely correct. "
"Ahhh, so you finally got some sense knocked into you before dying."
"But… you're forgetting one thing."
"Eh?"
"Everything you've said is definitely correct. However, that doesn't mean you can forget this, Heimlich."
Yes.
Even if I'm in a hellhole world where justice and whatever meant nothing from the beginning.
Even if I'm in an insignificant world with no Marvel or DC superheroes to be found.
"Even if I'm in a world where this is all I have left."
But, even then, I still have this.
This flickering candlelight, blazing to the end of time, until the very end.
How much trouble this black-colored orchid caused.
That's why I have a responsibility to tell her the reason.
That's why I can tell her. That's why I must.
"Even in this world, exists someone that doesn't mind all this petty excuses and reasons, someone who's willing to sacrifice everything she had just to save her precious family driven to a corner – Yes, I'm trying to tell you about the fact that this world's best older slash younger sister is still alive and well!"
「Ka-boooom!」
And so, there was the second miracle.
◇ ◆ ◇
"That is – the way of the Blackhazel."
In response to my question, the"Princess of Pure Darkness"emotionlessly replies back, colder and more merciless than she have ever sounded.
"The way of the Blackhazel, you say."
"You're leaving your one-and-only sister like that alone, and you're talking about this disgusting act of deserting someone in need because of a duty or whatnot – And you say it's because of the 'way of the Blackhazel'?"
"Alright, fine. You can preach about this 'way of the Blackhazel' all you want."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm too dumb to know about duties, family structures and all that complicated stuff."
Just the act of knowledge is a simple thing, something even a five-year-old would with a clap of their hand if they heard about this.
"My sister's in danger. So I'm going to go out and save her by myself. That's all."
"What could you possibly do away from this place?"
"Who knows? I'll think about that on the way."
I really can't take this anymore.
I know that this state I'm in right now can't really be considered rational. That must I understand myself.
Not that I can think of some any other way that than this.
"I cannot approve that, Onii-sama."
Maria replies coldly, in a tone that makes it clear of her disapproval.
"If onii-sama is planning on keeping up his childish stubbornness up, then I will have to resort to force."
Maria snaps her finger.
And, what's blocking my path is none other than Lily.
"Move aside."
"…"
Lily clenches her fist and grits her teeth, and refuses to move out of the way, showing the determination she arrived to after making the decision herself.
"I'll go on my own if I have to."
When I was about slide past Lily's side, as expected, an incredible force that a 12-year-old could hardly believe to exert stops me in my tracks.
"Let go, Lily!"
"Master's command, …absolute."
"Dammit!"
Her overwhelming, professional hold is something my shallow resistance couldn't even think to escape.
"Let go of me, Lily! Do you seriously agree with this ridiculous idea Maria has in mind? You know what kind of situation Dorothy is in right now, and you're just going sit here and watch what happens?
"…I won't just, watch."
"Then why?! Why are you just standing there silently with your head down while Maria's talking about her grand 'way of the Blackhazel' or whatever?!"
Gazing into my struggling figure, Maria once again opens her mouth.
"Why would you think like that?"
"What?"
"Why would Onii-sama think that I would obviously force myself to this 'way of the Blackhazel?"
And at that moment.
I feel the illusion that the air inside the mansion changed flow and surged back.
"Whaa…?"
"Yes. If I was the Maria before meeting Onii-sama, then I could have thought so."
Wondering about what Maria is talking about, I once again gaze into Maria's face, scratching my head.
Lily's grip that allowed not even a single step forward was already released, without my awareness.
"W-What are you..."
"But, it's something Onii-sama taught me."
"I – taught?"
"What the real important things are."
Smiling like an angel, Maria calmly continues on her sentence.
"Yes, I won't resort to measuring people's worth again. I won't think about giving up Dorothy for Onii-sama's sake or anything like that. For this girl, both Dorothy and Onii-sama are precious persons in my family."
Maria softly holds my hands and speaks on.
"It is you who taught me all this."
She's not the"Princess of Pure Darkness"she was just a moment ago.
"That's why I ask of you, who taught me the importance of all this."
"You…"
I don't think the name 'Pure Darkness' suits you.
"Let us go take back Dorothy together."
This girl, wreathed in the gentlest pure-white smile brighter than anything else in the world…
-.
◇ ◆ ◇
「Ka-boooom!」
The explosion reverberates throughout.
It's a sound no one was expecting to hear.
Yes, no one but one.
Even before they realized what had happened, 'they' were already finishing up with their actual breach.
Having rappelled inside in the darkness, the shadows were moving about.
Whipping back dark trench coats behind them, like a pack of hyenas moving in for the kill, like a phalanx of soldiers trained in group movement.
The shape of their advance gives off the illusion that darkness itself is materializing and coming to life.
"Wh-What?"
The sudden change seems to alarm Heimlich; his eyes are wide open, mirroring his panic.
He realized that the situation took a worse turn for him, by more than he could possibly imagine.
Beyond the broken window on the building wall emerges a noisy propeller sound, and a military helicopter circling comes into the view.
It's the very same one that Maria emerged from when we first met, with the emblem of two ashen wolves depicted on it.
On board is none other than the"Princess of Pure Darkness".
Leading her servants of death, the"Princess of Pure Darkness"who was sure to have expected everything that has happened is standing right there.
Just gazing upon Maria enveloped in her emperor-like aura is enough to bring silence to everything around her.
But it's different from back then.
It's not the same silence from back when she dominated over the "Blades of the Left" with fear and cruelty.
To put in words, it would be much like seeing a general leading a reinforcement of millions from a battle long void of conclusion of victory.
Her image is too intense to call her a girl, but she is far too beautiful and distant to call her a general.
Maria.
Maria Lunalady Blackhazel.
"Princess of Pure Darkness".
Her existence itself is enough to conjure up a hurricane to sweep through the world.
◇ ◆ ◇
With the sudden interference by the Ladies in Black, the situation changes direction right away.
Helimlich, bound and surrounded by the Ladies in Black, can do nothing but cower in fear, incapable of doing anything.
"You are too foolish."
The blood-red pupils shines through the masks upon Ladies in Black's face, and Maria, standing in the midst of them, exudes a killing aura, almost intense enough to be tangible.
Even from a third party's views, it's enough fear to act as a heart-stopper.
"W-Why… are you."
Helimlich trembles, mumbling something in denial of her arrival.
"Why, just why…?"
"Speak, Heimlich."
"Why are you here, Maria?"
Maria won't come.
That was the elementary decision he had made based on 'the privilege only a member of the Blackhazel could have."
And that decision was uprooted from the foundation.
His plan was an utter failure.
But why?
Heimlich continues on, in disbelief.
"Why did you come to save her?"
It's as if someone just explained to Heimlich that 1+1 equalled 3 in front of him, and I once again shake my head at the stubbornness that seemed to surround the Blackhazel family.
"Do not act on emotion and petty relations, and compromise your judgement! And make the family's continual existence priority, above everything else! Isn't that the way of the Blackhazel?!"
Yeah, there's no way he'd ever understand.
"And that's exactly where you went, you idiot."
Grasping my head still dizzy from before, I slowly rise from where I was standing.
"O-Onii-san!"
With that, Dorothy looks my way in terror, as if she just saw a ghost emerge from the grave.
Ah, I forgot to tell her about that.
I take off the jacket I was wearing to show the bulletproof vest I had underneath.
"So, hmm. To put it simply: You just activated my trap card… or something like that."
But the sheer blunt impact from the bullet was enough to leave my head disoriented, even until now.
Continuing from where I left off.
"Heimlich, I'm sure you planned out all this on the basis that "Maria won't come save neither me nor Dorothy."
That was the way of the Blackhazel family.
They were the ones that accepted their twisted logic like it was completely normal.
"But before that common sense of the Blackhazel, there's something you overlooked."
Yes.
"That is, Maria chose to act not as a Blackhazel, but as someone who wanted to protect her precious sister."
"Wh-What kind of nonsense are you spewing now?"
Heimlich is still slow to accept the situation around him, and takes to hiding from reality. Defeat. No matter how it's looked at, it's clear that the weight isn't hinging to his side.
"It means you've lost."
In response to the embarrassment my words delivered to Heimlich, his face once again contorts in anger.
"Ha! Ha! Me, lose…? How could I, Heimlich Milbas Blackhazel, heir to the Blackhazel family, could ever come to a defeat? I'm, I'm…!"
Just how long is this guy planning on hiding behind the Blackhazel name?
"You still don't get it? It's exactly because you tried to solve everything with your almighty 'way of the Blackhazel' that you're in this situation right now."
"!"
There's nothing sweet about this.
Revenge or not, I'm just feeling a bit of headache at this guy so fixated on his twisted logic that is called 'the way of the Blackhazel' like it's completely normal.
"Onee-samaaa….!"
One of the Ladies in Black undoes the leash around her neck, and Dorothy is quick to dive into Maria's embrace.
"Onee-sama! Onee-samaaa….! Fuaaaaaaaaaaa…!"
Maria embraces Dorothy who's crying like a kid and smiles as she pets her head with the utmost care and gentleness than anyone could manage.
"Don't cry, Dorothy."
"I, I didn't think you would come…. I thought you were going to abandon me forever… I thought that and I…!"
"Silly Dorothy. There's no way I could abandon my one and only Dorothy."
「Your sister will always be by Dorothy's side.」
Maria calming Dorothy down is really nothing but an older sister taking care of her sister.
So it's a happy family reunion then?
Certainly, it's a good scene to look at.
But that's that, and I still have something else to take care of.
Even if I'm about to fall over, it's not like I can just postpone this until tomorrow.
"Isn't that so? I could mix you in a blender and drink you, and I still wouldn't feel it's even."
"Hi-Hiiiick!"
Maria's wrath. Ladies in Black's wrath. What he needs to experience right now is my wrath.
My method isn't like paralyzing someone with just my gaze, or something uselessly complicated like that.
As I say again, my method is quite simple and neat.
I walk towards Heimlich, and return the smile he had on his face before.
"J-Just a sec….!"
"Ohh, ya got any last words?"
"You crazy bastard!"
*Pow-!*
There's no need for me to hold back. With everything I can muster, I drive my fist into his chin.
"Guuhaa!"
Like a pig before slaughter, his squeal really is something to hear as I watch him step backward from me.
The shape he's in right now is far from where a victor like he imagined himself to be in. It really is pitiful to watch him like this.
"W-Why are you doing this?"
I don't know how you can even ask something that obvious with a face drenched in fear like that.
"Are you getting that mad about a used good like her?"
*Wince*
"Used… good?"
He's referring to none other than Dorothy. Why are you jabbering on about something like used goods and decayed blood now, out of everyone else I expected to hear that from.
"I'm giving about three fucks for what you said. Oh well, let's hear about it first."
"Dammit, she's not even a 'person'! She's just a common 'good', anyway!"
"What?"
Heimlich's cries are so far from reality they resemble nothing but an echo of travesty. But maybe it's because of that travesty that I pause what I'm doing and look back.
"Ah, ahhh…."
There stands Dorothy blue with panic, not knowing what to do.
"That bitch is… ha, right! She's a manufactured good! A duplicate! She's not even going to live that long with her fake body anyway! That's why there's no need to get this angry…. Ha, aha, hmm? That bitch isn't even a person! She's just a 'tool'!"
"What are you talking about?"
Is this the new episode of SF animation-making with Dr. Kim or something?
"O-Onii-san?! Th-That's…"
"Yeah! She's only a kagemusha, made as Maria's duplicate! She was only an empty husk from the beginning, a half-life!"
"Shut your mouth!"
The first to respond is Maria.
"O-Onee-sama….!"
But the woman of topic herself, Dorothy, looks to be in panic and cannot regain herself.
Er, da hell are we talking about now?
Kagemusha in place of Maria?
Manufactured duplicate?
It can't be.
"So what you're saying is, Dorothy is some kind of coat hanger clone made with Maria's DNA or something?"
"Y-Yeah! Hah, that bitch isn't even a real human! She's just a fake made in place of Maria!"
Even as Heimlich speaks, I can even feel some kind of this winner's superiority show on his face.
Ah, but the thing is.
There's this part I don't get.
"So what about it?"
"…What?"
"No, that much I get. You're trying to say that Dorothy was born in some laboratory somewhere like a test-tube baby or something like that.
"Y-Yeah! That bitch never had something like human rights or anything like that from the beginning….!"
*-Pow!*
Unable to stand this idiot Heimlich's behavior any longer without feeling nauseous, I once again swing my fist.
This guy, I don't think this is going to work.
This guy has "I wasn't meant to be" written all over, deep down to the strands of DNA on his body.
Dorothy, she was a copy made as Maria's duplicate.
So. So that was why.
In a world like ours, I'm not surprised that biotechnology has come this far. Rather, all I'm feeling is a click in my head as the few pieces of puzzle inside snaps together.
For example, why I didn't see Dorothy in the childhood picture of Maria she showed me before.
Why didn't Dorothy come to the family meeting.
The reason for Dorothy's 'pride as a Blackhazel', that I took as her simple arrogance.
So. So it was like that…
I understand the basic question here.
But the thing is.
"So I'm asking, what about it!?"
I unleash another punch to his face.
"The important thing here is that Maria accepted Dorothy as her family."
*Pow!*
"The thing about me is that I really don't give that much damn about blood and connections."
I get on top of Heimlich's chest, and batter down on his face until it resembles nothing but a bloody mess.
He's lost all will to resist or scream at this point.
But I don't care.
It won't satisfy me otherwise.
"When my foster parents first took me in, it was because of the 'hospitality" they showed me that made me a member of the family.
Yes.
When I first remembered the 'warmth' they gave me.
"The reason why I ran away from those damned foster parents wasn't because I was related to them or anything like that."
Yes.
The important fact is the fact that they 'never approved me as their son anymore'. The fact that I wasn't 'one' of them.
Fracture.
Absence of reason.
「It's not like I gave birth to him or anything.」
"Can you finally understand? Maria definitely took Dorothy in as a 'member of the family'. That's why Dorothy is also my precious sister and 'family' to me."
The punches don't stop.
Not until my fingers break and swell up.
"It's the same with Maria and Lily. Even if you're not related, connections and blood aren't that important, got it? The important thing is realizing that everyone is 'one'. No more, no less. Bunches like you who talk about purity of blood and all that could try all your lifetime and you still wouldn't understand."
*Huff, huff*
I cough roughly for air, gasping for breath because of my own beating, but I don't stop. This guy could just die like that, and I wouldn't care.
No,
I won't care.
I want to 'kill' this guy. Until he dies, I won't stop my arms from punching.
Why?
There's no way I can forgive him unless I do.
"Stop…"
Yes, I can't forgive him.
With that thought, my fists continue-
"Stop, isn't this enough? You don't have to put yourself like that just for me anymore, Siyoung-onii-chan!"
Perhaps the brutality was getting too much her to bear, and Dorothy hugs me from behind in her teary voice.
"Ah, ahh…"
I fall back weakly, and put on a rather awkward smile on my face.
Feelings refuse to return to my blood-covered hand.
Even so, as I watch Dorothy cry her eyes out, hugging me…
As I drift towards my fading conscience, I subconsciously think to myself.
This girl, isn't this the first time she called me by my name?
'Siyoung-onii-chan,' she said.
I think that's the first time.
It's like as if my mother-in-law who never acknowledged me finally took the time to call me by my name.
I think it's like that.
This feels really weird now.