Ren and Lauren sat down by the dining table after hearing the entire story of their own lives. He managed to conclude that they were transmigated into a different world altogether.
Which led her to believe that all of those transmigation novels were real, although she was more keen on leaning toward her 'rebirth' into his life as his sister. Thus, this time with her by his side to keep themselves occupied and away from their loneliness in their growing years of their previous lives.
Since according to him and what happened so far with the ripped posters and such wall decorations, she believed that even more that she's reborn to become his sister.
She learned that Ren is the current owner of the water company of 'their' parents in this world, named AurothWaters. Which somewhat gave her a huge relief since she really didn't want to go back to being a manager of the company.
She also realised that after looking up their family name in the internet with her phone, she found herself in a family photo with Ren and their family. It made her happy for a moment to witness her parents' smiling faces after thirteen years had gone past in her previous life. She was twenty eight years old when she died to a truck.
When Lauren found the photo online with her phone, Ren saw her tears flowed down uncontrollably as she muttered under her breath that she had missed the faces of her parents. He heard about her losing her parents at a younger age than him. Although he had lost his parents at the age of eighteen even in this new life just two months ago, he still feel sorrow of losing his parents through his last five years of his life.
He was indeed surprised by her appearance in his family photo. It was as if someone had perfectly edited the photo by adding her face into the family photo. But when he looked into the family album for a physical copy of his own family photo, he noticed her inside the photograph with him together.
It was a photo dubbed under the photo as, 'Our beautiful lotus'.
He showed her the family album at the table, and waited for her to speak up ever since she opened the album to look at their photos together with their parents. She blushed from seeing a photo of two babies holding hands with their mother's bright smile and a V-shape fingers in her selfie.
A sight he knew full well from his own time checking his family album when he had days of depression.
"Fuhh... thank you, Ren.", she sounded calmer and firmer than before. She had loosened her guard with him after confirming that they are related by blood.
It made him smile as he tried to act like a brother to her, "W-Well, sister... what do you want to eat for breakfast?"
"Already thinking like a sibling and figuring out how we're here?", she gave him a teasing sneer.
He cleared his throat before coming up with a question in his mind, "What do you think, sis? I think that we're not really in our own worlds but a completely different one that made you my sister... by blood."
"Suave.", she smiled.
He wore a saddened smile as he murmured under his breath, "If only we went back in time to stop them from going..."
Lauren frowned upon seeing his saddened look and sighed sadly, "Give me your phone, Ren. I wanted to check on something real quick.", she gave him an excuse to use his phone when her phone was charging up in the living room.
He scratched his head as he lend her his phone by sliding his phone across the table. She caught it without any hesitation as she typed something down on his phone. He waited for a minute until her voice broke their silence.
"Ah... what's my phone number again?", she mumbled under her breath as her thoughts leaked out of her mind. It looked like she was trying to sneak in her contact info into his phone. Ren sighed internally as he got up to make the two something to eat.
[Well, I'm glad that he left for a bit. Let's see if I can log into my account for that app...]
She frowned when she couldn't access her account, [That's right... I made that account when I was twenty... I should create it now though on my phone so that I can gain some extra cash doing trades.], she put down the phone and shut her eyes as she tried to find out more about this merged world.
[Now that I think about it. Is it possible that our parents could've died separately? That... would be way sadder if these bodies of us right now were originally theirs.
Damn, it's already sad enough to have both parents die but one at fifteen and the next at eighteen? This family is so cursed with deaths... now!]
"I should help him out with AurothWaters after all... I don't want him to stress out from the burden now that we're siblings."
Ren interjected with a smile as he brought two plates of sandwiches over to the table, "Don't worry. I was told to stay in school until I graduated with a fitting degree in business courses, since I noticed this on the fridge while I was going to cook us something.
He showed her a letter in his hand, it was from one of the loyal workers under their father's company. Ren and Tresna recognised the handwriting and smiled faintly at the same time.
"Mr. Travis." - Lauren.
"Uncle Travis is so kind in every worlds, haha." - Ren.
He added more details that he read while grabbing the phone from her side of the table after placing down her plate of sandwiches, "Apparently, this world managed to get us to stay in school unlike how we had to manage work at eighteen fresh out of school. This way, we can easily handle work when we're good enough for the near future."
He sighed lightly as he sat down on his seat with his plate of sandwiches, "So, let's enjoy school, I think you can check on what class you're in by looking at your notebooks."
"I'm in 3D. Not available in your nearest cinemas though.", he snickered at his own joke he came up on the spot.
She nodded, "Okay.", she didn't pay much attention to his jokes. She needed to get her mindset together as a young person once again. She was still older than him mentally and she needed to act as an older sister of him.
She had her fist up to the air with her eyes facing the imaginary blue sky instead of the white ceiling above her head. She then realised that her being an older sister was practically impossible with her petite looks.
Even in her previous world, her appearance oozed cuteness and defenseless. It didn't matter if she sounded tough in this world as people would pamper her for being brave and cute.
Her ears had gone red from overthinking her embarrassing past and plausible future in school. She faced Ren and scrutinized his gentle behaviour and appearance, she felt something was off with his thin but muscular arms, especially in his right arm.
It looked like his right arm is completely dead but watching him easily lift them up and down, the more confused she was with his body. He lifted his eyes from his phone to notice her staring at his right arm.
"Ah..."
He covered his right arm, causing her to stop staring and asked about his condition, "What's up with your arm?"
He looked down at his arm before facing her in the eyes, she deserved to know at least this much. He thought as he nodded with a firm resolve, "I had a terrible accident that... supposed to have ended me, since the machinery fell on top of my right arm and I felt rather tired from bloodloss."
He continued after lifting his right arm, "When I wake up in a hospital, I find my right arm... magically healed, I was so sure that I heard everything was broken in this arm and..."
He grabbed a fork from the cutlery rack, surprising her as he jammed the fork right into his right arm!
Blood came out of his right arm naturally, a common eye would deduce that his right arm was normal and can bleed like others but... Ren didn't feel any pain neither do he flinch when he jammed the fork in.
Lauren was more confused by his lack of pain as she asked the obvious, "You don't feel pain."
He nodded, "In my right arm, mostly up to my right shoulder. My upper shoulder still have pain receptors as far as I can feel pain whenever I pinched it."
He continued from where he left off, "I don't know why it became like this but I also remember that when I was just a little baby..."
*rips*
Her eyes widened as she looked around for the sound of something being ripped apart. It was so close to the sound of a paper being ripped by hand as she watched his hand in the air appear to be ripping something.
He shoved his hand in the spot where he had ripped and she was shocked by his hand magically disappeared from her naked eyes. He pulled out his hand to reveal a cold bottle of chrysanthemum flower tea out of thin air.
"W-What the?!", she jumped out of her chair as she pointed her finger at him, "How did you? Magic?"
He shook his head and placed a finger against the corner of his lips as he put down the bottle of flower tea on the table, "Let's see... what did he say to me back then..."
"Ah.", his voice turned dark, sending shivers down her spine as she gulped down her saliva from his sudden shift of tone.
"Birth Ability; Paper Gaps."
He realised that he was speaking coldly as he bowed his head down to apologise, "U-Uh sorry, I was trying to mimick his voice and uh... that came out. He's an... ally of mine, someone I would call a half-brother since we have the same bloodline."
He smiled as he decided to tell her the entire truth of the mysterious stranger who he met back in his life, "He's got gradient-coloured hair and his name is Rirota Xalysia!"
Her eyes widened as if she has heard of a ghost's name out of his mouth. His ocean blue eyes were still sparkling from his excitement of telling her about a half-twin of his.
Lauren's eyes widened as she remembered who she was thinking about, "I do have a Rirota in my world too!", she immediately tensed up her expression because of her terrible memories of her Rirota Xalysia.
"She's a really bad person."
Ren frowned. He wasn't sure if she was telling the truth to him as the Rirota he knows are reliable and trustworthy. They've been to an adventure after all, in Tulips to defeat a certain someone who was abusing their kingly powers.
Lauren noticed his frowned expression and changed the subject smoothly, "Where did you get that bottle?"
He became flustered from her stare and nervously explained to her about the tea, "A-Ah, it's not stolen. I'm telling you, I just took it out of the fridge because it was there!"
"I see!~", she chuckled cutely as her mind went to another realm. She had to think about her situation with his in this world, [We are not the only twins here, Ren...], she smiled as she nailed the mark on the gimmicks of this world.
After breakfast and taking a morning bath on separate times. The two of them sat down in the living room as Lauren stared at her phone as a video sounds escaped in the living room. Ren looked up for his bank account for his balance.
He sighed lightly as he noticed a familiar account number who had been sending him allowance every months, [Uncle Ty, thanks for everything you've done in both of my lives.]
[Hopefully he doesn't give more after I graduate, that would make me feel sad if that's the case.], he lifted his eyes to take a good look of his 'identical' sister, [Hm, I should start asking her about her classroom. If I can remember correctly of Rirota's classroom, it should be 3A.]
He hugged himself, thinking deeply on his next course of plans for tomorrow, [Instead of checking out his classes now, I should keep a close eye on my classmates. Who knows if we were to find some friends or other twins in this world?]
His ears twitched from the lack of video chatter from her phone as he took the opportunity to ask her about her assigned classroom, "Sis, do you know which class you're in?"
[Was he... been patiently waiting for this ten minutes video to finish? Wow, I'm very impressed.]
She put down her phone as she looked up at her mind to remember what class she was in, "I'm in... 3A."
Ren's face lit up, he was overjoyed to hear her being in the same class as Rirota, "Oh nice! You can get to meet with him over there yourself! Do say hi to him for me, sis!"
Lauren frowned upon hearing him overhyped over someone. She was also perplexed with how Ren was highly praising Rirota when she knew the Rirota she remembered are a bad person that blackmailed people.
At first, she thought that the Rirota of his world may also blackmailing him. However, he was more proud of talking about Rirota rather than feeling uncomfortable from it. She wondered if there are some big differences between the aware twins like them and unaware twins that solely believed that twins are purely common sense and sights and those who are an only child are considered special.
Although, Lauren would think that an only child would be a prime target of bullying, since they're quote on quote 'different' than most other people in this world.
She sighed after noticing him patiently waiting for her to reply. God, he's such a good boy to wait for that long.
"I... I will try.", she forced herself to smile at him. He reacted back with a joyful smile, "Thanks!"
[I can't let him be influenced by bad people, that's for sure. I should go to school and kept an eye out for Rirota Xalysia. Hopefully he... or her won't notice me.]
She had a courageous look in her eyes, [I hope I can get away with just staring at them at the right time. That way I won't be judged alone when everyone is also watching them.]
...
The day went by peacefully in Auroth's family. It was a livelier change for the two as new siblings as they have much to talk about from each other's pasts. After all, being lonely is different than being a loner.
Night time, the two of them decided to sleep in separate rooms. They also planned out a future change to move out their belongings to another room so that they won't have any troubles changing clothes and whatnot.
However, it did prove that decision they made a bit hard to execute under one day. So they made compromise to keep their belongings in the same room for the time being. About sleeping... Ren decided to sleep in a dusty room of their late parent's bedroom while letting her rest in his or her's bedroom.
Ren wondered about other twin's bedrooms situation, did they sleep together in the same bed or in different beds? She too, wondered the same. But, if they were to sleep together in the same room. The point could be that they were either sleeping in single beds or a bunk bed to save rooms.
Lauren lifted up the bedsheets of their bed in the bedroom they both woke up.
"Oh!"
"Oooh."
They were amazed by the two single beds were used to form a larger, double-size like single bed. That confirmed one of their points. However, they thought that it might be really embarrassing to continue sleeping with their beds connected so they decided to sleep in separate rooms.
=====
(Lauren's Perspective)
I lay down on my bed, relaxing my arms and legs as my mind wandered away in the bliss that was the comfort of the mattresses under me.
That's right, I'm making a full use of this double single beds' middle by eagle spreading myself. It's been so long since I've slept in a comfortable mindset. Ahh... but I had to think of something that made my mind go overdrive mode.
I remember what he told me during dinner when I asked him about his ability to... rip spaces. I think it's functions the same like a game character I used to play in fighting games but remembering that one made me annoyed since I'm so bad at playing games.
'You don't have an ability in your world? Wait... let me try something real quick.'
'Ah, sis! Maybe, you can try to create an ice speartip that's been coated in blood. I know it sounds grim and over detailed but that used to be my second ability.'
Ice and Blood manipulation, huh?
Should I prick my finger onto an ice cube to try it out? Fish blood would work too, right? Urgh, I don't know. Do I just need to think about it? Ice speartip? Hmm... cold freezing mist covering the air around a spear... tip. I closed my eyes as I focused on my imagination skills.
I imagined an ice sculpture of just the speartip. Luckily I know how a spear looks like since I do go to a museum, I go outside! Ahem, it looked sharp but with an interesting light paleish blue transparency, it's called ice for a reason. I don't know the reason why. Maybe... let me quickly search when ice was invented... I feel stupid immediately after I tried to insult someone or something... maybe me at a younger age.
"Haha...", I guess acting a loner made me miss interaction that much. Talking to my brother in this world... warms my cold blooded heart.
Cold... blooded... heart.
I imagined a frozen heart that I stumbled upon in a sketchy lab back when I was twenty... one? Two? I don't remember the exact number but...
I felt something cold, it was pleasantly cool enough that I had to open my eyes to watch the new object that's blocking the lights below my eyes' view. It's floating... a cold... blooded heart is floating above me.
It's a detailed sculpture of a heart in ice. However, the colour of the ice was bloody red rather than the light blueish. Holy... molly! I can't fucking believe it!
I sat up in greater joy as I lifted my hands to grab the floating heart. Wow... it's cold.
I wanted to smack my head for stating the obvious but this is a real feeling of coldness! This is real! I'm using my brother's special powers in this world! I can become a...
Eh, no... I just imagined my small ass body in a classic hero pose with a stupidly long cape and a suit with a stupid one letter to identify myself.
"...", I sighed deeply as I stood up from the bed. I guess I needed company to sleep after all. Since I used to be taken care by a kind relative when I was a teenager...
Ugh... it's REALLY EMBARRASSING for a TWENTY EIGHT year old me to admit it, I tell you. Twenty-eight!! But, I don't think my eighteen year old self right now... No, it's fine! As long as there isn't a black out or a thunderstorm, I am---
*thud*
"KYAAAAAA!!!"
*bang*
I heard the door to my room suddenly banged against the wall.
"Sis? You good?! It's just a blackout, I'll go flip the switch back up!"
Fuck, why the hell is the lights out? It's like the damn gods were listening on me and decided to pull a NASTY prank on me!
"Uh... sis, could you release my hands?", he asked me with his gentle voice politely. I was holding on his hands?
"But... I'm not holding onto...", something... I froze from fear.
"Ugwaaaa!?"
*click*
=====
Police sirens slowly lost it's sounds after leaving behind the Auroth's household. Ren and Lauren sighed heavily as they kept their heads down. It was lucky that a neighbour who was living beside their house was still awake when he heard her screaming. He had called the police and it was confirmed by Ren that he was holding hands with the burglar.
It was an amateur thief. Dude flipped the switch off after entering the house but was unable to see anything. Besides, he tried to rob a shabby place. (As Auroth siblings before the transmigation stopped maintaining their lawn and house after the death of their parents.)
Ren thanked the neighbour sincerely and the latter simply smiled as he was close with his father. The man used to be pub friends with his father, going drinking and chatting about work and life. He took a quick look at Lauren and sighed with relief that she's not hurt.
They bidded farewells before it got any later in the night.
"Hey...", Lauren spoke as she tugged on his shirt. He faced her with a gentle expression, "Yes, sis?"
"...Can we... sleep together?", she felt embarrassed from telling him as she tries backing up her words, "It's not because I'm afraid or anything! I'm just concerned if you were to get hurt! You're younger than me, by five years, after all!"
[Cute.], he thought while watching his small... big sister's red face full of embarrassment as he nodded at her request, "Okay, sis."
"Thanks! Wait, don't think it's because I like having you sleep with me, okay?"
"I know."
"I absolutely am not letting you sleep with me again tomorrow, okay!"
"Okay."
"Mrrmmm...", she pouted sulkingly as the covers shifted to darkness, ending their first night... in this new world.