Overthinking is a very dangerous thing. It is like poison, and an idle mind is the devil's workshop. The more Mira thinks about Hans's sudden death, she realizes how painful it is to lose someone she offhandedly confesses because of the spur of the moment, one of curiosity and peer pressure.
Mira Neverine, her current name, and the name she shall carry from now on moving forward. This is no longer simply her shield, but her talisman. A kind of charm, and remembrance of that one annoying guy.
[DEFEAT]
The familiar texts that spell her defeat in playing Masters of Myth appear on her monitor screen. Back then even if she loses on a streak, she remains enthusiastic about the game, but now, it just tastes overly bitter.
Mira remembers.
School is fun, and making friends has never been easy. Maybe it is thanks to Hans after all. Playing the clown, and the butt of the joke, he manages to connect her to people. Not sycophants who desire to gain her favor. Darla and Claudia are just among the few friends she cherishes.
Bzzt~
Mira feels for her phone's vibration and opens it, seeing the message from her best friend, Darla, she realizes how miserable she truly is.
Darla: Hey, are you ok? Is it true? Is Hans really gone? How are you doing?
And now, her Aunt Tammy is gone too. Vanished. Not a trace. Just gone. At least, Hans is on the 9 o'clock news and his death has been all but confirmed… a rather sad way to confirm a friend's death.
Bzzt~
Another vibration. Mira swipes on her phone wanting to see who it is.
Claudia: Tell me that Hans is not dead.
A command, and just like how Claudia usually does it, she is not someone to just relent unless she gets something she wants. Mira watches her phone passively as more of Claudia's antics reach her.
Claudia: If he is dead, I will kill him!
Claudia: Oy, don't leave me on read, you wench!
Claudia: Ugh… Who are we gonna cuss now that he is dead?
Strangely, the friendship that Mira shares with Claudia is that of rivalry, one that rises from competing on who can curse Hans more. Mira remembers.
Yes, Mira remembers, and that is why it hurts more.
Because of a strange bet with Darla and Claudia, and the peer pressure, Mira has to confess 'love' to Hans. And so she does… Only that the results are not just results, but a cascading domino of effects.
"I don't like you." He dismisses so easily, and the reason why it hurts more is because he is speaking the truth all thanks to Mira knowing of his Geass Restrictions.
From there, it just gets worse.
Hans starts acting odder and odder by the day. He is purposefully avoiding her, even not bothering to give her the compliments that his Geass requires, and even going as far as to leave her hanging in conversations. That bastard, Hans even goes as far as to sleep on the floor and separate himself from the warm mattresses.
At that time, Mira thinks that it is only right. After all, Hans doesn't like her, and she should not be angry about this thing.
That is until Hans's death leaves Mira in tragic confusion.
"Just what are we?"
The one year she spends in Holden High School passes by so fast that she does not even feel like it ending, not even wanting it to end. She wishes in her heart to return at that time and just go on with it forever.
However, the vacation at the end of the school year feels so slow she feels like time is not moving at all. Falling into a complicated grief, Mira realizes how weak she is as a person. Her parents are out of sight, her aunt missing, and her first friend is dead.
~knock! ~knock! ~knock!
Chasing the depressing thought from her mind are a series of knocks on her apartment door.
As Mira touches the doorknob, she feels an intense chill from her spine. Mira's heart starts beating wildly, and her Geass is in a wild storm. Mira possesses great instincts and sensory abilities that revolve around the attributes of the Heart which include vitality, strength, and magic.
The person behind the door is someone incredibly powerful.
Mira recalls the Dara Ramen Shop. She suspects this must be the center of everything. To this, only her aunt will have the answers. Mira recalls her aunt telling her that she has a plan so maybe this is her Aunt Tammy, but the enormous magical power behind the door doesn't really tell her that it is her Aunt Tammy.
Being able to sense the magic of the other, doesn't mean she can remember it. Sensory powers are among the few talents in the world whose rarity is pretty much close to unknown except the clairvoyant-related magic.
Anxiety is leisurely eating at her from inside and outside,
Mira opens the door raining her magic output from her fist.
"D-dad?"
Messy dark hair, sad blue eyes, but a lukewarm smile.
"Daughter," Peran whispers to Mira while he gives her his hug. The two embrace in familial silence, and father and daughter reunite. However, despite it being should be a happy reunion, it has become a despondent one.
"Dad, I am sorry… I… I thought I was strong…"
Mira cries in her dad's embrace, and her dad just listens to her.
After five minutes and more, Mira calms down and welcomes her father to the apartment.
"Dad, have some tea…"
"Aisheesh~ I am so proud of my daughter! Brewing myself tea already! Ha ha ha!"
Peran waits for his daughter's tea and watches her figure with a warm gaze.
"Are you ok, daughter?"
"Yes, I am fine, Dad. Never been better."
"I am your dad, you cannot lie to me."
Silence.
The steaming tea and its aroma reach Peran's nose. He takes small gulps, while observantly taking a gander at his daughter's flat.
"Nice place, you have here. How is that boy? The one I have you as a servant? Did you use him well?"
Mira bites her lip realizing that her father is not here for Hans, the young boy that her father forces to take care of her. Hans does not know, but he has been under a spell all this time, one that binds someone under subconscious servitude. Her father can borrow the magic of another mage, and the curse of servitude that her mother uses is so potent not any mage can dispel it.
But Mira can.
"How is Mom, Dad?"
She deflects the question with another question.
Peran frowns finding his daughter's actions as abnormal.
"We have been on the run since the fiasco and with our shenanigans, the clan will remain busy chasing our tails. So, where is the boy? I should give him a reward for taking care of you."
"He is dead." Mira bluntly tells.
Peran doesn't show a shred of emotion to this, not even sympathy. He is a fool for his daughter and a tyrant to those that are not his daughter.
"Let's go." Standing up, he grabs Mira's arm to bring her along to escape the hateful apartment that lacks any dignity. While it is nice, it is not accommodating for a young and prestigious clan heir like Mira.
Mira resists her father's insistence on leaving.
"Let go of me. Dad, why are you even here?"
"Your aunt suddenly died. Your mother's life connection to her suddenly died. She theorized she must have been attacked by those from the Benevolence. Moreover, you need a man around 13 meters in your range. That boy is gone, so you have to come with me now. I cannot risk you, daughter."
Hearing the news of her aunt's death is shocking, but more the strictness of her father. No. It isn't his father that is a surprise to her. It is normal for a father to care for his daughter. It is her own selfishness that stops her from going with her dad.
"No, I refuse." She forcefully pulls her arm out of her father's grasp.
"I will stay." She declares.
A selfish heart is something she possesses. She decides to leave her clan, and now she is in this mess. She didn't regret it though. So if she chooses not to leave, she will not regret it too. This is her selfishness.
Peran stimulates his magic subtly putting force on his fingers. "What is the meaning of this, Mira? Do you wish to die? Fall into indefinite slumber? Tell me, Mira, do you want this? Convince me."
Mira glares at her father, their eyes meeting in a clash of silent thunder. Mira opens her mouth with spirit. "I will adopt a brother. No, the right term will be adopting a son. First thing in the morning, I will go to the orphanage to find myself a son."
"…"
For a long good second, Peran's mind just goes blank.