"I need to talk to you"
For a moment, he seemed to have considered reconciliation, but then, he refused once again.
"I said no way! What past? For me, the problem is still very current! My life is a mess ever since you arrived! Now, I have a bad reputation, I lost credit in the eyes of the teachers, the headmaster is on my back, and my friends give me the cold shoulder!"
"Oh, come on!" I complained. "That's not my fault! You got yourself in this situation! Besides, if your friends started to ignore you once you got in trouble, then they are not your friends!"
Frost suddenly got up in anger. "What do you know? You don't even have friends!"
How mean! How could he…? You don't get to raise the sensitive topic!
"I- I do have friends!" I retorted.
"Yeah, right! Imaginary friends don't count!" He mocked.
"They are not imaginary! They are very real! I have two of them! Their names are Yoko and Harri! They might not be here right now, but unlike yours, my friends will never betray me!"
Frost paused for a moment, as he raised an eyebrow.
"Yoko and Harri? Aren't those… the names of the Goddess of Lust and the God of Love?" He asked.
"Ah…"
He then suddenly burst out in laugher.
"You really lack imagination, hahaha! You could've at least picked other names! Like, what? You want to make me believe that your two only friends just happened to be named after Gods? What a coincidence!"
This bastard… He doesn't believe me. For once, I'm telling the truth!
As I was about to shut him up, Frost suddenly gasped, choking his laugher at once. Blood drained from his face, he instantly blanched. For a moment, I thought it was because he read through my expression, but then I noticed he was looking behind me.
"What is it?" I asked as I turned around.
"S-Shit! It's Aoban Whiteheart!" He exclaimed.
From afar, I spotted a small group walking in our direction. Frost was right. It was indeed Aoban, and I also recognized some of his friends. They hadn't seen us yet, but it was only a matter of time. Too busy chasing Frost, I failed to notice that we ending up in the upperclassmen's buildings. Well, we did run for a while after all...
Alarmed by the turn of events, Frost started to panic. Aoban wasn't fond of him and he knew it. Once the rumor I had been kidnapped reached his ears, brother made sure to make publicly known that he was going to "deal" personally with anyone bothering me.
Frost was a talented summoner, but he was far from being a match for Aoban. He was younger, less experienced, and even when it comes to plain magic, he didn't even the skills of Aoban. That's just how talented brother was –or at least, that's what I heard because to be honest, I've never really seen him in action. Dealing with the teachers was something, but dealing with Aoban was a whole other story. He had every reason to fear him. In this Academy, students were allowed to fight. As a matter of fact, they were even encouraged to fight, provided that their fights would follow that school's rules.
As Aoban's group was closing the distance between us, Frost suddenly rushed to the closest door and tried to force the handle, but it was locked.
『Open.』
The [World System] obeyed my command and the door opened itself. This time, it was my turn to rush to the door. I pushed Frost inside the room and closed the door behind us in hurry. As Frost looked at me with confused eyes, I grabbed his head and forced him to crouch down, so as not to be seen through the door's window. Luckily, the room was empty. It seemed to be some kind of storage room: the perfect hiding place.
I brought my index finger in front of my mouth, signaling Frost not to make a sound, and we waited. We waited for Aoban's group to pass by. We heard their footsteps slowly becoming louder, and then gradually subsiding. Once we couldn't hear them anymore, we both sighed in relief.
Frost then looked up at me, his eyes squinted. "You know, I really don't like your brother," he explained after staying silent for a while.
"I know," I simply responded.
"Our views differ and I don't like the way he deals with… well, things," he continued.
"I know," I sighed.
"I'm telling you he's my enemy, so I have every reason to avoid him."
"And I'm telling you I know all about that already."
"But… Why are you avoiding him?" He finally asked.
I stayed quiet for a moment before breaking the eye contact. "I'm not avoiding him…"
"Of course you are. If not, what was that all about? You seemed almost more desperate than me to hide."
"Fine, maybe I'm avoiding him," I eventually answered as I let out a loud sigh. "But that's none of your business."
Frost clicked his tongue, somehow dissatisfied by my answer, but he didn't insist any further as he understood it was pointless.
Brother is… Well, it's brother. He is kind and all, and I love him. We always had a good relationship, but ever since I started attending school, things started to change a little… Aoban has always been very protective. Because we didn't have a paternal figure, he behaves both as a brother and a father towards me. I understand. I feel the same sometimes, especially since I watched him grow. This behavior of his never really bothered me, I even found it cute. But now, it's totally getting on my nerves.
Actually, brother is the main reason why I couldn't make friends. Sure, I transferred. Sure, I have golden eyes. Sure, I got involved in a problem on my first day. But to be honest, all those reasons were not enough to have me shunned by my peers. Quite the opposite, actually. Students were naturally curious, and because of all those reasons, I attracted their attention. But then, Aoban had to throw in his two cents, and all this attention turned into something somewhat negative.
The one people truly feared wasn't me, it was my brother. It was only by association they started to be wary of me.
Aoban was talented. I've heard enough to understand he was some kind of sword prodigy. Over the years, my uncle hired the best tutors he could find for him, so whether it is physically or intellectually, brother belonged to the bests. As for his magic abilities, they were not particularly exceptional but they were definitely above average. Aoban had a greater control of his mana than most people, and his magic affinities weren't low either. Then, appearance wise, although I wouldn't call him handsome –especially since he's my brother, his facial features were all well defined and equally balanced, giving off a nice vibe. Basically, he's strong, smart and not bad looking. On the top of that, he's the heir of a noble family. He was meant to become popular.
However, with popularity come hatred and fear. No one just reaches the top without gaining enemies. Aoban was no exception. He had a lot of enemies. There were those who belonged to a rival household, those who had a differing political opinion, and those who were simply jealous. But all were wary of him. In a world where equity and equality don't exist, people learned to fear those who gained too much power and influence too quickly. Turns out brother might not be as innocent as I thought either… And if I've learned one thing from war strategy games, it's that if your enemy is too strong, don't attack directly. Aim for the weaknesses! In this case, that meant me. For Aoban's many enemies, I, the random sibling, was an easy target. Brother was perfectly aware of that. Now that I'm "vulnerable", his parentification issue has gotten worse. He's always been overprotective, but now, he's starting to be controlling.
Obviously, after intimidating anyone trying to get to know me, the rumor quickly spread: "Do not get close to the transfer student, or else, Aoban Whiteheart will kill you".
Seriously… This sister-complex of his is no longer amusing. It used to be cute but we are no longer children. This is starting to become toxic.
"Hey...you okay"