Maria handed her mother's phone to her brother, still smiling, even though it was forced.
"What are you going to do with this recording if your plan succeeds?" William said, turning off the voice recorder on the phone his little sister had given him.
"Why are you asking if you already know the answer?" Maria replied.
"Isn't knowing the truth more exciting? When we know the truth, and it turns out to be what we believe, isn't that what people call 'meeting expectations'?"
"I don't understand what you mean."
"It's like a personal satisfaction, or maybe research I'm doing?"
"Research?"
"Ah, forget it, let's get to the main point."
"Wait a minute! If you act like that, it's even more suspicious! What do you mean? Research?"
"Huft... It's not important, it's just something I'm studying. To become human...," after that William fell silent and thought about something.
"Alright, the reason I came here is that I want an explanation from you, brother."
"But before that, Dad... Can you stop secretly recording our conversation from behind the door?" William said.
"Eh? I'm Caught? How is that possible?" His father shouted from behind the door.
"Dad... I'll explain everything after this. So, can you give me some time alone with my sweet little sister? And also, if you can, please erase the recording of my conversation with Maria."
"...," his father just remained silent.
"I promise, this time I won't lie again. And I also apologize, I was forced to do this. I didn't want Mom to get involved in this, so I pretended to use Dad as my pawn."
"You promise?"
"Yes, I promise."
"Alright."
After that, his father's footsteps could be heard moving away and slowly fading.
Meanwhile, Maria could only resign herself to the situation, because all her plans had been discovered.
"Recording my conversation and showing that I was actually just acting, then telling everyone at school, right? What a predictable plan. It seems you're still lacking, well, it's understandable since you're still 8 years old," William said.
"You're the one who's abnormal, brother," Maria replied, scratching her head because she felt confused about what she should do now.
"But, didn't you also gamble when you decided to use this method? How could you be sure that I was really acting?"
"I wasn't sure, I was just hoping."
"Hoping?"
"Yes, I hoped that the kind brother who always smiled at me was still the same person as my brother who is beside me right now."
"So that's it, my good behavior towards you made you not want to believe what you saw. That's why you used this method to make sure."
"Y-yes... You're really amazing, brother. If only I were smarter than you, maybe I could save you," Maria said, looking sad and disappointed in herself.
William stroked Maria's head.
"Eh? What are you doing!?" Maria shouted.
"I thought you liked it when I was nice to you? Am I wrong?" William asked.
"My hair is messed up!"
William stopped doing it and said, "It seems like only little girls in novels like to have their heads stroked."
"ha? What do you mean?"
"Nothing, forget it. Instead of that, you came here to know the real story, right?"
"To be honest, I came here just to record our conversation and use it as a reason. But I'm also curious, please tell me!" Maria said with a serious and enthusiastic expression.
William fell silent for a moment, then looked up without reason.
"The first thing you need to know, I didn't erase your memory with my powers or anything. Besides, no matter how powerful my abilities are, they have nothing to do with things that don't have a physical form at all. If you think I did something with your memory, then you're wrong."
"Then, what really happened?"
"Most likely it's because of fear."
"Fear?"
"Yeah, I didn't mean to, but it seems you were scared of my abilities at that time, so you were shocked and even fainted afterwards."
"I... Scared... Of you, brother?"
"Yeah, but because of that, it made it easier for me to act and turn the situation around."
"Taking advantage of me who doesn't have any memory and carrying out your plan, right?" Maria said to confirm.
"Yes, although it didn't really have much influence, but if there were other people who believed in you, it could have destroyed my plan. That's why I was lucky you lost your memory, it must have made you doubt what you wanted to believe. It made you hesitate to take action and turn the situation I had carefully planned around."
"You wanted to use this opportunity to create a situation where the 6 people who bullied me would see me as a very kind person and make them feel guilty?"
"Exactly, very good! Just as I expected from my sweet little sister!"
"But, it's just a fake situation that's made up."
"But it worked, right?"
"But... Why are you the villain?"
"It's just that the timing was perfect. Besides, the 6 people remember me, not anyone else. It also made it easier for me to spread the news of the 'kind hero' to everyone."
"I understand that, you see everyone as pawns on a chessboard, right? Including myself..."
"That metaphor makes me seem like I don't care about humans at all. Well, what can I say, it's true."
"But..."
"What else?"
"Why did you do it?"
William looked confused and replied, "Didn't I already answer? I wanted to turn the situation around you for the better."
"But why?"
"What why?"
"Why did you do it?"
"It's because-"
"No! I understand what you did it for! But why? Why did you sacrifice yourself?"
"Woah! Are you worried about me? So cute! My little sister is actually worried about me!" William said in a mocking tone.
"Stop joking! I'm serious now! Answer my question correctly!"
Seeing his little sister so serious and shouting made him confused. His face wrinkled because he didn't understand, he looked like he was seeing something new to learn.
"Honestly, I don't understand why you're so insistent on knowing that. I understand your reason for finding out the truth is because you're curious. But why do you seem so unhappy with what I did?" William said.
"Just answer!"
"Hm... This is quite complicated to explain. Honestly, I don't understand."
"What don't you understand?"
"My reason for doing it... Maybe it's because I just wanted to do it?"
"Ha? What do you mean?"
"How do I explain it? It's like I wanted to do something with your situation. It's clear that at that time, I felt like I was angry. But there was also a feeling of discomfort with the 6 people who bullied you at that time."
"You mean... you felt guilty?"
"Guilt? You might be right, no... It's the only explanation that can explain the feeling of discomfort at that time. That might be what triggered me to think about a plan to get punished."
"Ha?"
"Ah, you don't need to worry, I'm still underage and the teachers already know the truth about what really happened. The only people who don't know you were bullied at that time are all the students at school, and also Dad and Mom. I also made sure that Dad and Mom think that my case doesn't involve you to prevent information leaks in the future."
With a face full of sympathy and sadness and guilt, Maria asked, "Why did you go this far for me?"
"It seems that's the answer."
"What do you mean?"
"The reason why I went this far, it's because I did it for you. I wanted to help my family, and also my situation where I wanted to be punished made this situation easier for me to control."
"For family...," Maria murmured, then fell silent afterwards to contemplate.
"You did it too, right?"
"Me what?"
"When I was beaten up at that time, you protected me because I'm your family, right?"
"Y-yeah."
"So we're even, right?" William said with a smile.
Seeing that sweet sincere smile made Maria fall silent, not in a bad way, but because she enjoyed the warmth in her heart. Her brother's affection was conveyed directly and touched her more than she imagined.
At that moment, Maria's trust in her brother returned to what it was before, even stronger than before. Without them realizing it, their relationship as siblings had been rebuilt to be stronger than they could have imagined.