Yuki was sitting on the bed, drying her hair with a blow dryer while wearing loose, slightly masculine clothes, clearly chosen for comfort.
Ryan, on the other hand, was sprawled in the computer chair, legs crossed, watching her with a bored expression.
"How long are you going to take to dry that hair, huh?" he asked.
Yuki paused for a moment, smiling arrogantly as she pointed the blow dryer and brush at him, as if they were her weapons.
"Patience, my dear Onii-chan. Keeping my hair this beautiful is a task worthy of a masterpiece!"
Ryan sighed, uncrossing his legs and leaning slightly forward. "Alright, diva. Let's cut to the chase: I need you to use your contacts so I can disappear from school for at least two weeks."
The sound of the blow dryer abruptly stopped. Yuki's eyes widened, clearly surprised.
"Two weeks?! What are you talking about?!"
Ryan didn't answer immediately, just staring at her with an expression that suggested he knew this would be her reaction.
She dropped the blow dryer into her lap, her tone now more serious as she asked, "Hey, hey, hey, dear brother. Who are you spending these two weeks with?"
He tilted his head slightly, as if enjoying the role reversal. "Shouldn't you be asking why I'm going instead of who with?"
Yuki narrowed her eyes, crossing her arms. "Oh? So, there really is someone?"
Ryan looked away, avoiding a direct answer.
"ANSWER ME, KUZE MASACHIKA!" Yuki yelled, dramatically, like a general demanding explanations on the battlefield.
Finally, he looked at her, a smug smile forming on his face.
"I'm going to spend a few days with a girl—"
Before he could finish, Yuki dramatically leapt off the bed, falling backward with her arms wide, as if struck by an arrow.
"AAAAAAAH! SOMEONE NTR'D MY BROTHER FROM MEEEEE!"
Ryan chuckled quietly, shaking his head, but didn't miss the chance to tease:
"Dramatic as always. You even make tragedy seem like a reality show."
Yuki raised a finger, still lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling with mock indignation.
"This is betrayal, brother! I'm disowning you from my heart!"
He just shook his head again, ignoring the theatrics as he grabbed his phone. "And here I thought you already disowned me when I took the last pudding from the fridge."
"That was cruel too…" she said, dramatically lowering her hand.
After a long performance the night before, Yuki efficiently did her part. She contacted a teacher she knew and managed to speed up a temporary leave document for Masachika, ensuring that his absences wouldn't affect his grades — after all, they were far from being bad.
The next morning, Ryan headed toward the agreed-upon meeting point to meet Yuno and Arona. The weather was overcast, with a cold breeze that promised rain at any moment.
"Yuki really got worked up about me spending a few days away..." Ryan muttered to himself, adjusting his coat as memories of the previous night came to mind: the teasing, the insinuations, and her peculiar manner. "This sister of mine... sometimes I think there's more to her than she lets on."
Soon, he spotted a familiar silhouette emerging from the mist. Long pink hair, a black coat paired with a belt that highlighted her waist, her twintails with a bunny detail giving her a more innocent air… but her hair was unmistakable, and the black shoes she wore made her slightly taller. Ryan smirked to himself, thinking, "She'd be a good eye candy... if she wasn't completely, totally, and insanely broken."
Without turning, Yuno was direct and cutting as always:
"You're always late, you incompetent?"
Ryan shrugged, maintaining his usual mocking tone:
"Oh, you know... I had to help an old lady with some heavy bags on the way."
She finally turned, her cold gaze and half-closed eyes capable of freezing anyone, locking eyes with Ryan, who was also wearing a loose black hoodie, military-style pants with pockets everywhere, the only white thing about his outfit being his shoes.
"Spare me your jokes. Where's Arona?"
Before he could answer, a childish and enthusiastic voice echoed right behind her:
"Here, Yuno-sensei!"
Arona appeared, skipping around with energy, as if immune to the gloomy weather. Her outfit, a short white skirt and a blue crop top with an innocent bow, seemed completely inadequate for the cold, which didn't go unnoticed by Ryan.
He leaned slightly toward the little girl, raising an eyebrow:
"Arona-chan, don't your little legs get cold in that outfit?" He gave a pointed glance at her attire.
At the same time, Yuno shot back in a direct, impatient tone:
"Hinamizawa, give me more information."
Arona paused for a moment, blinking as she looked from one to the other. Then, she gave a somewhat lost smile and asked in an innocent tone:
"So, senseis... who do I answer first?"
Ryan immediately noticed the tension in Yuno's face, her teeth clenched and her gaze predatory, like a wolf about to strike. Before things could escalate, he intervened with his usual mocking tone:
"Better answer the pink-haired one first, Arona-chan. We don't want to awaken her freezing wrath this early."
Yuno narrowed her eyes at Ryan but ignored him. Meanwhile, Arona giggled, clearly enjoying the interaction. "Okay, Yuno-sensei, you first!"
Arona, with a sweet and charming smile, pulled a small glass panel from her skirt. As the object began to glow faintly, she exclaimed in an excited, almost childish tone:
"Look, look, senseis!"
Ryan and Yuno both leaned in, curious.
"Here it is! This is Okinomiya, a town near Hinamizawa. You can use it as an entry point to reach the village with the help of Yuno-sensei's powers!"
Ryan raised an eyebrow, visibly frustrated, and sarcastically commented:
"Arona-chan... anyone can find this image on Google. Seriously, I expected you to give us something more, like... a sneak peek of the village itself."
He paused, as if something had just occurred to him. Turning to Yuno, his expression shifted to something between curiosity and disdain:
"Wait a minute. You said we'll use your powers to get there. But, what exactly are these 'powers' of yours, you disturbed girl?"
Yuno rolled her eyes, casting a look of pure disdain before responding:
"You don't need to understand."
Ryan sighed, running a hand through his hair with an exaggerated expression of fatigue.
"Stop being difficult. I've already figured out you teleport, especially after that 'dramatic entrance' of yours in the classroom. But how exactly does it work? If we're going to work together, it's at least good to know the basics of what you can do."
Arona, always eager to mediate, nodded enthusiastically.
"That's right, Yuno-sensei! Teamwork will be crucial now!"
Yuno, visibly irritated, crossed her arms and responded in a cold, almost mechanical tone:
"I don't fully understand the details either, but besides having increased physical strength—something, by the way, you also seem to have—I can teleport to places I've seen before. There's a cooldown for each teleport, but it's not fixed. The clearer my mental image of the place, the more efficient the teleportation."
She ended with a hostile look, but Ryan seemed more interested in the information than in the hostility.
He smiled and gestured with his hand, pleased to have finally gotten some useful information:
"See? Doesn't hurt to share a little. Now, about what I do—"
Yuno cut him off with a sharp, disdainful tone:
"You whistle and mark the time to come back. I'm not dumb enough not to have noticed."
Ryan went serious for a moment, processing the comment. But almost instantly, his expression shifted back to indifference, accompanied by a dramatic sigh.
"Tsk. Always ruining the surprises, huh, pinky?"
Arona looked back at the glowing vial, the light reflecting gently on her face as she spoke in a more serious tone, still carrying her characteristic gentle smile:
"Look, senseis, this says you need to solve a 'temporal influence' affecting the region. Unfortunately, I can't identify exactly what or who is causing it, but..."
She paused deliberately, her expression becoming slightly more serious as she fixed her eyes on Ryan:
"As soon as you get there, Ryan, remember to mark the time correctly, and please, don't unmark it again."
Ryan tilted his head, trying to decipher the meaning of the comment.
"You're telling me I'll need a remote save point to keep playing this game?" he replied slowly, using his peculiar nerdy metaphors.
Arona responded promptly, gesturing with her index finger in a teacher-like manner:
"You'll need to examine everything carefully to ensure the bearer of the Divine Fortune doesn't leave this world."
Ryan remained with a confused expression, scratching his head while trying to digest the information.
"Leave this world? Arona-chan, let's just say my little power only lets me go back 15 minutes in time. After that, the save is overwritten... Believe me, I tested it while playing gacha. Got a rare character and—"
"Shut up and pay attention, you filthy nerd." Yuno interrupted with a firm, cutting voice, looking at him with total disdain, as if she wanted to crush what little patience she had left.
Ryan stopped mid-sentence, blinking a few times before shrugging with an ironic grin.
"Alright, alright. Pinky's in a hurry... go ahead, Arona-chan. I promise not to disrespect her time again."
Arona maintained her calm tone and explained with her usual serenity:
"Don't worry about the limit of your time point, Ryan. Once you arrive in the village of Hinamizawa, your power will react to the Divine Fortune, and you'll notice significant changes."
Ryan crossed his arms, slightly tilting his head as he curiously asked:
"Okay, that puts me at ease… but what's this talk about the bearer of the divine thing leaving this world? Explain that better."
Arona started walking slowly back and forth, her light footsteps echoing with the weight of her words:
"Well, assuming the bearer is a human... if they die..." She stopped and gave a calm, but enigmatic look, a disconcerting smile appearing on her lips:
"...they'll leave this world and be sent to another."
The contrast between her casual tone and the dark content made Ryan raise an eyebrow, letting out a tired sigh:
"Great. So, that's why I can't risk losing a more distant point… But this bearer? Why would someone like that die? I mean, Yuno and I aren't exactly easy to take down."
While Ryan gestured with one hand, the other resting on his chin, Yuno stayed silent, her eyes fixed on Arona, analyzing each word she spoke as if decoding a riddle.
Arona turned to face them both and explained patiently:
"Well... from what I know so far, the bearer is most likely an ordinary human. They don't have the same abilities as you and Yuno-sensei."
Ryan closed his eyes for a moment, processing the information, before letting out a sarcastic chuckle:
"Right. But how will I know who it is? Will they have a sign around their neck saying 'Official Divine Fortune Bearer'?"
Arona placed a hand behind her head, adjusting her hair as she gave a nervous chuckle:
"As for that..." She hesitated for a moment before continuing in a more casual tone:
"It's simple: you just need to hug the person for a while. If you start to resonate with them..."
Ryan tilted his head to the side, clearly skeptical, his eyebrow raised almost reflexively:
"Wait a minute... are you serious?"
Arona simply smiled, as if hugging someone was the most logical thing in the world.
_____________________
If you wish to see the advanced chapters, you can check the link below:
patreon.com/ErisNoSeraph