The room was heavy with tension, silence broken only by the mother's cold voice. She looked at Kahi, her expression stern and unyielding
"Punch your brother."
Kahi blinked in confusion hesitating. At first, she thought it was a joke, a strange game her mother wanted to play. Reluctantly, she swung her small fist toward Kaki, her punch landing softly on his arm. "Harder," the mother commanded, her tone sharper now.
Kahi hesitated again, glancing at her brother, who stood motionless, his dark eyes unreadable. She didn't
understand, but she obeyed. This time, her punch was harder, enough to make Kaki stagger back.
"Harder!" the mother barked Kahi's small fist collided with Kaki's chest, sending him sprawling to the floor. His face met the cold surface, his
expression hidden for a moment.
When he finally lifted his head, his lips twisted into a dark, unsettling smile In his mind, Kaki screamed
"What do you think you're doing?
Turning her into someone like you? Making her hate me? You won't win. I hate you-l hate you so much!"
But he said nothing aloud. The
room was silent, save for the
mother's satisfied nod and
Kahi's nervous shifting. She
thought it was over, but
something darker had been
planted within her, something she didn't yet understand.
Kahi's Perspective
In her mind, Kahi tried to justify her actions. "It was just a game wasn't it? I didn't mean to hurt him. Mama said to do it, so it must be okay.. right?"
But a small voice in the back of her mind whispered doubts. Why had her mother made her do that? Why did it feel so wrong?
Days turned into weeks, and Kahi found herself changing Slowly, without realizing it, she started treating Kaki differently She was less kind, less understanding. She began to see him not as her brother, but as something distant- someone whose presence annoyed her, whose existence seemed smaller.
Kahi's mind:
"Why does he always act like that? So quiet, so strange... It's embarrassing. Maybe Mama's right about him. He always causes problems."
Kaki's Perspective
Kaki watched the changes in his sister with a heavy heart, She stopped defending him, stopped speaking to him with warmth. She began to act as though he didn't exist, and when she did acknowledge him, it was with cold indifference.
In his mind, Kaki cursed the mother's manipulations. "You did this. You made her like this. You poisoned her against me."
But outwardly, Kaki said nothing. He didn't fight back or confront her. Instead, he accepted her coldness,even as it cut him deeper than anything else.
In his thoughts, he resolved himself:
"It's not her fault. She doesn't know what she's doing. It's not me-it's this world. It's fate. But I swear, I'll change it. I'll swear on my blood that I'II make things right again."