Shiba Miyuki gazed at the dormitory she was leaving and suddenly felt both mind and body relax.
"Crossing between worlds… truly a wondrous experience."
Inside the chat group:
Rei Ao: "@Shiba Miyuki, @Toudou Touka, have you both returned safely?"
Seeing Rei Ao's question, Shiba Miyuki quickly replied:
Shiba Miyuki: "Yes, I've already made it back to the dorm."
Toudou Touka: "I'm back at the academy as well."
Rei Ao: "All right."
After replying to Rei Ao, Shiba Miyuki was still savoring the experience of traveling to a different world. She especially could not forget the sight of Rei Ao slaughtering countless demons without so much as blinking—an event forever etched in her mory, since she herself had never taken a human life.
While sparring with Toudou Touka, she had asked how Touka viewed it. The other girl's attitude was straightforward:
"Since they were enemies, there was no need for rcy. Rei Ao did nothing wrong."
After hearing from Frieren what the demon race truly was, Shiba Miyuki had no objections to that reasoning. Even so, it was difficult to get used to such a sight right away; it would take ti.
"Whew…"
Letting out a deep breath, she decided to take a good bath to relax. However, seeing a notification on her phone, she figured she should respond first. It was a ssage from Student Council President Saegusa Mayumi, sent not long ago.
Saegusa Mayumi: "Shiba Miyuki, if you see this ssage, please reply."
Shiba Miyuki: "President, I just got back to the dorm and saw your ssage."
Saegusa Mayumi: "Ah, thank goodness. You hadn't replied for a while, so even I was starting to think you were missing."
Shiba Miyuki: "Huh? Soone thought I was missing?"
Saegusa Mayumi: "Your brother did."
Shiba Miyuki: "Brother?"
"???"
Shiba Miyuki was full of questions: since when did she have a brother? Her mories were clear—she had lived in a mansion with her mother since she was little. Even if she saw her father, he would just tell her to go back to the Yotsuba family ho and never truly co back. Where would a brother fit in?
Saegusa Mayumi: "It's Shiba Tatsuya."
Shiba Miyuki: "Huh? I don't recall ever having an older brother nad Shiba Tatsuya."
Saegusa Mayumi: "Eh?"
Reading Miyuki's answer, Mayumi was dumbfounded. Shiba Miyuki doesn't know she has a brother?!
Saegusa Mayumi: "But from what my family heard, Shiba Tatsuya is your biological older brother. Almost every major faction is aware of this."
Shiba Miyuki: "…"
Her expression darkened. It felt like sothing strange was afoot in her family. She quickly called the person she trusted most—her mother.
The call was picked up right away.
"Yes, Miyuki? Why call Mama all of a sudden?"
On the other end was a voice cool yet still gentle: Shiba Miya, Miyuki's mother.
[Note: Different from the original storyline; don't worry, this is purely a pair of twin sisters!]
Miyuki asked directly, "Mom, do you know soone nad Shiba Tatsuya?"
Silence answered her at first.
"Mom?"
"…Yes, I heard you. That's…your older brother."
"?"
Although her mother said so, Miyuki could sense sothing off in her tone.
"Mom, what exactly is going on? Is this…so arrangent by the family?"
"Miyuki…"
Miya's voice weakened.
Cough cough cough cough!!!
Just as she was about to explain, Shiba Miya began to cough violently.
"Mom?!"
Miyuki's body tensed. She knew her mother's health had never been good. Only after a while did the coughing subside.
"I'm fine, Miyuki. You need only know that he is your brother. As for what you think of him… Mama will always support whatever you decide."
"Mom…"
Warmth filled Miyuki's heart. She was now fairly certain that Tatsuya had been sent by the Yotsuba family, but her mother was still on her side.
"Miyuki, Mama is going to freshen up, so let's leave it at that."
"All right."
She hung up, and Miyuki's eyes turned sharp.
"Hmph. Not just anyone can be qualified to call himself my brother."
At the very least…he had better be as powerful as Rei Ao.
…
Once the call ended, over at the Yotsuba household, in one of its residences, a cool-looking woman with long black hair set down her phone and looked at a small puddle of crimson in her hand: fresh blood she had just coughed up.
Shiba Miya's eyes glead a faint green. "It seems my ti is short…"
She knew her own body well. No one would have guessed that Shiba Miya—feared as the "Ruler of the River of Oblivion," the only magician in the Yotsuba family of the Ten Master Clans who possessed the taboo Outer-Systematic Type Magic "ntal Design Interference"—was already at death's door.
She could accept her own death, but she could not rest easy regarding her daughter, Shiba Miyuki—especially in a world full of self-interest and plotting, where Miyuki's enormous talent would inevitably place her in the center of the storm. The Yotsuba family…was not to be trusted. Even her younger sister, Yotsuba Maya, the current head of the family, could not protect her fully, for the family was not run by the clan head alone. Old-tirs with their own agendas still acted freely despite her sister's suppression.
Without a doubt, Shiba Tatsuya's appearance was the result of a compromise she had been forced to make. Once she was gone, who would protect Miyuki?
Shiba Miya worried over that.
Cough cough cough…
Another round of violent coughing.
"Sis?!"
A voice called out.
She turned to see a woman who looked much like herself—her twin sister, Yotsuba Maya.
"Maya…"
Yotsuba Maya had co to deliver so news but froze in alarm at Shiba Miya's exhausted state, the blood in her mouth and on her hand. Rushing over, she asked anxiously:
"Sis, what's happening to you…?"
"Maya, I may not have much ti left."
Shiba Miya's voice was calm and matter-of-fact, but Yotsuba Maya felt as if lightning had struck. She stood there stunned, terrified.
"Sis, no—co on, I'm taking you to the hospital right now!"
Yet Shiba Miya stopped her.
"Maya, there's no point. I know my own condition."
"… …"
"In the ti I have left, let depart this world quietly. Don't say anything to Miyuki."
"…Alright."
Holding her sister's hand, Yotsuba Maya bit her lip in pained silence, nodding because she knew Shiba Miya's current state was all because of her.
…
anwhile, Miyuki, rembering how badly her mother had coughed, could not shake her worries.
"I'll go back to see her this weekend," she decided, thinking she missed her mother anyway.
~~~
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