Sekai Ichi no Imouto-sama

Chapter 13

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I was crying. Like always, I was crying.

I can’t recall what I was crying for. Maybe I was scolded by one of the caretakers in the mansion, I accidently broke one of my toys that I treasured, or perhaps I lost my precious doll that I always kept close by me.

“Please don’t cry, Dorothy.”

If it ever happened, I always had my older sister by my side.

Back then she was only a little girl stuck somewhere in childhood, but even back then her eyes seemed to carry this enigmatic power that froze anybody she happened to looked at.

“There, there, you’re a good girl, right? Your sister will always be by Dorothy’s side.”

Like magic.

Just a word from my sister would stop my tears in an instant.

My wounds would stop hurting, people that disliked me would change their mind, and everything miserable would melt away like snow into nothingness.

My older sister could do anything.

Someone as amazing as her was always smiling by my side.

Someone that treasured me more than anyone else would.

These simple facts, to a younger me, would make me so happy, that it brought tears to my eyes—

—.

“Ah.”

Snapping back to reality, the cold embrace of the busy Braşov streets comes into my view. I’m sitting on a bench. I think I fell asleep when I decided to sit down for a while to rest a bit.

I get up hastily and made my mind to move somewhere else that was less crowded, away from everyone else’s attention.

With no particular aim set in mind, I wander through the streets, taking a glance at the shops by the side through the windows.

Why does the boundary between inside the shop and the outside world feel so solid? Why do those cheap trinkets inside the window, that’s probably worth nothing more than a few coins, feel so distant from me?

“I’m hungry.”

I mutter such words helplessly.

I want to go back.

To where my sister is. To the mansion where delicious meal, comfortable bed and relaxing sofa awaited me.

But it’s too much for me to ask now.

There is not the place where I should be at.

*—Drip.*

Though I was unaware, a drop of water slips down.

It’s not a teardrop.

「Plip plip……」

The drops of water that fell on my head quickly turns into a torrential rainfall to batter down the ground. It’s a rain shower.

People on the streets scramble in panic to find cover under the street banners, and for some lucky few, they open up their umbrella.

Only I’m left standing alone in the rain, separated from everyone, as I gaze hollowly into the void around me.

“…It’s cold.”

But there’s nowhere for me to go.

A wave of sorrow suddenly hits me. I feel like breaking down in tears where I’m standing and give up on everything there is in my life.

Even though I’m this much deep in anguish and trouble. Even though I’m screaming out for someone to look after me.

Why won’t anyone stay by me?

Why won’t you look after me like you used to before?

—Just when I was thinking such things.

A shadow descends on top of my head, and the platter of rain battering on my head cease.

An umbrella.

“Onee-sama…?”

I’m not sure what gave me such confidence that it was her.

I thought that there was no one else that would be caring enough towards me to do such a thing.

With that hope in mind, like a traveler dying of thirst in a desert spotting an oasis, I raised my head to…

◇    ◆    ◇

“Onii-sama, just what kind of talk did you have with Dorothy the last time you saw her?”

Perhaps it was only natural? The situation is continuing to take a turn for the worse.

It’s been exactly two days since Dorothy has run away.

Maria is beginning to realize the severity of this situation, and she dogs me for an answer with an unfitting persistence.

“W, who knows?”

It’s driving me mad here.

Do I just come out with it or not?

If I did and Dorothy happened to come back, she could just as well be inclined to tear me to pieces when she hears what I’ve told them. It’s possible. Since this much amount of misfortune just seems to be a part of my everyday life.

“Er, well the thing is, that…”

So in the end, I have no choice but to avoid the minefield and try to put things in a nice perspective. Not that I’m sure this is the best thing to do.

“You could say that we had a small quarrel.”

“Quarrel, you say?”

“I don’t think that girl understands the position I have in this house.”

I don’t know if I have enough position in this house to even talk about the issue of having a place or not, but the point I’m making isn’t a wrong one in a sense.

“That’s to say, it felt like there were two suns in the sky.”

An anecdote of critical validity, compared to none in the world.

“I know you’re vaguely aware of it. How Dorothy’s really unhappy with me being here.”
“Then, does Onii-sama not feel the same way about Dorothy?”

“…Whatever.”

To be honest, I can’t say I’m that fond of someone who tries to make my life a living h.e.l.l.

“But family is still family.”

I’m not talking about a simple relation. And it certainly isn’t about whether we like each other or not. Going beyond all that, it’s about something that makes family ‘family’, something that can’t be defined nor categorized.

“In that case, Onii-sama…”
“Hmm?”
“Let’s say that…”

In a slightly wavering tone, Maria speaks:

“Dorothy isn’t Onii-sama’s sister. What would you do then?”

“What are you talking about?”

We’re not related?

Hold up there, you idiot. You and Dorothy look the same like a pair of taiyaki. Except maybe those heterochromatic eyes, but that’s a genetic mutation to begin with, anyway. I wouldn’t say you guys don’t look alike just because your eyes are different.

“You guys are twins. Identical ones at that.”

“That is not what I’m asking. Looking past the relation and responsibilities, Onii-sama, I’m asking what you think of a girl named Dorothy.”

“Why are you asking something like that?”

Are you trying to tell me that this situation is a lot graver than I think it is?

“…You’re getting me worried all of a sudden.”

Watching me say something like that while scratching my head awkwardly, Maria puts on a dry smile and apologizes.

“I am sorry if I had you worried.”

But we’re talking about her one-and-only sister running away from the house. Even for Maria, aren’t they both sisters? Though one’s called older just because of a few second difference.

“But it’s because there was something worrisome on my mind.”

“Worrisome?”
“Yes. For my convenience, I am using the Benders.n.a.t.c.h Information Taskforce to locate the whereabouts of Dorothy, but…”

“But?”
“I can’t find her.”

*Thud*

With Maria’s words, my already lead-like heart sinks further down my chest.

I can see where Maria is coming with this.

Yes. This situation really, really did take a turn for the worse.  ◇    ◆    ◇  “Oiii~.” Me and Maria spent the next day in a state of extreme nervousness, when an unexpected visitor came by with an unexpected punch line the next morning. It’s been exactly three days since Dorothy has run away. Spewing unnecessary engines noises in front of the mansion is nothing other than a brand-new Lamborghini Aventador. The handsome man decked in a suit and sungla.s.ses that emerges from the car is none other than Heimlich, who I had run into at the family meeting earlier. “Well, look who it is! It’s that famous Onii-sama who does nothing but leech off the master of the Blackhazel family like a parasite that he is.”

“Oh? Look at you acting so high and mighty now.”

That smirking face of his remains obnoxious as usual. I can still picture him whining away in front of his sister and Maria like it happened just yesterday.

“What is it that you need, Heimlich?”

Maria, just coming out of the house now to meet our unexpected guest, remarks back coldly to him, as if to say that Heimlich will not be admitted even a step inside the mansion.

“Ahh, it’s nothing too major. I just thought that you should take this opportunity to say hi to your new soon-to-be brother-in-law.”

“What?”

This guy, I hope he didn’t eat something bad and got himself food poisoning that’s affecting his head or something.

When I was deep in such thoughts looking at Heimlich, I notice that there seems to be a strange leash of sort coiled in his right hand.

A leash?

“Here, here, hurry up and come out, you d.a.m.n b.i.t.c.h!”

With a rough tug of his hand, what forcefully emerges in front of us is none other than.

“W, what the h—”

It’s Dorothy.

With a lock buckle, the type you’d only use on a pet, locked tightly around her neck connected to a leash, as if she was only an animal being domesticated.    For some reason, I can’t sense any resistance or defiance from her, and she’s doing nothing but stare into empty s.p.a.ce, her dispirited eyes mirroring nothing in return.

“W, what’s this guy planning…!”

In just a moment, I’m charging straight at Heimlich with all I have, my minds blanked out by anger and rage.

Stepping in front of me to stop what I’m doing is none other than Maria.

“Stop, Onii-sama.”
“You, do you now see what that guy’s doing right now…!”

When I was about to raise my voice in response to Maria’s unfathomable actions, I nonchalantly notice Maria’s hands she curled up into a fist.

Blood was dripping down from her hands where her fingernails dug into her palm.

“You…!”
“Keep your composure, Onii-sama.”

“Yeah yeah! When it comes to treating the ladies, I’m a gentleman that has women’s best interest at heart. I’m not some pervert that likes fastening leashes on some b.i.t.c.h that doesn’t want to be in one!”

“You, so you’re saying that Dorothy is wearing that leash because she wants to?”

In response to my burst of anger, Heimlich replies back, adding on his exaggerated shoulder shake.

“Of course! Look, she’s enjoying all this, really.”

Cackling loudly, Heimlich forcibly tugs on the leash.

With that, Dorothy is dragged closer with Heimlich’s weight on the leash, losing her balance and trailing on the ground like an animal.

She’s gasping for breath and claws at her leash in agony.

“Heimlich.”

But Maria doesn’t panic.

Even though she’s gripping so hard that there’s blood trailing from her hands. Even though her only sister is being dragged around like someone less than an animal by that b.a.s.t.a.r.d.

She does nothing but maintain her icy stance wrapped in wintery antagonism, and calmly asks for an explanation.

“Remember that depending on Dorothy’s answer, your life can be forfeited in place of a punishment, or that opposite might be in place.”

Ahhh,

If I had my ways, I’d want nothing more than to run right to him and beat this b.a.s.t.a.r.d’s face to a b.l.o.o.d.y pulp.

But if that is so, then why am I standing here, biting back my patience?

It’s because we need an answer.

“Answer if you can, Dorothy. What you’re doing right now, is it of your own free will?”

You just need to say one word.

Just say ‘help’.

To beat this b.a.s.t.a.r.d until he dies.

“Yes.”

“Is that so?”

“Wha…?”

But what comes back in return is nothing but an unexpected answer.

This girl, what did she just say?

You’re really trying to say this pitiful state you’re in right now is because of your own free will?

The times when you stomped over me like you were the best, the times when you flaunted the Blackhazel name you held so proudly, what happened to the façade you used you have? Where did it go?

“She’s only saying that right now because she’s scared out of her mind! I’ll just beat this b.a.s.t.a.r.d until he’s half-dead and free Dorothy right after!”

I can’t stand still anymore.

Shaking my fists in anger, I approach to step forward once. As I do so, Dorothy’s empty eyes that seemed to be set on nothing shakes slightly. Her swollen lips open cautiously.

“…I’m fine.”

What.

“… I’m fine, so stop.”

“What are you talking about!?”

“Because I’m…”

The words her small lips spoke powerlessly, I couldn’t understand right away.

“I’m, master’s dog.”

“Kuk, kuhahahahahahahaha!”

Heimlich loses himself in laughter.

Maria does nothing but carefully observe the situation, coldly calculating inside her head.

As for me, I fall into a feeling of endless delusion that felt distant from everything like a sunset would.
“I’ll ask you again, Dorothy.”

—Why?

“Why?”

“This idiot, what are you talking about?”

—Why?
“…There’s no other way.”

“Hmph, looks like you don’t have the brainpower to even talk properly.”

Taking the time to scoff at me repeating the same thing, Heimlich pulls on the leash again and drags Dorothy back inside the car.

Me and Maria can’t do anything. We couldn’t do anything.

We could only watch.

“Then, why?”

I stood around and mumbled such things to myself, as I watched Heimlich’s Lamborghini speed away on the road in front of the mansion and disappear through the horizon.

I’m not asking for the ‘reason’ as to why there can’t by any other way.

Yes.

I’m asking, for someone like you saying such thing, why you are—

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