Chapter 109: Birthday (Part 7)
I heard the sound of hurried footsteps from outside the room.
“Alice—!”
That familiar voice approached rapidly and came to a stop right in front of Souta’s room.
I quickly moved away from Souta. I’d be way too embarrassed if someone I knew saw me acting all clingy with him.
“Alice!? Are you in there!?”
With a loud bang, the sliding door flew open, and Hisui appeared in her school uniform.
“Alice, I finally found you…”
Once Hisui spotted me, she stepped into the room and shut the door behind her. Her eyes locked onto me like a hunter zeroing in on her prey.
“I went all the way to your house to check on you, but to think you were in a place like this… talk about hiding in plain sight… Souta, you haven’t been doing anything weird to Alice while she’s vulnerable, have you?”
“Why the hell would I? What do you take me for?”
“…A perverted monkey?”
“Wait, what!? That’s harsh!”
“…Anyway, that doesn’t matter.”
Brushing aside Souta’s protest without hesitation, Hisui marched straight up to me and, with that momentum, pulled me into a hug.
“Hyah!?”
“Alice… so you’ve finally learned the truth… it must’ve been tough for you.”
Compared to Souta, the feeling of being hugged by Hisui was overwhelmingly soft. I couldn’t help but wonder how siblings could be so different, but more than that, something she said really stuck out to me.
“Uh… are you talking about Alicia…?”
Buried in Hisui’s pleasantly fragrant chest, I asked her for clarification.
“…Yeah, I knew.”
Why… why would Hisui know about Alicia?
As I wondered, Hisui continued as if answering my question.
“I’ve been able to see the state of Alicia’s soul for a long time… Ever since I found out about you two, I asked Alicia about it and she explained everything to me.”
Hisui gently stroked the back of my head as she spoke.
“When I see someone’s soul, I can get a decent idea of their physical condition and health.”
That was one of Hisui’s abilities as a shrine maiden. Now that she mentioned it, it made sense. Whenever any of us felt under the weather, Hisui was always the first to notice—sometimes even before we realized it ourselves—and would take care of us.
“When Alicia is synchronized with you, she uses up soul energy. That energy recovers when the synchronization is cut, and in the beginning, just a single night’s rest was enough to fully replenish it.”
Since synchronization is cut off during sleep, she would recover during that time.
“But as time passed, Alicia’s soul condition gradually worsened… it seems like her energy has been recovering slower and slower.”
Hearing Hisui’s explanation, I finally understood why Alicia had started cutting synchronization earlier at night and scheduling more rest days. It wasn’t because she wanted to—it was because her soul couldn’t handle it otherwise.
“She probably didn’t want you to notice how hard it was getting for her to maintain the synchronization. Alicia was pushing herself really hard… When I checked on her soul the day before yesterday, it was in pretty terrible shape.”
“…No way…”
I’d been starting to wonder why Alicia’s rest days, originally just once a week, were slowly increasing. If it had kept going like that, I probably would’ve realized something was wrong sooner or later. Knowing Alicia pushed herself so much just to hide it made my chest ache.
“She’s much more stable now than she was the day before yesterday. I don’t think she’ll be in any danger anytime soon… in fact, I’d say she’ll probably recover enough to synchronize again soon.”
“Really!?”
“I’ve been watching over both of you for a long time… you can trust me on this.”
“Alicia… is coming back…!”
I’d be able to see Alicia again. It felt like I’d found a light in the darkness.
“But this is only a temporary reprieve. If things stay the same, it won’t be long before Alicia’s soul disappears completely.”
“…Yeah.”
…Even so. This was a huge improvement over the crushing despair I felt just a moment ago, when I thought we might be separated forever. Besides, if I could talk to Alicia again, maybe I could find a way to save her.
“You… you’re planning to save Alicia, aren’t you?”
Hisui must have sensed my emotions.
The arms holding me tightened a little.
“Yeah… I will. I’ll definitely save her.”
“In that case, have you already heard from your father?”
“…My dad?”
“Your father’s been doing everything he can to research ways to save Alicia. I’ve been helping out too, so I think you should talk to him.”
“Dad… has been…”
Hearing that made me remember how I lashed out at Dad this morning, letting my emotions take over.
“What should I do…? I said such horrible things to him without knowing any of this…”
“Just apologize. I’m sure your dad will understand.”
Souta was probably right.
And now I realized… maybe Dad had spoken that way on purpose, letting me vent all my anger at him to make me feel better.
“…Yeah… you’re right.”
At the same time that I felt Dad’s kindness, I also felt painfully aware of my own immaturity.
I’d been treated like some great hero in another world and thought I’d grown up, but that was nothing more than arrogance.
“…I’m going home.”
When I said that, both Souta and Hisui nodded at the exact same time.
Moments like this really showed they were siblings…
“I’m home… wait, Yuna!?”
I opened the door feeling awkward, like I had after running away from home. Right there, waiting for me, was Yuna with a deeply troubled expression.
“…Big brother…”
The moment Yuna saw my face, her emotions seemed to overflow. Her expression crumbled, and tears spilled from her eyes.
“…I’m sorry… Big brother… I…!”
Tears streamed down Yuna’s cheeks in torrents.
I hurriedly kicked off my shoes and rushed to catch the sobbing Yuna in my arms.
“Yuna, it’s okay… I’m fine.”
“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…”
Yuna kept apologizing through her tears.
“There’s nothing to apologize for… You stayed quiet because you were thinking about us, right?”
I hugged Yuna tighter.
“Big brother… uuuh… hic… Alicia… Alicia…!”
Yuna clung to me, almost leaping into my arms.
“Yeah… it must’ve been so hard keeping it to yourself, Yuna.”
I gently patted her back.
“Uuh… big brother… Aliciaaa…”
Before I knew it, even though I was supposed to be the one comforting her, the emotions welled up inside me and tears started rolling down my cheeks too.
“…Hic… Yuna…”
“…Sob… big brother…”
Yuna’s sorrow, Alicia’s sorrow, and my own sorrow all swirled together like they’d melted into one.
Our emotions spilled out without restraint.
“Uwaaah… hic…”
We stayed there, sobbing in each other’s arms at the entrance of our home, until we could finally calm down.
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