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I know this is a short episode, but believe me, it was necessary.
Mostly because I've been extremely busy, and even so, I still decided to keep writing. So I'll probably keep apologizing, even if I've already done it far too many times. But that doesn't mean I'm going to stop updating or completely abandon the story.
Knowing that new readers are still finding this fanfic, while older readers are still sticking around, really motivates me to keep posting. At the same time, though, it also makes me feel guilty.
I started this fanfic by uploading episodes constantly, but eventually I became busy with other things and also started wanting to write other stories. Original ones. Still, as I've mentioned many times before, I don't want to abandon this, especially since it's basically the first story I ever wrote.
Thank you in advance, and I hope you can forgive me.
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Once upon a time, long ago, I was reborn into this world with the mistaken idea that I didn't deserve a second life, determined to do the impossible to avoid standing out. The problem is that, far from achieving that, I did the exact opposite, which led to me becoming a great swordsman and, now, a "celebrity" walking around in university clothes.
"Ah!"
A sudden voice interrupted me as I was walking toward my assigned room. Turning around, I saw Sylphiette, now Fitz, accidentally bumping into my shoulder. "Do you always bump into people like that?" was the first thing I managed to say when I saw her.
"Ah, yes... um, I mean, not always... What are you doing around here?"
"Well. I didn't know where my brother was, so I was looking for him. In the end, I gave up."
"Rudy... um, I mean, Rudeus is like that..."
"Yeah... were you trying to tell me something with that?"
Sylphy stared at me for a long time. Her jaw moved slightly, while her right hand stayed hidden inside her cloak.
"You... know, don't you?"
Yes, I knew her secret, but I couldn't just go around saying it in the middle of the hallway without being certain no one was watching or listening to us.
"Yeah... Rudeus is like that. He gets lost a lot. Yeah. I know that."
"Ah..." A smile formed on her face. "I'm glad to hear that, then."
"Did you want to ask anything else?"
"No... well, yes. Would you teach me how to use a sword? My training was good, but... um... I didn't get much of it."
"Sure, but I can't right now. How about tomorrow?"
"Yes...! I mean, I'd really love that."
I looked in every direction and stepped closer to Sylphy. Gently, I placed my hand on her head and patted it like I used to.
"Take care of yourself. If you want to tell me something, it's best to do it in my room, away from any busybodies."
"Y-yes, I will... Dai-niisan." She whispered the last part and quickly hurried away.
Man. I could swear she looked happier now.
[Well. You could say you're learning to socialize better... that was spectacular, a bit ------]
Hmm? Ayam? How strange. She usually finishes her messages.
Come to think of it, I'd better go find Rudeus. I know he's old enough to look after himself, but I can't help wondering where he is and who he might be talking to.
Maybe it's a protective brother thing, but I have a feeling something bad is happening, like a faint energy reaching my brain that it tries to analyze as a sign of something. This time, of something bad.
Sure enough, it didn't take me long to find out why I had that feeling.
"Gyaaaah! Panty thief!"
Behind Rudeus, a female student was pointing directly at him. Panicking, he spun around to see who it was, and from his reaction, I could tell he felt surprise... and a bit of fear.
She looked like a gorilla woman, tall and muscular, furious because my brother was holding a pair of panties that had literally fallen from the sky.
"Uh, um, uh..."
"Hmph!"
"Wait," he said. "Please wait, I haven't done anything."
"You haven't done anything?" The gorilla woman grabbed him by the arm. "Then why don't you tell me what you have in your hand? Aren't those Princess Ariel's panties? I don't care how much you admire her, doing something like this at this hour is despicable. You should be ashamed!"
The other girls chimed in during the gorilla woman's scathing words, shouting things like "That's right!", "Pervert!", and "Drop dead!"
Faced with the impending humiliation, I decided to step in. I jumped from the window of a building some distance away and landed right beside them, placing my hand on the woman's forearm.
"As a witness from the second floor," I said, pointing to the open window of the other building, "I can confirm that this person is being falsely accused and, above all else, is being humiliated for something that isn't his fault. If anything, it's the fault of the woman who dropped the panties from a high window, probably while hanging them out to dry."
"Hmph! Let go of me!"
Faced with her stubbornness, I decided to get serious and looked right at her.
"Listen closely. I don't know you at all... but I've noticed your behavior is rather improper for a student of this university, so I assure you I'm not lying when I ask you to let him go."
I sighed. I took a deep breath and released a bit of my bloodlust.
"This boy is my younger brother. Anyone who tries to mess with him, falsely accuse him, or simply bother him for no reason will have to deal with me. I won't care about the rules of any place..." I released the tension. "Uh, though if he actually deserves it, don't hesitate to punish him. This time, it wasn't his fault."
Rudeus was practically grinning. "You mean you won't always defend me?" he asked.
"No. If you deserve it, you have to face the consequences. This time, it just wasn't your fault."
Naturally, the voices of the other women began to rise, saying things like, "Is that him...? I never imagined he'd be so close," "I liked that feeling, because it came from him...", "They don't look like brothers... they're so different, why is that?" and "I don't know, but I like the brown-haired one."
After that, we left once Sylphy showed up and explained what had happened.
As it turned out, it had been agreed that men were not allowed in that area after sunset, so the women assumed my brother was up to no good with crystal-clear intentions.
In my case, I had only found Rudeus because I happened to be walking past a window and was lucky enough to notice him. It was strange. I remembered him so clearly in his adventurer gear that I had completely forgotten how he looked in anything else.
Leaving that aside, we went back to our rooms, and I lay down.
"Uh..."
I had the wooden pistol at my waist. I pulled it from its holster and looked at it for a moment. Some people had found this object strange, but they stopped paying attention to it because the shape of the handle didn't give anything away. To them, it was probably just a talisman or some kind of good-luck charm.
I pulled the trigger of the pistol, producing the classic, characteristic click of the wooden piece striking.
"Masteeeer...!" The door burst open. "Uh? What's that?"
"Huh?" I sat up in bed. "You need to knock before coming in, Zanoba. You can't just do that and think I won't mind. Besides, I'm not your master."
At my words, Zanoba slouched and shrank back, as if weighed down by what I said. I think, in that sense, Zanoba ironically respected me more than his actual master.
"I'm sorry... but I heard a click and wanted to come over. What is that?"
"This? It's something I made."
"And the sound?"
"This one?" I pulled it again. "It's a hidden mechanism designed to do that."
"Whaaaaaaat?! It's marvelous... and that happens just by pulling it?"
"Well, it's a prototype. I have to reset the trigger manually because it doesn't return on its own."
"It's marvelous... just as I thought. May I try doing that?"
"Try what?"
"Pulling that thing you call a 'trigger'."
I got out of bed and looked at him for a moment.
"No. You'll break it. You're too strong... but your strength could be useful for something. Let's talk about that tomorrow."
I looked toward the door.
"I assume you got the wrong room. My brother is two doors down."
"Thank you very much! I won't forget this!" He left and slammed the door so hard that the wall literally vibrated, though it held firm thanks to its sturdy bricks.
What just happened? I don't know... but come to think of it, this might actually come in handy.
---
Apparently, after some time, my brother and Sylphy had started getting along quite well, without him realizing a single thing about Silent Fitz and her secret.
I considered finding a way for her to tell him at some point, but since it was Sylphy's business, I couldn't just butt in and try to make her say something. There had to be a reason she still didn't want to tell him anything.
Could it be fear? It might be something less simple than that.
Leaving that aside, my brother spent nearly every afternoon in the library with Sylphy, researching everything about the Displacement Incident. Whenever I dropped by to look for a book, usually searching for anything on who Darian Stonehold was, I would see them sitting side by side.
On one occasion, Rudeus came over to my room and sat on the bed.
"I think Fitz-senpai is too beautiful to be a man. It's almost unfair..."
"Could you go to sleep? I don't want to listen to you this late..."
"It's just that his skin is so soft... And he smells nice... like wildflowers..."
"Rudeus."
"Fine, fine... you're so insensitive. By the way, I heard you're training Fitz."
I scratched the back of my neck.
"Yeah, he's... he's really good. He asked me, and as you know, I don't know how to say no to that kind of thing."
Rudeus nodded and finally decided to leave, though not before trying to annoy me by pulling the trigger on my weapon. But far from being annoyed, I just sighed and lay back down.
"There's no helping these things... I guess."
I looked to the side.
[Uh, I don't know what happened to me, but I couldn't talk to you for the whole month. It was strange.]
'Ah, you're finally back.'
[Yes, I am. What's with the surprise? I imagine you found your sword during this time.]
'No. Not yet. That woman... I don't want to just show up out of nowhere and take it from her.'
[Ooooh. Speaking of which. You don't know what I am. Nor do I know who you are. Yet, I have sensations that go beyond the two lives you had. Things I don't fully understand, but that simply happen to me.]
'What's gotten into you? You never talk so much about that.'
[Maybe because I feel like it right now. Weird, isn't it?]
I clicked my tongue and closed my eyes.
'Go to sleep.'
Literally, Ayam was exhausting me way too much by talking about that, so my way of coping was simply to shut her up. Even so, she kept going for an entire hour with questions like [What is that?], [Why do I feel this way when I want to know?], and [Why do I want to know?], until my mind collapsed and she ended up apologizing the next day.
---
I'm back in a white room.
"Daiki! You're here again. In this thing called consciousness, right?"
"Ayam?"
"Don't I look good? For some reason, blonde roots are appearing in my hair and spreading."
"First Zenith's blue eyes, and now your hair... what could it mean?"
"I don't know, but I'm scared. And this space... it's what I always see. When I want to see what's happening outside, I just connect to your eyes, but usually the feelings are enough."
"It's weird being inside my own mind, Ayam. Way too weird."
"I don't know why it feels weird to you, but it's weird, I guess."
"Ayam... what's wrong with you? You're acting strange."
"Strange? Wasn't this place the strange thing, not me? Ah, right... yeah, I don't understand what's happening to me, but it's happening."
I waved my hand in front of her face, but her eyes didn't follow the movement.
"Mmm... I don't know what's with you, Daiki. Why are you doing that with your hand? I don't have reflexes, you know that."
"Right... I forgot that you don't have to follow all the biological rules of living beings."
"Hehe, that's just like you, brother. Always talking about biology. Even in a space where none of that exists. Where this isn't produced by your brain, but by something external that I don't understand."
Despite being in what could be considered a different plane, a sharp pain shot through my forehead, forcing me to double over. With absurd speed, Ayam shifted into position so I could rest my head on her lap.
"Don't worry. Your... your sister will help you, okay? Don't be afraid. It's just a test."
I jerked upright and looked at her.
"What test?"
"Just get into the crystal. That's all."
"Huh?"
Suddenly, everything went dark, and I bolted upright in bed, one hand clutching my chest.
[What happened to you? You were fine. Now you're breathing hard. Did you have a nightmare?]
I brought a hand to my forehead. I ignored the voice inside my head and leaned against the window.
If that actually meant anything, what could it be?