... the more you want to protect...

Maneuvering between people, I was quickly getting close to the section of SSC containing stores with the special category of items which weren’t included on our list. The faster I got there the better. Mixed in my reasoning was also an impulse to distance myself from Vio. That thing clearly didn’t react to her but to me. Moreover, I was probably the only one who had seen it.

What’s with her anyway? When she wants to pull me I have to obediently follow, but when the roles change I’m suddenly the bad guy? I just wanted to get her away from danger!

A long stream of swearing started flowing inside me, using two sources as fuel. One of them being that fucking moth-like creature and the other Vio’s damn refusal to cooperate in the critical moment. On the other hand, the more of the cursed river flew out, the more it cooled me down and the more I couldn’t avoid perceiving the fact that my sudden and strange change of behavior must have been rather scary from her point of view.

A brief idea to call my little sister and promise an explanation went through my brain, but it was rejected due to a simple fact that I still didn’t input her phone number. Not to mention that her phone was in my pocket since I was the one in charge of the list.

Shit, I overreacted. Given a bit time to prepare myself I’m fine, but as soon as something surprises me I lose my head. Should have played it calmly, but the perspective of Vio forgetting everything about me…

This store seems good.

I shook my head and went inside Protect You Home store. I had been planning on leisurely browsing through the inventory, comparing, carefully picking and maybe saving some money, but now the situation was different.

“Yes, how can I help you?”

Asked me the middle-aged guy behind the counter.

“What’s your best, strongest taser?”

“A civilian or a police one?”

“Didn’t you hear me? The best.”

A part of the irritation leaked outside.

“That would be the police version X30ST, it has a build in flashlight and a laser. There are also five cartridges and a charger included. The probes can easily penetrate most clothing and-”

“I will take it.”

“Eh? It’s expensive, it costs-.”

“I said, I will take it. Now pepper spray, give me two of the strongest one.”

Maybe I will catch up to Vio if I’m fast… but should I risk that shit flying after me?

The shop clerk just shrugged his arms, probably labeling me as a prime example of the ‘strange’ type of customers he had to deal with it.

“Strongest? Then you won’t get anything better than this can of Red Shield. Want me to pack two of them?”

“Yes, and do you have anything that can do aoe damage? Like a timed grenade or something.”

Yuni and his runes could be responsible, but he lacks the motive.

“Aoe timed grenade? Hehehe- ekhm. Excuse me. Yes, there are tear gas grenades in stock. You just twist the valve and throw, it will continue spinning and releasing its content for over thirty seconds.”

“Give me fo- make it six. Got any gas masks?”

“Look behind me, any preferences?”

He pointed at an entire hanger filled to brims with different gas masks, there were half-masks, full masks, and others - all of them were things I had no knowledge off.

“Give me something that can easily resist both the pepper spray and tear gas.”

“Then you will need this one, it’s a full face supplied-air respirator type that uses a battery-operated filtering canister. The fan inside will force the air through the filter and create a positive pressure inside so even if there are leaks they won’t be-”

He was getting more and more heated up so I put up a hand signaling him to stop and pointed at two of the ones he was showing me. One bigger and one smaller.

“Two of them?”

“Yeah, and give me two military knives and two knives that are easy to hide.”

“A moment.”

When he went to grab something from the shelves inside the store, I took this opportunity to scan everything around. There were no signs of the moth creature.

“Oh, and bring two strong flashlights!”

“No problem. I don’t know what clan war you are going to, but if you guys are looking for more members then I may be interested.”

The heck is he talking about?

“Yeah, sure.”

He brought back two black combat knives which were over twenty-five centimeters long and two ballpoint pens. Before I could ask about the later, he twisted off one’s rear half revealing a long and thin blade. After this demonstration, he also put two solid looking flashlights on the counter.

“Anything else?”

“Got handcuffs and a really good bug repellent?”

“Two of each?”

“Exactly. Why do you even have stuff like this?”

Along the lines of talking with him a part of my irritation was swapped with curiosity. Getting my hands on the exact things I wanted and the shop clerk helpful attitude played a role it in.

“A stupid question, imagine catching a thief in your house. Cuffing him to some pipe is the best way to ensure he won’t escape until the police arrive, and bugs can also be classified as a type of an intruder. Unless… you meant the pink and fluffy type of handcuffs, those I’m afraid you won’t find here.”

He quickly grabbed the items I asked about and added them to the growing stash on the counter. Next, he said:

“What about buying some police batons or snow camo outfit. Really helpful during the clan war.”

I’ve already got a knife, but snow camo hmm… no, I lack a good sniping method to put it to a good use.

“No, that would be all. How much?”

When he had said that the taser was expensive it actually kind of get me worried, but I was sure that everything combined wouldn’t cross two thousand.

“Let’s see… that will be… 4250$. You’ve got a discount card?”

Fu-fu-fu-fucking expensive, maybe I don’t need all that stuff…

With a shaking hand, I gave him the thing he asked for.

For safety and protection!

“Since I hope you will say a good word or two about my store in your clan, I will give you a freebie.”

Wouldn`t it actually be cheaper to get a normal gun through the dark web?

He took out a belt and a simple green camo backpack from under the counter. The black belt had many pockets and compartments, probably specialized to comfortable carry as many trinkets as possible. There was even a horizontal knife cover included on the back. The shop clerk started packing everything into the backpack.

After paying, I took the package and left the store.

I almost feel like a walking one-man army… a poor one. Rest in peace my dear wallet.

For a moment I wondered about where to go next, but finding Vio in this titan among buildings was nearly impossible. The best option was to go back to our flat.

Afterward, I made a short trip to the toilet to put on the belt, equip it with the combat knife, pepper gas can, and three tear gas grenades. The stun gun was left alone until I could calmy read its user manual and learn how to properly use it. My sweater was barely long enough to safely cover everything. I felt like a novice drug dealer in his first day at work and decided to avoid SSC security, they were like harbingers of doom. Staying low key and calmly walking out the building were the two critical processes of my brain's task manager.

On my way out, I saw three more of those moth creatures, but that was only due to the fact that a lot more attention was given to monitoring the surroundings and everything that was happening above the crowd. All they did was to check people’s reaction by flying around them. The creatures either didn’t notice me or I was already marked in their system. The former possibility had my full support. After observing from a distance, a theory had been created - they were looking for espers.

To my surprise, the grand escape effortlessly succeeded. Regaining my long jacket had allowed to relax a bit and move away at a brisk pace.

There was still a lot of walking in front of me when I heard a notification of an incoming message from Vio’s phone. It was a message from Viktoria. For a moment I hesitated if I should or shouldn’t read it, but the dark idea that the two of them were scheming behind my back pushed me to check its content.

[One viper, two vipers, three vipers…
One spider, two spiders, three spiders…
One hornet, two hornets, three hornets...
One scorpion, two scorpions, three scorpions…
One centipede, two centipedes, three centipedes…

You know what I’m counting?

The number of creatures you will bathe with this Sunday.

But don’t worry, I will test the water first on zombies to adjust the safe proportions.

Love you dearly
Viktoria.]

A cold shiver ran down my spine, the fairly safe vision of the Sunday’s dinner rapidly turned grim.

I should contact father about this.

I was about to put the phone back into the pocket but changed my mind.

Well, since I’ve already read one message, reading more shouldn’t be much different.

After scanning the incoming section I didn’t find anything out of ordinary. There were only a few messages from father, one or two advertisements, something that looked like a normal conversation between acquaintances and other stuff like that. Strangely the one I had sent her was still there, even more, it was marked with a star. I was about to proceed to check the rest of the phone’s memory…

‘She’s a control freak.’

… only to realize that I was acting exactly like Viktoria…

‘How insecure can you get? You see people only in two categories, enemies and playthings. Enemies are to be avoided or exterminated while the others are to be for your use only.’

… and following right after that was an extra heavy mental punch from recalling the words Votr had said to Rora.

“Argh, fuck it… how am I better than any of those two?”

There was also one more line floating inside my mind but for a change, this one wasn’t throwing mud in my face.

‘It’s like fighting with an addiction, realizing that you’ve got a problem is the first step of doing something with it, and it’s also the hardest one.’

A strange scene was waiting for me behind the door to my flat.

“Onii-chan! I-it’s g-good to see you back! Let me take yo-, oni-chan’s jacket!”

Said the little blonde girl with puffy red eyes and a forced smile and insisted on helping me undress.

“Here, take the backpack if you want, but you don’t need to help me with the jacket or boots, really.”

“Thank you onii-chan! A-are you hungry? I’ve cooked sausages, they’re q-quite good to eat inside a roll with ketchup!”

“Just call it a hot-dog…”

I was standing stunned, unable to comprehend this bizarre situation. The way she looked, the way she acted, the words she said and the things that had happened when we had separated in SSC didn’t mesh together at all.

My little sister started looking around nervously, probably due to the lack of expected positive reaction from my side, after which she got closer, carefully grabbed my hand and put it on her head.

“Onii-chan likes to pet my head, right? T-there’s no need to w-worry, I used everything that was left on my account to b-buy the best, the m-most comfortable bed for onii-chan! T-there’s even a b-bedding set included! So… s-so, so p-please… don’t tell m-me to… to.. t-to go b-back… h-home.”

Her quivering voice, the silently-screaming wet drops falling on the floor and the shaking I could feel under my hand - it clicked. Everything clicked together and started rotating in a logical manner.

I put the other hand on my face and sighed as deeply as my lungs allowed me to. Very gently I stroked her soft hair twice and moved my hand to grab hers.

“Violet please, follow me, alright?”

Only when she nodded slightly, I led her to the bedroom. Inside, not giving her another chance to misunderstood the situation, I went down on all fours.

“Please sit on me.”

“Eh?”

“Those are our rules, right? I went inside your territory so you have the right to sit on me.”

After a second of hesitation, she did as I asked and sat down on my back. It wasn’t important if she did that because she was scared of my rejection or if she really liked doing that. The thing I wanted her to realize was different.

“Vio listen carefully, this is your territory, those are the rules we have set. When I said ‘go home’, I didn’t mean the mansion. This place is your home, our home. Please forgive me for causing this painful misunderstanding.”

I could hear her sniffling growing louder and the light grasp of the small hands on my sweater changed into a tightly clenched one. I continued:

“Please stop acting like an obedient little sister who's trying too hard, it doesn’t suit you. You didn’t have to worry about the bed, sleeping on the floor is just right for such a dumbass like me. I demand my fair share of punishment from your hand.”

“R-really? It w-was just a m-misunderstanding? Ha… haha… very funny.”

“Vio, you have the full right to be angry at me, please hit me as hard as you can if you want.”

Simply waiting for her to cry her eyes out and apologize to each other was a valid option, but it bore the risk of Vio not opening herself to me anymore, instead we would start tiptoeing around the serious matters.

“I do h-have the right to be a-angry?”

She stopped supporting her weight and the pressure on my back was increased. Her feelings were still being blocked by fear so I pushed her a bit more.

“Yeah, go on. Scream! Hit me! Do whatever you want, let out all the pent-up emotions and don’t worry about the consequences!”

“T-thank you… thank you for allowing me to be angry...”

First, light punch hit my head, testing the ground.

“Do I need your permission even for that?”

Second.

“Do I need your permission to stay here?!”

Third.

“Do you want to control my life like Viktoria did?!

Fourth.

“Do I have to bear with you pulling me like your fucking toy?! Without a word of explanation?!”

Fifth, she started putting real strength into them.

“You fucking scum! I hope some hobo will fuck you in the ass you derailed bastard!”

Sixth.

“Do you know how scared I was not knowing what’s going on?! Do you?!”

Seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth and more, she started using her fists instead of words. It really hurt now.

“I was convinced that I did something wrong and you were going to send me back to the mansion!”

Strangely, no more hits followed, but I felt her poking around my waist, I still had the belt on. Fearing the worst I turned my head to look back and check what was she doing.

“Vio! Don’t!”

“What ‘don’t’?! What is this shit anyway?! You feel like explaining anything to me now?!”

She fished out one of the things from the belt and was chaotically waving it around.

“That's a tear gas grenade! Don’t touch it you stupid girl! You want us to go through hell?!”

She froze and so did I, scared that if I moved she would trigger it.

After a few minutes of this stalemate, she carefully put it down on the floor. Afterward, she silently switched her position to a cross-legged one - still on my back. We remained like that for the next ten or fifteen minutes. Vio was cooling down and from time to time hit my head while I was bearing it in an uncomfortable posture. A lot of the things she had said hit close to home.

“Why do you even have stuff like that…”

“I really have a good reason behind it and behind the way I acted back then, near the ATM. I will tell you everything, but are you willing to listen to a ‘derailed bastard’ like me? ”

Alright, a slight grudge was present, maybe even a medium one.

“I may have gone too far… sorry.”

“Feeling better?”

“Actually yeah, refreshed like never before. But, onii-chan, one word is missing.”

“Sorry.”

The whole situation was like a sudden thunderstorm, it hit heavily and angrily, but as soon as it was gone a rainbow had appeared. However, with her wiping the face into the hoodie it was hard to say if she really felt as refreshed as she claimed.

“Geez~ who messed up your hair like that?”

The devious little sister started gently stroking my hair and arranging it. I moved on all fours towards the bedroom exit. Vio kept her balance and rode all the way out.

Once outside she stood up and helped me to dust off my knees.

“I’m really sorry, thank you for bearing with your hysterical younger sister…”

Very gently, she grabbed my hand with hers...

“Onii-chan please, follow me, alright?”

… and led me to my room. There was no need to tell me what was her plan and I lightly hugged her from behind as soon as we were inside.

“This is my onii-chan’s reward for trying to tell me where is my home…”

“The skinship is strong between us.”

She giggled a little and placed hands on my arms, that were loosely locked around her, urging me to hug her properly.

“I know, right?”

“Vio, what do you think about us treating each other as trustworthy equals? If you treat me like one, I will treat you like that as well. No acting, no lying, no bootlicking, no more secrets, even checking each other phone should be allowed. What do you think?”

“As a trustworthy equal, can I stop calling you ‘onii-chan’?”

My heart! My poor bleeding heart…

“If… if you really hate it that much… then yeah. You can stop calling me that.”

She released herself from the hug, turned around and looked into my eyes.

“You’re serious…”

“Seriously serious.”

Twirling one of her golden locks, she remained deep in thought before saying:

“So George… no.

So Victor… wrong.

So Gio… this is bad as well.

So you… too common.

So...

Ah, screw that!

My onii-chan brainwashing was successful and now it feels awkward to call you anything other than dumb-nii-chan! Whatever, let’s be trustworthy equals, you may start by telling me everything. Don't forget to tell me the story behind the blade stuck in my room's ceiling, the blackish mark on the wall and the reason of your today's behavior!”

Thank god!

I took out her phone from my pocket and passed it to her. Afterward, three green stones were pulled from my wallet.

“Actually you were the one who started first, by showing me the content of your phone.”

Each word of this sentence was shot from my mouth akin to a bullet from a machine gun, additionally, the second half included a silencer. Not giving her the time to think about it, I changed topics.

“Vio, do you want to see a slime? A real monster, pure fantasy!”