Chapter 14: When One Sibling Falls the Other is There to Pick Them Up

A full two days had passed since Sorayume had joined Ideasthesia while Mariya continued to handle the affairs of the guild and plan her next move. As she looked over the map of the world, she realised that her brother didn’t show up like he usually did. Closing the menu, she headed down the hallway of the guild building until she found Risa and Sora in the kitchen.

“Have you two seen my brother?”

“Last I checked, he was still in the bedroom. Pretty sure he was drinking different alcohol.”

“And when was this?”

“A day ago.”

Mariya quickly grabbed Risa by the shirt collar and lifted her into the air. She showed no sign of happiness, only the serious expression of annoyance.

“You left my brother alone, with alcohol and didn’t bother to ensure he was okay?”

“H-He ordered me not to do anything or say anything to you.”

Slamming Risa down onto the table, Mariya appeared furious as she gripped her hand around Risa’s neck tightly.

“Let me make this perfectly clear for you, Risa. I don’t what my brother says or the fact that he owns you. If he is about to do something that will harm him, in any way, you tell me immediately. Is that clear?”

Risa struggled to breathe as she tried to get out the words.

“Y-Yes…”

Looking down at the table, Mariya released her grip on Risa and took a single breath.

“Clean up the mess you made.”

Without another word, Mariya exited the room and headed down the hallway to the bedroom. Standing in front of the guild door to the bedroom, she knocked loudly.

“Nii, open this god damn door!”

“Uh… I can’t at the… moment.”

“Open this door or I’m breaking it down.”

“I’m masturbating.”

“¡Abre esta maldita puerta!”

Waving her hand to open the menu settings of the door, Mariya scrolled through the options until she toggled the door mechanism to unlock.

“I’m counting to three. Uno… Dos… Tres…”

Flinging open the door with a strong force, Mariya looked around the room to see nine cans of alcohol sitting on the ground while her brother was sitting on the floor leaning against the bed.

“Usually, a little sister is supposed to walk away when their brother says something like that,” Wolfy said as he held his head.

“This isn’t an anime and plus, I know you weren’t. Any reason why you started going down the self-destructive route and not come to me.”

Wolfy could feel the world around him spin and blurry as he closed his eyes. While his mind had slowed in its thinking, he could feel his head throbbing in pain. Unlike the real-world, the game had limits. With alcohol, all player’s characters could down three cans before feeling a slight buzz. After six, they would feel the effects of dizziness and at nine – which was the max allowed per day – the player would run the risk of blacking out with blurry vision and the possibility of getting the alcohol poisoning status.

“I guess you won’t take fun as an answer.”

“Nii-nii, I don’t want you to do this again. Now, get up and let’s get you some water.”

Mariya helped her brother to his feet as he struggled to keep his balance.

“I think I’m going to be sick…”

“You’re okay, nii-nii. Just—”

Before Mariya could finish her sentence, she felt a fluid running down her shoulder that was wet and looked as if it was made of rainbows. The game oddly allowed players to make various fluids emitted from the avatar to come out as a furry of rainbows.

“Nii…”

Catching her brother in her arms before he could fall to the floor, she held him close to help him maintain his balance.

“You just threw up me.”

“Sorry… I should have warned you. Fuck… this is awful.”

Patting Wolfy’s head gently, Mariya helped her brother over to the bed and placed the covers over him.

“I’ll get you some water and food. You just rest, okay?”

“Why do I get this feeling that you’re going to punch me?”

“Because I will, once you get better of course,” Mariya said with a smile.