Vol 2 Chapter 6 – That Afternoon【Vol 2 — Youth in the Midst of Calamity】

Onii-chan’s birthday was almost here.

The day she had been thinking about for so, so long — she could feel it drawing near at last.

But there was one serious problem.

She still hadn’t decided what to give Onii-chan as a present.

With her brother’s birthday now just three days away, Elena had been turning this over in her head since the moment she woke up.

It was a birthday present for her beloved, beloved brother. Of course it had to be the best thing possible. It absolutely had to be. Absolutely. Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely, absolutely, absolutely.

She couldn’t let him down — not Onii-chan, who was surely looking forward to it.

This was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to properly thank the brother who treated her with such kindness, every single day, every day without fail, always thinking of her.

On top of that, the birthday three days away was his fifteenth. Not just a regular birthday. Something special — and then some.

What on earth should she give him?

Elena was stuck.

“Getting kind of chilly lately, isn’t it.”

Her brother’s voice, murmured softly out of nowhere. No matter how far away she was, she always heard Onii-chan’s voice. She always knew.

Elena set aside what she was doing and went to him at once.

She moved to turn on the heating to warm the room — but:

“No, it’s fine. I don’t want to use up your mana, and honestly, I only just noticed — I’m not that cold yet.”

Ahh. Onii-chan really is so kind.

And in that moment, a memory surfaced in Elena’s mind without warning.

Something Will Role — her Onii-chan — had said a long, long time ago.

“Having magic around means you just end up using it for everything. Same goes for machines, I guess, but magic is just so all-purpose…”

“What’s wrong, Onii-chan?”

“Nothing, it’s just — remember the other day when I caught my sleeve and tore it, and you fixed it in a second with magic? When I think about how you don’t even need sewing tools anymore, it’s convenient, but… it feels kind of hollow.”

“Sewing… tools…?”

“Yeah — needles, thread, the things you use to mend clothing by hand instead of with magic. …Now that I think about it, do people in this world ever knit scarves and stuff by hand?”

That was when Elena learned that there were people who made scarves and other clothing entirely by hand, without a single drop of magic. According to her brother, things made that way felt like they carried more love.

When Elena said, “But wouldn’t it come out all lumpy?” — Will had answered:

“That’s kind of the point.”

Ahh, Elena thought. I want to knit him a scarf by hand.

That way, Onii-chan would never have to feel cold again. She would put all her love into every stitch —

There weren’t many days left, but there were plenty of extra hours she could carve out. Sleep, for one. She had all the time she needed. It would be ready in time. With that certainty settled in her chest, Elena began — with her own particular ingenuity — to knit a handmade scarf.

But the work turned out to be harder than she’d expected.

When it came to magic, Elena had always been called a prodigy. When it came to needlework, apparently, that did not apply.

She couldn’t hand Onii-chan something imperfect. So, while carrying on her days with him as usual, Elena worked slowly and carefully, knitting a little at a time with everything she had.

But —

There just isn’t enough time.

Elena had planned to give it to him first thing on the morning of his birthday, but with only a little more to go, it still wasn’t finished.

Just a little more. Just a little.

After agonizing over it, she estimated that at the rate she was going, she’d be done by early afternoon — so she decided to keep the handmade scarf a secret and keep working.

At breakfast, Onii-chan hadn’t seemed to notice anything, but deep down he had to be wondering. She was sure of it.

I have to hurry.

Holed up in her room, Elena focused with an intensity she had never reached before — so deep in concentration that nothing else existed — and kept knitting.

And then —

“Phew… finally done!”

When Elena checked the time, the clock read just past noon.

It seemed like she’d have plenty of time to prepare an exceptional dinner for her brother too.

A wave of drowsiness came over her. Three nights without sleep — of course it would. But she couldn’t give in here.

For Onii-chan. That thought alone made her feel like she could do anything.

“Alright—!”

She stood up and carefully tucked the finished handmade scarf into the box she had already set aside.

Time to go give it to him right away. She was quite late, but Onii-chan would forgive her. He was such a gentle person. He had promised he would never hate her, no matter what.

He would definitely be happy.

With that thought carrying her forward, Elena stepped out of her room — and immediately noticed something was off.

“Onii-chan isn’t home…?”

She couldn’t sense him. If he were here, she’d know instantly.

“…?”

Elena tilted her head and began drawing her mana into her right eye and right ear.

Elena had secretly placed a mark on Will — so she would always know where he was.

With the mark, she could see her brother no matter where he went.

She closed her mana-filled right eye — and instead of darkness, there was the outside world. A cold wind was blowing, and there, amid it all — her brother. He was there.

But he wasn’t alone.

“…Huh? Onii… chan?”

Wrapped in a single long scarf, her brother — Will — was connected to Aria.

A voice reached her.

“…I—”

By the time she registered it, her brother was being kissed by Aria, right before her eyes.

A kiss. A kiss. A smooch. A kiss.

Their lips were touching, and her brother’s eyes had gone wide.

Elena had never done that with Onii-chan. Not once. Never.

“…Huh?”

“I love you more than anyone, Will. I love you, love you, love you so much. That’s why I want Will to be mine. …Okay? Will, do you understand?”

Her brother was being kissed.

“…Mmm— anyway, Will… the thing is, I spent so long trying to figure out what to get you for your birthday, and in the end all I could actually prepare was this scarf.”

“…W-what, uh—”

“But there’s something else I can give you right now.”

————

“————”

Again — again — again.

A small sound rang out — something hard scraping against the floor.

Elena didn’t notice that the box holding the handmade scarf, her birthday present for her brother, had slipped from her hands.

Her brother was being pushed down by Aria.

“————————”

She understood. She knew he wasn’t doing this willingly. She knew it hadn’t been his idea to kiss her. She knew that.

She knew everything about Onii-chan. Elena knew. She knew, she knew, she knew, sheknewsheknewsheknew————

But that was exactly why.

She also understood — unmistakably, irreversibly understood — that her brother wasn’t fighting it. She understood, she understood, she understood, she understood —

“…No. No. No, no, no, no, no, no, this is wrong, …this is wrong, this — “

Ahh. Ahh. This is wrong. This is wrong. This isn’t right. Not right. Not right. Not right.

Elena watched. She watched Will get drawn into Aria’s pace, watched him get pushed back, watched his face flush red as their eyes met.

“…No, no, no, this is wrong, wrong, W R O N G, this isn’t it, this isn’t right, thisISN’TRIGHT, wrong, wrong — yeah, yeah — no, no, no — ————”

Ahh. She had been wrong.

If she loved her brother — if she truly loved him — she should have stayed by his side forever. Never apart, not even for a moment. Together, together, together, together, together, together, together, together.

She should have told him so much more, so much sooner. What she was thinking. What she was feeling. How much she loved him. How much she needed him with her. She should have said it straight, head-on, without holding back.

Wrong wrong wrong she was wrong she was wrong she was wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong.

Right in front of her, Aria was telling Will she loved him.

And Will — looking at that — clearly didn’t hate it. He was being told he was loved, and his expression was — —— — like that.

But that was wrong. Wrong, wrong. Wrong. Wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong.

The one who loved Onii-chan was Elena.

The one who could take care of him the best, who cherished him the most, who could do the most for him — the one who truly loved him most — was Elena.

———— Elena is the one who loves Onii-chan.

Elena let her perfectly ordinary, everyday smile fall quietly from her face.

“Will… hey, do you like me?”

“————No. That’s not right.”

Elena swung her arm up — and a white flash tore through the air.

A tremendous flood of light swallowed everything, and the sound of something tumbling across the floor followed.

“…Onii-chan.”

“——————…HUH? Wha — wha — hold on, wait — what — …huh?”

Will’s eyes snapped open as wide as they could go. The scene in front of him had changed entirely. He spun his head around, looking everywhere at once.

And then he found her.

“I love you so much, Onii-chan!”