Tick-tock~ Tick-tock!

Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!

The sound of dripping water and the squeaks of mice intertwined in the basement, creating a scene that felt strangely familiar, as if I had seen it somewhere before but couldn't quite remember how I ended up here.

"Am I still half asleep or something?"

"Talking to who?"

Yukari, my sister, yanked me off the bed and into the bathroom, giving me instructions.

"After you shower, make sure to come downstairs. We're waiting for you. There's a prayer event in the school auditorium today, don't forget to attend."

"Got it, sis... Oops!"

"You called me sis~ Hehe, the feeling of having a little brother is quite novel."

"...Yeah, having a sister feels great too."

Unable to resist, I found the lazy morning where my sister woke me up early quite cozy, leading me to forget momentarily how to address Yukari.

Luckily, she didn't mind and just smiled briefly before saying to me, "But don't dream too much. I'm not the type to take care of people very well. In any case, don't expect me to look after you, or you'll end up starving in bed."

"...I never planned on relying on you to take care of me in the first place. As long as you cause me fewer troubles, I'll be happy. So pay attention to your appearance, the elder sister who never even bothers to put on makeup!"

"E-Elder sister... Am I really that old?!"

Yukari, who had just been smiling moments ago, suddenly turned quite angry in the blink of an eye. It seemed that even the most laid-back girls disliked being called ugly or old, and Yukari was no exception.

She picked up a mirror, scowled at her reflection for a moment, then dropped the mirror and exclaimed in anger, "Who said I'm old? My skin is as tender as... tender as...water! Huh?"

By the time she realized what she said, I had already locked the bathroom door, turned on the shower, and started happily getting ready to freshen up.

"Hey, open the door now, explain yourself!"

"You pervert! What are you trying to do? I happen to be in my birthday suit now!"

With that said, she kicked the outer door open and aggressively approached the glass door inside. I could feel the irrational anger emanating from her, and it was quite frightening.

Oh dear, I should have just let her finish talking. Now it seems like she's going to interrogate me like a criminal!

Yukari's furious strength demolished the lock on the glass door and she rushed in, pointing at my nose and starting to reason with me.

"You, you must act quickly... What the...?"

Before she could finish her first sentence after opening the glass door, her gaze landed on something and she screamed at the top of her lungs, "Pervert—!"

Although she didn't say much, in that moment, I felt terribly uncomfortable all around.

No matter how much I may resemble a girl in looks, I am fundamentally a boy!

"Let it be, you reap what you sow. It's funny how we were just talking about having a good sibling relationship earlier, and now... sigh!"

I sighed inwardly, always trying to stop her from doing strange things, yet I ended up with the short end of the stick.

"Stop these futile actions!"

Even when the TV spies outed by the enemy were still threatening their opponent, it was laughable.

"Trash movie, what's the point of repeating these cliché lines endlessly?"

When I'm in a bad mood, I feel like criticizing everything, except when I'm asleep, of course – as mentioned above! Anyway, I definitely don't want to be a complete idiot, so it's better to stay calm and composed at this time...

After sorting out the clothes, I hurried downstairs to meet Yukari and the others at the agreed location.

"Hey, buddy, gotta say, you're looking good today."

"Well, thanks for the compliment, I just took a shower, that's all..."

Within Flandre's compliment, there were barbs, but I didn't pick up on them at all, so I ended up getting scolded.

"Compliment... I mean, are you so late on purpose to hold us back?"

Flandre, who didn't like to waste words, directly threw a small knife at me and shouted, "Come on, let's see your courage as a man!"

"..."

Under everyone's gaze, I tremblingly picked up the seemingly insignificant but unusually heavy small knife, hesitating to put it down in front of my chest.

Tsk, Yukari snorted contemptuously, showing no intention of mercy, but instead crossed her arms provocatively.

"My brother is not the kind of wimp who's too scared to make a move, man up!"

"Darn it!"

I yelled as I drew the blade from its sheath and shouted at them.

"Watch this, this is the courage of a man!"

(Three minutes later)

"Oh my god, hurry up and get rid of this... It's so ugly!"

"Yeah, I agree, just like the big sister!"

Chiyori used a stick to pick up the remnants left from my tailored bra, then joined Yukari in mocking me.

Even Flandre, standing beside them, came over to mock me, saying, "Yeah, such a cold day and you're wearing a school uniform, you truly are a deserving man!"

My whole outfit was loose, but it was indeed thoughtful, I didn't feel cold at all!

Since everyone had let off some steam, I simply went along with them.

"Alright, let's stop arguing, forgive him for now since he's new!"

Upon Yukari's intervention, Flandre had to relent.

"Hmph, from now on, we should have our own style. With just our small group, we won't be able to recruit newcomers with our popularity. The only way to expand our strength and dominate the battlefield is to rely on the support of a Divine Lord!"

"Big sister is right, we only have six people now, while the enemy is Satan's entire group. So we need to keep getting stronger!"

Arima Shinobu's silence made everyone put away their smiles. She sat on the ground, hugging her knees and curling up.

I shook my head and thought to myself, if it were Viktorche, I might consider it, after all, he is the person closest to Edward.

"You're wrong about that. If we continue like this, we'll be fighting alone in the end. Besides improving our own strength, there's another way to solve the current problem!"

The others quickly turned their attention back to me.

"What way is that?"

...

In the isolated area of the Western Alliance's main city, the situation on the battlefield intensified!

"Report, the enemy firepower is too strong, I almost couldn't hold on!"

Elena's militia organization continued to fall, with many people dying under the intense gunfire, and eventually even their bodies were desecrated endlessly.

"Hey? Where are the people from headquarters... why aren't they speaking!"

By the time the militia member named Elena reacted, the radio on the headquarters' side had long gone silent.

He put down the radio, covered in cold sweat, and looked around before realizing that the underground was filled with the corpses of Elena's soldiers, and the opponents were impossible to count from the beginning!

"This is the command center. Don't panic, first activate the biometric detection waves!"

"Uh, okay!"

Rushing, he took out a shiny little ball from his waist, placed it on the ground, and reported back.

"Headquarters, I've activated the shock wave. We can conduct a biological scan now!"

"Hold on, let me take a look for you... Wait! It seems like there's only one opponent?"

"What?"

As the center transmitted the detected images to the militia member's tactical helmet, a red dot was also marked at the same time. How could this be?

He gradually became nervous all over, even the gun in his hand started to tremble slightly. But looking at the hundreds of Elena soldiers lying around the construction site, he swallowed and whispered to the command center.

"Could... could it be a mistake by the machine, how could one person... one person wipe out our entire militia group?!"

"No, there is indeed only one person on the other side, and they are already far away from you. If you can, flee to the base of the Western Alliance now."

"...Understood, sir!"

He slowly stepped over the corpses of the militia, then threw the radio on the ground, and laughed in a very eerie manner.

"So that's where you are... hahaha!"

(One hour ago)

"We have identified up to forty Elena militia members in the city center, Your Majesty. Just now, the soldiers from the Empire passed through here. I have come up with a method that can save us a lot of trouble."

A soldier in the Empire's uniform, wearing black sunglasses, turned around and looked at a few unconscious Empire soldiers with a smile.

...

Another new night arrived, unlike last night, tonight was particularly quiet. The clock on the wall had already struck eleven, but I still couldn't find even a hint of sleepiness.

Clatter...

The dense tapping sound outside the window on the balcony made me gradually feel depressed.

I was sitting on a banana chair placed by the balcony, spending this peaceful and serene night. The semi-dreamy feeling truly brought a completely relaxing pleasure! I could reflect on myself as well...

Is what I'm doing perhaps too much? Instigating misunderstandings is usually the style of despicable characters!

"Hagrid, what are you doing on the balcony?"

"Oh, if I'm just resting, I really feel a bit idle, hahaha!"

"Then let's play a game, since we're both so idle. What games do you usually play?"

Yukari, dressed in a cow-print pajama, sat next to me, took out a game console, and asked, "How about this one, Hagrid, can you play?"

"Well, I've been playing since I was a child, but you... uh, sister, never allowed me to touch them, and even threw away all my collections as junk."

"Hagrid has a sister? I didn't know about that. So, where is she now?"

"..."

At that point, my eyes dimmed, thinking that if I didn't clarify things soon, it would be really bad.

And so, I gathered my courage and spoke up.

"Um... Yukari sis!"

"Hmm?"