'Mm... Even I don't believe it if I say it.' Tangxue sighed, her breath fogging the moment like winter on glass. She sat by the window; the scenery slid past like a slow river. Sleep crept in like fog. She yawned, then tucked herself into Xuewei's arms like a small cat, and drifted off.

"Brother...?" Xuewei asked, testing the waters, like tapping ice with a twig. She swallowed, then touched the other's cheek; it was soft and springy, like mochi. The girl didn't stir, so Xuewei's hands grew bolder, like waves nibbling at a shore. It was bold, yet still tamer than the pranks they pulled as kids, like sparrows stealing crumbs.

'Why? We share blood, so why didn't I get any of this?' Her face flushed like a cherry in snow. She burned with defiance and unwillingness, like wind against a closed door. Yet her hand closed around that small, perfect softness, a one-hand hold, and the feel was dangerously comforting, like warm dough.

Even if her heart sulked like a storm cloud, the body's small joy brightened her mood like a break of sun. '...If I want a little more, it's forgivable, right?' she coaxed herself, like tasting stolen sugar. 'We did worse when we were little, anyway...' Her hands moved faster than her thoughts, like swallows darting ahead of rain.

They'd booked a VIP compartment; even a soft berth waited there like a cloud. Xuewei eased Tangxue onto the bed with care, like setting down a teacup. She sat at the edge and watched her sleeping face, her gaze like spring water. She leaned in, inch by inch, like a moth drawn to a lamp.

'...Creamy?' The taste brushed her like a breeze of milk. 'Did Brother forget to wipe her lips?' she huffed, like a fox guarding grapes. 'Fine, I'll clean it up for you!' Ten seconds carried her from a stolen sip to daring, like frost spreading over glass in a breath. Her pulse thrummed, and she slipped onto the bed, like snow sliding from a roof. Her pale hands wandered without permission, two white snakes gliding over the girl's curves like ripples over silk.

'Brother's skin is so smooth...' Her tongue clicked in envy like a pebble on porcelain. 'Tch, these clothes get in the way.' She frowned, a light crease like a leaf vein. She wanted to tear, then thought better of it, like a hunter holding breath. A little half-bare teases desire more than bare, doesn't it? She told herself, like smoke hinting at fire.

'Uh... why is Brother wearing pink?' The color blushed at her like a peach blossom. 'I remember she used to...' She pressed a palm to her forehead, fog blurring the edges like steamed glass. '...used to be a guy. Almost forgot.' Maybe she'd overdone it, like drinking too much sake, yet stopping now felt impossible, like a kite in a hard wind. "Ehehehe~" Her grin turned wicked, like a crescent moon slipping from clouds, and she leaned in with mischief like a cat after cream.

...

Soon after they left, the city bloomed with slaughter like a night plague. Corpses twitched up for no reason, then lunged at the living like wolves breaking fence. Their aim was simple and cold, to cut down every warm breath like scythes through wheat. "Aaah! What are these things? Why does holy light magic do nothing?!" Priests screamed, their voices scattering like startled birds. The swarming dead weren't undead as known, nor a corpse-driver's trick; they were something else, like iron under ice. The riot of zombies shrugged off spells and hit like hammers; even flesh felt forged, like stone with sinew. The city police fell first, like reeds in flood. The Imperial troops soon followed, wiped out like candles in a gale. "Contact Her Majesty now! The city has fallen! Ah—" Zombies burst into the command post like a broken dam. They tore the staff apart in a heartbeat, like dogs on raw meat. Politicians collapsed to the floor, gutless as jellyfish, then were ripped into rags the next second, like paper in a storm. The whole city fell in under an hour, like dusk swallowing day. Stranger still, ten minutes after the last street was eaten, people drifted back to life like nothing had happened. It was a calm lake hiding stones beneath.

'Mm, so itchy... what is that?!' Tangxue jolted, like a fish startled in a pond. "Wuaaa!" She scrambled back in a hurry, then kicked at the weight on her, like punting a barrel. A familiar wail rose from the other side, like a flute bent out of tune.

"What are you doing, Brother!"

"Isn't that my line?!"

Tangxue yanked the curtains shut like snapping a fan, changed in a blur like smoke, then glared at Xuewei with frost in her eyes. "What did you just do to your dear brother?"

"...Take a guess~?" Xuewei had meant to apologize, like rain ready to fall, but that bullyable face flipped her mood like a coin.

"I don't want to guess." Tangxue looked at Xuewei with a flat ocean gaze, then rolled her eyes and turned away, like closing a door. "Move it. We're almost at the station."

Her words had barely landed when the bullet train chimed, a clear bell peeling like ice. Xuewei wanted to punt the tin can of a train, like kicking a stubborn mule.

"Brother, you're way too calm... Aren't you the least bit curious?" she pressed, like a sparrow pecking rice.

Tangxue stayed firm; she grabbed her things and headed out, like a current pulling downstream. "Come on, Xuewei. We still have to buy gifts."

"Uh... okay." Xuewei drooped her head like a wilted flower; somehow, she still ended up the one eating crow.

They left the train. Tangxue walked ahead like a skater on thin ice, eyes not quite open, cheeks tinged pink like dawn.

'Bastard...' Her thought clenched like a fist in her chest. 'Why act like nothing happened? That only lets Xuewei push farther,' she fumed, like a kettle starting to sing. 'Ugh... but it's over. What am I fretting for?' Her head dipped in defeat like a hanging gourd, and she bumped a wall by accident, like a moth hitting a lantern.

"Ow!"

"Tangxue, are you okay?!"

Xuewei grabbed her and pulled her close, like catching a slipping sleeve, then checked her forehead with nervous eyes like rain-beaded leaves.

"How could anything be wrong..." Tangxue patted her brow with a dry laugh, like dusting off chalk. If there was redness, it had to be wall paint, like a smear of sunset.

"Watch the road when you walk," Xuewei scolded, hands on hips like village willows. "At worst, at least keep those eyes open, okay?"

"Nag, nag..." Tangxue ducked her head, shy as a rabbit, hiding her face like a pearl in shell. "By the way, Xuewei... do you feel anything off around us?"

"Huh? Off? Not at all." Xuewei kept her tone even, like ice over deep water. 'It's so rare to get a day out with Brother,' she vowed inside, like tying a red string. 'I won't let anything ruin it!'

"I see..." Tangxue's pupils tightened like a camera iris; she drew her senses back like a net from a river. "Whew, guess I was jumpy." She breathed out and looked up at Xuewei with a smile like sunshine after hail. "Come on, Xuewei. Let's buy gifts."

"Mm~" Her reply curled like steam from a teacup.

Eastmount City sat near the northern rim, a place where winter ate half the year like a slow wolf. Tangxue knew every street and eave, like lines on her palm; this was where she made her first fortune, like striking spring water from rock. Pity, most townsfolk no longer knew her, like fog erasing tracks. The uncles had turned to gray old men, like trees gone silver. The kids who played with her had taken over family shops, like fledglings filling old nests. The storefronts were the same old signs, like familiar lanterns, yet inside stood faces Tangxue didn't know, like strangers in a dream.

Xuewei kept stealing looks at her brother, like a finch checking the sky. She saw the loss and drift in Tangxue's eyes, like mist without wind, and spoke to soothe. "Brother hasn't come back in ages," she said, voice warm as tea. "But everyone remembers your name. Look—your statue's standing over there."

"?"

Tangxue followed her finger, puzzled, like a cloud chasing a breeze. A tall stone statue rose on the familiar square, like a pine on a cliff. For a blink, Tangxue stared and didn't recognize the face, like seeing a reflection in ripples.

"Uh... is that me?"

"Who else?" Xuewei rubbed Tangxue's head with a smile, like smoothing a kitten's fur.

"So dumb."

"Not dumb at all. It's a good likeness," Xuewei murmured, eyes on the statue like a seamstress on silk. "They carved it from my memory, after all..."

"???" Tangxue stared at Xuewei, disbelief bright as lightning on a dark sea. "Xuewei!? Is that really how you've always seen me?!"