The scenery outside was a stark white, and the mountains in the distance looked like giant scoops of ice cream.
At the time, I somehow still had the strangest urge to lick the snow off of telephone poles, but at 10 years old, I was mature enough to refrain from it.
“Aaand done!” said the girl as she stuck in the last arm, a thin branch, on the snowman.
The girl had practically forced her to come out and play, and they had made that snowman together.
She totally learned that from TV…
That cheers was something I remember seeing a recently elected official doing.
The man always did his over-the-top bit, and most of his audience never played along. Naturally, me and my sister hadn't either.The girl tilted her head to the side, and then went for my sister's hands.
“… Hurraaaay~?” my little sister repeated.
“Good, again, hurray~!”“Hurray~!”
“Hip hip hurray~!”“Hip hip hurraay~!”
I turned my attention back to my own snowman, not even half done.
The girl and my little sister had teamed up and challenged me to a snowman building contest. It was their complete victory.It was a small fragment of memory.
A happy memory that had all but disappeared within the nightmare's to come.
◆ ◆◆― ――― ――― ◆◆ ◆―― ――― ―― ◆◆ ◆ I heard the chirping of birds from outside.
“… So bright… ” I rubbed my eyes.
“N… n…” breathed Filly, her face right in front of me.
Her large eyes simply looked at me for a while, she was not fully up it seemed.
“Good morning.”
“Good morn… ah.” Her face went beet red as she was speaking.
She hastily lifted up the sheets covering her, hiding away her mouth―― her lips.
“… Ehehe.” Filly quietly giggled, much less nervous now that she realized that I shared the same feeling as her.
“Good morning, you two.”
Rakel was sitting on a chair by the window, combing her hair.
She'd woken up before us and had changed out of her sleepwear.Filly and I sat up on the bed.
“Hm? Why are you talking like that?” Rakel asked.
“Uh, no reason, just felt like it…”“Huh,” Rakel said suspiciously, then, running her eyes over the two of us, “you two sure seem friendly today.”
“Eh!?” x 2“You were sleeping holding hands,” she explained, “found you two like that when I woke up.”
“Eh, uh, I can…” as I hesitated to get out an answer, Filly tugged on my shirt from under the covers.“(Secret!)” She whisper-shouted.
But Rakel didn't seem interested in hearing my response, as she finished her grooming and stood up.
“Uh, yeah. Sure.” I offered.
“See you.” Rakel bid us adieu and walked out of the room.
Now, just us 2, Filly and I, once again looked at each other.
“Yeah.” She went.
“Hah… hahaha.”“He hehe”
Honestly, I was so into it last night that I didn't remember much of what happened.
All day yesterday, Filly seemed so much younger and I'd been acting the same as I always had with her. But last night, under the sheets, she was so lovely, she was so unimaginably lovely.… I kind of still felt that way, even now.
Like a scent remaining on a shirt.Like an aftertaste.
“Auh… Jacky?” She hesitated.
My fingers felt through her silky hair.
… That something from last night, wasn't there.I needed it, I needed it badly.
Frankly――My lips were lonely.
She'd started it yesterday, so how should I…
“It's okay.” She gave me the go ahead.
Filly's long eyelashes――
Her large, clear eyes――Her cheeks that carried a faint blush――
Her glossy, inviting lips―――― Beautiful, she was simply.
Oh, no.This might be the first time I've felt like this, even counting my past life.
I―― love this girl.I gulped once, then started bringing my face closer.
Filly had closed her eyes, and seeing that I quickly closed mine too.I was close enough that her warmth transmitted to me.
I felt the dampness of a breath as her slightly open lips touched mine.And――
I'd retreated so fast that I fell off the bed and landed hard on my back.
“… Jack, what are you even doing.” Rakel said to me from the door, disappointingly.
“O-oh, uh, still half asleep I guess…” I stuttered an excuse.“Your senses are dull.” Rakel said matter-of-factly. “If I were an assassin, you'd be dead by now.”
“Uh, s-sorry…”
I wasn't just dull, I'd shut pretty much everything else out just now.
Filly said, practically saving me from any more awkwardness, to which Rakel went, “Ah yes,” and went on to state her business.
“Since I'll be out getting a certain thing today, there's no training for the morning.”“What thing?” I lifted myself up and asked.
“It's your present,” Rakel nodded, “the one I mentioned yesterday. I've been informed that it's ready so I'll go collect it. Also, I'll be back in the afternoon, so you two have free time until then.”“See you then,” Rakel said again, and left for good this time.
“Jacky.” Filly called as I was pondering, still sitting on the bed.
My face once again went boiling.
“… … M-maybe later…” I squeezed out, my face completely veered away.
Just goes to show, in a single day, in a single night at that… relationships can change drastically.
“― ― Ah, that's right!” She suddenly said, jumping off the bed. “Master said she'll be out all day, right~? So now's our chance!”
“You don't remember? We promised to go buy a present for her together~!” She claimed cheerfully.
The stuff that happened right after was so intense, I'd completely forgotten.
“It does! I can't wait~!!” Filly said excitedly, returning back to the happy-go-lucky Filly I knew.
◆ ◆◆― ――― ――― ◆◆ ◆―― ――― ―― ◆◆ ◆
― ― Roughly 6 hours later.
I woke up on a cold, stone floor.
“Ugh… my head…!” I had a severe headache.
Wait…? Why, was I, on the floor like this…
Filly was there, collapsed.
“Ow… hua? Jacky…?” Filly said in a daze.
“Jacky… where, are we…?” Filly asked slowly, looking around her surroundings.
We'd woken up in a dark, dreary, stone jail cell.
Jail.As in, there were iron bars that caged us. I could make out a dim hallway beyond it.
On the opposite wall, there was a small window, providing minimum light and ventilation.It was positioned high up near the ceiling, at more than double my height.
Not to mention the solid, iron grates affixed there to deny any sort of escape.Somehow of other, we'd been caught and imprisoned in this sort of place.
Which was when we were surprised once more.
The one who spoke to us was a boy sitting in front of them.
“Wait, you don't remember…?” He said. “You two were kidnapped too…”
I tried to search through my memories from today.
A sharp pain ran through my head, and my foggy memories started piecing themselves together.I… remembered what happened…
Filly and I went out to town.We'd looked through a bunch of shops… and I think, at the 4th accessory shop we tried, we bought a hair ornament. We'd bought it using both our allowances…
… It happened after that.We were using a shortcut to return to the manor.
We passed through the empty alleyway and――That was when I noticed their presence.
Thanks to Rakel's daily training, I was able to instantly change gears, but I was one instant too late.Something hard hit my head and… I woke up here.
“Who took a nap?” Filly said, tilting her head.
“Our dads warned us about this yesterday remember?” I explained, “The Crimson Cats. I bet they're the ones who did this.”
“You're gonna need to learn to lie better than that.” I chided.
“Mnggg~” She grumbled, “… it's not my fault. It's your fault, yours.”“Wait why!?”
“After what happened last night, my head was filled with just you and nothing else!”“… ah, oh.”
“…… No helping that, I guess.” I admitted.
I can't say I didn't have a constant supply of butterflies in my stomach since then either.
Anyway…
I guess both of us were a lot less nervous now, but the circumstances were still pretty dire.But that wasn't to say we'd lost all hope.
I needed information first and foremost.
I turned to talk to the boy again, “So, I'm guessing all of you were kidnapped too?”
“They came so fast, I had no idea what was happening and ended up here before I knew it,” he said, “the others all have similar stories. “I've been here 3 days now… but for some of them, it's been more than a week now”
A whole week in here…
They all looked dirty and ragged, but not starving. Guess they're at least getting food.
However… a few of them had bandages wrapped around their arms, legs, around their chest and even their eyes.It was hard to make out in the dark… but those arms and legs looked a lot shorter than they were supposed to be.
The bandages were soaked red. I remember watching a show about people being born without certain limbs, but this was clearly not that…This had been done to them―― fairly recently.
“… Uh, that…” The boy tried to say bitterly, but before he could, we suddenly heard footsteps coming from the hallway outside.
“The-… they're back, to take stock…!!” The boy cried in sheer terror.
The other children were also shaking in fear.
The sound of footsteps became louder, and soon, the person making them was standing outside the bars of the cell.
She looked to be in her late twenties, early thirties.
Because of her minimal clothing, I could see that she had a well trained body.
No one would underestimate her strength because she was a woman once they saw that body.She was so buff, she looked like she could wrestle a bear.
Didn't Rakel mention her?The leader of the Crimson Cats was a woman, and a powerful spirit master at that.
It was definitely her…
“Oh, I see I see.” The woman's eyes licked over me and Filly.
She was veritably―― taking stock of us.
So she knew that I was nobility…?
The lady chief turned around to a man standing further back.
“Oh ho!” the man in question cheered, “How many, boss ma'am?”
“The 2 new ones,” she paused in thought, eyeing the other kids in the cell, “… and let's see, I want 1 more.”
I could feel their fear rising from that.
The lady chief pointed to the one sitting in front of the rest, “That one. We'll do those 3.”
His jaw dropped――
Like he'd lost all hope, like he was an empty husk――
Complete and utter despair.
“No… No no… no… No no no no nooooooooooo!!!!”
He reached his hands out to the lady chief, snot and tears drenching his face, desperately, he begged.
“Quiet.” went the lady chief.
Suddenly, the boy was violently thrown back.
What―― the hell just happened?The lady chief had only swished her hand as if driving off a fly.
Her hand hadn't even touched the boy.That woman had blown him away without so much as touching him.
… Was it her spirit art?What spirit art could do that?
The lady chief then ignored the boy as he was sobbing in pain and turned her eyes to me.
“… Well aren't you calm, brat.” She mocked. “Didn't that scare ya? Or do you still not understand your situation?”
“Nah, I was just holding my breath you see.” I said to her challengingly. “You should really do something about that old lady stench of yours.”
“… Who should do what now?” She said in a low tone.
The man, her lackey, looked like he was about to piss himself.
Then, the lady chief swung her hand.
Hand―― no, her fist?Before I could get a good look, I was mysteriously knocked away too, landing on the stone floor.
I held my stomach and groaned. Seeing that the lady chief spat a few parting words:
“Next time you do that, remember who you're messing with, fucking brat. I am the chief of this here Crimson Cats, Bloody Tigress Vicky. Anyone crosses me, and I make sure they see just how red their blood is. And I take no mercy to brats.”
Once the footsteps were completely gone, Filly quickly came to me as I was still in the fetal position.
“I'm fine.”
Filly went, “Feh?” in confusion, “You're… not hurt?”
“I… I did too!”
“Seriously, we need to work on your lying.”
I've had to endure Rakel attacking me anytime and anywhere for months now.
I touched the spot on my stomach where she hit.
It did in fact… feel like a punch.But the lady―― Vicky's fist wasn't even close to me.
“Filly, I'm surprised you were so quiet the whole time.” I said. “I was honestly scared you'd do something stupid in front of the scary lady.”
“Hey… I get scared too, you know…” Filly mumbled.“… You? Scared? I find that pretty hard to believe.”
“Well, believe it!” She cried, puffing out her cheeks to show her displeasure.
For me, the most surprising turnout for today might just be finding out that this girl was actually scared of something.
“Hm~” Filly looked away.
“Don't be like that, just listen alright.” I sandwiched her hands between my palms and pressed.
The air leaked out of Filly's mouth making raspberries.
“Oh okay~♪”
“Huh…!” Said a surprised voice, and we turned to look.
The other kids were also looking at us dumbfounded.
“You alright? Here, stand up.”
“Oh, that. Well,――” I was about to explain when,
“Come here, little birdy~” Filly called out towards the high window connecting to the outside.
Three small birds flew in through the window and came to her.
“Yeah, something like that.”
The boy looked at the whole exchange, completely perplexed.
“That, was Filly's spirit art in action.” I explained. “We just sent a message to our guardians, so… by my estimate, it should take about 4 hours for my dad to get here with his knights.”
“Master will get here even faster though~” Filly claimed, “She can zoom through the sky with your spi~rit art.”“Oh, you're right.” I agreed. “So we should get rescued in an hour and half tops.”
“O-one hour, whwhat…!?” The boy gawked at us, like he couldn't believe it.“You,” I said to him, “…what's your name?”
“Eh!?” the boy blinked once, “Benny… I'm Benny.”“Alright, Benny, listen to me.” I looked to the 10 children in the cell. “The rest of you too.”
“In another 1 and half hours, someone will likely come to rescue us.” I began. “But before that happens, the two of us will get all of you out of here. That'll make things a lot easier… Why do you think that is, Filly?”“Ummm~…” having the question thrown to her, Filly pondered on it, tilting her head from side to side, “When the rescuers are fighting the bandits, the bandits might… try to take us hostage! Did I get it?”
“Sure did.”“Woohoo~! You can praise me by patting my head, okay?”
Looking at us talking like it was an everyday affair, the boy―― Benny, and the rest of the kids, looked completely baffled.
“Oh we're―― huh, what are we?”
Which was true and all, but kind of lame to say outright.
“… What? Heroes?” I asked, confused.
“Yep! Master told me about this, that you want to become a hero, and that's why you work so hard to improve your spi~rit arts.”
… That Rakel, making things up again.
Heroes… a hero huh.
Doesn't sound too bad.
“She's right,” I accepted, “we're heroes.”
I gave hope to the children shivering in fear.
Crimson Cats?
Who gives a damn. They're just names, lame ones too.
My little sister is a lot more terrifying than some rag-tag bandits!I've got experience being tied up and imprisoned for 5 damn years.
This cold, dark cell― ― doesn't hold a candle to the morbid house I once escaped. Assuming readers of this series don't completely overlap with NNY readers, I'm this late because I was swamped with commisions for other series (KnM and Shaman)
Excuses aside, since last chap, I've read all the jp chapter's available, a little over 200 chapters, and not finished. Author is taking some time before posting what should be the final arc. Anyway, here's some food for thought: the X's in XXXX-chan little sister indicates the number of english letter's in her name. In the original it's XX-chan since in jp it's 2 characters (minor spoilers for muuuuch later.) It's for faster chapters. Before paying, be sure indicate a series. If not, the money will go towards chicken nuggers.
The average amount for a series is listed below.
Shaman/Jujutsushi - 30
Kuro no Maou - 30
Nidome no Yuusha - 23
Nii-san - 27
Chapter end
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