Chapter 10: The big sister advice

Shido opened the door to his apartment as Yoshino and Hikaru excused themselves inside. "It's about lunchtime. Do you want to eat something?" Shido asked. "Hamburger," Hikaru answered without hesitation. "You know you should eat something healthier, especially at lunchtime," Shido replied. Hikaru put her finger to her cheeks and thought for a minute. "Pizza!" "There's no hope in you, huh?" Shido said, defeated "And what about you, Yoshino? Do you have any preferences?" Shido asked as he moved his gaze to Yoshino. "Umm, anything would be okay," Yoshino said as she hid her face in embarrassment. "You have to take advantage of him, Yoshino. If I've learned one thing about him, it's that his cooks are five stars," Hikaru said as she smiled. Shido blushed at the sudden compliment. "Anyway, you can take a seat while I make lunch," he said as he entered the kitchen. As yoshino and Hikaru watched TV, Shido was on his device. "Kotori, how is their mood now?" Shido asked. "Stable, until now. You're now on a mission to seal two spirits, bro. You should be careful," Kotori warned. "Easier said than done," Shido sighed. "Do you have any idea?" "Trying to seal them both at the same time is risky. Try first to seal Yoshino as it seems you have a better chance, and try to send Hikaru away for some time while you do that," Kotori suggested. Shido moved his gaze to both girls who were focusing on the TV. "I'm playing with my life here." He approached them. "Hikaru, can you do me a favor?" Hikaru raised an eyebrow. "What is it?" "Could you please fetch me a new knife from my closet in the room? I'm unable to do it myself since the food is currently cooking on the stove." "Hmmm, okay. In the closet, right?" "Yup, thank you." "No problem," Hikaru said as she left the room, leaving Yoshino and Shido both alone. "Good, now Shido, make your move," Kotori said through the device. "Yeah, yeah." As Hikaru was going up the stairs, she wondered, "Why in the hell would he store a knife in his room and not in the kitchen?" "Is this some kind of modern tradition?" She opened Shido's room and gave it a look as her eyes roamed the room. "His room is really. Simple. Doesn't he have some kind of habit or something?" She suddenly smirked and bent down to look under the bed. "Hmmmmmm, nothing. As I thought, the boy is pure. Those spirits are really lucky as hell to have someone like him. I would just think what the situation would end up like if he was someone who thinks with his D and not his B," she thought as she approached the closet, opened it, and started searching for the knife. "Where did he put those knives?" she said as she continued to search but didn't find anything. "Weird, nothing here. Did he give me the wrong place by mistake?" She sighed as she made her way out. "Now I have to go back to make sure where the right place is and go back. What a pain," she thought. As she was making her way down the stairs, she wasn't able to remove the feeling of having forgotten something, but then, "Where is my dog?" Her eyes widened in the question as she ran at the speed of light She checked her room, making sure that everything was in its place. "Not here," she said to herself before making her way down the stairs. "Okay let's calm down, it was supposed for me to go to school today, so i think kotori did take care of my dog, i just have to ask shido to make sure" She made her way down the stairs to the kitchen, where she found Tohka about to open the door. "Nee-san?" Hikaru said Tohka stopped and turned towards Hikaru. "Hikaru?" The two of them stood there in silence, the atmosphere awkward between them. Hikaru decided to break the silence. "About what happened in Ratatoskr, I don't know what was wrong with me back then. I'm s-" "You do not have to be," Tohka interrupted, cutting Hikaru's sentence short. "I know you didn't mean it. It's obvious you were out of control, and I know what it looks like," she said, fixing her eyes on Hikaru. "Next time, you could tell me the reason why you lost control.", Tohka finished as she gripped the knob. "Why not now?" Hikaru asked, confused. "Because," Tohka pushed the door open. "I have to talk wi-" Tohka's voice trailed off as she stopped abruptly, shocked by what she saw. Hikaru was confused by Tohka's reaction. "What's wrong, Nii-san? Why did you suddenly stop-" Hikaru then saw the reason for Tohka's shock. Shido was holding Yoshino's hand while trying to kiss her. "Oh...." "T-t-Tohka? Hikaru?" Shido stuttered nervously. Tohka started to step back slowly, and then run away, while Yoshino disappeared. Hikaru just stared at the scene with a mix of disbelief and disgust. "Bro! She's like 13 years old or less. Chill. You already have a good chick in your hand, and you're putting your hand on another girl, and a little one?" Hikaru exclaimed. "N-n-no, it's not like that. I swear," Shido cried. Hikaru let out a sigh. "Man, I know it's about the sealing stuff, but witnessing that is a big hit to me," she said, giving Shido her back. "I am going to look after my sister. I believe she would be sad to know that her boyfriend prefers little girls over her," she said before leaving the room. Shido now was about to tears from the situation. He had just now been named a "" by Hikaru. "Don't worry, brother. I would accept you as you are," Kotori said, giggling under her breath. "I am not a lolicon" Shido started, but he was interrupted by his tears. "Yeah, yeah. I believe you. Anyway, we've found where Yoshino is," Kotori said, trying to change the subject. "Really? Where?" Shido asked, wiping away his tears. "You could say it's somewhere ," Kotori replied. "ah" Meanwhile, Tohka was in her room, hitting her Kinako bread pillow in resentment. "It's the same feeling I had before. This...this painful feeling," she said in a voice full of pain. Knock, knock. A knock could be heard on the door, and Tohka glanced toward the source of the voice. "Who?" she asked. "It's me, Nee-san. Can you open the door for me?" Hikaru asked from behind the door. "I don't want to talk to anyone now, just leave me alone," Tohka replied. "It's about Shido, right? Just trust me, Nee-san, and let me in. I'm going to help you," Hikaru pleaded. Tohka hesitated for a moment, then said, "It's open, you can enter." Hearing that, Hikaru opened the door and entered the room. "Nee-san, how are you feeling?" Hikaru asked as she sat on the bed beside Tohka. "Not good. I don't like how I feel right now. I don't even know what this feeling is," Tohka said, throwing her pillow away in anger. Dodging the flying pillow, Hikaru continued, "You love Shido, right, Tohka?" "Yes," Tohka replied. "So, that's just jealousy," Hikaru said in a warm tone. "Jealousy?" Tohka questioned. "Yes, Nee-san. You see, when you love someone and that one starts to treat someone else especially, what you feel about that is jealousy," Hikaru explained. "I see. But what can I do to get rid of this feeling?" Tohka asked. 'Get rid of the person that's causing you to feel like this, but, well, I can't tell her that. That boy is a special case,' Hikaru thought to herself. "Nee-san, look," Hikaru got closer to Tohka. "Shido loves you, I can tell that. The boy is ready to kill himself at any moment without hesitation for you, you know that, right?" Upon hearing those words, Tohka remembered their first meeting and how Shido got himself killed just to protect her. Hikaru continued, "That's why you don't have to worry about him leaving you. The boy is the purest person I have ever seen." She stopped, and took a deep breath, "As for what we saw a minute ago, that was him trying to save the little girl. She's a spirit, like us." "He was trying to help her?" Tohka asked in surprise. "You know about how he sealed the spirits' power, right? He was trying to do the same for her, to give that little spirit a normal life, a home like us. Do you understand?" Hikaru explained. "Yes," Tohka said, lowering her head. "Good. Now let's go down and solve the misunderstanding with Shido," Hikaru said as she stood up from the bed. "You said he tried to help the other spirit. Did he help you too?" Tohka asked, curious. Hikaru smiled. "Well, yeah, of course, he did. He gave me everything after all," she replied. Tohka glanced at Hikaru for a moment, "I see. I understand now. Let's go down." Tohka returned the smile. As they entered the living room, Tohka and Hikaru looked around for Shido, but he was nowhere to be found. "Weird, where did he go?" Tohka said, furrowing her brow in concern. "It seems he left somewhere. Well, let's just wait for him," Hikaru said, walking towards the fridge. "He did say this morning that he left us some food for lunch in the fridge. Let's enjoy the meal while we wait for him." Hikaru noticed that Tohka wasn't really listening to her, but was instead standing on the balcony, staring off into the distance. "Is there something wrong, Nee-san?" Hikaru asked as she approached her. Tohka simply pointed at the huge bunny-like creature wreaking havoc in the city, being pursued by the AST. "Isn't that the little girl that Shido was trying to help?" Hikaru dropped her food in shock, only to catch it again before it hit the ground. "Shoot! No wonder Shido wasn't at the house. Tohka, Shido is in danger, we have to save him!" Hikaru said urgently, quickly changing into her astral dress and rushing out of the house. "Yes!" Tohka responded as she tried to catch up with Hikaru.