Extra Chapter: A Little Sister’s Job

Extra Chapter:
A Little Sister’s Job

 

SOME DAYS, I woke up immediately and got out of bed with ease. Other days I woke up tired and it felt like my body was made of lead. But if it was a weekday, I had to drag myself out of bed, regardless of how I felt. Which is why, on days when I had an easy time getting up, I was happy.

“I slept like a log. Back to the grindstone today,” I said, climbing out of bed, but the next thing that came out of my mouth was more of a shriek. “Whoa?! Alice, what are you doing here?!”

I was shocked to find my little sister sitting in the corner of my room. I couldn’t fathom why.

“Good morning, brother dearest. I see you slept well.”

“Um, way to ignore my question.”

“I’m not exactly ignoring it so much as I don’t really have a reason.”

“Well that’s kind of terrifying. Could you make one up, please?”

“At about four o’clock this morning, my heart started beating out of my chest. I thought I was having some kind of attack, so I came into your room to gaze upon your sleeping face.”

“And did that fix it?”

“Promptly!”

She just looked so happy, I couldn’t really lay into her for it. My sleeping face didn’t cost me a thing, so I didn’t really mind her looking at it, but it wasn’t exactly something worth losing sleep over. Anyway, the two of us headed downstairs for breakfast. My father was tearing bread into small pieces, tossing them into the air and catching them in his mouth.

“Did you see that? I’m a dragon eating people falling from the sky!”

It was something of a family tradition not to react to his terrible jokes. Well, I guess we probably would have applauded if it was actually funny, but this was just depressingly lame. Sometimes he’d give up after his first attempt, other times he’d keep trying. This was, unfortunately, one of the latter times.

“Think you can do it, Noir?” he said, tossing three pieces of bread up in the air and catching them in his mouth, one after the other.

I wished he’d stop looking so smug over something so stupid.

“Fine,” I said. “I’ll play your stupid game.”

I copied him and caught three pieces of bread in my mouth. I almost missed the last one, but I got it in the end. Alice applauded.

“That’s my big brother. Only you could pull that off.”

“Huh? Alice? But your daddy just did it!”

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t watching.”

“You ignore me?! Your own father?!”

“Perhaps that’s why you don’t attract much attention, dear,” my mother said with a tender smile.

My father was devastated. By the time I left for school he was talking about giving up his title of father.

“Let’s walk together part of the way,” Alice said.

“Sure.”

We ran into a number of familiar faces on the way to school. Alice greeted them very politely. It made me feel proud to call myself her brother.

“What do you plan to do after you finish class today, brother?”

“I’m going to see the cleric, Luna. I have something I need to do with her today.”

“Bring me along then.”

“Uh, that’s going to be a little…”

“I’m coming.”

Alice’s smile was kind of terrifying. All I could do was nod in the face of that silent pressure.

First period was with Ms. Elena, but it was an actual sit-down class, not practice. And on morals, no less. Specifically, it was about how awful it was to fight with your blood relatives. There was a long history of brothers killing each other in their quest for the throne, or sisters fighting over men, and tales of brothers and sisters fighting to a draw. The concept was pretty alien to me—wasn’t family all about helping each other? That’s what my parents always taught me.

“Just because people are related by blood, doesn’t mean they’ll get along. It’s not unusual for members of the same family to have incompatible personalities. I’ve even seen a family duel before.”

Ms. Elena’s mercenary work had taken her all over the world, and apparently people viewed family pretty differently depending on where you were. To some people, it was nothing more than a transactional relationship.

“So, Noir, do you like your family?” asked Ms. Elena.

“Of course I do. I’m the person I am today because my parents worked so hard. I’m living proof that you can be happy even if you’re poor.”

“Heh, don’t call yourself poor. But it does sound like you have a nice family, make sure you treat them right.”

“I will, ma’am.”

Admittedly, the Stardia family didn’t always get along. Whenever high-quality meat ended up on the dinner table, we turned into ravenous animals competing for a precious resource. My father was a particularly bad offender, while Alice was the complete opposite—she’d give me some of her portion to make sure I was well fed. Perhaps she deserved my admiration the most.

 

***

 

After school, Alice was waiting for me outside the gates of the Hero Academy, and the two of us headed to the temple where Luna worked. There were non-clerics treating patients there as well, but as usual, Luna’s line was especially popular. We waited until she was done.

“She must be very talented.”

“I think it’s more than just that,” I said, looking at the line of young men waiting to see her.

“Ahh, she looks so pretty today,” said one.

“She’s a beauty whether you see her from afar or close up,” another agreed. “I fell down some stairs on purpose just so I could come here.”

“I sliced off my own finger,” said a third.

I wanted to tell them they were just causing more trouble than anything, but they wouldn’t have listened. Once Luna had gotten through her line, she ran over to us.

“Sorry to make you wait like that, Sir Noir…oh, and Lady Alice.”

“Hello, I tagged along. I hope I won’t be in the way.”

“Well…yeah, you might be a little.”

But Alice wasn’t backing down.

“If you’re looking to get some alone time with my brother,” she said, “you’ll do it over my dead body.”

“Very scary,” said Luna. “But let me be honest with you, I wanted to borrow your brother so he could pretend to be my boyfriend, so you being around would make things a little complicated.”

Allow me to explain Luna’s rather delicate situation: one of her patients was an older woman who had taken quite a liking to Luna, and was getting quite persistent about asking her to marry her son. Luna eventually got frustrated and told her that she already had her heart set on someone else, but the old woman only asked to meet this person.

“I think she’ll give up on the idea if she sees I have a boyfriend. I know I didn’t ask you beforehand, but I can’t exactly take it back now.”

“If you think I’m good enough, I’d be happy to help you out.”

“Thank you, Sir Noir! But, um, what will we do about Lady Alice…?”

“Oh, don’t you worry,” Alice said. “I’ll just explain that I’m his little sister.”

Luna seemed relieved. I had a bad feeling about the situation, but wrote it off as unfounded paranoia.

The three of us headed immediately to the old woman’s house. When we came to the door, a woman of about fifty hurried out to greet us.

“I’ve been expecting you, Miss Cleric! Come on in.”

“I’m a little busy,” Luna said. “So I’d prefer we just handle things here. This is the boyfriend I mentioned before.”

“My name is Noir Stardia, and I have the honor of dating Luna.”

I actually got it out without stumbling—pretty good for me. The old woman looked me over.

“Goodness, what a sweet boy. You look like a solid couple too, so much for my hopes of you marrying into my family.”

I was surprised at how easily she accepted it. She probably wouldn’t bother Luna anymore. We indulged her a little longer, and then went to leave.

“Miss Cleric, Noir, I wish you well.”

“Thank you.”

“Yes, things are going well between Luna and I.”

“So they claim…”

“Huh?”

Alice had been unusually quiet the whole time, and her sudden comment caught me off guard. The old woman responded as you might expect.

“What do you mean by that?”

“I’m talking about my brother and Ms. Luna. This whole boyfriend-girlfriend thing is an act.”

“Wh-what are you talking about?” Luna said. “N-Noir and I are really together!”

“Y-yeah, Alice. That’s not very funny.”

“Okay, then prove it.”

Luna and I were a bit shaken. Did she expect us to start flirting on the spot? I couldn’t understand what Alice was thinking. The old woman’s shoulders drooped when she saw us looking bewildered.

“I see…so that’s how it is. You don’t really have a boyfriend, do you, Miss Cleric? You just don’t want to marry my son…”

“No, that’s not it,” Alice declared. I couldn’t figure out why she had changed her tone again. Was she trying to protect Luna? “Ms. Luna does have a lover.”

“Who?”

“It’s me,” she said. “I am Ms. Luna’s true love.”

It was such a hard right turn, Luna and I just stood there, our mouths agape. Before we could regain our wits, Alice continued.

“A cleric loving a member of the same sex is seen by many as indecent, hence the act. I owe you an apology. But please, keep this a secret.”

“O-oh of…of course. I won’t say a word…”

The old woman looked extremely put off, but Alice thanked her again and left. Luna and I were still at a complete loss, but Alice had boxed us in pretty well.

“Alice, what was that?” I asked.

“Sorry. Let me explain.”

Alice argued that, if the lie about Luna and I dating ever got out, Luna and I would be in a bad position. “I mean, what if that woman told other people that you two were together? Ms. Luna has a reputation to maintain and rumors spread even to the heavens.”

I wasn’t really convinced a silly rumor could get that far but, by her own logic, surely her strategy was even worse. I mean, a rumor about a revered cleric being a lesbian would be a lot juicier, surely?

“I think I convinced her to keep quiet, but you’re right, it might not work. But if that does happen, only Ms. Luna and I will be affected, so that avoids a worst-case scenario.”

“So basically, Lady Alice,” said Luna. “You were concerned about keeping your brother out of trouble?”

“That’s a little sister’s job after all!”

Alice smiled warmly, and Luna clapped her hands in admiration.

“Sibling love is such a beautiful thing. Your parents really raised you two well.”

“I would protect my brother even it if meant my body burned to a pile of ash. This is one of the principles of the Stardia family.”

That’s the first I’ve heard of it! I was positive she’d just made that up, but I couldn’t exactly complain. And Luna probably wouldn’t get that much flack, even if the rumors circulated that she was gay.

“Honestly,” said Luna. “It would be great if this made guys less likely to hit on me. Maybe I should be proactive about it and just tell people I’m into women.”

Things may have not gone exactly as planned, but it turned out all right in the end. We bid Luna goodbye and headed home.

I gave Alice a warning as we walked back to the house together. “I don’t really like the idea of you sacrificing yourself to protect me.”

“But brother dearest, I could throw those words right back at you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Ever since we were little, you’ve always put me first, no matter the cost to yourself, haven’t you? I’m just returning the favor,” she said calmly, and kept on walking.