KAIDA’S POV

I felt an ominous premonition looming over me, “Haha, Elijah… No hard feelings right?”

The only reaction I got out of him was a smile.

“Wait- I can give you good reason to-”

I faltered when he cracked his knuckles.

“No! You’re at more fault! Be-because you nearly killed me!”

I instinctively took a step backwards,

“St-stop!”

“Stop what? What’s wrong Kaida?”

“You know what I mean! Like-like that look on your face!”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Did you have nightmares? It’s okay, come here!” Elijah opened his arms for a hug (that probably was not a hug).

“N-no!”

“I’m not going to do anything, I just need to tell you to never do that again.”

Elijah took one step forward.

I took a step backward.

“Lies!”

“Come on!”

“YOU CAN TELL ME FROM THERE!”

Elijah tilted his head as he took another step forward, “Why are you so scared for? I’ll probably just recieve a couple of detentions.”

“WAHHHH- MUMMY- HIC!” I hysterically wailed as I took another step back- I hit a dead end.

I murmured, “No…”

Elijah chuckled, “Either you come here or you can jump out the window.”

If I was deaf I probably thought he mistaken me for Yenila from the smile he gave me.

I poked my head out of the window.

“Why are you looking out of the window?”

“Seeing whether the drop is worth it or not!”

“...”

“...”

“...”

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-”

In the end, the drop was worth it.

One hundred percent.

I have no regrets.

***

“Hey Kaida, when you screamed ‘mummy’ earlier, what did you mean?” asked Elijah as he washed his knife.

My mouth bobbed up and down.

Tear welled up in my eyes.

When I didn’t answer, Elijah turned around and held a fork as he would a knife, “Why aren’t you answering, hmm?”

“WAIT- WAIT- NO- I’LL ANSWER YOU!”

“Good Kaida, now what did you mean by that?”

I hesitated.

“Kaida~” Elijah picked up a knife and walked towards me.

I closed my eyes and covered my ears.

It hurts so much, please. I don’t want it to happen again.

“I guess you’re not answering…”

“Please…” I whispered

He sharpen his blade with the fork.

No. Not again!

NOT AGAIN!

“AHHHHHHHHHH!”

Stolen novel; please report.

I watched Elijah slice into a piece of cake and eat it-

So horrible.

So disgusting.

So vile.

He didn’t share any of it with me.

He started unwrapping candy and eating it.

He knows it’s my favourite flavour.

He knows I haven’t eaten lunch.

He knows the agony I feel every time he bites into a muffin.

Yet he continued and continued to toture me.

So. Utterly. Despicable.

I will get my revenge one day.

One day…

***

ELIJAH POV

“Yenila, wait up!”

A hurried voice called out.

The voice belonged to none other than my father who was desperately running after Yenila.

I shifted my weight off the window, arms crossed with a smile on my face in preparation to greet my family.

First to arrive at the door was none other than the culprit of all this fuss.

Not bothering to stop her momentum, Yenila happily smiled before calling out “BROTHER!” and crashing into my arms, which were now wide open.

I let out a victorious smile towards dad who currently had a dumbfounded look of someone who couldn’t believe they had just lost.

Heh.

I cleared my throat when dad continued on blinking a couple more times from shock.

“Ah. Yes.”

He finally managed to get out.

“Yenila here has been missing you quite a lot. Well, more than often.

Me and your mum have decided this is a good time to spend together touring the new shops they just built.

And hence-”

He gestured to Yenila

“-the sudden visit.

We’ll leave you with her for the day.

You can take her out to the park… or something.”

A short period of silence ensued before dad must have finally decided he had said all he wanted to as he abruptly turned around and left.

As much as we all adored Yenila she could be a handful at times.

I guess dad really must have wanted that time alone with mum.

An amused smile rested on my face.

“Brother, can we pleaaaseeee go to the beach? I don’t wanna go park!”

Yenila stared up at me with the best puppy eyes she could muster, as if I would have ever considered denying her request.

“Sure.” I said.

“But we'll have to get some groceries along the way too.”

Ah. And visit the bakery…

How the hell did Kaida finish off a month's worth of snacks already…

I even banned her from snacks for a few days for making me explode the room.

Should I enter her into a competition?

The idea doesn't seem half bad, maybe-

“BWUADDER! CAN WE GO TO ARCADE TOO!”

Hmm I guess it wouldn’t be too bad to spoil her once in a while.

I needed a stress reliever anyways.

“Sure. Go for it. You can count on me.”, I said, half exasperated.

Ah. Right. Kaida.

I quickly headed into the dorm with Yenila to find her.

Big mistake on my part.

Very very big mistake.

As soon as Yenila laid her eyes on Kaida it was all over.

“WAHHHHHHH.”

Yenila had it even worse than stacy.

The sparkle in her eyes seemed blinding.

And worst of all Kaida seemed to be enjoying this.

The pats, hugs and my suffering.

Even in her red panda form, I could recognize that expression from a mile away.

Ah.

I clenched my hands.

I can’t watch this any longer.

I simply won’t stand for this.

“H-hey Yenila, let’s go to the candy store too…”

I forced a smile on my face, arms out, waiting for Yenila to jump into them.

Yeah, come to me. It’s always been like this after all.

I’m a good big brother.

Right?

I am not jealous.

At all.

Really.

“Hey~~”

After a few more words of bribery encouragement, she finally started to pay attention to me again.

“Yay! I love you big bwuadder!” She jumped into my arms, with Kaida in hers.

…

D*mn it.

***

I weakly slumped down in front of the arcade.

Of course, I made sure none of the 13 bags I was holding got damaged.

Why did I ever agree to this…

This was honestly more exhausting than a week of training combined.

How the hell did those two even manage to have so much energy?

I need to learn their ways.

“Brother~~~

Come on!”

I reluctantly dragged my exhausted body to the stairs leading to the entrance.

Eh?

Stairs?

“…”

No.

I turned around.

I’m not lugging these to the top of this mountain.

Eventually, after Yenila had made some promises to spend some time with me later (and put down Kaida), I felt like I had recovered all of my energy in an instant.

Off to scale this mountain I go~

“Huff. Huff.”

I took another step.

Halfway there…

“ELIJAH!”

I froze at the sound of the voice.

The familiarity I felt in it was giving me a sense of foreboding.

Oh well.

I grit my teeth, continuing the climb.

This will serve as good motivation.

Asher screamed, “Wait up!”

“Yenila, you see those people down there waving at me? Bad, very bad people.”

“But, isn’t that handsome big bwuadder?”

“...”

Everyone’s life ends sooner or later, why not end a certain someone’s just a tad earlier?