"Brother...!"

In the distance, Jun could see his sister entering into his bedroom. He was looking down at a past memory, seeing himself lying on his own bed, idly flicking through the pages of a manga that he had just picked up from the local book shop at Electric Town.

Upon hearing his sister's voice, he had glanced up from the bed, seeing her standing by the door with an excited expression on her face. Disorderly black hair that was forced into a presentable shape with a comb, and narrow pale amber eyes that were lit with ardour.

Jun's sister looked like him and at the same time she didn't. The physical attributes were clearly alike, but the subtle nuances in the countenance of their faces differed so drastically that often people were surprised to find out they were siblings.

Whereas Jun's eyes carried a naturally closed and prudent guise, his sister's eyes were open and benevolent. Perhaps it was because they were each raised at an early age by a different one of their divorced parents that caused this stark contrast; Jun with his father, and his sister with mother.

"What is it, Ayumi?" Jun said, glancing back down at his manga.

"Jeez..." His sister watched with a discontented pout as Jun returned his focus to his manga as though he had checked and confirmed nothing of importance had entered into his room. "Isn't your beloved big sister more important than your manga? Also, I thought I told you many times to just call me 'sis' instead of by my name!"

"Sure, you're more important than the manga. That I agree with." Jun said, without taking an eye off the pages. "But that doesn't mean the things you say are always more important, Ayumi. In fact, most of the time you just come into my room to ramble on about your friend, Sayori, whom I've never met, or about how cute some animal you happen to cross paths with on the street was, or something stupid you saw online."

The more he talked, the more his sister's pout grew.

"To be frank, none of that really interests me." Jun continued, flicking a page through his manga. "And, as to why I don't call you 'sis', it's because I've called you 'Ayumi' my whole life. That's just what feels natural to me."

"Also," Jun added, "I don't know why you keep calling yourself 'big sister'. You're only older than me by a few months and we're in the same year."

Ayumi made a noise as though she wanted to start a long rebuttal speech to Jun's words, but she crossed her arms and turned her head the other way instead. "Hmph. Fine then, your beloved big sister was just going to tell you that she just received an acceptance letter in the mail for the reputable 'Takai Military Senior High School' in Tokyo, but if you're going to be like that then--"

"What?" Jun turned his gaze to Ayumi, his eyes shocked. "Are you serious?"

"Haha, got your attention now, huh." Ayumi grinned at Jun's reaction. "Well, I suppose I might tell my cold little brother more details if he reeeally is interested to know more."

"Ayumi, this is no joke." Jun closed his manga, sitting up straight on his bed, the shock still written on his face. "Takai is... the best military school in the country. It's known for producing the strongest SOLDIERs in the nation. Everyone knows that."

"Right?" Ayumi nodded, still grinning. "Are you proud of your 'uncool' big sister now?"

"I mean, sure, but that's not the point." Jun said. "Besides all that, rumours are that most of the students that get accepted to the school never actually graduate..."

"That's just rumours."

"Ayumi." Jun hesitated. "I don't know how to say this, but... I don't think you should go."

Ayumi's lively face fell to a serious look, her joking smile turning mellow. "Are you worried about me?"

"Yeah, of course." Jun replied. "Isn't that obvious?"

Ayumi strolled over to Jun by the bed, kneeling down in front of him so that they were at eye level.

Jun glanced across at Ayumi's warm eyes, seeing the gentle smile on her face.

"Don't worry about me." Ayumi said. "I promise you I'll be okay over there."

"..."

Jun sighed, raising a hand to his spiky raven hair. "...If you say so..."

Seeing his reaction, Ayumi chuckled lightly to herself. "You do care about your big sister after all."

"Yeah yeah..."

Then, the memory started to fade to black in Jun's mind.

~x~

Jun jolted up from the bed, panting and sweating. His eyes darted around him, seeing a white room filled with electronic and medical devices, beeping with faint noises. Several poles carrying IV bags stood to his side, the IV lines running up to various places on his body.

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'What the hell...' Jun thought, glancing around him at the empty room, his mind disoriented. 'Where am I? The last thing I remember was...'

He froze, then quickly grasped his hands to his neck, suddenly feeling the cotton fabric of tight bandages wrapped all around his neck.

'I lost...'

Jun glanced down, lowering his hands to look at his palms. His memory was still fuzzy, but parts of his fight with Arisu was coming back to him now.

'That girl... She was no ordinary SOLDIER. That battle between us wasn't even a match. It was like I was thrown into a pit as a prey for a monster to toy with. And yet, somehow... I'm still alive...'

A memory of Arisu's chilling pale violet eyes staring into him from the darkness flashed in his mind and he shuddered, clutching his arms to his sides with a nauseated feeling in his stomach. Her eyes had been hollow, utterly devoid of anything that resembled a human being.

'What is this feeling? I've never experienced something like this before...'

"Ah, you're awake?"

Jun glanced up, seeing the homeroom teacher standing by the door with a curious smile on his rough face.

'That's the bastard that sent me off against that monster in the combat match practical.' Jun thought. 'If I recall correctly, his name is Abe-sensei...'

"Y-you..." Jun tried to get out of the bed but flinched, feeling the sluggishness of his body.

"I can't believe that you're actually still alive after facing off against Arisu." Abe-sensei said with a wistful expression as he ran a hand over his long slicked back brown hair. "I was filling out your death form after leaving you at the combat match practical room."

There was a different vibe coming from the teacher now and it was clearly obvious to Jun. Back in class, he had a face like a rock, showing little to no emotions. Now it seemed he was showing his true self after being intrigued by Jun.

"That's all you have to say?" Jun said, glancing down annoyedly at the IV tubes sticking to his body. He started pulling them out one by one, ripping the bandages off from his body where the IV tubes were inserted.

Abe-sensei laughed heartily. "Come on, I'm being serious here. It's a real achievement for you to survive, kid." He watched Jun pull the IV tubes from his body with a smile. "Also, you're a lot more eager to get out than I thought you would be. You've been in a coma for a week and already trying to get out after just waking up?"

"A-a week...?!" Jun stopped, glancing up at Abe-sensei with shocked eyes.

"That's right." Abe-sensei nodded. "To be honest, you're lucky to have woken up at all." He glanced down at the white bandages wrapped around Jun's neck. "That right there should had been a fatal cut. Even for a SOLDIER."

"..." Jun touched a hand to his neck.

"Well, I guess I have to hand you some credit." Abe-sensei raised a report that he had been holding in his hand, his beady eyes glossing over the page. "You did manage to create a rather well makeshift bandage out of your shirt after all, tieing it around your neck before losing consciousness. Without it, you would had definitely perished."

Surprise flashed across Jun's face, glancing at Abe-sensei with confused eyes. "I did...?" He couldn't remember that at all.

Abe-sensei lowered the report, sighing. "And here I was about to praise you for how well constructed your makeshift bandage was. You tied it tight enough to cover all the gaps of the wound around your neck, while also keeping it loose enough to not constrict your airway, along with some other alterations. It was done almost to a surgical level considering the limited tools you had on you."

"..."

"Well, I wouldn't be surprised if you've forgotten having even done that." Abe-sensei continued. "Especially with how much blood you lost."

Jun pulled himself out of the bed, stepping onto the cold floor of the room. His body was weak, but he could already feel that his body was gradually reparing itself. As a SOLDIER, his recovery rate was drastically faster than a normal person by several times. Still, mortal injuries like this would take some time to heal.

"That girl..." Jun said. "Where is she?"

"Girl?" Abe-sensei was confused for a second before he realised who Jun was talking about. "Oh, you mean Arisu?" Then he shook his head with a smile. "Geez, you really are something, aren't you..."

"She will be in class tomorrow." Abe-sensei strolled over to Jun where he was standing by the bed, clamping a hand down on his broad shoulders. "You probably didn't see her on the first day you transferred in because she had some medical examination going on. But honestly, congratulations on surviving your first combat match practical at Takai."

"Tch." Jun pushed aside Abe-sensei's hand from his shoulder, glancing at him with an irritated look. "Why the hell do you keep saying that? I got completely destroyed by that monster. I didn't stand a chance at all."

Abe-sensei laughed, seeing Jun's expression. "It's Jun, right?"

"Yeah."

"Jun, Arisu is the number 1 ranked SOLDIER across all the first-years at Takai."

"...!"

"Her victory rate in combat match practicals, beginning from her middle school records when the practicals are first administered, is 100%." Abe-sensei said. "The mortality rate for combatant students matched up against her was 100%."

Abe-sensei paused, smiling as Jun realised the implications of Abe-sensei's words.

"After last week, the mortality rate for her combat match practicals became 99.9%." Abe-sensei said. "In other words, every student that had ever matched up against Arisu in a combat match practical was killed by her... except for you."

Jun was stunned, loss for words.

"Can you see why I'm so impressed that you're still alive now?" Abe-sensei chuckled. "The school was so afraid of matching Arisu against the other top students that they even changed the transfer policy just for her."

"You mean...?"

"The rule about matching transfer students against the best student in the class." Abe-sensei said. "That was done purposely for Arisu."

Then Abe-sensei turned around, walking to the door of the room. "You can get out anytime you want, Jun. This is the school hospital so technically you don't need to even check out, but you probably should if you want to get the clothes and stuff you had on you back."

"Right..."

"I'll see you at class tomorrow, Jun." Abe-sensei glanced back briefly at Jun with an intrigued smile, before leaving.

"..."

Jun glanced down at the plain white gowns he was wearing, then raised a hand, staring absent-mindedly at his palm for a moment.

'...One thing for certain is that there is no way that I was the one that created that makeshift bandage he was talking about...' Jun thought to himself. 'That means that the only one that could had done that is... Arisu.'

He glanced out the window, seeing the orange glow of the setting sun across the city landscape.

'Tomorrow, I will go to class and ask Arisu about it.' Jun thought, then paused with a grimace. '...Maybe she knows something about how my sister died at this school... Hearing what Abe-sensei said, I don't think it was Arisu that killed her since my sister didn't transfer to Tekai, but still...'

He shook his head, then sighed, heading out the door of the room.