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(SOUL) - SISTER II
> “Thy rest shall be peaceful. The rest will be taken care of by the elder Sweostor—Slumber well my little Noel.”
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> By taking thou’s soul and memories, I myselfe promise that thy last unfinished wish shall be granted. Thy wishes shalt fulfilled—by other thyself.
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Little Beelze relentlessly swallowing up her delicacies, merciless to the man-at-palm’s pale face. As he opened his wallet, there was no sign of salvation on his account. His face-palm reaction was priceless to little Noel’s hunger.
“Noel. If you don’t stop eating, someday you will regret becoming so fat.”
“That’s rude Brothaa—!!”
“This is your last plate.”
She pouts, her breath heavy and laden with exasperation.
“Why can't I eat more?”
“Because you will straight me down from economy to the poverty class in a meal, little glutton.”
“Dammit!”
“Ouch! —” Allen flicks her forehead again. As he said: "Language please, Noel.”
“Hey! Am no longer 12’s Noel in your memories anymore, big bro.” She covered her forehead, while her right hand never let go of that scooping spoon.
“Oh– Is that so? Sorry, I’m not used to it yet.” Allen is bound to his timeless memories, it will take time for him to get used to. He feels old even though they are only a few years apart.
A few seconds later, a white plate of custard pudding is placed in front of her. The waiter slowly lifted his hand, presenting the sweets to her.
“I didn’t order this.” Noel was worried that she might run up Allen’s tab.
“I did. Just eat it.” Said her brother.
Instantaneously, she grabs the plate with bright sprinkles in her eyes, Noel indulges in the custard pudding. “Thank you, my brothaa.”
Allen couldn't help but think about the consequences of her origin. She really enjoys the sweetness; she played well in Noel’s part. Does that also mean that her conscious mentality was at 12 as well? As Allen observed her, he couldn’t let go of the statement. Consuming a soul is a never-heard concept, but he couldn't shake off the question of whether she could match up memories from 10 years after the incident, that’s hard. The first trial she would face would be the Apex's identification process in order to renew her ID card. They knew how to spot false memories.
As Noel finished her dessert, she looked up at Allen with a big grin on her face. “Does something bother you?”
“Nothing. You finished?”
“Yup.”
She surely spotted his anxiety even if it was in a brief of seconds, but chose to stay silent. To be real Noel was supposed to be in her 22’s, but there’s no clear evidence that: why her looks stop at 20’s exactly. Nevertheless, during her meal she also slipped a single word out, about ‘Zenova’ then she went to absolute silence.
> “What is the end of this Zenova brother? Will that become another zero-sum game?”
>
> “—Zenova?”
Back then, she glared at me to the death as if I had spoken of the taboo. My sixth-sense warned me not to further investigate any topic related to her absent-minded revelation. It was a rare chilly moment, and I know she didn’t mean to threaten me when she said, ‘Sorry, please forget about it’.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
◤
They opened the door to the bustling city again. The cold outside steamed and contacted their humid faces. As Noel takes her first step outside the restaurant, the rays of light—like sunshine glares over her eyes, as droplets of water splash onto her face. Allen covers her when a pile of snow drops from the balcony and falls towards her.
“That was a close call. Thanks.” Noel sweeps away some snow left over his head. “There you go.” She brushed his hair several times before stepping back.
“Your reflexes are great, brother.” She applauds him. He shrugged his shoulders and began walking with Noel on this cold day. She asked him to hold off his hands, which at first he rejected. But with the efforts of her puppy eyes, Noel wins over his resistance easily. Despite the fact that they’re both in their 20s, for the eyes of others, they don’t look like siblings at all. They made an unlikely pair, a glamour and a cold loner together, like a blossom and a colorless pair in harmony.
Allen grew up harsh; he experienced losing many important things in his life. No wonder he went cold and was mostly selfless when it came to revealing his true feelings. Life’s facts are meaningless to him; he lived with hopes and dreams of reunion that dimly faded. But somehow the sparkles enlightened the flame on his hope’s candle miraculously.
It was a long walk where they took an extraordinary path together. The fog wrapped around them like a thick blanket—blinding their vision and muffling the sounds of the city, making Noel feel vulnerable. She is suspenseful in her surroundings, as she grips his hand firmly.
“No worries, Noel.” Allen loosened his left hand, which apparently dropped a hidden hatchet into his grip while his right was still holding Noel’s fingers firmly. He reassures her: “You’re my little sister. Therefore, under my protection.”
After a few minutes of walking, the fog cleared. The eyes of refugees or homeless living around the path were causing them an unfamiliar pressure. That must be the result of Apex's invasion of the Underworld’s lower part in these past few weeks. These people had nowhere to go, yet they were afraid and terrified to take any action. Allen petrified all the sights that looked towards his sister as he strided all the way. But there’s only one unknown eye, one that both cannot locate their unease, an impending danger.
Allen puts his hatchet back in his coat sleeves.
“So, you also sense him?” Noel asked.
“Not really, my instinct told me to do so.”
“Quite a great sense, speaking of the Top Squadron’s candidate, right?”
“I was.” He answered bluntly.
—Stop smiling, Noel. Am I an amusement park to you?”
“Eh—hehe~”
“If you keep smiling like that.. You will get wrinkles, you know?”
“Ah–Ahhh!!—I don’t get old, brother.” Noel shakes her head lightly with a cheeky smile. Her mischievous grins are nerve tingling as usual. Another worse case of her scenario towards capitalism would be that: she turned into a major ingredient in treatment products. I believe women could do anything to solve their aging problem. If I ever see ‘Noel 2.5%’ on a product's label, I won’t doubt myself because of capitalism.
“Maybe I should pitch you to some cosmetic companies, you know? Noel’s facial cream, or at worst–A new face washes.”
“You’re the worst, Brothaa!!”
“A little sacrifice, and you can eat anything you want for your whole life. You’re regenerative, right?”
“That doesn’t make it any better.” She elbowed him hard.
“Sorry—ah haha..
…
—Why do you suddenly become silent, Noel?”
“Nothing~” She smiles after taking a look at her smiling brother for the first time. Noel doesn’t speak afterwards, but rather enjoys her precious moment. Along the way she also treats him back, based on his sister's memories.
“So brother.”
“Huh?”
“What does ‘A bro before a hoe’ mean?”
… “Where did you learn that from?”
“Noel’s memory, bro.” Now he is absolutely pissed.
“- —Nice.. Who taught you that?” Allen puts on himself a jester's smile. It was a line between pretending to smile and holding some wrecking-nerves.
“Hmph… A big man with a fancy tattoo.” She knows well how to tingle around his fury, but she also couldn’t conceal her nasty grins or suppress her wheezes. While Allen punches a wall along the way furiously.
◤
We stopped at the station, waiting for our floating train. Clearly, Noel is having fun watching the world outside the train’s window. It’s dreamlike, ascent scenery, floating in the everlasting evening of neutron stars, like watching the neons' city through the river’s reflections—as if swimming in a galaxy. But sadly, no one in the underworld had seen an actual vesper sky for hundreds of years.
Since when have we, people of the underworld, never seen a new dawn? How many generations already? An abyssal pit under the great civilization, known as the Underworld. No escapes, no exits.
Also, it turned out that Noel was able to effortlessly bypass Apex’s security when renewing her ID at the Bureau. She surely studied her biology class well, beyond any other neurologist's existence on Earth. It seems like their only authentication is on the verge of a single thread now. No one ever bypasses false information on their scanners. Surprisingly, she was able to create a replicant’s missing memory solution for her decade of absence. She renewed her ID as if it were a driving license. Citizenship in this world is precisely declining at its worst. Now I understand why Apex seeks her zealously; she could be either a salvation or a harbinger of some sort. But who cares for Apex so? Or maybe she’s just a skilled hacker? Now I am considering revoking the trust I had placed in her. A neurology blockchain that linked to others' brains had been disrupted. Apex's strongest system lost its title in just minutes. Only the fact that she needs me, her brother, as a second validator for the system is the reason I’m alive. But if she was so advanced on the level of a memory-manipulator, why didn't she erase my mind and puppet me? So I asked her.
“What kind of contract did she make with my actual sister back then?”
“Sister(s) secret.” She replied.
Well—That's kept vexing me all the time.