Thud! The doors to the decontamination chamber closed as Aether stepped into the foyer of his apartment. After moving his mask and shoes he paused and took a deep breath.

“Fuuuu~” A long exhale escaped his lips. Taking another look at the bag in his hands, he muttered to himself. “Let’s do this.”

Moving through the short passageway, he soon arrived at the apartment’s living room. Inside, he found Mei sitting in a corner and intently looking at the holographic screen projected by her communicator.

Just as he wondered what it was that she was watching with such seriousness, Aether heard a familiar voice leave the communicator’s speaker.

[You? You what? What are you going to do, coward?]

[If you want revenge, come and catch me.]

In that very instant, Aether felt his very existence collapse in on itself. His entire body seemed drained of strength as an overpowering sense of powerlessness overcame him. Unable to bear it any longer, Aether collapsed onto the floor having been afflicted by the power of cringe.

Mei, who heard her elder brother collapse onto the floor with a heavy thud, seemingly paid no attention to him. Instead, she raised her finger and swiped at the floating screen before her. The video was rewinded by a few seconds.

[Hahahahaha!] A burst of extremely grating and evil laughter echoed. [You look even more pathetic than I thought, Oma!] A standard, cheesy, and extremely cringeworthy third-rate villain’s line followed.

She pressed on the screen once again causing the video to skip ahead by a few seconds.

[You? You what? What are you going to do, coward? If you want revenge, come and catch me.]

Mei paused and swiped back once more.

[Hahahahaha! You look even–]

“STOP REPLAYING THE VIDEO FOR HEAVEN’S SAKE!!” Aether cried with tears pouring out of his eyes. His expression was a perfect mixture of soul-crippling embarrassment and pain.

She, of course, did not listen to him. She heartlessly continued to replay the video and even increased its volume.

[Hahahahaha! You look even more pathetic than I thought, Oma!]

Bang! Unable to bear the critical damage inflicted upon him, Aether banged his head against the floor in a bid to end his suffering and leave this cruel world with what little dignity he had that remained.

After noticing her older brother’s ludicrous actions, Mei finally paused the video and looked at him. Seeing him continuously banging his head against the floor, she spoke with a mocking voice. “What are you trying to do? Commit suicide to maintain your dignity?”

She then scoffed and continued, “Do you even have something like dignity in the first place?”

“Damn right, I don’t!” Aether yelled strenuously. He faced his ‘black-bellied’ younger sister with a reddened forehead and said, “But I’ll have you know! Even someone like me has something that I’d rather die to protect than lose in front of you!”

“Oh?” Mei had a curious expression on her face. “Even someone like you has something to protect in front of me? May I dare ask, what, this ‘something’, is?”

With a self-righteous expression on his face, Aether solemnly answered. “My image as a ‘hero’ in my extremely cute little sister’s heart.” A pained expression immediately appeared following his answer as he continued. “I cannot bear to destroy her silly little fantasies.”

“It’s embarrassing really.” Aether continued with his self-absorbed explanation without paying mind to Mei’s changing expression. “She’s already sixteen years old and is still dreaming about ‘heroes’ and whatnot. It’s heartwarming, don’t get me wrong,” he inserted.

However, Aether’s expression quickly became worrisome as he followed. ”But for goodness sake, you’re going to be a full-fledged functioning member of society in two years! Isn’t it already time to drop such unrealistic fantasies?”

Sighing like a housewife in her forties, he continued. “You know, I’ve tried many times to tell her to stop being delusional. To wake up and face reality. However, when I look at that pair of big, innocent, sparkling, and googly eyes staring at me with awe and respect, I just can’t seem to summon the willpower to tell her off.”

Staring at the ceiling with a distant gaze, he mumbled, “I suppose this is what parents feel when they are idolised by their children. It’s a bridge that you cross now and hope that it solves itself later.” Aether finished with a philosophical pose. (The Thinker pose)

Of course, this pose turned out to be a mistake as he was unable to cope with Mei’s swift attacks as she lunged at him. The latter was simply a mess of shame, embarrassment and rage as she struck her older sibling with zero mercy.

“Die, scumbag!!” Mei swore at the top of her lungs as she directed a fist aimed at Aether’s face.

Aether, having barely dodged that attack, found himself pinned down and a victim of domestic abuse. Guarding his face with his hands, he screamed, “Why am I being attacked!? I don’t deserve this! It’s not my fault that you say some really embarrassing stuff when you talk in your sleep! It’s yours! Hey, hey! You almost poked my eyes!!”

“It’s your fault! It’s all your fault! You eavesdropped! You scumbag stalker!!” After hearing Aether’s explanation of how he got to know her secret, inner thoughts, Mei’s shame increased exponentially. As such, rather than face the turmoil in her emotions rationally, she decided to pour out her frustrations by beating up Aether.

And it actually worked. Her feelings of shame and embarrassment were gradually settling down. There was just something cathartic about beating up this annoying older brother of hers.

After much violence and even more counter-violence, the siblings finally settled.

“Huff~ Huff~” Mei returned to her corner, huffing and panting. Her stamina was depleted, and so was the shame inside her heart. A refreshing sense of weightlessness enveloped her body.

Aether, on the other hand, lay sprawled on the ground, battered and bruised. His body was evidence of the underserved violence thrust upon him with his face being the only unaffected part. Relatively speaking, that is.

With boiling rage filling his heart, Aether asked, “Why am I being beaten up here? How do I deserve it?”

“You deserve it,” Mei replied, without missing a beat.

“Why?” yelled Aether, unresigned.

“You just do!” Mei barked back. She then loudly huffed and pointed at the screen projected by her communicator. “And what’s this? Why do I suddenly find my stupid brother’s face being broadcasted over the internet!?”

Aether’s boiling rage immediately simmered at her statement. However, his defiant attitude did not allow him to admit defeat that easily. Wearing a rebellious expression, he yelled back. “Well, why the hell not!? Why shouldn’t my handsome face be plastered all over the internet? Huh!?”

Suffice to say, Mei had no reply to his question. Rather, there was no reply to his question. It was a pointless and downright shameless statement.

Taking a few deep breaths to calm her anger, Mei sat up straight and calmly faced Aether. With a serious tone, she started speaking. “Aether, I’m being serious. Please tell me why you are suddenly participating in some video game tournament that I’ve never heard you talk about.”

Sensing the change in his little sister’s mood, Aether sobered up. He too stopped playing around and sat up straight. Putting on his best smile, he explained, “I’m participating because my friends, those teammates of mine, asked me to help them out.” He pointed at the screen displaying a group image of his team.

Strictly speaking, Aether’s words were not a lie. It was true that his teammates, who were now also his friends, had indeed asked him to help them win the tournament. However, he also did not tell her about his underlying motivation; his reason for joining them in the first place.

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It was not that Aether wanted to lie to Mei but that he did not want to burden her with knowledge of their financial situation. He felt that it was his duty as her older brother and guardian to protect her from the harshness of reality and foster an environment where Mei could live her best life. This was his responsibility.

“That’s a lie,” Mei immediately shook her head. Staring unblinkingly into Aether’s surprised eyes, she repeated. “You’re lying to me.”

As responsible and dutiful as Aether was, Mei was also no innocent, flower-headed young lady who had no idea about how the world and society worked. Moreover, as Aether’s closest relative and as someone who had been beside him for fifteen years, she would have to be retarded to not realise his lies.

Mei’s face turned expressionless as she asked, “Why are you lying to me?” While she kept her face from revealing her inner feelings, the strange cadence in her voice betrayed her heart.

Understanding that lying to her any further would only result in the creation of suspicion and misunderstandings, Aether decided to come clean.

“I joined because of the prize money,” he told her with a sigh.

“Prize money? Why would you need the prize money…” Mei’s eyes suddenly flashed with understanding. Immediately, her pupils began to tremble as feelings of panic and guilt appeared within them. “Is… is it because of my school’s tuition fees?” Mei’s voice trembled.

She quickly forced her gaze, which had begun to tear up, towards the ground and hung her head. Trying her best to keep her voice calm, she continued, “I… I… can quit… school, if necessary…”

“NO!” Aether fiercely yelled startling Mei. He grabbed her chin, forced her to meet his gaze, and repeated sternly. “You will not quit school. I will never allow it.”

He then simmered down, wore a smile, and gently tousled Mei’s hair. “I’ve already paid your school’s tuition. I’m not that useless to not have any savings, you know. I’ve not worked all these years in vain.” He joked a little to relieve the tense atmosphere.

“Then why?” asked Mei, utterly confused.

As far as she knew, her school tuition was the only ‘big’ expenditure in their household. Aether was a very frugal person and even she never spent any credits on anything but her bare, basic necessities.

If Aether had some savings and her school’s tuition had already been paid, and with no other major expenditure coming up on the horizon, why did he suddenly need money?

Looking at his vastly intelligent young sister immersed this deeply in thought, Aether suddenly felt worried in his heart. He started debating whether to tell her the reason behind his sudden need for money or not.

The reason Aether needed the prize reward from the tournament was, of course, to help finance Mei’s Level 4 Citizenship studies. In short, it was to help Mei board a giant springboard that would catapult her to the peak of District 4 society.

And therein lay the problem.

Just as Mei understood and knew Aether too well, Aether also understood and knew his little sister very well. He knew that with Mei’s character, should he reveal the reason behind his sudden want for large amounts of money, she would never accept it. She would not only not accept it, but even vehemently oppose it.

Mei already hated, hated being a burden to Aether; to their household. Her frugality was so severe that the number of items that she owned could be counted with one’s fingers! And this included her clothes and outfits.

Most of the stuff that she had were either hand-me-downs from Aether or items that she had scavenged from local disposal yards. A few items were given to her by her acquaintances and neighbours but these were few and far between. She even refused to accept gifts or other presents from Aether, except for those with sentimental value; like the stuffed animal toy.

Mei’s standard of life was utterly alien when compared to a typical teenage girl of her age. And this fact made Aether feel very guilty. He felt that he had been unable to provide Mei with a ‘normal’ life.

It was unfortunate that the capitalist world in which they lived, where even the air that they breathed had to be purchased, made it impossible for such normalcy to exist.

However, Aether was not content. To him, who felt immeasurably guilty at having robbed Mei of a ‘normal’ life, could not allow this situation to exist in the future. He wanted… no, he needed to help Mei reach the sky-high status of Level 4 Citizen, and open a future of endless possibilities and opportunities.

And that is why he needed to win the Ascenders’ Cup and receive that prize money. He did not want to receive the opportunity to enter Eden but simply wanted the 100,000 credit cash prize.

To Aether, that was everything.

While Aether debated within his heart the merits and demerits of telling Mei the truth, he suddenly heard her speak.

“Could it be… for that?” Mei suddenly spoke with a voice full of uncertainty. Her glazed eyes slowly gained light as she stared at Aether.

The instant Aether gazed into her eyes, he felt a foreboding feeling inside his heart. However, he did not reveal it and calmly asked with a smile. “What do you mean?”

Mei did not immediately reply but spent a few minutes gathering her thoughts. She then looked at Aether with an evaluating gaze and slowly spoke, “Last week, a teacher in my school suddenly called me to her office and asked me what my plans for the future were.”

The foreboding feelings intensified. “That’s not very strange.”

“Correct,” Mei nodded her head at his words. “However, what was strange was what she asked me next.”

“Oh?” Aether felt his heart sink. The smile on his face subconsciously turned bitter as he asked, “And what did she ask?”

“Whether I wanted to start my Level 4 education immediately after my Level 3 Promotion Exam, or after some time,” Mei evenly said. Without giving notice to the change in Aether’s expression, she continued, “Of course, when she asked me this question, I was naturally confused. I asked her why she believed that I wanted to continue with my education, not to mention, the ridiculously expensive Level 4 one.”

“After hearing my doubts, she apologised and said that she had mistakenly believed that I wanted to continue with my education. I told her to not mind it and quickly forgot about this whole event.”

Taking a deep breath, Mei continued to evenly speak. “That teacher who called me to talk about this issue was the same teacher who had visited our house.”

Aether remained quiet.

“If I remember correctly, you seemed to have discussed something with her having sent me away.”

Aether maintained his silence.

“Brother,” Mei suddenly addressed him with respect. Her beautiful, ivory-coloured face and onyx-coloured eyes bored into him with expectation as she asked. “What did you talk about with my teacher?”

The instant she finished voicing that question, Aether understood that he couldn’t run away. He could not lie, he could not deceive, and he could not change the topic to avoid this matter.

He had to answer. And he needed to tell her the truth. The inevitable situation that he should have faced later rather than sooner, had arrived.

Taking a deep breath, Aether looked at Mei with a calm expression and said, “Mei, I want you to continue with your Level 4 education.”

“No,” Mei immediately replied. There was not a trace of hesitation in her voice.

Hearing her reject his request unconditionally, Aether’s face grew a bit severe. His tone turned harsh as he continued, “That was not a suggestion.”

“Then I refuse to comply,” Mei replied mechanically.

“Dammit, Mei! You cannot be willful about this!” Aether raised his voice in a rare moment of anger. While he had expected this conversation to be difficult, he expected her to be more understanding owing to her maturity. Seeing her stubbornly deny his words like this made him feel angry. “You will do this!”

“I WILL NOT!!” Mei smashed her fists on the ground. “I will not do it, okay!?! I refuse to do it!” She screeched, her eyes tearing up. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore.” She moved to leave the room.

“Stop.” Aether sternly ordered. Mei, however, did not listen to him and continued to walk away. Seeing her blatantly ignore him like this, Aether’s anger shot up. “I said, stop!”

His right hand lashed forward and grabbed Mei’s forearm. Clutching it tightly, he held her in place. “You are not allowed to leave this room until we finish having this conversation.” Aether tried to speak as evenly as possible. However, the unexpected anger clouding his head made it difficult, making his words sound harsh and stern.

Hearing his words, Mei did not say anything. She lowered her head, turned around, and mechanically walked forward before sitting in her previous position.

Seeing her sit in front of him with her head lowered, Aether severely said, “Look at me when I’m talking to you.”

Like a lifeless doll, Mei lifted her head. Tears and snot covered her face. Her despondent eyes were filled with sadness and unwillingness.

Mei was crying hard. However, she made not the tiniest squeak of sound. Her crying was eerily quiet.

The moment Aether saw her expression, his mind blanked and the anger clouding his judgement receded as if it had never existed in the first place. His breathing turned heavy as an intense feeling of guilt and self-loathing rose within his heart.

He hurriedly loosened his grip and released his hold over her forearm. The instant he retrieved his hand, Aether noticed from the corner of his eyes, the bruise marks left by his fingers on her forearm.

Aether’s mind whitened.

He had hurt her. In his moment of anger, he had actually hurt her.

‘What the f*ck is wrong with me?’ Aether found himself abhorrent. ‘How the f*ck could I hurt her?’

While he drowned in self-loathing and regret, he heard a shaky voice quietly speak up. “I… don’t want… this. I… don’t want… to be… a burden.” Mei’s voice laced with her quiet sobs spoke out.

She no longer argued but instead begged. Through hurt and tears, she pleaded with him.

“Please… I don’t want… to do it. Please… Please…” Mei’s quietly crying figure was exceptionally fragile as she begged.

“You can… scold me… beat me… curse at me… but please… don’t hate me… don’t abandon me… I don’t want to be… a burden.”

Aether felt as if a train had crashed against his chest. An overwhelming feeling of discomfort and pain straddled his heart.

He wanted to slap the back of her head. He wanted to tell her to stop speaking such nonsense. He wanted to wrap her in an embrace and reassure her that he would never abandon her.

However, just as he reached out with his hands, his eyes landed on the bluish-purple bruising on her forearm. The instant he saw that he was reminded once again; he had hurt her.

Aether’s movements came to a screeching halt. His outstretched hand quietly retracted.

While he wallowed in his self-loathing, Mei quietly stood up and mechanically walked to her room. Her movements were stiff and lifeless as she entered her room, closed the curtain, and hid away in the darkness.