Standing in the range, Miru paced around.
Her footsteps rang through the air, so constant the ringing noises they triggered overlapped. Glancing around she placed a large stone block on a table in the middle of the room, gauging the distance between herself and the table.
“There’ll be men here…” Miru muttered.
She continued to look around, her eyes wide, focused. She stepped back a bit more before eyeing the distance once again. “Alright,” She remarked, “let’s see.”
Using her powers she raised the block up into the air above the table, allowing it to hover there. Staring at the lines of powder she had laid upon the floor in a horizontal fashion she clenched her fist, then…
*crack*
Split.
Miru checked the debris; most of the block having been hurled in the direction of the side opposite the range, where the user would stand. A lethal strike if any person stood there.
She gulped.
----------------------------------------
A fire crackled in front of the two sisters, the warm glow illuminating their faces. The thin smell of smoke trickled in from the other room as they sat next to each other, water canteens in each other’s hands.
“...sis, you doing okay?” Rie’s voice trembled, croaking as she patted her older sister’s back.
Shirin barely smiled. “Yeah. We’ll be out of here tomorrow. Then I’ll pick up a few thousand coins and get you a good dinner in Old Yokura or wherever the hell the nearest town is.” She wrapped her arm around Rie.
“Can I do… anything?”
“Not at all Rie, just listen to me tomorrow. Okay? Listen, follow, and don’t say a word.” She put up a grin, but it faltered quickly; she went back to gulping down water from her canteen. Rie narrowed her eyes.
“You’re not okay.” She muttered.
Shirin stopped. “Sorry?”
Rie frowned. “You’re not okay, sis. At all.”
“Rie…”
“I know you’re doing this for me, and I’m really thankful, but come on. You’re not okay.” She insisted, tugging on her sister’s sleeve. Shirin looked at her with a blank expression on her face.
“I am fine. Please, Rie… just gimme this.”
“Give you what? You’re collapsing, look at you. It was my fault I mixed the gunpowder in… I didn’t notice-”
“Y-yeah, it is, but that’s fine. Okay? That’s in the past.”
Rie looked down on the floor. “I almost caused an accident which could have killed you.”
Shirin sighed. “No, it didn’t. I get involved, I’m responsible for whatever the hell I do.”
“In an accident I caused, sis!”
“Rie - gimme a break, please-” Shirin muttered, glancing away and covering her face with her hands.
“-take care of yourself, c’mon!”
“Rie - shut up!” She shouted, beads forming at the corners of her eyes. “You don’t think I get that the fuckin’ most out of anyone here?”
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Rie stopped, remaining silent. She quietly took a sip from her own canteen, an expression on her face which compared only to the expression of a parent watching their own child fall apart before them.
“Look.”
Shirin put her hands down on both of Rie’s shoulders and looked her straight in the eyes.
“If you mess up, that’s on you.” She pointed at Rie.
“If I mess up, that’s on me.” She pointed at herself.
“And if you die…” Her finger continued to point in her own direction, unchanged; shaking, even. A long trail of tears followed her cheeks from her eyes.
“Let me do this, Rie. Please. Listen to me and when this is all done, I’ll…”
She hugged Rie, embracing her tightly as if she was to be hugging an inanimate toy.
“...I’ll…”
She stopped, simply holding onto Rie for the moment. Rie glanced over at her, little beads forming in her own eyes, before she patted her older sister on the back. Slowly, one light, unseeming pat after another; she herself wasn’t sure her sister could feel them.
“...can I talk to you about it for a bit before you sleep?” Shirin’s voice was softer this time.
“Sure.” Rie’s smile gave Shirin a brief light to her face. The two let go and sat back on their individual stone blocks.
Shirin peered behind her at the sleeping face of Tooru before turning back. “I hurt someone. Real bad.”
“Who?”
“That Korun. Miru.”
Rie stared at her with wide eyes. “Oh… what did you do?”
“I uh… I threatened her. I logicked my way into figuring out she had something really big to hide and then I find out…” Her voice trailed off as she closed her eyes and breathed in.
“And then I find out she’s into girls. That’s it. That’s the entire fucking secret.”
Rie chuckled. “Oh, like you then?”
Shirin twitched. “Aw, c’mon... Rie. Man and a woman, either one’s fine for me.”
“You say that, but I haven’t seen you like a guy since Tobukiro-kan brought us to Kurasho.”
Shirin frowned and flicked Rie on the arm. “Ow!” Rie jumped back, staring at Shirin, whose face was now expressly emblazoned with a wide grin. “That hurt.”
“Can we get back to topic? I feel really fucking bad.”
“Didn’t she put that massive mark on your back?”
“Even then it feels really fucking bad to do that shit to someone else. Wouldn’t snitch on ‘em if they didn’t like it, not in a million years. That’s on me if she ever actually gets found out; I’m not snitching. She goes her own ways, we go some other way, I am not gonna make like an Imperial Church and sell her out for myself.”
Rie looked at her kindly, although a light groan came out of her mouth.
“I’ll let her get found out her own way. Fuck ‘er.” She uttered. Any trace of happiness on her face had all but vanished, leaving a deep frown. Rie stared at her, her eyebrows ticked upwards.
“I’m just gonna go check on the gun. You go sleep. Okay?”
“Mm.” Rie replied, hugging Shirin once more. “Please stay safe, sis.”
Shirin looked down on her sister and winced. “Yeah.”
With that, Shirin walked out of the room, passing through the doorway to the still brightly-lit workshop. As her eyes slowly adjusted, she saw a man in a stained, torn uniform looking around a metal contraption.
Wei stared down the barrel of the gun, holding up the cylindrical metal piece to his eye.
“Oy. You think it’s done? I think it’s done.” He remarked.
Silence ensued.
“Oy.”
Shirin, having come to sit in the corner, arms crossed and gaze clouding, didn’t respond again. She stared into the void, apparently indifferent. Wei frowned.
He limped over, a stagger in his step, before walking up to her and jabbing her in the shoulder. Shirin jolted and immediately turned to face him, remarking, “Fuck off.”
“It’s. It’s done.” He muttered.
“Okay, sure. That’s great.”
“I’m…” His voice trailed off as he rubbed his eyes, his eyebags clearly defined by black lines so thick they appeared to have been written on via permanent marker. His stomach growled. “I’m gonna eat before I knock out for the night, you?”
“I’ll just go.” Shirin’s quiet words left Wei scratching his head. She departed for the other room, unresponsive… ...silent.
The beard beginning to grow all over his face moved ever so slightly to register his mouth ajar as he glanced towards the sight of Shirin leaving in such a manner. Nevertheless he stepped past the decimated tables and chairs before falling upon the one intact chair left in the corner of the room. He laid down.
“It’s done…” Wei muttered. He had no smiles for it.
Stumbling over to a table set up in the corner he picked up a piece of bread lying on the tabletop, amidst dozens of tiny crumbs lying everywhere. Scarfing down the bread, it vanished into his mouth within seconds; moments later he’d taken another. After he was done five loaves had turned to two.
Sitting back down in the chair he slowly fell asleep.
Tomorrow someone would go free.