Chapter 4: Urgent tasks

“A telephone pole?” Yukina pressed.

“Yes… Don’t worry about it. Hurry up and eat, or you’ll be late.”

At Yanase Naoto’s evasion, Yukina furrowed her perfectly sculpted brows.

She wanted to say more, but after opening her mouth, she ultimately swallowed her words.

If Yanase Naoto insisted, it seemed plausible enough.

Everyone is careless at times; she had bumped into a telephone pole herself.
But she knew her brother was definitely lying to her.

Whenever his words lacked conviction, her brother would subconsciously look away, just as he was doing now.

Her brother had never been good at lying.
From the time he went to her school alone to deal with her bullies, to later buying her a birthday gift she had wanted for a long time without her knowing, he had always been this way, even now.

She pressed her lips together and didn’t ask any further, but a pang of sadness welled up inside her.

Her brother would occasionally come home with minor injuries, then act nonchalant as if nothing had happened.

Yukina had asked more than once, but was always brushed off with a lie and an “it’s nothing” expression.

At first, Yukina was very anxious.

She worried about her brother, worried that he was mixed up with some unsavory characters, worried that he was heading down a path of no return.

She would follow him out the door on her free weekends, trying to find out something, but every time, by sheer coincidence, she would find nothing.

When she returned home, she would still be met with that face pretending nothing had happened.

Sometimes, she would even be questioned in return.

Over time, she realized she might have been getting a little too carried away.

She also realized that, in this sibling relationship, she had been unilaterally pushed away by her brother.

All she could ever get were evasive answers.
It was clear Yanase Naoto didn’t want to tell her the truth.

That indifferent face would no longer show her a smile.

After being snubbed so many times, she stopped asking.

It was time she had some self-awareness.

Although she had resolved not to pry, she couldn’t help but feel terrible about it.
After all, no matter what, Yanase Naoto was her brother.

Since she was a child, she had lived under the warmth he provided.

That was a memory she could never forget, even if the Yanase Naoto of today no longer doted on her.

Yukina held her cup without a word.
The room was filled with the low music from the television.

After a long while, her phone alarm finally rang.

It was time for Yukina to go to school.

“…I’m full.”

The words were insincere.

The cup clattered crisply against the table with impolite force.

Yukina lowered her gaze, stood up, and went back to her room, slamming the door with a bang.

The vibration sent ripples through the water in the cups.

The air fell silent.

Yanase Naoto stared at the closed door.

Finally, she sighed.

Her sister was angry.

The secret she couldn’t tell her sister had led to this dramatic reality.

Yanase Naoto had wondered more than once what kind of expression Yukina would have if she ever found out that the “older brother” she had spent ten springs and autumns with was actually an “older sister.”

People always said that sisters could easily become closer than even the best of friends.

But that wasn’t the ending Yanase Naoto wanted.

Besides, how well could she, a “sister” who had started halfway, even perform the role?
Would it backfire?

The act of constantly hiding her identity from her sister was rather despicable.
It was a deception to her sister, or perhaps…

However, revealing her identity would only be for her own convenience.

If her own reasons brought danger to her sister, she would probably regret it for the rest of her life.

Compared to that, she would rather live in this cold relationship with her sister.

Conflicting emotions tangled in her heart.
Ephnel tilted her head back, deciding to give up thinking altogether.

Yukina changed into her school uniform and came out of her room, carrying her commuter bag.

A brown and navy blue dress, black over-the-knee socks, paired with her jet-black hair—the autumn uniform looked beautiful on Yukina no matter how you looked at it.
Although she always wore an indifferent expression, she still exuded a sense of youthful vibrancy.

“Don’t forget about the school thing.”

Leaving that sentence behind, Yukina picked up her bento and hurried out the door.

The relationship between Yanase Naoto and Yukina was no longer what it once was.
Yukina’s tone wasn’t cold, but it certainly wasn’t warm either.

More than siblings, they were like “roommates who just happen to live together.”

This was the current dynamic between the “siblings.”

“Be safe on your way. Call me if anything comes up.”

The apartment door closed, and there was no reply.

Yanase Naoto sighed, haphazardly placing the dishes in the sink, and went into her own room.

This room was usually kept locked, and she never let her sister inside.

This was because it contained many of her secrets, such as feminine products like sanitary pads hidden in the closet, identity-disguising items like wigs and chest binders, as well as communication devices and related documents from the “Order Organization,” and a laptop that would reveal her identity with a single glance.

Fortunately, Yukina wasn’t the type to be so curious as to insist on finding out, which saved Yanase Naoto some trouble with explanations and hiding things.

Yanase Naoto took off her jacket and undid the chest binder.

The oppressive feeling in her chest was finally released.

She let out a huge sigh of relief and lay down on the bed.

As comfort washed over her from the liberation of her chest, the pain in her waist and accumulated fatigue surged like a tidal wave.

She was getting sleepy.

Just a moment after lying down, her consciousness began to drift away.

She took out her phone and set an alarm for the afternoon.

“Don’t forget about the school thing.”

Yukina had said that because today was the day of the parent-teacher conference for her class, scheduled for four in the afternoon.

Her parents hadn’t returned to the country.
As researchers, they were involved in some unknown work and were often unreachable for long periods.

As Yukina’s older brother, Yanase Naoto had become her sole guardian.

The parent-teacher conference naturally became his duty, and it was also a time when she could exchange a few more words with her sister.

Yanase Naoto was startled awake by a piercing alarm.

It was melodious yet urgent, accompanied by an unpleasant noise like sand scraping against glass.

It was the alarm the organization would issue only when an “Erosion” was approaching.

This alert, sent via phone and communication terminals, was a “notification” transmitted using a special device with a restricted frequency.
It was filtered from the hearing of ordinary people; only those who had accepted the “Power of Order” could hear it.

Hearing this alarm meant that the “Erosion” had arrived.

Yanase Naoto shot up from the bed, ignoring the tearing pain from her waist, and fumbled for her phone.

A short number was calling in—from the “Order Organization” command center.
She answered it hastily, her voice no longer deliberately suppressed, returning to the sound of a wind chime’s sway, her natural voice as a girl.

–This is Ephnel.

–Codename Ephnel! Emergency mission!

The anxious voice of a communications officer came from the other end.