Chapter 140: Even so

(Komari’s PoV)

“I’m gonna try again!” I told Masa while trying to shove him, who was blocking my path, away. I was surprised by our sister’s reaction, but I’m not gonna give up just because I was rejected again… I won’t give up just yet.

“I don’t want you to…” Masa held my arm while saying this. Even though he also wants to get along with our sister, he keeps stopping me… What is he so afraid of? He even sent her a bouquet of flowers on New Year’s! He knew from the start that this wasn’t going to be easy!

“What are you two doing?” Blossom suddenly arrived and asked us as she saw our quarrel.

“Well, you see, Blossom… Marie wants to-” Masa started saying, but I cut him off.

“Talk to our sister!” I told them both. Our sister’s reaction may have been a bit too much, to the point that I was even frozen in place, but… I don’t want to miss this chance of improving our relationship! “We haven’t talked at all yet! She hasn’t heard what I want to say yet!”

“How can you say that after seeing her reaction!? She hates us, Marie!” Masa shouted at me.

I understood that much… My eyes were tearful, I was trembling, I was clenching my fists so hard it hurt… I know that she hates us. I know that she always avoids and ignores us, but… I don’t care if those actions of her come from hatred!

“So, what!?” I told him, “I’m not the father who betrayed her mother, nor the woman who had an affair with her father! It’s not my fault that our parents had a messy relationship!”

“But to her it is! To her we’re the same as mom! We're just… The children of the woman she hates.” Masa said while clenching his fists.

“But we’re not the same!” I shouted back. He too seemed on the verge of crying. I felt guilty from fighting with him like this, but still… I just want to get along, as family, why is this so hard? “We didn’t do anything bad. Nor to her nor to her mother… We didn’t do anything wrong, did we…?”

“But some people can’t make this distinction! Not everyone is like you that can clearly separate things!” Seigi shouted at me.

“I can’t accept that, you stupid!” I yelled. This makes no sense! We’re not doing anything wrong. A criminal’s child is not a criminal! “I’m not giving up on getting along with our sister! There’s no way I’m giving up!”

“Even when she hates us that much!?” He asked me. I get it… I get that she hates us, but… I think things can get better. It’s not too late to improve our relationship. To understand each other better… I can’t simply let us stay apart forever because of her hatred.

No matter how many times she rejects me, “Yes! I’ll keep trying again and again! I’m gonna make her look at me for who I am, not for who our parents are!” I told him.

“… You’re really serious about it, aren’t you?” Masa said with a sigh.

“Of course! Aren’t you the same? Don’t you also want to grow closer to her?” I asked him.

I wonder when he became this pessimistic… It’s gonna be hard if I’m by myself, so I’d really appreciate it if we could do this together.

He sighed once again, “Well… I guess we can keep on trying our best then.”

“That’s the spirit!” I shouted now that he finally gave in! Now we just need to find our sister and-

“We need to be strong in order to face our sister-in-law though… Blossom, can you help us out with that?” Masa cut my train of thought with those words.

“I was wondering if you two had forgotten about my existence…” Blossom said in response.

“Ah… I’m sorry.” I replied. I did remember she was here, but I ignored her and continued quarreling… That wasn’t fair with Blossom, she must have felt really lonely.

“Well, that’s okay. In any case, we’re in a bit of a lucky situation where we can get a lot of experience points actually.” Blossom said.

“Lots of experience?” Me and Masa both asked her at once.

“Yeah, some stupid players are going after me right now, so you two can PK them.” She explained. After that she gave us the gist about how she looked at the forums on the way here and found out that some players independently held an event to go after a handful of specific players, and Blossom is one of the targets, “Your sister-in-law is also being targeted, so maybe you could try going after her after gaining some levels?”

“Can we even catch up in such a short amount of time?” Masa asked her. I thought the same as him, I mean… Even if we get a lot of levels now, how can we seriously get close to her that has been playing since the beginning?

“Not exactly, but it’s alright. While level is undeniably important, you can aim for giant killing in this game.” Blossom answered, but I was still confused.

“What do you mean?” I asked her.

“I mean that you can always get behind a distracted person and cut their heads off.” She explained… Ah, of course. If you’re attacking an unprotected area, even if their level is higher, you can still deal a fatal blow by attacking a vital point… I wonder if the game was purposefully designed in a way to let lower level players have a chance against stronger ones, “Also, you already got the Giant Killer title, didn’t you, Marie?”

Giant Killer? Oh, right, from killing those players early on… I got that from killing a player that was twenty or more levels above me… Yeah, I did already kill enemies that were much stronger than what I would normally beat at my level.

“Also, I'm coming with you too, so don’t worry too much and try not quarreling with your brother, okay?” Blossom said while ruffling my hair.

“Okay! Thanks, Blossom!” I told her while giving her my best smile.

“Thank you, Blossom.” My brother also said.

It was a bit funny to see Blossom try acting as the reliable senior… I mean, I’m sure she is Kako, and while I’m not her senior, it seems like our positions have reversed right now.

… I think that Seigi didn’t realize that though, and Kako probably thinks we aren’t aware either.

Well, that’s fine, “Alright, then… Onwards to our sister!” I said while slapping my cheeks to motivate myself a bit.

I don’t know how strong she is, but sister is without a doubt a very strong and hard to beat player that will most likely try killing us on the spot… We gotta do our best!

“Don’t blame me if I start complaining after we die though.” Masa said… You mean to say you’re gonna complain to our sister about it after we get in good terms with her, right!?