Chapter 170 - 169 - Heartfelt

"Hm...? Where I am?" Yawned Kilella, as she woke up and looked around in a slight daze. 

It was the next morning, the 3rd of November, and finally, my sister had woken up. Her I-Watch had been buzzing with messages and missed calls, I glanced at them to make sure none of them were an emergency, and after making sure of that, I decided to ignore them and let her sleep. 

But after a while it started to feel like she was never going to wake up, so I figured I'd watch some anime to pass the time. And a few episodes in, she woke up at last... 

"Hey, good morning, sis. You certainly slept like a log," I greeted her, as I closed my laptop. 

"Huh? Oh, hey, little bro...," She muttered in response, before her eyes widened and she stood up with a start, nearly falling over as her knees wobbled, before grabbing my shoulders, "How are you feeling, Zax? Are you okay? Does it hurt anywhere? Did you get enough rest? What about-?" 

"W-woah, slow down, big sis! I'm fine, nothing to worry about," I responded assuringly, trying to calm her down. 

"Are you sure? You're not just playing tough or something, right? It's okay, you can tell me! If there's anything wrong, tell me, even if it's something minor!"

"Okay, I will, if I notice anything! But there's nothing wrong as far as I can tell, so relax, Ella," I stated, lightly hitting her forehead with mine to get her to back off a bit, since she was kinda crowding me. 

"Well, if you say so, I guess...," She trailed off, looking unconvinced, before shaking her head and changing the subject, "Anyway, how long was I out for? I'm starting to feel kinda hungry."

"Let's see, you brought me home at around 4 PM yesterday, and fell asleep pretty much as soon as you sat down in that chair, and it's now a bit past 10 AM, so...eighteen hours, more or less," I surmised. 

"What? I...I don't think I've ever slept for that long in one go before," She remarked in surprise, before staring at the chair she fell asleep in with narrowed eyes, "Wait, you said that I fell asleep on that chair. Did I wake up at some point and move to the bed? Crap, I'm sorry, Zax, didn't mean to make you sleep on the floor-." 

"It wasn't like that, I, uh, carried you over to the bed. You didn't wake up or anything, not till just now. I just, uh, you know, thought you might hurt your neck or something if you slept on a chair for too long, and since you'd gotten that tired and exhausted because you were worried about and taking care of me, I felt bad...so, yeah," I muttered awkwardly, as she stared at me with a look of surprise. 

After a couple of seconds of silence, her surprised expression shifted into a wide, goofy grin as she reached over and pulled me in for a hug, ruffling my hair playfully. 

"Aw, that's so sweet, little bro, I feel like I'm about to cry! Hehe...I'm so happy right now," She remarked cheerfully, as she kissed my forehead, "Love ya, little bro." 

"Y-yeah, I...love you too, sis," I replied quietly, kinda embarrassed...even though we're pretty close, I've rarely ever had serious, heartfelt moments with her like this, and it's really embarrassing. 

"Say, how about we go to Delectables after this? My treat, get whatever you want on the menu!" She suggested with a grin, as she continued to ruffle my hair. 

"That sounds good and all, but we're both too recognizable in public, people will constantly stare," I sighed in response, before suggesting, "How about I wear a disguise and go pick some stuff up from there? If it's not enough, I can just make copies, remember?" 

"Oh, yeah, I almost forgot about that...heh, that's a dangerous ability, little bro, you'll be piling on the calories drastically more than usual," She replied with a wry smile. 

"Actually, not quite. Any copies I make only last ten minutes, no matter what. I realized that during the last teamwork exam, I made copies of the food we brought, but after a while, we felt hungry again. After I realized that, we had to take constant and regular food breaks, it didn't slow us down all that much, but nevertheless, it did slow us down. So this only works as a temporary solution to hunger...it's actually kind of a great way to go on a diet, make copies of small portion of food to savor the taste, but without tacking on the extra calories," I surmised wryly. 

"Huh...yeah, that makes sense. You know, if physical money still existed, you'd probably be able to save a ton of money by only using copies to buy stuff," She replied with a laugh. 

"Sure, except that I'd be caught once they realize that the money disappears after a few minutes," I pointed out in response. 

"Not if you're careful! You could wear a disguise whenever you go to buy stuff, that way security cam footage is useless! And you could avoid making big purchases, I bet most cashiers won't notice a few notes disappearing from, uh...what were those machines called, again? Those ones that stores used to use before WWIII, the ones that make the 'cha-ching' sound when they're opened?" She tried to recall with a frown. 

"You mean cash registers?" I responded with a raised eyebrow. 

"Yeah, those! Wait, what was I talking about again?" She replied with a confused frown. 

"Oh, nothing important, you were just making it clear that you've thought about crime a lot," I responded with an exasperated, and slightly amused, sigh. 

"Hehe, maybe just a little bit. I don't know why, but when I was a kid, I really liked watching those clips of thieves robbing stores. I mean, most of what I watched were movie clips or short skits, there wasn't much real footage to be found, but still, somehow I really enjoyed that stuff," She explained with a sheepish grin. 

"Huh...sounds like you were a weird kid, sis," I replied dryly. 

"Hey, that's not very nice, little bro! It's not like you didn't have any weird habits when you were a kid, I remember how you used to-...," She began with a mischievous smirk.

"Okay, let's not go down this particular path of memory lane. Anyway, you must be pretty hungry after sleeping for that long, sis. I'll go get some food from Delectables for breakfast and, uh, lunch too. In the meantime, you can relax here till I'm back," I informed her, as I put on a jacket and began heading out. 

"Aw, you sure you don't want me to tag along?"

"Yeah, don't worry about it, you just woke up. I'll be back soon." 

"Thanks, you're the best little brother ever!" She exclaimed as I walked out the door, a wide grin on her face. 

That's definitely an exaggeration...I mean, considering everything she's done for me over the years, something like this is the least I can do. There's little doubt in my mind though, that she's the best big sister ever... 

... 

About an hour later, I was back home, having picked up a couple of boxes filled with an assortment of tasty treats. They were kinda heavy to carry all the way back though, so once I made sure that no one was looking, I used Cut to make things easier. While my Anomaly powers aren't exactly a secret anymore, it doesn't hurt to be cautious. 

As I reached my place, I began to open the door, before stopping right as my hand touched the handle...wait, I don't want a repeat of what happened in Ruby's place, even if it's not as bad as what I saw back then, I'd rather eliminate any risk of me walking in on her changing or something. 

That last time was traumatizing enough, I'm not gonna add to it. Especially since it feels like we've finally moved past it to a point where we can pretend it never happened, no need to reopen the wound. I rang the doorbell instead, taking a step back with a sigh. 

"Yes, who is it?" Asked Kilella, as she opened the door, before adding in surprise as she saw me, "Oh, Zax. The door wasn't locked, you could have just come in."

"Yeah, guess so, I think I just spaced out for a sec, that's all," I responded nonchalantly, as I walked in. 

Better not tell her the real reason I didn't just walk in, might make things all awkward again. 

"Oh, okay. Wait, didn't you get anything? Were they closed or something?" She inquired, noticing that I was empty-handed, "Shall I order some delivery instead or-?" 

"Nah, no need, I got the stuff...<Activate Anomaly, Tier Two: Paste>," I chanted, the two boxes of sweets appearing on my desk. 

"Wow, you really make full use of your powers, don't you, little bro?" She remarked with a wry smile. 

"I mean, back when I was hiding my powers, I pretty much only used them in everyday situations...like repeatedly reliving weekends and whatnot," I responded sheepishly. 

"Heh, I'd totally do that to, if I had your powers," She replied with a grin. 

"I'm sure you would...well, anyway, shall we eat?" I suggested, holding up the boxes. 

"Yeah, let's! Ooh, I know, let's watch a movie or something while we eat, we did that a lot when we were kids, remember? Can we eat on the bed? I know it's a bad habit, but I like to relax while eating," She requested hopefully, with a sheepish grin. 

"Sure, that works for me, but you're cleaning it up if any food falls on the bed. I'll set my laptop up," I replied, putting my laptop on my desk. 

After picking a movie, I set the boxes on the bed and opened them up, before the two of us began chomping down on them. Not gonna lie, this is pretty sweet, pun intended. 

Most of my family seriously sucked, my mother left zero impression on me and my father was...a total fuckhead. But without a doubt, when it comes to Kilella, I'm genuinely grateful that she's my sister, I probably wouldn't be the person I am today if it wasn't for her...no, I definitely wouldn't be the person I am today if it wasn't for her. 

I probably wouldn't go so far as to say this to her directly, it'd be too embarrassing, but...she means the world to me... 

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