CH 42

Maybe morning will never come. That’s what I thought last night before I went to sleep, but contrary to my expectations, morning came and my brother and I were still alive. Please read this at ChocoCats.

The morning was really ordinary. Nothing has changed except that my parents were leaving for a trip. And I had a certain feeling to the point it was eerie, that I was going to have to face my brother.

And now I was studying in my brother’s room.

I felt that my brother’s mind was getting distracted, as expected, maybe he was still attracted to the tragedy inside his heart.

I don’t understand why he didn’t kill me yesterday. It might be the most amazing outcome so far. Perhaps my brother now was having a dilemma in his mind about whether he will cause a tragedy or not.

Thinking about it made me want to say it out loud and tell him to stop. But if I fail now, my brother would kill me, kill his classmates, and take his own life by the end of July.

If I didn’t confine my brother here and now, he will die.

Right now, I didn’t know what my brother was thinking. Even if it would hurt my brother to stay in this boring world, I still want him to live.

So, right now I was gonna confine my brother by putting a sleeping pill on his tea and using the handcuffs that I hid in my pocket. This was the only way. It’s fine even if I became a hypocrite. It’s fine even if my brother hates me. I will save my brother’s life.

“So, do you know how to solve this part?”

“Yeah. It’s calculated from the radius of the circle, isn’t it? I’m not slacking off.”

With that said, I pointed out the problem in my notebook. My brother took a sip of his tea while saying, “That’s good,”. I held my cup so it won’t look suspicious. Please read this at ChocoCats.

The teacup induced with the sleeping pill my brother was using was different in shape and colour from mine. So I won’t get mixed it up. I watched his adam’s apple go up and down as he drank the tea with the sleeping pill again.

“You know, Mai…”

“Hmm?”

“Have you ever thought that you’re glad I’m your brother?”

“What’s the matter? All of sudden…”

“No, I just think that Mai is pitiful.”

My brother put his teacup on the desk and looked straight at me. His eyes, that was so dark, that kind of deepness that might make you fall and never be able to return, were there, wavering. Even though I was close enough to touch him if I stretched out my hand, I couldn’t grasp his true intentions at all. I could only imagine that he must be in pain. But I couldn’t give him any sympathy. I felt a deadly gap.

I wonder what my brother was thinking now.

“You’re the most pitiful person in the world, Mai.”

My brother worded it again as if emphasizing. It was as if he was trying to advise me, and I realized that I was not allowed to reach into my brother’s realm. Even so, I want to reach out to my brother. I didn’t want him to die. I didn’t want to be separated from my brother.

“Hey, Onii-chan… You know, Onii-chan, I’m…”

Trying to compose words, I was suddenly attacked by the illusion of my throat vibrating.

As if fooling around, my mouth was just opening and closing, as the breath that I tried to exhale didn’t turn into a voice. When I tried to reach out to my brother, I found that my arm was numb and unable to move. What the? Just, what the hell…

“Onii-cha……”

“Mai. I can’t change after all. You can resent me for the rest of your life.”

Even sitting down had become difficult, and I collapsed on the desk. My eyelids are heavy and I couldn’t keep them open. The last thing I saw before my eyes fully closed was my brother looking down at me coldly. My voice that was calling out to him was simply sucked into the darkness. Please read this at ChocoCats.

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“Hmm……”

I opened my eyes to the uncomfortable dim light. Please read this at ChocoCats.

There was nothing on the floor. Only the minimum necessary stationery was on the desk. The second tier of the bookshelf had a dark grey board added as a door. After I opened my eyes and looked around, it seemed that I was now put on a chair in my brother’s room, restrained.

There was only one person who could do this.

The handcuffs on my wrists were chained to the railing of the closet. When I glanced at my watch in panic, there was less than an hour before the date changed, and I felt blood drained from my face.

In the end, it didn’t work. I couldn’t do anything. The owner of this room, my brother, was currently stirring up chaos on all of his high school classmates to die. He enjoyed slaughter from the bottom of his heart, lived in the moment, and faced death by himself.

Even though I had known about it a year earlier, I still failed. 

I couldn’t save anyone.

It was not just about my brother’s classmate’s life. I also couldn’t save my brother.

Perhaps my brother judged that I would get in the way of his plans, so he chained me up like this. It didn’t look like my brother was planning the test of courage, but he knew I was trying to stop him and was cleverly hiding it. I had no proof, but the current situation clearly showed that.

I tried to see if the handcuffs would come off or maybe break the chain, but the thick steel chain was unperturbed. As if ridiculing my resistance, the sound of metal just echoed in vain.

“No, no, no…! Onii-chan!”

A tragedy was unfolding at the high school right now. If this chain was off, I could still go to my brother. I might be able to save my brother’s life.

“Get off…!”

I didn’t care what would happen to my hands. If I could remove this chain and go to my brother, I might be able to change something.

My brother might not have to die.

But why didn’t it go well? Since things always didn’t go well all this time, at least I wished it went well this time. Otherwise, my brother would die. Please read this at ChocoCats.

“Why……!”

“Stop it, you’re bleeding.”

I heard a voice that should never have been here and felt like my breath nearly stopped.

No way, there was no way. It couldn’t be. Because my brother was supposedly at school right now…

With that thought in mind, I looked up and saw my brother, who should have been soaked in blood and gleefully killing his classmates at school, standing by the open door.

“Why is Onii-chan here?”

“Why, because it’s my room?”

My brother looked at me like he was looking at something strange, took out a first-aid kit from the shelf and approached me.

“I can’t believe you’re resisting this much… I have to disinfect and treat it.”

Saying that my brother indifferently put gauze soaked in disinfectant on my wrist. Probably because I recklessly resisted, my wrist was bleeding and worn out here and there. The scars were rough, but probably because my brain couldn’t process the current situation at all, my sense of pain was working slowly.

“Aren’t you going to school today?”

“I didn’t say anything like that, are you misunderstanding something?”

“Why? Haven’t you been looking forward to today?”

My brother seemed displeased at my words. He looked at me like he was dealing with someone that couldn’t be communicated with. Before long, my brother finished bandaging my wrists and stacked the handcuffs over my wrist. He picked up the chain that connects me to the room and showed it to me.

“More importantly, Mai, can’t you see the situation you’re in? Don’t you know what will happen to you from now on?”

“Am I going to be, killed?”

“Hahahaha! Mai, you think I’ll kill you?”

When I asked him cautiously, my brother started laughing. Maybe because he seemed to genuinely enjoy the current situation, he seemed to overlap with Makoto Kurobe from the manga. The only difference was that he wasn’t dyed with fresh blood. Please read this at ChocoCats.

“There’s no way I’m going to kill you. Because I have something that I want Mai to do.”

“What is it?”

Maybe it was before I even ask, or at the same time as I asked that, but my brother traced my cheek and smiled with a face I had never seen before.

“From now on, so that Mai can like me, fall in love with me, and live your entire life for me, you will do your best in this room.”

“Huh…?”

It made no sense at all. What about the tragedy? What did he mean by ‘fall in love with him’…?

It was spoken in correct Japanese and I understood the meaning of each word. But it was too contradicted with the current situation, my brain couldn’t process it. What did he mean by I need to do my best? Was he trying to say something like, “I’m going to jail, so you have to protect this house,” in an abstract way?

“Huh? Why? You’re going to kill me, aren’t you? I’m going to get in your way of the plan, you know I’m aware of your plan, so you’re going to kill me, right?”

Hearing my words, my brother looked dumbfounded for a moment and observed my face. I wonder why my brother was here. Did the tragedy not happen? Or did you cancel your suicide, killed everyone, and show up here? Just to kill me? Or were you going to kill me and go to school…?

Then, if I pushed him with my body together with the chair now, even if I might hurt my brother, wouldn’t I be able to avoid a tragedy?

“What are you talking about, Mai, I…”

“The school!”

“What about it?”

“Did you go to school? Today!?”

My brother didn’t answer my question. He probably went to school and killed all his classmates already. But no, it shouldn’t be. Makoto Kurobe in the manga was drenched with blood. My brother right now was not particularly wet with blood, nor did he smell of iron. Even if he took a bath, it was too early. The time just didn’t match.

“Did you go to school!? Hey! Are you listening? Did you go to school today?!

“There’s no way that I went. Don’t you understand that much?”

When I half-shoutingly asked him, my brother let out a sigh of exasperation. If that was so, I was sure he was going to kill me now and went for the tragedy. But if that was the case, we could still avoid it. I could still save my brother. Please read this at ChocoCats.

“Mai, do you understand your situation? Do you know what I’m going to do now while you’re acting like that…?”

As if to comfort me, my brother stroked my head and looked down at me with a mocking voice. We all know that.

“Yes! Onii-chan is still alive and I’m a hindrance, so you’re going to kill me, right? Because I will be in the way of you going to school!”

“……Huh?”

A blatantly cold look was directed at me. But it was okay. Even so, it was still okay. If I took the momentary gap and thrust the chair into him, I could deal great damage to my brother with the gravity force of the chair. He would get hurt, but if my brother lived and was unable to become a murderer, it was much better.

“I won’t let you do that. I won’t let you go to school, so even if my brother looks like a living human being and you’re bored and want to die because it’s hard to live, I won’t let you die. I might hurt you a bit, but even so, I want to be by my brother’s side forever.”

That’s why I’m sorry! Without any moment to spare, I kicked the ground with all my might.

My brother was in front of me now. This chair was chained and couldn’t leave the room.

But I could charge towards my brother in front of me with my whole body.

I might slam my face to the floor, but that didn’t matter. As long as my brother lived, I would give my face, arms, and legs.

When I headed towards my brother full of determination, he grabbed me by the shoulder and pushed me down together with the chair with a loud crash. The recoil made my front legs slightly unsteady, and my brother’s face got close to me.

“Gyaa!!”

“Mai……”

My brother was just looking down at me while holding my shoulder. The eyes that seemed to be fixed towards me seemed to be wavering with unusual excitement.

“Mai, Mai, you… you really want to be by my side…?”

“Eh…”

My brother’s pitch-black eyes were getting closer and closer. He stared at me so intently and I didn’t know how to respond. My brother’s tone was unusually childish, adding more to the confusion. This wasn’t the attitude of trying to get rid of a nuisance person. What is this? There was a limit to killing someone by letting them off guard first strategy, and my brother didn’t have a kitchen knife or a gun. Please read this at ChocoCats.

“Mai, you, you will accept me…?”

“Eh…? Uhm, I-I’m rather ready to accept though…”

“You really accept me?”

My brother gazed at me. His innocent, clinging voice made my chest tighten a little.

“Eh? Ye, yeah. But that sounds like a confession.”

“Because I like Mai.”

My brother nonchalantly affirmed, but my head went blank.

“Huh? Why? Even though I’m still alive!?”

Even though I did things that would make my brother avoid me, I didn’t do things that would make him like me. Until now, I thought the thing I did that my brother might like the most was when I just kept quiet in order to let him off his guard. Even so, it was only for a little while. The next moment, I rang a mokugyo, went rampage with a tambourine, and in the worst of times, I would jump and fly.

*reference to the early chapters*

“Even if you ask me why, I don’t even know why I like you so much.”

My brother stroked my head as if handling a fragile thing. I was worried that my skull would be crushed, but he stroked me so gently, it was terrifying.

“Onii-chan… Are you interested in me?”

“Yes.”

“Is it towards the direction of wanting to turn me into a Hamburg steak before grilling me?”

T/N: lol Mai, did she think of Makoto as a cannibal?

“No. A little more into sexual interest.”

“Eh… that kind of interest, more than crushing insects and killing living things? I, I’m a living human though? Besides, my life force is relatively strong, you know? Even so, are you okay with that?”

My brother dropped his shoulders and said, “You thought of me like that…”. But he started laughing right away, the way he laughed sounded inhuman, and I was speechless.

“What… Even if I didn’t gloss over it, you already knew my true nature. ……Haha. And on top of that, you said you still want to be by my side…?”

My brother’s eyes, that was wide open as he laughed from the deep of his throat, were terrifyingly dark. Despite that, I feel like my brother was just being himself, and alongside a gloomy sense of security, it was attractive and I couldn’t look away from him. Please read this at ChocoCats.

“You see, I like Mai as a girl, and as a person, so you aren’t a nuisance to me. But everyone other than Mai is a nuisance to me.”

Makoto Kurobe was a pure psychopath, and my brother was also out of the norm. So, how to explain it, I thought it was clear that it wasn’t a feeling that an ordinary person usually had. That’s why he said he likes me…?

“I’ve been doing a lot of strange things, you know…?”

“Ah, I was aware of it. I wish you would stop doing things that might harm yourself, but other than that, I don’t really mind about it. I’ve got used to it after all.”

Got used to it.

I had a vague feeling about it, but it still shocked me. Even though I had been doing my best to provide my brother with unexpected things. If he got used to the unexpected itself, no matter how hard I tried, I will be swept away with, “ah, as usual, huh.”

If that case, the tragedy…! The thought suddenly came back to my mind.

“Eh, then Onii-chan, you won’t go to school today? Are you going to stay here?”

“Of course.”

The tragedy would never happen. His interest in the death game went somewhere else (T/N: yeah, you). For example, capturing his little sister… Huh, wait, even though the death game didn’t occur, why I was captured instead?

T/N: lmao this girl is so slow to realize xD

“Um, err, why am I, need to be handcuffed?”

“I think I still need you to try to adjust.”

“What for?”

“So that you won’t escape anywhere.”

“I’m not going anywhere, but what do you mean by escaping?”

When I asked that, my brother made a confused look. Seeing my brother’s bewildered face, was not bad at all. After all, he usually showed a nonchalant look. Please read this at ChocoCats.

“I wanted to have Mai, so I had been preparing for it for a long time. If Mai accepted me, I don’t think there was any need for me to arrange things like this.”

My brother jangled the chain that connected to me. In other words, his interest in the death game has disappeared, and that interest has turned to…… me. So now that my parents were not present, he took the chance and captured me.

“Um, I won’t run away, can you remove these handcuffs?”

“But I don’t want to remove it.”

“Ehh…”

My brother twinned the chain connected to me around his hand and played with it while laughing innocently.

“Mai have to work hard here to like me. Until your parents come home or you start to like me, you won’t be able to leave here.”

“That love is, um, like romantically… isn’t it?”

“Yes. Do you hate it being together with me?”

“I don’t hate it.”

“Then, even if you live with me forever, is it not hard?”

“It’s not.”

“Then you will always be with me, right? You won’t have to leave my side, right? You are also fine if we stay here together forever, right?”

“Yeah… Wait, isn’t this an inducement? Or rather, are you trying to brainwash me?”

After I nodded at my brother, I suddenly realized it. This is completely inductive. When I protested, my brother sighed and stroked my head. Please read this at ChocoCats.

“But, it’s because Mai actually likes me. To the point, I want to scream with all of my might.”

Because it was the truth and I already said it, so I couldn’t deny it. But even if I had to express my feelings, I couldn’t deny the feeling that it would be better to do it at a more proper place.

“But well, I’m really glad. I don’t have to do anything bad to you to make you like me.”

Pat, pat, the persistent moment sent me back to my senses gradually.

The opponent had the potential to kill dozens of people. And that potential wasn’t headed toward murderous intent, but it was headed toward me. It partially saved my life. I wonder if this really was good…

“Then shall we watch a movie? It seems you borrowed a lot, didn’t you?”

My brother started setting the movie I borrowed onto the player. He completely ignored the fact that I was still handcuffed and chained.

“Wait, remove the handcuffs first.”

“Calm down, look, the movie is about to start. You have to be quiet when you watch the movie. I’ll take the chains off.”

My brother stroked my head as if reprimanding me, and after removing the chain that connected the handcuffs and the room, he sat down on the chair as if holding me.

“No, what about the handcuffs? The handcuffs!”

When I was protesting, my brother rebuked me by saying, “The movie is about to start, be quiet.”

I felt like I was being ignored purposely, but the peacefulness made me well up in tears a little.

For the time being, there would be no tragedy. My brother didn’t seem to be interested in holding the death game either. The peaceful life that I had imagined… but this ending was so different from what I imagined.

Until now, I had been doing my best to offer my brother something unexpected, but I didn’t think my brother would offer something unexpected like this at the very end.

Huh, did that mean… I was able to properly provide my brother with something unexpected…?

I turned to face my brother, who was holding me in his arms while operating the remote control, he seemed a little happy. We’ve been together for a long time, but it might be the first time I’ve seen this expression. So defenceless. And natural…

Somehow, feeling overjoyed, I couldn’t help but rub my head against my brother’s shoulder. Then my brother smiled with the most genuine and childlike face I had ever seen. Please read this at ChocoCats.

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T/N: Hello, I did it ;w; I did itttttt. It was a long chapter, I almost want to give up and split the chapter instead, but I still did it! I thought it would be no fun to read half by half, especially since it’s the climax chapter. I hope you guys enjoy it though! Just a heads up, my January schedule will be very very full, I’ve got so many art commissions suddenly, I will be out of the city next week, and also preparing for Lunar New Year. I hope I can make it alive and healthy. ;w; anyone here celebrating it too?

Anyway, see you in the next chapter, and have a great day.