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Despite it all, Yuusuke loses a single fight.
He survives, of course. He’s good at that. But only barely.
His punishment: Minori has to fight.
“Nii-Chan,” she says. “I’m scared.”
She’s in the corner of the room, curled up and shaking. She is not like him, not made to fight. She’ll worry about her opponent. She’ll worry about her own actions, react to injuries much more.
Yuusuke is scared too. He doesn’t want her to fight. She is so good, and he tries to be. All his life, he’s tried to be. But he knows he is naturally twisted. He knows something is wrong with him.
Still, he keeps his face soft.
“It’s okay,” he says. “It’s going to be okay. They can’t put you at my level. You might just be put in a talent show.”
“I don’t want to fight,” Minori says. Yuusuke hugs her.
“I know,” he says. “But it’s going to be okay. I’ll train you a little. You can live, and then it’s back to me, okay?”
“…okay.”
The day comes. Yuusuke can only watch. Minori chooses an axe, and he knows this won’t go well, but what better option is there? Guns are good if you can kill, can aim, but Minori can do neither. Swords are stupid. Knives are only good if you’re reckless as you are quick.
Chainsaws have that skill issue from guns but worse, easy to kill yourself if you aren’t careful.
He understands. She’s a smart girl, but of course she is. She’s his sister.
He watches, and he hopes it’s someone easy.
He is not lucky.
The other girl has malice in her eyes, bright and deadly. She uses…
Oh. Of course.
A chainsaw.
Minori does amazing. Dodging, trying to get close, to hurt , even if it’s against her nature. But she stands no chance.
Yuusuke can only watch. The blood splatters. Minori screams. There is a hole in her side, and she drops the axes as she falls.
The other girl walks away, secure in her victory. Yuusuke sees red.
Minori is all that he has in the world.
He doesn’t hesitate. Not because the girl is 12. Not because killing is wrong. Not because she still has a chainsaw. Not because he’ll be punished, even killed, because he interrupted a fight.
He picks up Minori’s axe, and, with deadly precision, lobs it straight through the girl’s damn skull.
And then he runs to Minori, holding her up, ripping his outer shirt off, to wrap her stomach. It’s not enough. He knows it. Too much blood, and no one will care. No one but him.
“Nii… Nii-Chan,” Minori murmurs, and her cough is wet and bloody. “I’m scared.”
“I know,” Yuusuke says. “I know. It’s gonna be okay…”
She’s shaking.
“Wanna go home,” Minori says. “‘S cold.”
“I know,” Yuusuke says. “You’ll get to go home soon, okay?”
“Nii-Chan….”
“We’ll patch you up,” Yuusuke says. “And make you some food, and everyone will be there.”
Minori nods, her eyes closing.
“I can see them,” she says.
“That’s right,” Yuusuke says. It’s just a hallucination. There is nothing else.
He feels her go limp, and he doesn’t cry. He just goes numb, as he’s dragged away.
He has nothing.
He’s put back in. His weapon of choice? An Axe.
She chose it. His sister.
This is as much of her as he can honor, because he is twisted.
So he kills. Every time. It doesn’t even matter to him. Nothing does.
Nothing except power. Except winning. Getting so used to this and good at this that he can matter.
He isn’t quite sure what that means, yet. But he has to try. He has to live, and to win. Perhaps he is a monster.
Perhaps it is good that Minori died.
He doesn’t know.
(They call him Axesuke.)