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“WHAT?!” Aoi couldn’t help but exclaim loudly.
“I said what I said, Aoi!” Akane retorted. “I don’t know!”
“You mean you don’t know where I fit in?!” Aoi was confused, and it was always a bit of a bad habit that he lost his cool a little when he was upset.
“I don’t! But you have to calm down , or I’m not going to talk to you!” She shouted back, a slight pout on her face.
“How can I calm down after hearing all that?! And knowing that despite you knowing all that, you don’t know what I have to do?!”
She maintained an angry, pouty face.
“Oh, don’t give me that.” Aoi groaned.
The pout remains, and she exhales through her nose.
“...Damn it, fine.” Aoi notices himself growing less upset. She was right, he lost his cool, and she always had her ways of getting him to cool down, even if that way was forcing his hand.
But it was alright, because she was his little sister, and she deserved what she wanted. She had gone through so much, so her wishes should be granted.
She had just gotten one of the most important gifts of her life a few days ago, but he still feels as if he hasn’t paid her back for all she’s experienced. All that she suffered. She deserved so much better, so much more. He would do his best to give her all the time she lost, that she had to waste, getting both of them to where they were now, alive.
…He’d do whatever he had to, even if he was upset he didn’t know where the hell to start doing that now that something else had come up.
“I’m sorry.” Aoi mumbles. “There. Better now?”
“Much better.” Akane spoke back with a smile. Akane could never upset her for long. After all the growing together they did, she had come to accept him for all his flaws, just as he had hers. Not that they’d ever admit that each other had any flaws at all, at least not outside of an argument, but it's in spite of those that they feel the bond that holds them together like nothing else.
Which is why the idea of that bond being nebulous in whatever future is to come was scary. It scared Aoi, and it made him react that way. What brother, who gave everything to keep his sister alive, would want to hear that maybe something would happen to the two of them? That maybe something would happen to him in particular, and he didn’t even know what that could be?
“Hey, Aoi?”
“Yeah?”
“You’re getting lost in your thoughts.”
Shit, she was right. He was . “Sorry.” Aoi apologizes, shaking his head as he tries to focus back on the present. "I just… Damnit, I just don’t want to risk everything we’ve worked for this far. We spent so many years trying to get to what we just did, to reach this end goal, only for something else to rear its head, and… It makes me worried I’ll lose you in this new plan, whatever it is.”
“I know, Aoi, I… I’m worried too. I’m almost more worried than I was about the game we planned. At least with the game, we knew all the details, but… But I know we’ll work things out. We’ll find out where you fit in this.” Akane speaks with conviction.
“...You really think we’ll manage to do that?” Aoi asks, a little unsure as his voice wavered in fear for a moment.
“I know we will. I didn’t hear anything about you being inside , but nothing says you can’t be helping from the outside , right, brother?” She spoke in that sweet tone of hers, the one she did whenever she’d ask for something, just like she used to when she was younger. “Come on, Zero.”
Aoi mumbled. “You know I’m not Zero, nowhere close to that. If anyone is Zero, it’s you.”
“No, it’s the two of us. I never would’ve gotten anywhere without the help of the best Santa in the entire world.”
Aoi chuckles. “Heh… Well, Santa was just fulfilling a little girl’s wish. What can I say?”
In that moment, their worries and insecurities melted away, as they both hugged each other, remaining in each other’s arms, held in that tight, warm embrace. The familial bond they shared would never be broken, by anyone, not even by external forces of fate. Aoi wouldn’t let that happen, no matter what.
“I love you, Aoi.”
“I love you too, little button.”
“Stop that.”
“Never.”
The two laughed, and knew. They knew that no matter what happened, to either one of them, they would never be alone. The other would always be in their heart. That’s what true family was.