Chapter Text
"Fou! Fou! Foufou!"
Crimson eyes opened to stare at a familiar ceiling, adhered with wallpaper colored light olive and pink. They were barely fast enough to catch a fluffy furball scamper out her door.
The bed she was in, nestled in a corner of the room and leveled on the wooden floor, was draped with a plain white blanket over a similarly bare bedsheet. The pillow supporting her head was wrinkled and indented from her sleep.
Kotori rubbed her eyes and sat up, reaching blindly for the white ribbons she kept by her bed on a small table while she rubbed the lingering traces of sleep from her eyes. She tied her red hair messily and half-heartedly, her mind preoccupied somewhere else.
It didn't matter how she looked right now. These were white ribbons, after all. Her brother never sweated about such mundane issues at home, only forcing herself to be presentable when they went out. Not that he needed to tell her to clean up. She lost that habit years ago.
She fished her slippers under her bed and slipped them on, casting a fond look at the life-sized, black-haired, blue-eyed plushie she kept in her room. A perfect chibi-fied version of her brother that she secretly had custom-made anonymously.
Just another reason to never let her brother into her room, she supposed.
She meandered to her room's door and swung it open, weakly limping through the doorframe with a teeter and a wobble. Mornings were never kind to her; she always woke up with bedhead and felt like an undead.
Unlike her brother, who the dawn seemed to shower blessings upon. Seriously, how did he consistently wake up at five in the morning to exercise and cook breakfast while still looking so fresh, without an alarm clock, no less!
He threw out his alarm the day it woke her up with him and hasn't touched one since.
He learned how to cook for her, too. When her parents started going on long business trips for Ratatoskr, he took it upon himself to ensure she always woke up and returned to the smell of fresh rice in the cooker and whatever dishes he came up with on the table.
And he was pretty damn good at it. It's like he had already been trained by professional chefs before even buying a kitchen knife. That's how good his first attempt at cooking was.
She swore he could open a decent restaurant with his skills.
Those small gestures made her love her brother with all her heart and more.
She finally managed to tumble into the living room without falling over or falling asleep, an improvement compared to yesterday. The living room was connected to the kitchen, so she could see her brother's hunched-over frame as he fried either eggs or bacon, based on the smell, in a pan with some butter.
"...mornin' Onii-chan..."
She managed as she walked past him.
Kotori looked at her brother's black hair. Somehow, despite her never seeing him comb it, it never became an explosion of messy fibers and tangled knots. It was always in the style of a somewhat clean bedhead that someone put half a mind into cleaning before giving up. And somehow, it suited him.
"Good morning, Kotori." Her brother turned to glance at her while moving the pan from the stove, giving a smile that caused his baby-blue eyes to glimmer with starlight and captivating her heart for a moment before she snapped out of her daze and continued walking to the bathroom.
She loved many things about her brother, but his kind eyes made the top five. Each seemed to contain the endlessness of the blue sky, holding a shard of infinity within.
A small squirrel-like creature was perched on his shoulder, cleaning its platinum fur by licking itself like a feline. Its neck was tied with loops of white and light blue cloth decorated with a bright fuchsia ribbon. Its pink ears twitched as it gazed at Kotori's drowsy figure with indigo eyes.
Even now, she didn't know what in the world her brother's companion was. Not pet, but companion. Or privileged lifeform, as her brother called him. The first time she mistakenly identified the lifeform as a "pet," it had jumped onto her bed in the middle of the night and somehow used the shadows in her room to make itself seem like a sleep-paralysis demon.
Kotori shivered. She still has nightmares about that.
His name was Fou, or Cath Palug. Her brother only called the critter by the latter when he misbehaved, like a scolding parent shouting their cheeky child's full name to show authority.
"Breakfast'll be ready when you're out!" Ritsuka called after her as she closed the bathroom door, followed by a series of "Fou"s from Fou.
She grumbled a faint "alright," even though she knew Ritsuka couldn't hear. She walked to the sink and turned on the tap, splashing her face with water after making sure a towel hung beside it. It was more to wash off the grime and less to wake her up, as she knew it was futile. Her brain would only fully awaken after about half an hour, so it was useless to try before that.
She's tried and failed in the past.
Besides, work had kept her up last night, so she wouldn't even try to pretend she had energy this morning.
Kotori wiped her face with the dry towel and trudged out of the bathroom, dragging her body to the couch, which was only now beginning to lose its dullness.
Fumbling with the remote, she grabbed it off the counter, pressed the power button on the TV thanks to a stroke of luck, and began mindlessly surfing the TV channels. This gave Ritsuka a few more minutes to set the table and lay out breakfast. She popped a lollipop into her mouth while stuffing the wrapping into her pocket, the sudden rush of sugar in her bloodstream giving her a jolt of wakefulness akin to downing a jug of caffeine.
A shame the fortune-telling and horoscopes were only at the end. Oh, well. News would have to do. Besides, her brother seemed to enjoy listening to it as he worked.
"Early in the morning, on the outskirts..."
Kotori frowned at the reporter on screen, the images flashing to show a section of their city in ruins.
'Another Spacequake?'
Ritsuka spared a glance at the television before sighing at the scene of destroyed, crumbling buildings and exploded roads it displayed. "Another one? They're occurring more and more these days."
"Mhm..."
Spatial Quakes caused by Spirits, the first took place more than thirty years ago, devastating the Eurasian continent and leaving millions dead. The following Spacequakes were smaller-scaled, though still more than sufficient to destroy a city.
The place they lived in was one such city, rebuilt with shelters and precautions after being wrecked 25 years ago.
Luckily, Realizers had begun development around the same time, allowing feats bordering on magic, such as restoring buildings to their former, undestroyed glory overnight or reattaching lost limbs.
After the first Spacequake, the first few years were the most volatile, followed by a period with few to no quakes. But they returned in full force five years ago. For some reason, they were concentrated around and within the Japanese borders.
This was why Kotori's been busy these days.
The return of Spacequakes could only mean one thing: the return of Spirits.
They had to get their program up and running ASAP.
She should know. She was one of those disaster-causing calamities, though somehow her brother had sealed her powers five years ago, right around the time the Spacequakes returned.
She once wondered if she had caused it all, that she was the beginning of the age of Spacequakes. The timing matched; the great fire she caused that day was unparalleled in destruction, even if, by some miracle, only a few lives had been lost that day.
She didn't think that way anymore, though. Ritsuka, her caring brother, banished those notions from her mind when he noticed she was having depressing thoughts.
"There's been far too many of them..." Ritsuka grumbled as he set two plates on the dining table next to the silverware laid neatly on the tablecloth. "...It's taking all my power to concentrate them in Japan..."
"What did you say, Onii-chan?" She missed the last part of what he muttered under his breath.
"Ah, it's nothing...Hmm?"
She was so preoccupied with watching the screen that she didn't notice Ritsuka had moved next to her with movements as quiet as a ninja. Not even when he pulled the lollipop from her mouth with a swift and precise grab and yank, her brain requiring a few moments to process the visual information her eyes sent as she felt nothing.
"Eh?"
"I already told you, didn't I? No candy before breakfast." His tone was stern yet gentle, already wrapping the half-eaten Chupa Chups candy in a paper towel and preparing to throw it away.
Kotori loved her Onii-chan. She really did. But he was a stickler for the strangest of rules.
Okay, no candy before a meal wasn't an uncommon household rule by parents, but that was usually for young toddlers! She was a grown, thirteen-year-old lady, thank you very much.
"C-Come on, Onii-chan! Give it back!"
That didn't stop her from whining and pouting.
She jumped up to chase after him, straining her arms to reach her beloved candy, disregarding that it had been wrapped in tissues and probably wasn't edible anymore. But due to the height difference, Ritsuka just had to raise his arm to make it inaccessible to her.
Fou had jumped into Ritsuka's nest of black hair when she wasn't looking, just high enough to look down at/on her like the little menace he was.
After jumping like a bunny on a sugar rush, Kotori realized she couldn't take it using force. So, she changed strategies.
"Please, Onii?"
Her puppy-dog eyes.
Ritsuka tried to resist; he really did. But in the end, he gave in with a sigh.
Kotori smirked in her mind. She knew that would work; it always did.
He didn't give her back the original lollipop. That disgusting thing, covered in saliva and scraps of tissue, was thrown in the trash. Instead, much to Kotori's delight, he reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a homemade one shaped like a golden apple, the stick hand-carved to resemble an apple stalk.
'Onii-chan's homemade lollipops?!'
Those handmade candies held an irreplaceable spot in Kotori's heart; her brother invented them to cheer her up on one of her past birthdays. They were sweeter than anything she'd ever tasted, with apple as the dominating flavor yet also with undertones that somehow changed depending on her mood, ranging from honeycomb to chocolate to lemonade.
Her brother's treats never failed to lift her mood and give her a burst of energy. Though he kept the recipe a secret and how he made them taste so special behind tightly closed doors.
Whenever she asked, he would wink with an infuriatingly knowing smile and reply, "Magic and knowledge."
But never mind that!
"Didn't you say there weren't any left?" the little sister asked excitedly.
"I had some time yesterday, so I made a new batch that should last a few weeks." Ritsuka tousled her hair before handing her the candy with an exasperated smile. "Even with such a greedy little sister."
"Ehehehe..."
These moments in their everyday life put a dumb, wide grin on her face.
Ritsuka huffed, though he looked at her actions fondly. "Just finish your breakfast, alright? A growing girl needs her nutrients."
"Okaayyy! Love you!"
As they walked to the breakfast table, Kotori noticed Fou jump onto Ritsuka's shoulder from his head. Patting her brother on the cheek to get his attention, the little critter began squeaking with an almost judgmental undertone.
"Fou! Fou! Fou fou, fou!"
"I'm not spoiling her, alright?" her brother responded with a light huff.
"Fou, fou fou!"
They were like a father-son duo, the son admonishing the father for spoiling his granddaughter.
Somehow, her brother seemed to understand Fou and could have a meaningful conversation with the privileged lifeform like a human. Kotori thought he was putting up an act when they were younger, especially since Ritsuka had been with Fou even before he was adopted by the Itsuka family. But she soon noticed the furball was more intelligent than he let on.
Once seated at the table, they ate their breakfast. Kotori began with a brief "Itadakimasu," while Ritsuka clasped his hands together to offer a mental prayer, a red cross held between his palms.
Oh, right. Kotori hummed as she ate her meal and watched her brother slip his cross into his shirt pocket and dig into his own. Did she mention her brother was religious? Kotori didn't know which specific faith he belonged to. Only that it was related to the Abrahamic God. He never said it himself, but she guessed it was Christianity or Judaism.
He didn't force anyone to believe, nor did he go around preaching or sermonising his values. Ritsuka wasn't that kind of person. He respected whatever faith you were a part of and expected others to return the gesture.
Fou was seated cutely, with a napkin attached to his chin, beside Ritsuka. He munched on a miniature portion of the breakfast Ritsuka had cooked and a few slices of apple with golden skin.
Kotori had no idea where her brother got such bizarre fruits.
But an animal eating human food without any negative consequences...
Another reason why Fou was not your everyday cat or squirrel.
Kotori's eyes lingered on the white gloves her brother was never seen without as he reached to brush a spot of oil from Fou's fur. They resembled medical gloves in appearance alone, as they were made of breathable fabric for comfort. They were as iconic to him as her ribbons were to her. She could make out ten protrusions at the fingers' base, the outline of ten smooth rings.
They never questioned why he never needed to get his rings resized.
Ritsuka had only shown them his rings once when they first adopted him as a brother figure for Kotori. He told them they were mementos left to him by his father, someone called Romani Archaman.
There were no results when Kotori plugged that name into Ratatoskr's database.
She wasn't accusing her brother of lying. He was but an infant when he was abandoned; the orphanage said he had appeared on their doorstep when he wasn't a year old. To call upon a memory so long ago...there must have been some degradation.
"...Oh, right. Today's your junior high entrance ceremony, right?"
"Uh-huh!" She bobbed her head up and down.
"Then let's celebrate. Is there anything besides another one of my lollipops you want for lunch?"
"A Deluxe Kid's Meal!" She shot up straight in her seat.
"I expected that." Her brother sighed. "Do you want that home-cooked or ordered?"
He began recreating take-out, down to its exact flavor, when he heard her complain once how oily the Mc Burger menu was, ensuring to cut at least half the calories.
"Ordered, please! I heard they started using healthier options!" She put her hands together and gave a forty-five-degree bow. "It's also been so long since I last had the genuine thing!"
"Alright, alright. No need to beg," Ritsuka chuckled. "Then meet at the usual spot after school?"
"Yay! You promise? You swear? Even if there's a Spacequake, you'll come?"
Her brother chuckled, running a hand through his hair while acting out an awkward shrug. "Well, you'll have to settle for home-cooked if there's a Spacequake. Might not be much of their kitchen left. But I promise."