Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou Zero - Volume 2 - Chapter SS4

She’s a Siscon

“Stooooooooooooop! Meru-nee, you suck!”

A few weeks had passed since Andika had sunk, and the residents were getting used to living on an island of ships. The past few days, Miledi’s screams had become a staple on this replacement island.

“Oh my, such naughty words. A naughty girl like you deserves to be punished, don’t you think, Miledi-chan?” Meiru said as she pinned Miledi’s arms behind her back, and played with her cheeks. A flush spread across Meiru’s cheeks as she watched Miledi struggle to break free. There was a sadistic undercurrent to her gentle smile as she basked in Miledi’s cries. At this point, everyone had gotten so used to Meiru bullying Miledi that no one butt in even when Miledi begged for help.

There was, however, one girl who always came to watch the spectacle. Though she didn’t seem to be enjoying it necessarily. In fact, she seemed positively annoyed. Sulking, the girl in question trotted up to Meiru.

“Nee-sama.”

“My, Diene. What is it?”

“Diene-chan, help me!”

Diene ignored Miledi’s cries and said, “If you want to play with someone’s cheeks, please play with mine!”

She squeezed her eyes shut and spread her arms wide. Her pose was an odd mixture of determination and resignation.

“U-Um, Diene? It’s not what you think. I’m not really bullying Miledi-chan...” Meiru hurriedly made excuses for herself. She didn’t want her beloved sister to think she was a bully. Even if it was the truth. 

“Take that, you bully! How does it feel, Meru-nee? Knowing that your only sister thinks you bully people? You mad? Are you, Meru—”

“Please shut up, Miledi-san!”

“Oh, uh, okay. Sorry... Wait, what?” Miledi had thought Diene had come to save her, but it seemed that wasn’t the case. In fact, Miledi had never heard the kindhearted Diene say “shut up” before. Something was strange.

“Nee-sama!”

“Y-Yes?”

Even Meiru was a little taken aback by Diene’s aggressive attitude. A hint of desperation entered Diene’s voice and she shouted, “My cheeks are soft too! I’m sure they’ll be able to satisfy you, nee-sama!”

“I’m sorry, I’m not quite sure I follow.”

“Bully me, nee-sama!”

“I think you need to calm down, Diene.”

Diene was shouting so loudly that they were starting to attract attention. For once, Meiru looked nonplussed. She cast Miledi aside and worriedly knelt down in front of Diene. Miledi slumped to the ground, looking like a woman who’d just been abandoned by her abusive boyfriend. 

“How can she treat me like this,” Miledi whimpered to herself. However, no one paid her any mind.

“Umm, Diene? You can’t tell people you want them to bully you. Why would you even think that?”

If there was some dark trauma bothering Diene, Meiru knew it was her job to fix it. Diene bit her lip, and after a brief moment of silence, replied.

“Because you’re bullying Miledi-san every day. She might call you Meru-nee, but I’m your real sister, and you don’t even bully me.”

“Of course not, I could never do anything to you that you wouldn’t like, Diene.”

“But you’re fine with doing things I don’t like, huh!?” Miledi screamed. Once again, everyone ignored her.

“I wouldn’t hate it at all! I want you to hug me from behind and squeeze my cheeks like you do to Miledi-san! It’s not fair that she gets to hog you all the time!”

Meiru nodded in understanding. I see now, she wants me to pay attention to her too, and not just Miledi-chan... Her lips curled up into a dopey grin. Her sister’s jealousy was so cute that she couldn’t maintain her facade.

“Oh Diene, you’re just so cute!”

As requested, Meiru circled around Diene, hugged her, and started playing with her cheeks. Her siscon tendencies had come to the fore. However, Diene and Miledi possessed fundamentally different personalities. While it was possible to treat Miledi as a joke character, the same couldn’t be said of Diene. Which was why, in time, Meiru’s rough treatment of Diene’s face devolved into loving caresses before long. She stopped pinning Diene’s arms as well, and just hugged her normally. As expected, Diene wasn’t satisfied with this.

“Nee-sama, you have to be rougher!”

“Oh my,” Meiru muttered, completely at a loss for what to do.

“Gufufufu. Diene-chan, I never knew you had such weird fetishes. If you like pain so much I can—Owww. Meru-nee, that hurts! I’m sorry, I’m sorry, just stop!”

Meiru pulled Miledi’s cheeks as far as they would go as punishment for insulting her precious sister. Crying, Miledi desperately apologized. Seeing how easily Meiru hurt Miledi, Diene once again felt left out. She disentangled herself from Meiru and started shivering.

“O-Oh my. Diene, what’s wrong?” Meiru didn’t stop torturing Miledi even as she asked that question.

“Waaah... Even though I’m your real sister, you’re only ever paying attention to Miledi-san! Nee-sama, you cheater!” Diene whined as she dashed into the ship’s cabin.

“D-Diene! You’re mistaken! It’s not what you think!” Meiru responded in a rather cliche manner. Then, she chased after Diene, looking like a husband who’d just been caught cheating. As expected, she didn’t even spare a second thought for Miledi, who she’d abandoned. 

That evening, Diene came to visit Miledi.

“Miledi-san, I know this is presumptuous of me to ask, but how do I become a little sister like you?”

The fact that she was asking her rival for advice instead of getting jealous showed just how forgiving Diene was at heart. Smiling at her forthright honesty, Miledi scratched her head and tried to think of some useful tips. After a few seconds, a lightbulb went off in her head. Had Oscar or Naiz been present, they would have warned Diene not to listen to Miledi when she looked like that.

“Well, you see, there isn’t just one way to be a good little sister.”

“Wh-What does that mean?”

“There are types of sisters. Both you and I belong to different types, so learning my techniques won’t help you at all. It’s like a swordsman trying to learn magic!”

“I see now!”

The truth struck Diene like a bolt of lightning.

“Please teach me what kind of little sister I should aspire to be, Miledi-san. I want Nee-sama to notice me.”

“Fufufu, very well, your passion has moved me. I shall impart to you the grand wisdom of little sisters.”

There was no stopping Miledi now.

The next morning, Diene went to see Meiru. The pirate captain had been up all night, worried that Diene might hate her now.”

“Good morning, Nee-sama.”

“Diene! Good morning. About what you said yesterday...” Meiru wanted to resolve the misunderstanding as soon as possible, but Diene held out a hand to stop her. She concentrated for a few seconds, then gave Meiru the most charming smile the world had ever seen.

“Nee-sama, I loooooooooooooooooooooooove you!” Diene exclaimed as she jumped into Meiru’s arms and planted a kiss onto her cheek. Then, she pulled back and observed Meiru’s reaction. For some reason, Meiru’s smile had gone stiff.

“Thank you, Diene. I love—”

Before she could get out the “you too,” Meiru collapsed, blood gushing from her nostrils.

“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, Nee-sama!?”

“There’s no better way to die,” Meiru muttered as she lost consciousness, a dopey smile still plastered to her face. Other pirates burst in upon hearing the commotion, and when they saw Meiru drowning in a pool of her own blood, they also screamed.

“Cap’nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!”

Miledi watched from a distance, snickering to herself. Naturally, when Meiru found out she was behind all this, Miledi’s laughter soon turned into screaming. A few hours later, Meiru held both Diene and Miledi in her arms, though Miledi had lost consciousness from the incessant teasing. Needless to say, Meiru treasured both of her little sisters equally, just in different ways.