Interlude: In Centostella
In a certain room of the Centostella royal castle...
Sendo Aki was dreaming. It was a dream from her childhood—a dream from nine years ago, before Haruto and Aki’s parents divorced.
Back then, she really adored older kids, she thought to herself. The Amakawa house had two working parents at the time, so they weren’t able to pay much attention to their children. The ones who looked after Aki in their place were Haruto and Miharu, which was why it was only natural for her to adore them as older kids.
Haruto was always close with Miharu. To Aki, they made the perfect pair. They were so close that they sometimes went off into their own world, but Aki loved watching the two of them play together like that.
“Haruto, Miharu...”
Before she knew it, Aki was calling Haruto and Miharu’s names in her dream. It was strange. Normally, just the reminder of Haruto being her older brother was enough to fill her with conflicted thoughts, but she didn’t feel anything unpleasant right now. Aki had returned to her childhood self—back to the times when she only had pure, unconflicted feelings.
A young Haruto and Miharu were reflected in Aki’s eyes. Their surroundings were pitch black; only the space where they stood with Aki was white. Beside them were the toys they’d used while playing house together when they were young. Whenever the three of them played house, Haruto and Miharu had been the parents, while Aki had always volunteered herself for the role of the daughter first. That way, she could be spoiled by her two favorite people.
Being spoiled by the two of them was Aki’s special right as their younger sister. And so there was only one thing Aki wanted to do in this situation:
“Haruto! Miharu! Let’s play house! I wanna be the child!”
Whenever she said that, Haruto and Miharu always agreed.
“Sure.”
“Let’s play, Aki.”
See? Haruto and Miharu were smiling as they nodded. With the three of them together, they could have fun playing house. If only such happy times could continue forever, Aki always thought.
“I want to have a sleepover with us just like this,” Aki mumbled softly in her dream.
Haruto and Miharu exchanged a look at that.
“It’s not a weekend day tomorrow, so we can’t,” Haruto explained with a troubled look.
“Aww... But I want to sleep between you and Miharu.” Aki’s head drooped in disappointment. She wanted to be with Haruto and Miharu more. She was envious of how close they were, but they never left Aki out and always included her with kindness.
“Mm... But the only days we can sleep over are on the weekends.”
“Isn’t there anything you can do about that, Haru-kun?” Miharu hesitantly pleaded to a contemplating Haruto.
“If you insist, then I’d like to...” Haruto hummed indecisively. “How about you sleep in my room today, Aki?” he suggested.
Aki’s face brightened immediately. “Huh? Can I really?”
“Sure. But Aki, you’re always sleeping with mom and dad, right? You won’t wake up crying, will you?”
“I-I won’t cry! I’ll be fine if I’m sleeping with you!”
“All right then. Let’s do that, Aki.”
Haruto smiled at Aki’s red-faced protests.
“Th-That’s not fair, Aki...” Miharu muttered quietly; she had been watching their conversation.
“Mii-chan. Don’t act like Aki now,” Haruto said with an exasperated expression.
“Hmph. I know...”
“You can sleep over at our place next weekend, Mii-chan.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Ehe heh.” Miharu beamed happily.
“Can I sleep together with you?” Aki asked nervously.
“Yup, sure you can,” Haruto and Miharu both replied while smiling.
“Ehe heh! It’s a promise!”
“Yeah, a promise.”
“Both of you have to stay with me forever, okay?” Aki pleaded with a broad smile.
“Yeah.”
“We’ll always be with you, Aki.”
Haruto and Miharu both nodded with beaming faces, when—
“Haruto? Miharu?”
Aki worriedly called out to them. Suddenly, Aki’s vision went completely black; she couldn’t see anything other than herself.
“Aki.”
In the darkness, she could hear Haruto and Miharu’s voices.
Oh, thank goodness... It’s my brother and Miharu... Aki rejoiced in relief. But that only lasted for a moment.
“...?!” Aki woke up with a gasp.
“A dream...” she mumbled to herself, sitting up in bed.
She really had awakened from a dream, because neither Haruto nor Miharu were in the Centostella Castle with her.
More importantly, the person who was once Amakawa Haruto was already dead. Yet he was also alive—he had been reborn into this world, and was currently living together with Miharu somewhere.
Why did I have a dream like this...
She played with Haruto, heard his voice, and felt happiness from it. It may have been just a dream, but why did it happen...? Aki wondered to herself with a bitter expression. A variety of emotions flashed across her mind in a single moment.
He didn’t keep his promise. He said the three of us would stay together. That he’d be with me forever. He promised, and yet...
Miharu didn’t break her promise. She stayed beside me even after mom got divorced. She spent every day with me, holding my hand while I was sad.
She was different from him.
But...
“Now Miharu is gone too...” Aki muttered tearfully, as though she was seeking some form of salvation.
Even Aki knew, deep down, that the feelings she had carried with her for so many years were unjustified. But logic was different from emotions, which was why she’d carried her resentment with her this entire time. She continued believing that she was the one in the right. She didn’t want to believe she was wrong.
But now...
“It’s morning...” Aki’s gaze wandered as though searching for someone, then landed on the window in disappointment. It was already bright outside.
Presently, as the siblings of the hero Takahisa, Aki and Masato were staying at the Centostella Castle as national guests. But there wasn’t anything in particular for them to do here.
Aki tried to visit Takahisa’s room every day, but they didn’t spend much time together. Ever since the incident in the Galarc Castle, Takahisa had taken to shutting himself away in his room.
He now preferred to be alone. While he was more relaxed around Aki, being that she was his step-sister, their conversations were awkward and couldn’t keep going like they used to, so he would tell Aki to return to her room and leave him in peace. Because of this, Aki rarely saw him outside of his room.
Instead, her time with her younger step-brother increased. Masato was busy continuing his sword training even after coming to Centostella, but he made as much time as possible for Aki, who was in low spirits these days. He always visited her outside of his training hours.
Back at the stone house... Or rather, back in Japan, Aki and Masato hadn’t been such close, clingy siblings. They were the siblings that commonly cracked sarcastic jokes at each other without any affectionate conversation between the two of them. But lately, Masato would spend long hours at a time beside Aki, even if it was just in silence.
Aki was so grateful for this that she naturally found herself visiting Masato whenever she wasn’t in Takahisa’s room. Their time together increased without her noticing.
“I wonder if Masato’s training this morning as well...” Aki mumbled to herself as she got changed to visit the training grounds.
Ever since coming to Centostella, Aki and Masato had increasingly spent more time together, while Masato and Takahisa barely spent any time together.
After wandering into this other world, their family had finally reunited in this castle. Yet ever since the incident at the Galarc Castle, the three of them hadn’t spent a single second gathered together to enjoy each other’s company because of the deterioration of the sibling bond between Masato and Takahisa. When they first arrived in Centostella, Masato had still visited Takahisa, who stayed shut in his room regularly, but with Takahisa’s lingering guilt about the Galarc incident and Masato’s own thoughts on the events, a huge argument had broken out between them.
Masato had continued visiting Takahisa’s room despite the arguments taking place each time, but that seemed to be a bad move to make. They were now in a cold war with each other, and as far as Aki knew, hadn’t seen each other in three weeks.
I have to be the one to help the two of them make up again... Aki thought to herself as she made her way to the training grounds with a gloomy face. Recently, her mind had been filled with negative thoughts whether she was alone or not.
There was a female knight at Aki’s side as a guard, but they didn’t particularly converse with each other. Thus, before she knew it, Aki had arrived at the training grounds.
“What is it, Masato?! Why’d you bring me out here so early in the morning?!” Takahisa called out.
“It’s your fault for not leaving your room in days! You know you’ll ruin your health if you keep living like that, right? And besides, Aki’s been down in the dumps these days. You’re her older brother yet you’re just hovering around doing nothing!”
Takahisa’s yelling voice echoed over. It seemed like Masato was also present, and the two were fighting. Aki ran over in a hurry, entering the training grounds.
“Lady Aki... Good morning.” Centostella’s First Princess Lilianna noticed Aki’s presence and approached her.
“Good morning, Miss Lilianna. What’s going on here...?” Aki asked, looking over at Takahisa and Masato arguing a slight distance away from the entrance.
“I passed by Sir Masato on his way to the training grounds this morning, and the topic of Sir Takahisa came up...” Lilianna frowned with worry.
When he heard Takahisa hadn’t left his room in days, Masato had charged into his room in a fury.
“If you’re our brother, you should act like it.”
“What do you mean ‘act like it’? You’re just saying whatever you want.” Takahisa had a sour expression on his face.
“Haruto always thought of us first before anything. But you only care about yourself. Both back in Galarc, and ever since coming here, you’ve only cared about yourself. Why do you think Aki and I came to this kingdom with you?”
“The only thing that ever comes out of your mouth is Haruto this, Haruto that...” Takahisa’s face grew grim at the mention of Haruto’s name. However, an argument of this level was still on the mild side of things—they had fought more fiercely before. That’s why they had avoided seeing each other until now.
“...”
Aki was unable to move and merely watched her brothers fight. She knew her words would have no effect on them. In fact, she wasn’t even sure if stopping them was the right thing to do.
In reality, she had tried to stop their fights numerous times until now, and they were still at odds with each other. Merely stopping them was no use—that was what she felt.
However, she had no idea what she could do instead... There was no confidence left in Aki’s expression.
“Pick up your sword, bro,” Masato suddenly said.
“What?”
“I’m telling you to spar with me.”
“What kind of craziness are you spouting? There’s no point in doing that.”
“I’m telling you not to run away.”
“Run away? When have I ever run away? I’m not running away from anything!” Takahisa gradually grew more irritated.
“Then fight me. And if I win, you have to stop running away.”
“Like I said, I’m not...”
“You are, though. Shutting yourself in your room all day. You’re running from me, from Aki, and from Princess Lilianna. You’re running from everyone worried about you.”
“What...?” Takahisa tried to argue back, but no specific words came out.
Before he could do so, Masato spoke up. “If you’re not running, then you can spar with me, right?”
“...”
“So you are running. How pathetic.” Masato snorted before shooting him a mocking smirk.
“Fine... I’ll fight you.”
Either because he had found his resolve or he thought he wouldn’t lose to Masato, Takahisa agreed in a low voice.
“It’s decided. Here.” Masato threw one of the training swords in his hands at Takahisa.
“Hmph.” Takahisa picked up the training sword from the ground in displeasure.
Lilianna exhaled lightly, then immediately gave the female knight beside her an order. “Kiara. You act as the judge.”
“Understood.” Kiara nodded with respect, then walked towards the two of them. Thus, it was decided that they would hold a sparring match.
Masato and Takahisa faced each other from different corners of the training grounds. Masato was equipped with a one-handed sword and shield while Takahisa gripped a hand-and-a-half sword in both his hands.
“I don’t wanna hear any excuses about how you were going easy on me after your defeat, bro,” Masato said. It was more of a confirmation than a provocation.
“We’re four years apart in age. There’s no way I’d lose to a child like you,” Takahisa replied sullenly, mood soured by those words.
“Hmph. I don’t know about that. I wasn’t the one who shut myself in my room. You don’t know how much stronger I’ve gotten, do you?” This time, Masato spoke with the intention of provoking him.
“Don’t look down on me.” Takahisa was even more sullen at that.
The acting judge, Kiara, stood between them, sighing quietly before mediating their argument. “Both sides, mind your mouths. You’re competing purely with sword ability. If I deem the match too dangerous, I will suspend it immediately.”
“I’m ready whenever, Miss Kiara,” Masato replied, holding his sword and shield ready.
Takahisa maintained his silence, but he also seemed ready to go. He held his sword while glaring at Masato with a stern look.
“Begin!” Kiara said, signaling the start of the match.
At the same time, Takahisa lifted his sword up and charged at Masato. He had no intention of sounding out Masato’s abilities or moves; he intended on deciding the match immediately. It was an action made on his firm confidence that he was the stronger one.
“I can see right through you!”
Masato aimed for the moment when Takahisa swung down and stepped forward. He charged with his shield first and deflected Takahisa’s sword when it was unable to fully swing down. Using his forward momentum, he lightly struck the pommel of his sword hidden behind his shield into Takahisa’s torso.
“Guh...”
There hadn’t been enough force to make it a painful blow, but Takahisa stumbled back under the force of the attack.
“If this was a match between knights, that would have been a telling blow. But we don’t have to count that one. It’d be too disappointing if it ended like this,” Masato said, giving Takahisa another chance.
The embarrassment he felt because he’d lost again against an opponent he thought was weaker just made Takahisa angrier.
“Go on, come at me.”
Masato hopped backwards, distancing himself without lowering his guard while spurring on Takahisa’s fighting spirit.
“Ngh!” Takahisa charged at Masato once again. The second round had started. Meanwhile—
Lilianna, who was watching the match beside Aki, turned to the captain of her knights. “What do you think, Hilda?”
“I could tell Sir Masato was more used to handling the sword from the moment he positioned himself. His movements are efficient, as though he’s experienced with real battles. I’m sure his own efforts played a huge part, but he has wonderful talent. Sir Amakawa’s instruction before he came to our kingdom must have been brilliant too.”
Hilda made no reference to Takahisa’s abilities and praised Masato highly. She often sparred with Masato herself, so she knew of his talents well.
On top of that, Masato persistently stuck to Rio’s teaching, doing his drills and sparring matches every day. Doing training drills every single day was something even full-time soldiers had difficulty accomplishing.
“It looks like Takahisa’s the one putting pressure on him, though...” Aki said, looking at their fight. Only ten or so seconds had passed since the second round started, but right now it looked as though Takahisa was overwhelming Masato with his stronger build as he swung his sword.
“Sir Masato is seeing through all of Sir Takahisa’s attacks and defending himself. If you wildly swing your sword while relying purely on strength, you’ll soon run out of energy. Sir Masato is waiting for that moment—a truly calm plan.”
That was another area where his real experience shone, as Hilda had pointed out. Indeed, Masato was deftly handling all of Takahisa’s attacks with his shield right now.
That ability comes from his experience rather than his intuition, I’d say. The ability to choose the best action for the situation was probably something Sir Amakawa drove into him. Sir Amakawa may be the type to fight logically.
While she didn’t say it out loud, Hilda added to her analysis in her head.
“I-I see...”
Aki looked a little conflicted as she accepted the explanation. Since she lived together with them, she knew that Rio had been the one to teach Masato. Those teachings had accumulated into this moment, which was causing her conflicted feelings.
Just then, Masato stopped his defense against Takahisa and made his move. He parried the trajectory of Takahisa’s swing with his shield.
“Let’s go, Takahisa!”
Masato proceeded to slip right up to Takahisa.
“I won’t let you!”
Takahisa reflexively twisted his body and aimed an acrobatic swing at Masato. The tip of his sword sliced the air, drawing a powerful arc. Masato instantly repositioned his shield to block Takahisa’s sword.
Normally, one would be surprised by the unexpected approach of the sword and freeze, delaying their reaction, so being able to read the attack clearly and respond without fear to block it was truly splendid.
Once he blocked the attack, Masato had no choice but to charge forward to eliminate any openings.
“Guh...” Takahisa had twisted his entire body to swing his sword, so he was awfully off balance as he landed on the ground.
My brother hasn’t practiced his basics at all and tries to use eccentric movements, which is what makes him scary. His reflexes are crazy, Masato thought tiredly.
“Hah!” Masato noticed the wide opening Takahisa had left and repositioned his shield to charge again. He proceeded to tackle Takahisa with the shield. Even though he was smaller than his brother, it was easy to topple Takahisa after he was staggering from his blocked sword attack.
“Ngh!”
Takahisa retreated on unsteady feet and slashed his sword horizontally with a pained look. But Masato stooped low and stepped forward sharply.
“Sloppy aim coming from you!”
The shield coming from down to up parried Takahisa’s sword. Masato then swung his sword in a compact move, intending on coming to a stop before making contact. This time, he secured his victory.
“I-It’s not over yet!” Just in that moment, Takahisa belatedly swung his sword. It traveled at a far faster speed than Masato’s.
“Wha...?!” The unnaturally rapid speed of the swing slammed Masato’s sword out of his hands. Having been overpowered in sword strength, Masato’s sword went flying, rotating several times as it danced through the air. Several beats later, it landed on the ground.
“Hey... Takahisa, you...”
Masato glared at Takahisa fiercely. At that last moment, it looked like Takahisa had used the physical strengthening effect of his Divine Arm to move. If he hadn’t done so, Masato would have won.
“I-I won,” Takahisa said in a slightly flustered high-pitched voice.
Masato paused for a long moment. “I see,” he said.
“Please wait a minute. That last move—”
“It’s fine, Kiara.”
Kiara was bothered by how Takahisa had accelerated at that last moment, and she tried to speak up as the mediator. However, Masato cut in and stopped her.
“But...”
“It’s my brother’s victory, right? Yeah? And you’re really okay with that, Takahisa? That’s how an older brother should be, right?” Ignoring Kiara’s hesitation, Masato stared at Takahisa sharply.
“...”
Takahisa averted his eyes shamefully, falling silent.
“I see how it is... Then it’s my loss. For today. Let’s fight again sometime.” Masato turned around with a pitiful expression, then walked away from Takahisa.
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