Rina
Drip.
Inside a dimly lit building where the lightbulbs flickered fitfully.
Drip.
A slightly clearer droplet fell into the murky red pool of blood gathered on the floor, landing with a clean, pure sound.
“Rina.”
“What.”
“Rinaaa.”
“Ah, what is it.”
“This is boring.”
Luna let out a long-suffering whine as she stared at the blood that had pooled thickly across the floor.
To Rina, who had spent her entire life at her sister’s side, it was nothing more than meaningless grumbling.
“I’m bored too.”
“Then can we just not do it?”
“No. We can’t.”
“Blood. It’s not fun.”
Watching from behind as Luna pouted and grumbled, Rina felt a sincere urge to smack the back of that head.
But she knew full well that if she did, Luna would sulk for at least a week, so she simply let out a deep sigh.
“Haa……”
“Rina. Rina.”
“What now.”
“Can’t we just go home?”
“…….”
Sensing that Luna’s complaints would never end at this rate, Rina reluctantly pulled out her final card.
“If we don’t finish this today, you can’t go to the Academy tomorrow.”
“…Huh?”
“Then you won’t get to see Elysia unnie either, will you?”
“Where’s next?”
Luna shot to her feet, suddenly brimming with motivation.
Rina let out a soft snort of laughter at the sight and spoke to her in a gentle voice.
“The Remil Family.”
“Ah… isn’t that place pretty big? It’s going to take a while…”
“That’s right. After the Remil Family we still have to hit the Parun Family too.”
“…….”
“And after that, the Orun Family.”
“…Why are there so many.”
Luna puffed out her cheeks and grumbled.
“A lot, right?”
Rina smiled affectionately at her sister.
“And after those, we still have two more places to stop by.”
“…We’re gonna be up all night, aren’t we? When am I supposed to sleep?”
“You’ll just end up sleeping in Elysia unnie’s arms once we get to the Academy anyway.”
“That’s true, but still…”
Unable to find a good comeback, Luna redirected her anger.
“You heard that, right? That’s why I’m in a bad mood today.”
“P-please… spare me…”
In front of her, a man hung upside down, his ankle gripped in a massive grey hand, coughing up blood as he barely managed to speak.
His entire body was covered in wounds, as if he had been slashed repeatedly by sharp blades.
“P-please.”
The blood that had poured from those wounds soaked his face, clogging his nose and mouth. Clumps of blood-matted hair let more droplets slide free, falling with clean little sounds—drip, drip—into the pool below.
“Mmm……”
Luna swept a lazy gaze over the man and sighed.
“Sorry… if I let you live, the amount of work I have to do just piles up…”
If the work piles up, I might not get to see Elysia tomorrow, you know?
Terror flooded the man’s face reflected in Luna’s eyes.
Crack!
In the very next instant, one of those giant grey hands casually swept across his torso.
Splat!
The lower half of his body, now missing its upper half and dangling in midair, crashed down into the blood pool with a dull, heavy sound.
Luna watched the scene with eyes that held not even a shred of emotion, then pushed herself up with a cute little grunt of effort—“Upsy-daisy…”
“So… where’s next again?”
“The Parun Family.”
“…Didn’t you just say the Remil Family was first?”
“We have to hit them all anyway, so I figured we’d start with the closest ones.”
“…Ah.”
Luna rubbed her eyes once as if she were sleepy, then started trudging forward. Rina hurried after her with quick little steps.
“Unnie.”
“Mm…?”
“If you’re done with the job, clean this up already.”
Rina gave a few light taps to the massive grey arm that still extended from Luna’s back.
It began at her sister’s spine and grew thicker the farther it stretched behind her.
“Ah…. I keep forgetting.”
The grey arm shifted as freely as clay, then slipped neatly back into Luna’s back.
As usual, she started grumbling under her breath.
“By the way, can’t we just leave this kind of work to the subordinates? Why do I have to do all of it?”
“The subordinates are all busy too.”
“Haa… does our family look that easy to mess with…? Why do people keep trying to pick fights with us.”
“Well, when they hear that some Academy second-year became the boss, it’s only natural they’d look down on us.”
As she answered, Rina snuck a glance at Luna’s profile.
Her sister’s frame was so slight it looked like she was a full head shorter than Rina herself.
They called her “unnie,” but in truth only a few minutes separated them.
Luna and Rina had lost their parents when they were little.
The one who had picked them up and raised them was their aunt—the boss of the Mors Family at the time.
Because of that, Luna and Rina had grown up alongside their cousins from childhood.
Those had been days of pure happiness, but unfortunately that happiness did not last long.
Their aunt had suddenly fallen ill with an unknown disease and passed away.
After her death, their uncle by marriage temporarily took over as boss of the Mors Family.
And he began to keep Luna and Rina in check—the two girls whose talent far outstripped that of his own children.
He wanted one of his own kids to become the next boss of the Mors Family, after all.
So he quietly laid plans to dispose of Luna and Rina.
Even for him, however, touching Luna—who was already a Level 7 Awakener at the time—felt a little too risky. He therefore targeted Rina first, whose talent was relatively ordinary compared to her sister’s.
Rina was seriously injured.
And so Luna killed them all.
Yes. Every last one.
The uncle who had been blinded by power.
His children who had been jealous of Luna and Rina and egged him on.
Even the executives of the Mors Family who had followed them.
Luna killed them all.
Even though most of the family’s executives were dead, the actual fighting strength of the Mors Family did not drop in the slightest.
Luna, who had become the boss and risen to Level 8, made that possible.
Of course there were still quite a few people who looked down on them simply because the boss was a little girl, but she was steadily killing those people off as well.
So that no one would ever dare look down on them again.
So that her name—her notoriety—would spread throughout the world.
So that no one would ever again even think of laying a hand on her precious little sister, Rina.
Rina felt a gratitude toward that sister that she could never put into words.
Even though Luna possessed the power to do whatever she wanted, she still listened to everything Rina said.
That image of Luna obeying Rina’s every word had been firmly stamped into the minds of the family’s members.
Thanks to that, even though her own talent was not particularly outstanding, Rina had been able to solidify her position within the family.
“Rinaaa…”
“What.”
“Carry me.”
Luna stretched both arms out toward her.
Rina snorted a laugh at the sight.
“No.”
“Carry meeeee!”
She began thrashing her arms and throwing a full-blown tantrum.
Only after Rina finally gave her a piggyback ride did Luna quiet down. She wrapped her arms tightly around Rina’s back and drifted off into soft, even breaths.
Yes. Rina knew that even these childish displays were Luna’s way of showing her respect.
Otherwise there would be no reason for the boss of the Mors Family to make her little sister her personal secretary and lean on her so openly.
It was so that her little sister would never feel lonely. Never feel left out.
Because she treasured her, she never left her alone for even a moment.
“…Can’t we really just go home?”
“No.”
“I hate you!”
…Or maybe not.
“Heheh~.”
Scroll.
I was idly playing with a box cutter in one hand while reading the news on my phone with the other.
Lately the area around here had been in an uproar over large and small families vanishing one after another.
Apparently some big family was making aggressive moves.
For example…
Rrrrk!
The classroom door slammed open and Luna strode in with energetic steps.
Her face and both arms were covered in blood.
Then she looked at me and broke into a bright smile.
“Elysia!”
She came barreling straight toward me—only for someone to snatch her by the scruff of the neck with a sharp yank.
“You were going to hug Elysia unnie looking like that?”
Rina glared at her with eyes full of exhaustion and scolded her sharply.
“Huh…? I can’t?”
“Of course you can’t! What if you get blood all over Elysia unnie?!”
“Mmm… that would be a problem……”
“Wait just a second.”
Rina dashed back out into the hallway and returned almost immediately.
Scrub scrub scrub scrub.
She grabbed Luna and began furiously wiping the blood off her with wet wipes.
“R-Rina… that kind of hurts……”
“Bear with it.”
“Okay……”
Completely deflated by Rina’s tone, Luna meekly accepted her sister’s ministrations.
Of course, I was watching the whole scene with a smile.
A pretty little sister carefully wiping blood off her cute older sister—how romantic!!
Just looking at them felt like a feast for the eyes.
Would it be okay to take a picture? Of course it would.
If I didn’t capture this moment, it would become one of the greatest regrets of my life.
With quick fingers I closed the news article I’d been reading, switched to the camera, and started snapping away—click click click.
“W-why are you taking pictures of this?”
Rina flinched in surprise and gave me an incredulous look.
“Ah, is it not allowed……?”
“That’s not it, but…”
Once Rina’s skilled hands had cleaned her up, Luna dashed over and threw herself into my arms. Rina followed at a more leisurely pace.
“Want to see the pictures I took?”
“Mm, well. Show me, please.”
I held the phone out to Rina, who was wearing a thoroughly unimpressed expression.
In the photo, Luna stood obediently with a soft, melted look on her face while Rina vigorously rubbed her soft cheeks with a wet wipe.
In short, it was adorable.
And that wasn’t just my personal opinion—Rina’s face turned shy the moment she saw the picture as well.
With her cheeks faintly flushed, she fidgeted and asked in a small voice,
“…Could you send me that photo too?”
“Sure.”
Today I once again gained a profound realization.
A shy beautiful girl is the cutest thing in the entire world.