Self-Proclaimed Little Sister
The assault on the man in military uniform across the street was blatant violence. It was one-sided brutality so overwhelming that an ordinary person wouldn’t even find the will to resist. It was undoubtedly a merciless strike that wouldn’t tolerate even the simplest survival instinct, like unconsciously raising an arm to block.
Yet the expected outcome—his slender frame being crushed beneath the massive blade—never came. That was because my own body, which had been roughly twenty meters away on the opposite side of the street, had somehow moved on its own and stepped between them.
That’s right. The enormous black sword coated in frost had been stopped so easily by the metal pipe I thrust forward that its flashy entrance felt almost pathetic.
“───.”
Time seemed to crawl as if the world itself had frozen. Beyond the tilted greatsword, the white girl’s expressionless face appeared in half-view. She was cold. Not in some vague, impressionistic way—this was a statement of physical fact.
Only then did I realize it. The moment the chilling cold pierced my skin and sank into my bones, reality finally caught up with me.
What the fuck?! Why am I here?!
Why? How? Why did I block it? And when the hell did I even move? The silhouette had looked vaguely familiar, but she was still just one of the wolves that had been eyeing this body on the street. What was so special about her that I’d saved her?
The ability to cross twenty meters in an instant wasn’t surprising—I’d already experienced it while smashing that giant millipede. The real problem was that my moral compass wasn’t noble enough to throw myself in front of danger for a total stranger on impulse.
Had I unconsciously tried to help someone in danger so I could use it as a bargaining chip against the wanted order hanging over my head?
The moment those doubts surged up, the metal pipe in my grip began to vibrate with a strange hum. The timing felt like a deliberate wake-up call. I unconsciously swallowed a breath and refocused my blurring vision.
Drawn by the sound, I stared at the pipe. It was glowing with white light and trembling continuously, like the heartbeat of a living thing.
“……No way.”
Come to think of it, this felt exactly like when I fought that giant robot millipede. It was the same instinctive reaction I’d had when I judged that staying still would get me killed.
So it reacts to other people’s danger too, not just mine? I’d kept it on me at all times after entering the city because of the translation function, but I never knew it had such an unnecessary feature. Thanks to that, I’d ended up picking a fight with a woman who looked dangerous at first glance.
Was this the so-called “protagonist correction” I’d only ever heard about? The cliché route where a fight creates a rivalry that eventually turns into a close friendship?
“──Um, sorry about that.”
“……”
“I didn’t mean to interfere. It’s more like… my body moved on its own.”
Pushing my racing thoughts aside, I spoke first with a smile. The worry that she might snap “Who the hell are you?” and swing that greatsword at me next made my expression painfully awkward.
But the white girl’s reaction was extreme in a completely different way.
“──Sister.”
“Huh?”
After staring intently at my face with those blank eyes, she suddenly stepped forward and wrapped both arms around me in a hug.
The initial sensation was like being embraced by a block of ice. But then a warm current flowed through, so comforting it made me think the cold had been an illusion. I was genuinely surprised.
The sudden skinship was shocking enough, but the title she’d clearly directed at me was even more unexpected. Sister?
I had noticed the resemblance in our faces and bodies, but I never imagined we were actually related. Since I’d been looking for people connected to this body anyway, the revelation left me with a strange, complicated feeling.
What were the odds of running into family less than a day after arriving? Should I just be happy and call it a fortunate coincidence? Or should I be suspicious that this was another piece of contrived storytelling?
My mind was a mess, but at the very least I was relieved I wouldn’t have to embarrass myself with a sword fight in the middle of the street.
“Really. It’s you, Sister. Yes, it’s definitely you. I can smell it.”
“…Wait, just a second—”
She had been doubting me moments ago, but her attitude flipped completely. With absolute certainty, she pulled me into an even tighter embrace.
“Finally… we met. Finally. Sister. I wanted to see you so much—”
“First of all, we… know each other, right?”
I don’t know you, but you clearly know me. Are you sure you checked properly? The girl completely ignored my carefully worded question.
“Where have you been, Yumi? I kept waiting and waiting. For a hundred years. I waited here for a hundred years.”
“No, seriously, could you let go first—”
Her emotions seemed to overflow as she spoke. She poured all her strength into the hug without any regard for the person being crushed. This body was built to abnormal standards so I wasn’t suffocating, but the lack of blood flow in my arms was far from pleasant.
“Master told me. That Sister had come to Labica. I didn’t believe it.”
“……Please, just wait a moment. Let me speak—”
“I thought it was a joke. But you were really here. Yumi was so surprised.”
“……”
This must be what they call talking past each other. We both wanted to communicate, yet the conversation refused to connect. No matter how I looked at it, I seemed to be the only one keeping a level head.
From the white girl’s perspective, this was apparently the long-awaited reunion with family. But to me, it was just a random stranger suddenly clinging to my body.
If she’d given some explanation first, even a long one, I might have at least pretended to listen. This was pure one-way traffic.
No matter how many times I tried to speak, she showed no particular reaction. It couldn’t be helped. It would be faster to wait until she calmed down.
Having reached that conclusion, I deliberately relaxed my tension-filled body. I decided to solve the mystery of why she was acting this way later. For now, the priority was adjusting our interaction to a level where actual conversation could happen.
Once I organized my thoughts, the impatient feeling strangely vanished. Things I had unconsciously overlooked finally registered.
…This child is genuinely happy.
I could feel her heart pounding vigorously against me through our tight embrace. She had no idea the person inside this body was now a black-hearted man, yet she welcomed me like a real family reunion.
It was pitiful. Even though I knew the root cause of all this was that insane red-haired girl I’d met in the white space, an unavoidable wave of guilt washed over my chest.
Perhaps that was why pity finally surfaced.
“──I won’t run away, so could you calm down a little?”
“Ah.”
When I spoke in the gentlest voice I could manage, the girl gave a small flinch before hesitantly releasing her one-sided hug.
A moment later, half a step away, there was a face almost identical to this body. Similar height, similar build, even similar hair length. Her pure white outfit created a striking contrast with the black dress I wore, somehow making us look perfectly matched.
Honestly, if we stood side by side, anyone would mistake us for twins. The only noticeable difference was our expressions. I’d worried she might be crying, but her small, cute face remained as expressionless as when I first saw her.
Since I had no idea how to handle a crying woman, this was actually preferable. I spoke again to the girl who finally seemed to have calmed down.
“What’s your name?”
“…Yumi.”
“Alright, Yumi. Can you explain why you called me Sister?”
“Calling Sister ‘Sister.’ Following Sister. That is the sole purpose of Yumi’s birth.”
“……Excuse me?”
What was that? Was this not a sister story but a slave story? Wasn’t this suddenly way too hardcore? I tilted my head in confusion, and the girl mirrored the motion exactly like a reflection in a mirror.
“…Sister?”
“……Um, now that you mention it, you said something about a ‘Master’ earlier, didn’t you?”
“Yes, Yumi. Carrying out Master’s orders. But. Mission now complete.”
With her unique, choppy speech pattern, she answered my hastily made-up question and pointed with a slender finger. As if it were the most natural thing in the world, that finger was pointing directly at me.
“So I was the target of your mission? What was it again—are you part of the guard too?”
“Negative. Yumi is not a mere guard dog. Master is—”
“What the hell do you mean ‘mere guard dog,’ you crazy bitches……”
“Ah.”
A man’s voice suddenly cut in. At that instant, both I and the girl—who had been flailing our hands awkwardly in the air—froze simultaneously.
“Are dolls these days trending toward beating the shit out of people?!”
At the furious, teeth-grinding voice, I turned around. Whether he realized he’d almost died or not, the scrawny man in military uniform—who had fallen backward from the shock of my sudden intervention—was using his rifle like a cane to push himself up, spitting curses.
Oh right. You were here too. You were the one who started this whole thing in the first place. Sorry about that.
…At some point I’d completely forgotten you existed.