Laying in bed, letting my body rest, I think on what my next plans are.

  ‘Hm… well once I recover, I’ll need to work first. Get some money. But then… should I get some wheels, or get my implants fixed up first?’

  Gazing at the false stars with a small somber smile, remembering that they’re for a little sibling like my brother.

  ‘Maybe implants, so such a tragedy doesn’t hit these two again. At least while I’m around, I’ll be able to protect them more easily. But… carver blades? I don’t know if that’s what I want to keep.’

  Grabbing and scrolling through Lumi’s old phone absentmindedly, I start looking at photos.

  ‘The blades are so damaged they may as well be replaced. But what? Could always get beast arms. But that seems only somewhat useful. Let alone, my fighting style isn’t strength based, it’s speed and counter-leverage focused.’

  My head cocks a bit as I realize something. ‘Maybe cat implants? To be more like these two, let alone the nightvision and claws? Hm… maybe. Not sure if that’ll come off as rude or something though. Be intrusive, y'know?’

  …

  ‘Who am I saying "y'know" to? Whatever. Better question is… should I teach them how to fight? …no, no there’s little point. The arcane is beat by knowledge, not skill, and I need to supply that…’

  My eyes lock onto a certain picture. One of the little red-headed cat. Seems like she had this phone after Lumi. Mira.

  ‘Huh, cute kid. Red long hair, red eyes that look almost like mine, and… a strange aura to her.’

  I can’t shake the odd feeling, so I keep looking through photos, hoping it’ll clear itself once I see enough.

  One of the three sisters in a swimming pool. Cute.

  In this one, Lumi is trying to get Mira into a bath and failing, that’s cute. Cats don’t like water after all.

  And then… one with her staring up at the stars, writing a constellation in a journal .

  ‘Huh… is that… that’s not a normal constellation.’

  Looking closer, I think it’s a rune.

  ‘So the stars on the ceiling weren’t a coincidence, she was a little arcane astrologer. Is that what led to her dying? Attracting something’s attention? Perhaps the Others themselves?’

  Climbing out of bed, I start heading to Lumi’s room, before pausing and shaking my head. ‘She’s still shaken up, Yuna it is instead.’

  Heading to Yuna, I ponder it a bit more.

  ‘I mean, something had to get the Others here. And the kid would be the best fit, unless one of these two happened to hear me saying its name and copied it without realizing. Though that’s unlikely. At best, Yuna heard it, since Lumi walked into the bathroom a bit later, and if she heard me say it she would’ve known I was in there before walking in.’

  Knocking on the door, I hear a grumble as if she just woke, before “come in.”

  Heading in, I see her laying in bed in pajamas, rubbing her eyes. “Yeah…? What’s up Sal?”

  “Ah… it could wait for later if you want.”

  Shaking her head, she sits up with a little yawn, my eyes looking at her chest bounce a little in the very fluffy outfit. “No no… it’s fine. I’m up. What’s up?”

  Averting my eyes as I walk over and sit down across from her on the bed, I wonder how to phrase it, before speaking. “So… I never asked… but… how did… Mira go?”

  “Huh?”

  Shaking my head, I skip the politeness. “How’d she die? I’m… I’m wondering if she might’ve known a bit more than most normal people, with the arcane stuff.”

  Her eyes glance at me tired, before looking down and to the side. “...she… I don’t know. We heard her scream and… when we got to her, she was just… empty. Not breathing. Not awake. Just…gone, with no sign of what happened.”

  I notice her tail low, which is usual for a bad mood, but her tail flicks as she speaks… odd…

  “...I see… tell me something. Did she often star gaze? Maybe sketch constellations you didn’t recognize?”

  Eyes lighting up and tail raising again to act like usual, she nods. “Yeah! She loved to watch the stars with us, and almost filled a journal with her drawings. It was… even one of the last things we did together.”

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  “...hm. Could you show me the drawings?”

  “Huh? Uh… sure… it’s in my closet, on the top shelf to the right.”

  Standing and going over to it, I pop it open and reach up. ‘Hm… where is it… ah, I think this is it.’

  I can’t really see so I’m just feeling around to grab it, but once I do I grab it and pull it down…

  ‘...that’s a dild-’

  Her panicked voice interrupts me. “N-not that! Put that back!”

  Blushing, I quickly toss it back up there, grabbing the book successfully this time.

  “Sorry, why’d you even leave that in the same spot?”

  As I turn back to her, she’s looking away from me. “...when a cat’s in heat we don’t exactly think things through, alright?”

  “...fine fine… Wait, so you actually have heat?”

  Blush growing brighter, she nods. “...I was born a neko, so yeah. Same for Lumi, I think.”

  With a quiet nod, I ponder the implications. ‘...am I going to need to hear them yowling like cats or something once a month? I hope not.’

  Strangely, the thought doesn’t exactly upset me, before I shake my head and sit back down, looking through the journal.

  In it… it’s what I’d expect. “Knew it. Runes.”

  “Runes?”

  “They’re… like constellations, but most people don’t notice them because they’re too large and complex. But they’re like the written names of those things out there. And… this one, is the Other’s.” I turn to a page and point to it, it being the rune for Mordret.

  Her eyes widen. “So… does that make them… come to us too?”

  “Exactly. So it’s most likely that your sister wrote down these runes, and brought the attention of the Others here to begin with, let alone whatever killed her. Which… is what this rune is likely of. The Revenant.”

  “Wait, aren’t we supposed to avoid saying the names?”

  “It’s not that much of a concern here… well, sorta. The way you deal with these is that you simply deny them. They’re much less physically oppressive as they are a mental hazard, after their initial appearance.”

  At her ears cocking, I explain. “Well… when they first show up, it’s usually through some shit luck and saying their name correctly. I actually pronounced it wrong intentionally. But when it shows, it will kill whoever it deems weak enough, and almost reap their soul. Hence, why Mira was left as a husk.”

  “...reap their soul…? So could we have brought her back?”

  Shaking my head, she looks disappointed. “No, no. It’s not reversible, the heart already stopped beating so no. You’d need to reverse it the minute it happens to do anything about it. It reaping the soul just gives it power, is all.”

  ‘It can stick around after… but…’

  “How long ago was her death?”

  “Oh. Two years ago.”

  Nodding, I look at the journal in thought. ‘Well good, then it probably didn’t stick around. It left for easy prey.’

  “...what… what if we had her soul though?”

  That catches my attention. “Huh?”

  She leans forward, looking at me very invested in this, oddly. “What if we got it back? Could we just put her in a new body? A robot, or something?”

  I stare at her like she’s insane. Which, I mean, she might be a little, I know I am. “No, no of course not that’s a terrible idea. First off you’re not getting it back, second, you’d need to know one hell of a spell to do so, and third, you’d be gambling in the hope it’s really her and not a fake that’ll kill you while wearing her face. There’s too many reasons why not to do something like that, so don’t even consider hunting her down.”

  Her tail wilts and flicks slightly as she nods, looking away.

  ‘There it is, that flicking again! I wish I had cats growing up so I could tell what that means. Hm… but then again, she did it both times when talking about either bringing her back, or her being dead… no, she didn’t word it that way. She said gone…’

  “...you don’t happen to be withholding something from me, right?”

  “Huh? N-no!”

  Flick, flick, flick.

  I leer at her as I lean in, grilling her in an attempt to make her just drop whatever it is she’s holding. “Yuna. Tell me. What is it?”

  “Nothing!” Her eyes widen a bit.

  My voice deepens as I speak low, not backing down. “You refused to say she died, just that she was gone. And you asked what if we had her soul, which isn’t something normal to ask at all. Let alone, you’ve even failed at comforting your sister, something you never failed at with me.”

  She looks away silently, but I can see her brain running in overdrive.

  “So spill it, because whatever you might think you know, is probably wrong.”

  Clenching her hand into a fist, she almost yells at me. “Fine! I’ve been speaking to her! I asked because I met her after she died, is that what you wanted to hear?”

  Staring at her, I just hope she’ll take it back. But I know she won’t. She just silently looks away, as if scared of my reaction.

  “You… you’ve been harboring a damned revenant, which I can’t blame you for in itself, they’re masters at what they do, but you were still trying to hide it from me after I mentioned something could pretend to be her?! Why?!”

  Tears are running down her face, her voice choked up. “...I-I didn’t want to lose her again…”

  Pausing at that, I feel a cold grip squeeze my heart, and I feel… sudden guilt, for snapping at her.

  Sighing, I pull her into a hug, pulling her head against my chest. “Sorry… sorry… I shouldn’t have yelled like that… just… I’m supposed to be protecting you two, alright? Something like that… could bring even more things here, things like the Other, or much worse. Just having something like that around is going to draw attention to us.”

  I feel her nod a little in my arms, and I sigh and rub her back. “...we’ll tell Lumi about this, then we’ll figure out how to handle it, alright?”

  “...I don’t want her to leave… I missed Mira…”

  “I know you do… I know…”

  ___

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