“Well.”

  I’ll be out all day. Don’t worry about me. When I woke up, I saw a note with that written stuck to the kitchen table. Uncle Ali’s handwriting. This was to be expected. Honestly, it was a good thing he was away, and it was good that I’d be busy all day. Although I’d be wasting my Saturday at an engineering convention in my old university, it would keep my mind off of things.

  “Where’s Ali?” Leo asked as soon as she walked in, looking around the apartment to find any trace of him. She saw the note I was holding and peeked over my shoulder. “He left a note? In today’s day and age? What’s he doing?”

  I set the note down. “No idea, and it’s best that we don’t ask.”

  Leo squinted. “That’s awfully ominous. Should we be worried, or…?”

  “No, just…” I glanced toward the kitchen, toward our fridge, which had a calendar magnetized to the door. “Today’s date is a bad day for my uncle. He needs time to himself, which means we probably won’t see him the rest of today. Maybe tomorrow too.”

  “Really? I… No offense to him, but I didn’t think he would, you know…”

  “Get rattled?”

  “Yeah, that. Rattled. Can I ask why? If I’m not being forward.”

  “No, you’re fine,” I quietly answered. “To try and explain this tactfully…”

  ***

  Arriving at the—give me a second—the Great Engineering Phenomenon Connections (what a name), we were greeted with quite the sight. It was hosted in one of the engineering academic halls; well, less “hosted” and more like “taken over.” Every hall and room served some sort of purpose. According to the official event details, the event doubled as both a networking and showcasing event, where engineering students could talk with big names and for the department to demonstrate their completed and ongoing projects.

  In our case, we were here to visit old friends, faculty, and babysit our hot mess of an esper.

  Myself, Vic, and Chunhua arrived at the convention first. We recognized a few faces, they recognized us, and we had the half-pleasant half-awkward conversation where we caught up on each other’s affairs. I got the most attention considering my sudden career-change and the fact that I was annoyingly popular on-campus.

  Fortunately, the random conversations ended pretty soon. About ten minutes after our timely entrance, we spotted a set of messy black hair amongst the crowd accompanied by… Well, by an older man—late twenties—whose disposition was exactly opposite of his sister’s. Kotone was clinically insane, supposedly fashionable, and threw social conventions to the wind. On the other side of the family, her brother was prim and proper, walking with a practiced gait, and wore a tailored formal-casual outfit for the convention. She was here for her friends, he was here for work. Although they had the same color hair and eyes, they couldn’t be any more different from each other.

  Not like me and Thea; we were basically the same person, just different genders.

  Kotone waved and presented the guest of honor: “Sorry we’re a little late! But here he is! Tsukasa (司) Okano!”

  Tsukasa politely waved. “My sister had nothing but good things to say about all of you,” he said with a slight Japanese accent. It seemed the Okanos had bilingualism running in their family.

  One-by-one, he shook our hands as Kotone introduced us. His handshake was firm, confident, not a hint of doubt in him. Headstrong just like his sister.

  “I have to say. It’s rare to see whole friend groups working together in the same team,” he commented, and for some reason, he was looking at me in particular. Not at his sister, who was scooting closer to her best friend. “Abnormal circumstances, I presume?”

  I shrugged. “Abnormal circumstances make up a majority of our workload. Life happened to fall that way, but we’re happy with how everything turned out.”

  Victor nodded side-to-side. “Eh, maybe if I get less hours at the hospital, I’ll be happier—” (I elbowed him.) “—ugh, yup, I’m pretty happy!”

  Tsukasa had a small smile after seeing our exchange. “Good, but let’s not loiter outside any longer than we have to. I came here for a reason.”

  “Let’s go!” Kotone exclaimed a bit too forcefully, ushering everyone inside the building.

  Despite the convention taking place at our university, Tsukasa took lead and spearheaded this motley crew. He gave small lectures on prominent STEM-related companies and organizations, detailing their latest projects and advancements in their respective fields. It was honestly impressive how much knowledge he stuffed inside that big head. Personally, I heard of only half of the roster; of that fifty-percent, I knew general details on very few.

  We visited several exhibitions. The engineering department, new and old, highlighted potentially ground-breaking technology: exoskeletons designed for breakers, crystal tech, artificial leyline development, and so much more. Unfortunately, my IQ wasn’t that high to understand everything that was being thrown at me, but hey, I clapped at the appropriate times. I may be stupid, but I was supportive (most of the time).

  Overall, though, our walk wasn’t that thrilling. Tsukasa didn’t talk about himself, just the engineering field. We—the three stooges—tried asking questions but our lack of knowledge about the subject was readily obvious, so any deeper conversations fell dead in the water. Most of all, the Okano siblings didn’t really talk to each other. In fact, Kotone barely said anything. She didn’t try to engage her brother and preferred to stick with her stupid friends rather than her family.

  I guess it’s a good thing we came along.

  If only she came to the convention, a conversation would be impossible. At least with us, Tsukasa had three pairs of ears to talk to.

  But I wasn’t sure what caused the tension between them.

  Then again, the brother was an engineer or at least working in STEM, while the sister dreamed of packed concerts before she’d [Registered].

  That sort of career difference would cause familial tension regardless. Vic was a good example as the middle child, but that tension brought him into a similar field as his brother’s, which in turn, they both inspired their younger sister.

  Whatever the drama between Tsukasa and Kotone was, I hoped for the best.

  After an hour-and-a-half of walking around, we parked at an auditorium. According to Tsukasa, a “revolutionary guest speaker” was coming on for a Q&A within thirty minutes, so he wanted good seats. By “good seats,” he meant the front-row. It wasn’t literally the front-row, as that section was reserved for the media and important people and whoever else, but we were right behind them. The stage was set, and Tsukasa certainly looked excited.

  Whoever the guest speaker was, they drew attention. Other students and visitors had the same idea as Tsukasa, claiming the best seats early.

  “Alright!” Vic placed his jacket on his seat. “I’m gonna grab some snacks before it starts.”

  “I’m coming with,” Kotone sped to say.

  Chunhua sighed. “I guess I’ll come too. Alex—?”

  “I’ll stick with Tsukasa. Someone has to keep him company,” I said, hearing a grateful huff from the man himself.

  The three of them exited the auditorium. They were going to take—I think—twenty minutes to grab refreshments. When they returned, they’d say the line was longer than expected but in actuality, Vic and Chunhua had a few questions to ask our esper. Better them than me. Not because I was going to interrogate Kotone, but I was probably the best one to keep Tsukasa occupied.

  He sat with good posture, watching the audio- and video-guys double-check their equipment before the talks began. “One of your professors will be asking questions, I think. I forgot his name.”

  I cracked a smile. “Don’t ask me. I graduated with a business degree. I attended a few engineering-based expos thinking I wanted to crunch numbers surrounded by robots and AIs, but that wasn’t in the cards.”

  “Mmm. I’m glad it was you who stayed back, Alex. I mean no offense to your other friends, but they wouldn’t give me worthwhile answers.”

  “I’ll answer questions, just as long as you don’t corner me on a balcony and mean-mug me.”

  Tsukasa stared at me weirdly. “Pardon? What’s a ‘mean-mug’?”

  I laughed at my own horrible joke. “Long story, another older brother, don’t worry about it. But if you’re looking for criticisms, I hardly have any about your sister.”

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  “I honestly doubt that, forgive me.” Tsukawa returned to the work-in-progress stage. “You’ve been friends with my sister for years. You’re working with her. In my career, you naturally develop a keen eye for these things. A, uhm, a sense of who treats their position as a joke and who treats them deathly seriously.”

  “Mhm.”

  “Your friend, Victor, is an example of the former. Chunhua, on the other hand…:” Tsukawa sighed and took off his glasses to wipe the lens. “I don’t understand why my sister decided to obsess over another woman, let alone a cultivator, but at least you’re open to a discussion.”

  Licking my lips, I concluded, “I’m an example of the latter?”

  “Yes. Friendship is good and all, but in your career, competence matters more. Do you think my sister is competent enough to be in your team—?”

  “More than me, sometimes,” I answered truthfully. “She’s a powerful esper, real creative with how she uses her [Skill].”

  “I’m not talking about her combat prowess—”

  “Then what are you talking about?”

  “Her headspace.” Tsukasa tapped his head to emphasize his point. “My sister is on medication. She’s neurotic. If she’s put in a hundred stressful situations, she’ll crumble in five of them when one is too many—”

  I butted in, “You know why she hasn’t talked to you much throughout the summer. We’ve been training our asses off. Our commander stuffed us in exped after exped just to build experience, and she once hasn’t blown the mission. Except for that one time she tried to smuggle in a wild animal—”

  Tsukawa’s eyes widened. “She what.”

  “Again, long story, but my point stands. Kotone’s a Slayer through-and-through—”

  “But what happens when she breaks? When she’s so incapable that she can’t climb out of bed?”

  I remembered my conversation with Kotone a few days ago, with Chunhua, about this exact thing. “We all have terrible days, Tsukasa.”

  Two blue eyes narrowed. “You’re admitting my sister has already become a burden.”

  “Everyone is bound to be a burden one way or another—”

  “My sister is different.”

  “Bullshit, she’s different. What are you playing at?” I accused, developing an edge in my voice. If Chunhua was sitting here, she would’ve already killed him. “Are you trying to put her down? Support her? What do you want from Kotone?”

  “Ugh.” Tsukasa muttered something in Japanese before looking ahead again. “What did she say about me?”

  I did the same, doing my best to not look at his shitty face. Now I was beginning to understand the reason for the angst. “Nothing much. You work at a pretty important place. From the past hour-or-so, you’re clearly working in STEM, and clearly, you can’t be more different from Kotone.”

  He nodded, agreeing with my last statement. “My division developed her [Psionic Pylons] as a gift.”

  Well, that explained why she didn’t want to talk about them. Her [Pylons] were an extension of her brother, a constant reminder of his presence. But just who the hell he worked for? From what I could tell, the [Pylons] were a novel concept. There wasn’t anything like that on the market.

  “After three years, you think she’s due for an upgrade?”

  “I believe she’s due for a career change,” he admitted bluntly. “When she wanted to study in OU, we agreed she would return home after graduating. Instead, she was somehow accepted into Angels Guild.”

  …I see.

  “Kotone doesn’t want to go home,” I told him, glaring.

  “I know.”

  “We love her here. We need her here.”

  “So you say, but staying here isn’t what’s best for my sister.”

  I opened my mouth but stopped myself from speaking at the last second. There was a boiling fire building in my stomach, and yelling here would only draw needless attention. Instead, I let myself cool down for a second, then spoke: “How do you know that? You haven’t seen her everyday for the past few months. You haven’t seen her cry and get frustrated at herself, or seen her happy, or watched as she grew from a stupid idiot to a slightly less stupid idiot.”

  “But I’ve lived with her before you knew she existed,” Tsukasa retorted, responding to my edge with venom. “I know how she really is; I know the full extent of her [Skill]. Only my division can properly accommodate her needs, not Angels.”

  “We will.” They had accommodated for us, for Aiden and Chie, for Chunhua, for Rei, for everyone. “I don’t know what Kotone told you about our team, but we’re special. We have the money and connections to provide—”

  “That won’t help her.”

  “And what will you do differently? Will you use Kotone as a psionic guinea-pig to further your clout? Do you think that’s actually ‘helping’ her—?”

  “I am her brother.”

  “I’m a brother too, and I know better than to force my little shit of a sister to do something she doesn’t want.”

  “And does your sister have a [Skill] with enormous responsibility and implications?”

  Oh, wouldn’t he love to know that. Even a humorless guy like me had to laugh at his question. “Something like that, yeah.” (“I doubt it.”) “Doubt all you want, I don’t care. If I had a choice, Kotone is staying here.”

  Tsukasa scoffed, crossed his arms, and adamantly nailed his attention to the front. “It’s good, then, that it’s not your choice. Whoever your superiors are, I’ll speak with them. I’ll convince them that Kotone is better left in my hands and in my division’s.”

  “Good luck with that. Our bosses aren’t the easiest people to fight.”

  Our conversation ended there, thank God. Any more and I might kill him myself. He gave us brothers a bad name. Not as bad as Ethan, but bad nonetheless. Just who the hell did he think he is? He came into town, told us facts and trivia about STEM companies, and decided he wanted to take Kotone back home. For what? To isolate her from her friends? To bring her to a place that obviously had bad memories? To be used as an experiment, known more for [All-Machine Resonance] than her penchant for music and shenanigans?

  If he really had a chance to steal Kotone from us, I wasn’t going to let that happen.

  I’ve seen her face.

  I watched her in the past few months.

  She really was happy working here, with us.

  Despite her own insecurities, she was a part of the team.

  Luckily, we had reasonable bosses. They wouldn’t give up their star esper just because her older and probably important brother said so.

  About fifteen minutes later, the rest of the group came back with drinks and snacks in hand. They had kindly gotten me water and a bag of chips.

  “Sorry about that,” Vic said as everyone sat back down. “Line was longer than we thought.”

  See? What did I tell you?

  I checked on Kotone. Despite her brother, she looked comfortable. Then again, Chunhua sat between them. Just, though… If Tsukasa was this pushy when Kotone was a grown woman, what kind of brother was he back in Japan? When Kotone was a confused, troubled teenager?

  I didn’t have time to catastrophize about the implications.

  The Q&A was starting within a few minutes. The entire auditorium had been filled while I argued with Tsukasa; I mean that in the strongest way possible. We had so many people that every chair was occupied and everyone else crowded at the walls. It was enough that we had to be concerningly close to the max occupant size.

  Guess Tsukasa had a point about taking seats early.

  The stage was ready. The cameras were rolling, the audio was perfect, and the professor that Tsukasa mentioned was on the stage. He stood in front of a steel-chair, holding onto a microphone while he was speaking with colleagues presumably.

  “Who’s the special guest anyway?” Vic whispered to me.

  “You think I know? I’m not plugged into the STEM world.”

  “Gotta be someone big. I mean, only superstars drag this huge of a crowd—”

  “Testing! Testing!” the professor’s voice boomed throughout the auditorium, silencing the high volume of chatter. “Good. Before we begin our special Q&A, I’d like to thank everyone who came out today. I think we said it before, but this is our biggest iteration to date. Then again, I guess we can blame our totally unspectacular guest.”

  A healthy laughter from the crowd.

  “I digress. We all know why we’re here, so I won’t bore you with the details. Ladies and gentlemen, Ordo University is proud to have the most revolutionary trailblazer in our very own walls! Please welcome—!”

  Before he could finish his sentence, the crowd was already applauding.

  Some were on their feet, Tsukasa included.

  The “most revolutionary trailblazer,” annoyed, climbed onto stage.

  She was an old woman, the long and stressful and paranoid years weighing heavily on her face. Chronic exhaustion had drained the color from her hair. Her bitterness had carved deep wrinkles into her skin and made her too skinny and fragile; anyone could walk onto stage and push her over, and she’d likely break a bone. Despite her amazing accomplishments—her many innovations and inventions that had positively changed the world—she was anything but. She was resentful, hateful, and overall a terrible human being who couldn’t give one fucking shit about another soul even if it belonged to an innocent child.

  Utterly selfless.

  Utterly soulless.

  A ghoul wearing skin.

  Someone who should’ve died a long time ago.

  Someone who would’ve died in a just world.

  Of all her masterpieces, she was most known as the inventor of the Special Counterforce Group’s greatest weapon: the Degenbrecher Warfare Suit, allowing them to combat Slayers of all levels, including Mythos-level Slayers. Through her actions, she allowed Cross—the most famous Counterforce member and the most feared human in history—to exist.

  She was one who told the world that gods do bleed.

  Evelyn Nightingale.