The Brother’s Devotion

I nearly tumbled down the stairs as my foot missed a step. My fear of crowds finally struck, and the self-hypnosis I used to gaze at the blue sky earlier now exploded with full force.

Not good!

If this continues, I’ll be rolling down in no time! I’ll ruin my appearance!

Even if… I can’t just let myself be disfigured!

What should I do?!

Just as I was panicking, a figure suddenly darted over.

”Is that you?!”

The person was Ye Sakaki, my former ‘self’ and now my ‘brother.’

A gentle breeze passed by…

I felt a hand, warmer than my own, instantly cover my shoulders. In the next moment, I was gently guided to the ground.

Ye Sakaki, the ‘brother’ I’ll never admit to, had saved me with a burst of speed that even Olympic champions would envy.

I stumbled a couple of times before finally steadying myself on solid ground.

”Little sister, your crowd phobia has acted up again, hasn’t it? Didn’t I tell you to be extra careful at a time like this?”

Ye Sakaki laughed heartily, his smile as bright as the sun.

Just like in my past life, from a young age, I possessed an extraordinary physical ability that didn’t show in my build. This was what a purple-haired senior from a supposed world-salvation division called an ‘anomaly’—someone with the potential to become a superhuman, though such cases were quite rare…

…This is why, back then, I was able to run around the high school with a ‘senpai’ for three laps without any signs of exhaustion, despite having no special abilities or psychic powers…

”N-nagging!”

”Take care of yourself, okay~”

”I don’t need you to tell me that!”

I blushed and retreated a step, adjusting my clothes before rushing back to my seat.

****

Ye Sakaki was very tolerant of his ‘little sister’ who was as black on the inside as she was on the outside. Whether it was her strengths or weaknesses, Ye Sakaki could accept them completely.

‘Like when we were young, almost every time I liked a dish, this little sister would childishly snatch it all away, and I never felt any resentment.’

‘Whenever I did something childish, she would mock me with the cruelest of words…’

‘The pressure money I just received was often snatched away by this arrogant little sister with various excuses…’

But strangely, Ye Sakaki felt a deep sense of satisfaction, an emotion that only surfaced in sixth grade.

‘It was as if seeing my little sister happy made me happy too.’

It was a bit masochistic, but Ye Sakaki didn’t mind. Because he knew that only his little sister truly understood him.

‘No one else came close.’

‘Like when I was young, to build a common language with those so-called friends, I had to watch boring XX Cup matches. Every time, my little sister would force me to switch to strange channels that happened to have my favorite shows.’

‘When talking to my little sister, she seemed to read my mind, always anticipating my next words. Sometimes, just a glance was enough to understand what the other was thinking.’

‘Sometimes, embarrassing things happened, like when my little sister, seemingly oblivious to any gender differences, would ruthlessly flip open my blankets and send me to school…’

‘When we were young, our parents forced us to take baths together, supposedly to ‘conserve water.”

‘But when my little sister saw me naked, she didn’t pause for a moment, washing herself as usual.’

‘So, for a teenage boy, my little sister was the first person I was truly ‘honest’ with.’

‘But sometimes, I wondered.

My little sister, who seemed to care so little about me, would blush and turn red every time she looked in the mirror. Her shy reactions were memorable, even now…

Then, the big mirror in the bathroom, which had made my little sister blush twice, shattered completely one afternoon after school.

According to my little sister, it was due to poor sealant, causing internal temperature changes and steam to expand, eventually shattering the mirror from within. The pieces were so small, none larger than a centimeter in diameter…

But the main reason I endured these trials was…

‘My little sister is so cute!’

Even though I only saw my little sister without her makeup twice, revealing her milk-white skin, silvery-white hair, and striking red eyes, she looked like a two-dimensional girl from another world…

That image was etched into my heart like a spell. Even the class monitor, Youli, who gave me a good impression, couldn’t overshadow the image of my little sister in my mind…’

…

‘Setting appearance aside, apart from being cute, Ye Qi embodied every trait of the ideal woman in my mind.’

…

‘Was it my ideal that made me feel more affection for my little sister, or did my little sister change my ideal?’

‘It didn’t matter, because I would only protect this little sister, born just five minutes after me…’

‘Everything was a brother’s responsibility!’

****

I, who had vented all my frustration on the male students, safely descended from the stage, known as the ‘ring.’

I walked with a feline grace to my seat, bearing my name, and pulled out the chair with a ‘clack.’ I sat, waiting for the next speaker, my eyes focused and one hand holding a pen, jotting down notes.

My other hand supported my adorable head, and with a serious smile, I remained motionless, like a statue…

…Though my eyes were open, something was amiss.

I was definitely not a good student! That much was clear from my ‘brother.’

Like me, Ye Sakaki also boasted a perfect 150/150 score average from grades 1 to 5. It wasn’t that I was incompetent, but as someone with self-awareness, I believed that unnecessary grades, even if achieved, were pointless.

This was the ancient family motto of the Ye family—’The Ye family men will never do unnecessary work.’

Such resolve!

However…

…Was such resolve truly necessary?

Well, after all, China is a ‘one-exam’ country, unlike the GPA system in Europe and America. One is a gamble that happens once every six years, the other is a daily accumulation.

Besides, as a primary school student, one won’t be expelled, so why spend time on meaningless tasks that take up days of ‘thinking’?

Yes, I was a thinker.

Just like Ye Qi right now, lost in deep, thoughtless contemplation!

I furrowed my brow slightly, using perfect control to create just the right amount of pressure in my eye muscles, plunging my vision into darkness. Though my eyes were open, my mind was completely shut off, my pupils scattered.

Thanks to the black contact lenses, even the most observant person wouldn’t notice these details.

And with the contact lenses, I didn’t have to worry about anything touching my cornea.

As for the rest, a bit of ‘psychic power’ would keep things in order…

…

So, to those students, I was a strict, almost insane, discipline committee chair, able to endure even the dullest events with a ‘good student’ facade.

After all, it had only been three days since enrollment, and few recognized my true nature…

With thoughts like ‘How funny would it be if they knew my grades were a trick of light refraction?’, I slowly drifted off to sleep.