A Quiet Night at Home

Qin An saw that no one was visiting the bookstore anymore. He locked up early and planned to drop by Ryoko’s place to pick up the latest magical girl cards. Qin Chan had been nagging him about them all week.

“Good evening, Ryoko.”

“Good evening, Qin-kun! But that’s wrong! Now I’m Ilya, meow~”

Ilya waved her hand, wearing oversized cat paw gloves as she giggled.

“Yes, yes, Ilya. Give me the magical girl cards Qin Chan wanted.”

“There are a total of one hundred and eight cards! Make sure to keep them safe, meow~”

“Ilya, what are you planning?”

Qin An saw Ilya carrying several large travel bags. A pink suitcase stood next to her on the pavement. Many of the other magical girls who worked at the café were also carrying their luggage out to the curb.

“Where are you going?”

“Actually, something happened at Ilya’s family home, so I have to go back to Tokyo. I didn’t expect everyone to be willing to journey with me, meow~”

“Will you come back? Qin Chan is going to be very sad without you.”

“Probably not.” Ilya looked up at the pitch-black sky at a forty-five-degree angle, a soft, wistful look on her face. “But we’ll meet again for sure, because we’re magical girls, meow~”

Qin An watched the girls load their things into a van. Ilya, sitting in the front passenger seat, waved out the window at him. “Come visit Tokyo sometime, meow~”

Qin An waved back. He silently thought, If I ever have the chance.

In the dark night sky, the brightest star appeared first, followed by a brilliant blanket of starlight. It seemed the next day would bring beautiful weather.

Qin Chan hugged Qin An’s leg the moment he stepped through the door, looking up at him expectantly. “Brother, you came back really early today. Did you sneak out after doing something bad?”

Cold sweat dripped from Qin An’s forehead. Although I didn’t do it, it really was a close call.

“How could that be?”

Qin An picked up little Qin Chan. “Where’s Yage? Isn’t she usually the noisiest one around?”

“Hmph, big sister was really weird tonight. Not only did she go to bed early, but she actually didn’t fight me over the vegetables, didn’t fight me for the remote, didn’t argue with me at all, and even shared her candy with me. Too suspicious!”

Qin Chan looked at Qin An with narrow, suspicious eyes. She shook her head. “Did brother do something strange to sister? Like a kiss? Auntie told me that kissing is a magical spell. After a girl gets kissed, she becomes completely different.”

“Silly, siblings don’t kiss like that. Look, I got the magical girl cards from Ryoko’s shop.”

“No.”

Qin Chan pushed away the card box in Qin An’s hand. She pouted angrily, her cheeks puffed out.

“What’s wrong? Don’t you like magical girl cards the most?”

“I don’t care about magical girls anymore. I’m completely different now. Only if brother kisses me will I feel happy again.”

Qin An gave Qin Chan a light peck on her forehead, like a dragonfly skimming the water. Unexpectedly, Qin Chan shook her head. She pointed at her lips with her little finger. “Not there, not there. It has to be on the mouth.”

Qin An got a massive headache. What kind of strange ideas had Yuqing-jie been instilling in Qin Chan at home?

“Kissing on the lips is only for people who grow up and marry each other.”

“Then does brother not like Xiao Chan? Does he hate Xiao Chan? Is that why he won’t kiss Xiao Chan?”

Qin Chan’s cute little face filled with sadness. Her big, watery eyes brimmed with tears.

“Uh… that spot is reserved for the person Xiao Chan likes when she grows up.”

“But brother is the person Xiao Chan likes the most! So it really is that brother doesn’t like Xiao Chan, that he hates Xiao Chan, and that’s why he won’t kiss Xiao Chan?”

Her big, watery eyes filled with tears again, her long eyelashes trembling. Her nose twitched pitifully.

Suddenly, inspiration struck Qin An. He gently stroked Qin Chan’s soft hair. “You can only kiss on the mouth when you grow up. Right now, Xiao Chan is still a child, so you have to wait.”

“Oh! So that’s how it is! I’m sorry, brother. Xiao Chan was wrong about you.”

“It’s okay.”

Compared to Qin Yage, Qin Chan was usually less hyperactive and more quiet, less willful and more considerate. But sometimes, her sheer innocence made Qin An feel incredibly protective.

“But when I grow up, brother has to kiss my mouth!”

“Eh—”

Looking at Qin Chan’s innocent face, Qin An felt a great sense of older-brother responsibility. He really needed to monitor what manga Yuqing was leaving around the house.

“Pinky swear.”

Qin Chan extended her fair little pinky. Seeing her serious expression, Qin An smiled gently. Children are always forgetful; she would surely laugh about this when she grew up.

“Pinky swear, a hundred years no change. Whoever lies is a puppy.”

Contented, Qin Chan took the card box and skipped happily back to her room. Qin An shook his head and smiled. If only this kind of peaceful daily life could continue forever. But he was fifteen now. What was coming in his future would probably arrive soon enough.

Qin An’s bedroom was simple. A bed, a desk with a laptop, and a bookshelf filled with classic action manga, typical for many Japanese teenagers.

He crawled under the bed and reached for a black, reinforced case magnetically attached to the metal bedframe.

Qin An opened the case. A cold, heavy feeling washed over him. Inside were matte-black custom weapon components, some for handguns, some for sniper rifles. Qin An put on a pair of clean white gloves and tied a dark cloth strip over his eyes.

Qin An took a deep, steadying breath. His fingers flew, skillfully and rapidly assembling the components in complete darkness. In less than a minute, the scattered steel pieces snapped together to form a Beretta handgun and a PSG-1 sniper rifle.

Qin An pulled off the blindfold and stretched his fingers. Still not fast enough. Sure enough, I can’t compare to my past life.

Without the brutal training where one must get stronger or die, as in Dover, his physical execution speed had inevitably declined over the years of peaceful living.

Knock, knock—

Hearing the knock, Qin An reacted like a teenage boy caught hiding adult magazines. He quickly disassembled and stashed the weapons back into the case, sliding it silently under the bed.

“Brother~”

Before Qin An could even stand up to open the door, Qin Chan pushed it open, cradling her pillow.

“What’s wrong, Xiao Chan?”

She said with immense, childish indignation, “Big sister’s sleeping posture is terrible! She kept stealing all the blankets. So Xiao Chan decided not to sleep with her anymore.”

Then, rubbing her sleepy eyes, Qin Chan climbed onto her brother’s bed with practiced ease.

Qin Chan poked her head out from under the comforter and waved at Qin An. “Brother, come to bed quickly. Xiao Chan is cold under the covers.”

After Qin An changed into his pajamas and climbed in beside her,

Xiao Chan opened her arms wide. “Brother, hug.”

Qin An embraced her small, fragile body. Qin Chan nestled in his arms like a content kitten, her face carrying a satisfied smile.

Qin An felt a wave of warmth. He had to protect this peace, no matter what the future held.

“Brother, Xiao Chan wants to hear a story.”

“How about Snow White?”

“No. Snow White is a loose woman. She lived with seven dwarfs, and in the end, she married a prince she barely knew. So shameless.”

Cold sweat trickled down Qin An’s face. You definitely know way too much.

“Then how about Pinocchio?”

“No. Pinocchio’s nose gets bigger when he lies. It looks so silly.”

“Then what story do you want to hear?”

“I want to hear the story of Nuwa and her brother Fuxi. Or the story of Zeus and Hera. Even better would be the story of Izanami and Izanagi! I haven’t heard that one yet.”

“…”

In the middle of the night, Qin An felt a sudden shift on his right. A warm body slipped under the heavy covers, occupying his right side, and her sharp elbows and knees poked him awkwardly as she tried to get comfortable.

Qin An woke from his sleep. Before he could make a sound, a pair of delicate hands clamped over his mouth. Qin Yage was glaring at him fiercely in the dark.

“I’m just here to monitor whether you do something weird to Xiao Chan. It’s not that I want to sleep in your room. Don’t get any perverted ideas, you overprotective brother.”

“I know, I know,” Qin An mumbled against her palms.

Qin An flattened his arm, and Qin Yage understood, resting her head against his shoulder. Qin An found that his left hand was still being tightly gripped by the sleeping Qin Chan.

Yage bared her teeth and gave his right shoulder a sharp, warning nip.

“Ah… it hurts… Are you a vampire?” Qin An winced.

She covered his mouth tightly again. “If you dare to wake Xiao Chan up, you’re dead. I’ll tell Auntie you were being weird.”

“Do you even know what that means?” Qin An teased, trying to assert his elder-brother authority.

Qin Yage’s face flushed hot in the darkness. She couldn’t help but think of the embarrassing box she had accidentally bought at the supermarket checkout earlier that evening. In her embarrassment, she nipped his shoulder again, though much lighter this time.

Probably feeling guilty, she softened and whispered, “Does it hurt?”

Qin An silently nodded. If he said it aloud, his sister would probably feel too guilty to sleep. Besides, he was completely used to her behavior by now.

“I’m sorry… but this way, you’ll always remember…”

“What?”

He didn’t quite catch her soft murmur. Even if he had, he would have assumed it was just his imagination.

She extended her tongue and gently traced the marks she had left on his shoulder. Under this sudden, gentle transition, a shiver ran down Qin An’s spine, and he gradually drifted back into a deep, peaceful sleep.

Looking at Qin An’s sleeping face, Qin Yage gently touched her own lips, then touched Qin An’s lips with her fingertip. She slowly leaned her face closer, remembering her birthday night three years ago. Sharing that gum had been such a mistake.

Suddenly, Qin An shifted. Qin Yage scrambled back in a panic, her heart racing. Once she was absolutely sure he was still sound asleep, she steeled her resolve and leaned in again, gently placing a soft kiss on the tip of his nose.

Gradually, Qin Yage felt her own eyelids grow heavy. She cast a possessive, protective glance at Xiao Chan sleeping on his left, then wrapped her arms tightly around Qin An’s waist, clinging to him securely. Only then did she finally close her eyes and fall asleep.