It had been three hours since Lanfen and Kai-Ming had returned home from the memorial service of their parents. Neither of the two had attended classes for the day. If their respective schools had not authorized their absence, both sisters still would not have bothered to focus on anything they were taught. As the setting sun's yellow light shone through the windows of the Jiang household's kitchen, Lanfen stood at the stove, tending to a boiling pot of sinigang she had been attempting to prepare for Kai and herself. The kitchen counter was a mess of chopped ingredients and dirty pans, but Lanfen didn't care as long as she could make something that they often loved to eat. The recipes that their father had written down in an old notebook of his gave her all the necessary steps Lanfen needed in order to make it partially edible.
Still, the Jiang household had never once felt this quiet.
Last she had checked, Kai was in the living room. The girl had dropped herself onto their couch the moment they had returned home, and even though Kai insisted that she was alright, Lanfen did not fail to notice the way her little sister's shoulders trembled when they had stepped through their front door. She had suggested that the 11-year old girl head upstairs for a bath to relax herself, but Kai insisted that she wanted to take a short nap before doing so. Up until now, Lanfen had yet to hear the sounds of footsteps going up their house's staircase.
Closing the pot with a lid before switching off the electric stove, Lanfen washed her hands in the kitchen's crowded sink and wiped off the sweat that had been gathering on her face. She hoped that this stew would taste even mildly similar to the way their father often cooked it. With a huff, Lanfen placed her apron onto the backrest of a kitchen chair and headed into the dining room, her solemn gaze taking a moment to examine her quiet surroundings. The pictures on the walls were now just distant memories of people they would never see again, she thought. Nobody else but Kai and Lanfen were ever going to be sitting at the dining table in front of her.
She wiped her wet eyes with the back of her hand, her right shoulder still aching with pain from an alleyway fight yesterday as Lanfen sat down on one side of the long table. Her tired eyes looked down to stare at a waiting chess set, its pieces still in the middle of an unfinished match that would never see its end now that their father wasn't around. Since Lanfen had not dared to disturb the chess set while it sat next to a bunch of homework from Lydian, a layer of dust was already building up on the chessboard and its black-and-white pieces. She could still remember how their parents had been suddenly called up for work when it was already a quarter to 11 PM.
The pat on the head that their mother gave her was the last thing she ever did before they stepped out of the house one last time.
Glancing over to the farthest end of the dining table, her mother's rope dart still laid there, undisturbed. Since it had also been left in a hurry when their parents had to rush out for work, the surface of the metal dart was already beginning to get dusty. If she was still around, Lanfen's mother would have reminded them to tidy up their belongings. But the teenage girl could not bear to return the item to her mother's training room. Not until she had returned home to remind her. She knew it was a childish thought, but Lanfen felt that it would be rude to put away an object that someone else was currently in the middle of using.
Lanfen tore her gaze away from the mementos of their parents, her hand subconsciously twitching at her side, and with quivering lips, she finally dragged herself over to the living room. She wondered what she was supposed to say to break the silence as she approached the couch, her footfalls barely audible even in the quiet room. Then again, should she be even dispelling the silence in the first place? Lanfen could not hear anything from her little sister while she lied down on the couch, and as the older sibling walked around it to face her, she saw that Kai was still in the middle of a deep, long slumber. Tearstains were evident on her cheeks while her smartphone peeked out from underneath her hand.
She almost looked peaceful, Lanfen thought to herself.
Lips pursed, the older sibling went over to one of the living room's closets and quietly went through the shelves to retrieve Kai's favourite blanket. Making sure to not make any noise that could wake up the girl, she went back over to the couch and gently draped the cotton blanket over her, prompting a few noises to escape from Kai's lips as she slept. Dinner wasn't going to be ready until the rice cooker gave out its distinctive ring, so the exhausted Lanfen let herself drop onto the floor to lean against the couch's soft cushions. Her thoughts swirled in her head to the point that it felt tiring to even think of what they were going to do from here on out. It was just the two of them now.
Lanfen listened to Kai's soft breathing while her little sister slept. Running a hand through the locks of her own black, growing hair, Lanfen attempted to think of something they could do to make the coming days just a bit brighter. The London concert featuring Kazanari Tsubasa and Maria Cadenzavna Eve was about to air tomorrow night, so a watch party for just the two of them did not sound like a bad idea. Lanfen would have to head down to the supermarket tomorrow to buy some chocolates if that was the case. Money wasn't going to be a problem for the two off them anyway.
Should she also keep this a secret for now? Or should she tell Kai as soon as it was convenient? Nothing made sense to her right now, that was for certain.
Gently brushing the back of her fingers against Kai's sleeping face, Lanfen hoped that she was dreaming of something nice. Lanfen herself could barely sleep without falling into some sort of nightmare. With a sigh, the older sibling rested her head against the cushions to emptily stare at the ceilings above them, all while a few tears freely ran down her cheeks. "I'll take care of you, Mei," she whispered to the cold, empty air, finally shattering the oppressive silence of their household. "No matter what happens."
As soon as her words left her lips, the tides of silence flowed back into the Jiang household. It was never like this back then. Lanfen wished to hear the jokes that their father would always tell them. The music that their mother would attempt to play whenever an instrument piqued her interest. The joyous yells that Kai would let out while Lanfen sat down with her to watch their usual Sunday morning shows. All of them, now just remembrances of events long-past. Lanfen was now the oldest person in the house and she barely even trusted in her own ability to take care of herself. The sheer thought of the responsibilities that pressed down on her shoulders made her heart quiver, but Lanfen held onto whatever bravery she could muster to try and weather the storm for her little sister.
If it was for Kai, then she believed she could do anything.
Parting her dry, cracking lips, Lanfen closed her eyes and slowly sung a soft, gentle lullaby to try and push back the uncaring silence. Weaving a song that their mother would always sing to them while they slept, she filled the household with a melodious tune and squeezed her eyes shut as her tears continued to flow down her cheeks. Wherever their parents were, Lanfen hoped they would eventually find a way to the afterlife.
A soft nudge in the shoulder partially roused Lanfen from her nap. A second, playful jab in her sensitive waist instead caused her eyes to shoot open in alarm. Nearly jumping in her bus seat, Lanfen held back a grunt of discomfort as she directed an unamused stare at the younger sibling that hid a mischievous laugh behind her hands. Lanfen could try and grill her sister for her usual shenanigans, but the attention that Lanfen gave her because of it was most likely the very thing she wanted. Instead, the older sibling turned her attention towards the windows of the bus they were riding on to take in the tall buildings, rising apartment complexes and brightly-lit shopping centers of Yamaku City.
Judging by the streets they were passing by, the two were only a few minutes away from their apartment now.
At their feet, a couple bags of scarves and Valkyranger toys were squeezed between their legs and the back of the bus chairs in front of them. While Lanfen gazed out of the window, ready to hit the Stop button, Kai sat beside her with her headphones in her ears. She could tell that Kai's music had been set to max volume with how her own ears could pick up the faint noise that was leaking out from her sister's small headphones. Wondering if she should ask her to lower it for the sake of her hearing, the sight of a few familiar convenience stores prompted Lanfen to hit the Stop button stationed next to their seats.
Plucking out one of her sister's headphones from her ears, she started taking some of their bags off the bus floor. "We've arrived."
Lanfen led the way to the front of the halting, near-empty bus. After depositing their tickets and a few coins into the fare machine, they stepped onto the snowy sidewalk with their items in hand, the large apartment complex in front of them standing for up to ten floors alongside a few other buildings of similar height. Covering the lower half of her face with her black-and-white scarf, the city of Yamaku was hardly any different from places such as Mitakihara and Kazamino, its high-rise buildings all reaching for the skies as people filled its snow-covered sidewalks. A second could hardly past without hearing some sort of car horn coming from the vehicles on Yamaku's busy roads.
Shivering underneath her black jacket, the two entered the apartment complex's lobby to escape the December winds, its sliding doors welcoming them as it always did while Kai loudly hummed a tune at her side. 'Enter the elevator, head up to the eight floor, take a right and stop in front of the fourth door you see', they carried out these steps without needing to think much on it, and once Lanfen had unlocked the front door of their apartment, Kai was the first to rush into the warmth of their humble abode. They placed down their bags at the hallway entrance before taking off their shoes, the lights above them flickering to life the second Lanfen had closed the front door behind them.
"We have returned home!" Kai dramatically declared, taking all their bags off the floor and into her hands as she zoomed ahead towards the living room.
Storing their footwear inside a nearby shoe closet, Lanfen gave an amused smile and walked past their bathroom doors to catch up with her sister. Grateful to finally be free from the cold again despite years of having stayed in Japan, she undid the scarf that was wrapped around her neck and placed it onto a rack that hung on the walls of the hallway entrance. Unsurprisingly, once she had stepped into the living room, Kai was already standing before the television with its remote in her hands, their plastic bags neatly resting underneath their dining table while an episode of Valkyranger popped up on the screen. Lanfen was quick to address her little sister before she attempted to slip into the kotatsu table in front of their TV.
"Mei, go and take a bath first," she said, flipping on a few switches on the walls to turn on the living room's ceiling lights. "You can watch your shows after you've cleaned yourself up."
Kai barely had one foot inside the kotatsu before she rose back up to her feet with a groan. "But we barely even got ourselves dirty-" She noticed the way Lanfen crossed her arms over her chest and instantly held back her excuse. "Yeah, I guess a hot bath doesn't sound so bad." With that immediate change in her tune, Kai left her smartphone on their kotatsu, switched off the TV, and slid past her older sibling to head for the bathroom. She gave Lanfen another playful jab in her ticklish waist as she passed by her, earning Kai an exasperated complaint that was cut-off by the sound of the bathroom door closing itself shut.
"And somehow she insists she's more 'hands-on' with her friends."
Dusting her hands, Lanfen proceeded to carry out her usual home rituals now that they were back. First, she approached the holo-player next to their television and clicked a few buttons, filling the apartment with a calming jazz tune that chased away the oppressive silence. She then headed into their small kitchen through a nearby door to prepare the necessary ingredients for dinner later. Once she made sure that her pots, knives, pork, and vegetables were all ready, Lanfen exited the kitchen and went over to the shelf next to their dining table. Her hand ran through the spines of multiple books until Lanfen found her father's cookbook in the lower shelves, the 'Ownership of Keith Silverstein' that had been written onto its back having yet to fade away even after all these years.
Leaving the thick book on their counter for later, Lanfen proceeded with the final step of her daily rituals.
The small family shrine they had set up on one side of the living room had a single cushion placed in front of it for Lanfen to comfortably kneel on. As her back faced the three doors that lead to the siblings' respective bedrooms alongside Lanfen's practice room, she looked down on the shrine's small table to gaze at the chess set that laid down on the translucent glass. Its pieces were arranged in the same way it had been for half a decade now, the pawns, knights, rooks, bishops, kings and queens still frozen in an ongoing battle that would never see its conclusive end. Even if they were just inanimate objects, a part of Lanfen sympathized with the chess pieces that had been left in such a position purely to satisfy the siblings' own sentimental reasons.
Lanfen took in a deep breath and directed her gaze back to the shrine. A framed picture of Kai, Lanfen and their parents peacefully rested in the middle of it.
'Keith Silverstein', 'Margaret Jiang Pao-Lin', 'Cassandra Jiang Lanfen', 'Cynthia Jiang Kai-Ming'.
"We enjoyed ourselves at this new mall today," Lanfen began, her hands grasping her knees. "It was at Mitakihara. Mei Mei almost ate too much, but I managed to stop her before she could throw up," she said with a laugh before clearing her throat. "... Mei Mei also just turned 17 yesterday. It's been a while now, hasn't it?" She paused to stare at the framed picture. "... I'm still struggling to hold onto a steady job, but the money we're receiving from your old workplace is still allowing us to get by. Hopefully I can find something that-" She paused again, but the soothing music that came from the holo-player was all she could hear. "I hope I'm doing enough to make you both proud. And I hope that Mei Mei can have a future that I never could. Please watch over us, as always."
Tightening her lips, Lanfen's tired eyes stared into the picture that reminded her of how happy they all used to be. A part of her wished they could reply to her words, even for just a second, but she knew that it would be silly to even expect that. It had been over half a decade since they were gone, and yet here she was, still hoping that they would one day come back into their lives to make everything go back to what it once was. There was little wonder in why Lanfen only sat down to chat with their parents like this once Kai was obviously out of earshot. She had an image to keep up with, after all.
Lanfen flinched when she heard the bathroom door down the hall burst open, followed up by a satisfied sigh from her little sister. "A shower cleared with no Continues! Jie, it's your turn!"
Getting off the small cushion, Lanfen dusted her dark winter clothes as Kai reentered the living room in a pair of pajamas. With a loud war-cry, she dove into the kotatsu with the grace of a rushing cheetah and made herself comfortable within its warm embrace. Clicking her tongue in a mixture of both annoyance and amusement, Lanfen turned off the holo-player on the wall and headed for her bedroom while Kai switched on the television for her usual re-watch of Valkyranger. It certainly was an average weekend for them.
She stepped into her tidy room and took out her smartphone to place it next to her laptop on a clean bedside desk. On top of her bed, a pile of shark plushies had been neatly organized in a single-file as a pink, white and light-blue flag hung above the head of the bed. The old Zwei Wing poster she had been keeping for years now was placed right next to her flag, barely showcasing any visible signs of aging due to the lengths she had taken to keep it pristine. Fetching a dry towel from her closet, Lanfen closed the door shut and looked out her bedroom window to briefly admire the falling snow. While her brown skin could never stand the cold, there was always a beauty in the colour of the freezing weather outside.
A strange flicker of red light amidst the clouds caught her eye. It was brief, but it was distinctive enough to seize Lanfen's attention as she got closer to the window to try and focus her gaze at the skies. "What was-?"
The distinct, bombastic opening music of Zesshou Sentai Valkyranger blared from the living room, causing Lanfen's skin to nearly jump off her bones before the volume immediately turned itself down. Lanfen heard a quick, "Woops, my bad!" from the living room before she could even raise her voice at her little sister.
Rubbing her aching temples with two fingers, Lanfen hoped that wasn't going to earn them a complaint from their neighbors. Even so, she was grateful to have someone like Kai around. Even with all the flaws that her little sister had collected over the years, Lanfen felt lucky to have a sister as supportive as she was. Carrying her towel in one arm, the older Jiang sibling exited her bedroom and headed down the hall of their apartment for a hot soak in the baths. Spending a bit of time in the tub never failed to ease her accumulating worries, and if she was still feeling a bit heavy afterwards, then a bit of time spent in their apartment's practice room sounded like the perfect thing to follow up with.
The rays of the setting sun peeked through the glass of the practice room's windows to reflect off the glimmering surface of a whipping, metal dart. Tethered to a rope that was wrapped around Lanfen's left forearm, her rope dart snaked through the air, and impaled an aluminum can that hung from the ceiling by a thin piece of string. With a quick tug, the metal dart withdrew itself from the ravaged metal as the brown woman danced across the room, wrapping the weapon's rope around her thigh through sheer momentum. With practiced finesse, her right hand snatched the dart from the air by its handle.
Letting out a few tired pants, Lanfen closed her eyes before giving a satisfied smirk at the ravaged can that still hung from the ceiling. Pleased by the lack of injuries she inflicted on herself today, she undid the rope she had wrapped around her forearm and stored the memento of her mother inside a small wooden chest that waited in the corner of the empty room. Her heart still pounding within her torso, Lanfen turned around to gaze at a picture of their parents that she had taped onto the wall, her palms still crying out from rope burn at her sides as Lanfen seemingly waited for her mother's praise.
Nothing. Just like always. Obviously.
Dismissing herself from her practice room with a formal bow in front of the picture, a sweaty Lanfen stepped out of the empty room in her sportswear, her tank top and shorts sticking to her clammy skin while she made her way through the living room. Kai had noticeably returned to her bedroom, most likely to organize all the Valkyranger toys she had bought, allowing a bit of quiet to settle in their living room after the few hours she had spent doing nothing but watching her usual shows. Of course, Lanfen turned the living room's holo-player back on, this time to fill their apartment with catchy electro-swing jazz before she headed for their apartment's kitchen.
Humming along to the saxophones that filled the atmosphere of their abode, Lanfen stepped in front of the stove and turned up the temperature to a light simmer. A batch of steam flowed out of the large pot as she took off its lid, a ladle already held in her other hand so she could scoop up a small amount of the stew that Lanfen had been cooking up for dinner. Kai was definitely going to be happy to have some pork sinigang for the weekend. Taking a sip of the sample in her ladle, Lanfen smiled at its nostalgic, sour and savory taste, a flavour she had certainly taken a while to perfect over the years.
"Mei, dinner's ready! Set the table!" she called over the sister, switching off the stove and taking out a pair of bowls to split the stew between the two siblings.
Coming out of the kitchen with two steaming bowls of pork stew in her hands, Kai had just finished placing down the plates and utensils on their dining table when she noticed the meal that Lanfen had prepared for them. "Oh, nice!" Her eyes essentially glimmered with excitement. Eagerly rubbing her hands together, she reached over to the rice cooker on their dining table and opened up the lid to reveal the steaming, white rice inside it. "See? I got it done perfectly this time," Kai boasted with a dramatic pose for effect.
"Making edible rice is not an achievement, Mei," Lanfen dryly retorted, placing the stew on the table so she could start scooping up rice for both her and her sister's plates. While her sister turned up the volume of the holo-player on the wall, Lanfen made sure to put just enough rice on Kai's plate to fulfill the usual growing hunger of a teenage girl. Meanwhile, Lanfen essentially served herself half the amount of rice she had placed onto Kai's plate. "Do be sure to eat your vegetables."
Kai gave an exaggerated gag while she pulled up a chair to sit on. "Oh, the horror," she muttered, resting her chin in one hand.
After handing Kai her rice, Lanfen sat down with her own plate, allowing dinner to finally begin as the last rays of sunlight finally left the horizon. They could see a city of flashing colours outside their window while they ate, the honking of cars from down the streets below faintly audible every now and then. A hot stew like sinigang was perfect for the cold weather, and while the sour taste of the stew always reminded Lanfen of times long past, the happiness she could see on Kai's face while she happily dug into her meal made the woman far more happier. It was hard to believe that Kai almost threw up the first time Lanfen had tried to cook this stew for them. She honestly didn't blame her little sister for reacting the way she did.
"So, how has Yaman Academy been?" Lanfen asked, pushing aside the black braid on her shoulder while she held up her bowl to her lips.
Swallowing a large batch of rice in one go, Kai shielded a loud burp behind her hand before answering, "Oh, you know. The usual stuff. A bit of homework here. Some annoying group projects there," she said, hesitantly prodding the vegetables in her stew with the ends of her chopsticks. "I got a love letter that told me to meet up with this girl underneath the school's biggest tree, but I think she chickened out in the end. Oh well."
"Doesn't mean she won't try again, to be fair," Lanfen chuckled. This was probably the fourth time this year that someone's showed interest in her little sister. If her sister's stories were true, then Yaman Academy didn't sound too different from Lydian Academy, even if they were located in different prefectures. She definitely had to prepare for the day when Kai would bring a possible partner back to their apartment. "Aside from those things, how have your results been?" Lanfen asked with a raised brow this time.
As if she was drawing a revolver in the middle of a duel, Kai reached for the pockets of her pants and pulled out her smartphone to bring up a PDF that she had been keeping. With a smug grin, she held up her phone in front of Lanfen's face to reveal a report card with results that Lanfen struggled to even partially achieve when she was Kai's age, "Ta-da! See? I told you I could do better than last time," Kai chirped, putting her down her device next to her plate. "Although it was kinda hard, nothing's really impossible for us sisters, am I right?"
"Of course," Lanfen nodded, smiling. "I did expect this, but it's good to see that you're actually taking your studies seriously. And because of that-" Lanfen placed down her spoon and chopsticks, and walked over to a selection of drawers next to their bookshelf. After rummaging through a few drawers filled with various papers and documents, she pulled out a small plastic gift and turned around to show it to her sister. "-I thought this would be a good reward for your efforts."
Settling down her utensils as well, Kai looked closely at the colourful item in her sibling's hand before letting out an excited yell that made Lanfen slightly wince. Held between her fingers was green-and-red, grasshopper-themed superhero with a pair of distinct, glowing compound eyes on its mask. "How?! You can't even get this thing without selling your kidney or something!" she shouted, surprise written clear on her face as Lanfen placed the item in her open hands.
"You could say it was 'fate' that I came across it," Lanfen answered with a small laugh. Sitting back down at the table to continue her dinner, the woman smiled to herself as Kai excitedly help up the small keychain above her head. "It had just arrived in the mail today, for one thing. I had expected you to do better this semester, so I thought I'd buy you something like this as a reward. Since your grades were key to your reward, it's quite fitting that you'd receive a keychain for it." Lanfen smirked at her own wordplay, but all it did was earn her a groan of pain from her little sister. She definitely was not as good as their father when it came to making someone laugh.
Clipping the keychain to her smartphone, Kai held up the device above her head before flashing a grateful smile at her older sister. "Thanks, Jie. I didn't think you'd get me something like this," she said with a tone that was far more softer than it usually sounded. It made Lanfen pause in her meal before sharing a genuine smile with the teenage girl across the table. "Anyway," Kai continued, shoving another mountain of rice into her mouth, "when are you going to bring back a lover?"
Lanfen nearly choked on her meal. Accidentally hitting the bottom of her dining table with her knees, the brown woman went over to the kitchen counter and grabbed a tissue to cough into. "That's-!" Her throat cleared up, Lanfen took a deep breath while wiping her mouth with her tissue. She found herself to be at a loss for words. "What even brought this up-?" she asked bewilderedly while shaking her head at the grinning girl.
"I mean. You know." Kai rocked left and right in her chair, her purple eyes staring at her Lanfen with a glint of mischief. "You've turned down a lot of people over the years, haven't you? Guys, gals and lotta pals. I can't help but wonder why that'd be the case when you clearly don't have issues catching a person's eye." Sticking the ends of her chopsticks in her mouth, Kai let out a playful hum as Lanfen felt her little sister's eyes scanning her toned body. "I wonder...?"
Tossing the used paper in her hands into a nearby dustbin, Lanfen clicked her tongue and sat back down with her elbows placed on the table. "I just..." She began, pursing her lips while she stared down at her half-finished plate. It had been a while since Kai had asked her this sort of question. Perhaps it was time to finally stop avoiding it. "I just want to make sure that your future is certain before I can try and settle down with someone," she explained, picking up her chopsticks again to finish up her dinner. "It's as simple as that."
Kai gave her an almost pensive stare. "You should think about yourself more, you know?"
Those soft words sharply went into Lanfen's chest. It was rare to hear audible concern in her little sister's voice like this. Then again, Kai was no longer a kid anymore. Those times have long past as well, alongside many other memories. "... But I did get what I wanted, didn't I?" Lanfen answered in a low voice. Slowly, she turned her head to stare at the small window beside their dining table, her gaze fixated on the faint reflection she saw in the glass. She still found herself unable to believe the image that was right there before her. "I got the body I wished for. Even though it wasn't exactly easy."
"I mean. Fair. But you can still try to achieve more than that," Kai shrugged, drumming her fingers on the dining table while trying to find words that she didn't use too often. "A better... social life for one thing. I'm grateful for everything that you've done for us, but you know-" The girl scratched the back of her tomboyish, black hair. "I'd like you to also have some friends of your own. Find someone that you like. I'm doing just fine myself, so you don't have to keep doing everything for me at the expense of yourself, Jie."
There was something amusing about this conversation. Kai was only one year away from being eighteen-years old, and yet, she was already talking with her like this. Lanfen guessed that the absence of their parents had affected more than just the older Jiang sibling, in a way. Then again, Kai did inherit the determined streak that their father was always known for. Even with both of their parents gone, parts of them still lived on within both of the two sisters, whether or not they actually noticed it. Appreciating the words that Kai was trying to transmit to her, Lanfen scrambled her brain to try and find the right words to reply with.
The ceiling lights flickered, catching the attention of the pair at the dining table as Lanfen gazed at the blinking lights above them. This was not something that often occurred.
"Maybe there's just something wrong with the power?" Kai wondered out-loud, turning her gaze over to the holo-player as its music had suddenly died out.
The living room's television switched itself on and the two swung their gazes over to the appliance as static covered the entire screen. Lanfen got up and grabbed the remote to switch it off, but repeatedly tapping the buttons did nothing while the hiss of the static imagery filled their room. The older sibling only grew more disturbed when Kai tugged her arm and showed that the screens of their smartphones were also showcasing an unchanging screen of distorted images. It sent a cold chill down her spine, a feeling she had not sensed ever since the world event that had occurred almost five years ago.
Amidst the roars of static, the two heard a voice arise from the speakers of their electrical appliances. It was a distorted, garbled voice that spoke through their devices in a tongue that neither of them had heard of. As Lanfen felt her heartbeat rising within her chest, Kai pointed at the static that flooded the television. There, they could make out the faint shape of an armoured figure slowly taking form on their screens, all while the distorted voice seemingly adjusted through their speakers into a language either of them could understand. As the monochrome image of a knight-like figure stood before them with its arms folded behind its back, a single, glowing dot for an eye shone in the middle of its helmet's visor.
"We have arrived," the figure declared, holding up a gauntlet with claw-like fingertips, "and we have come to claim what is rightfully ours. You may run. You may hide. But until the last drop of blood from the final human moistens the rich soil of this world, this planet shall be an eternal battleground for the ownership of this thriving earth. Make peace with the coming end and prepare your armies, for the crusade against Humanity begins today."
Lanfen felt Kai's trembling hand tightly holding onto hers. "... We'll be okay, right?" Kai shakily whispered to her.
Gulping, the older sibling drew in a steady breath and slowly nodded, putting faith in the same powers that had saved their world time and time again.
The ceiling lights burst apart and Lanfen shielded her younger sister from the falling shards as the television shut itself off once more. Crouching in the darkness of their apartment, Lanfen made sure that her sister was alright before moving over to the bookshelves to find a torchlight. Kai then grabbed onto her shoulder, the younger girl's gaze clearly fixated on something that was outside their window. When Lanfen went over to it with a torchlight in hand, the older sibling felt her breath escape her at the sight of growing, glowing 'cracks' hovering over Yamaku's skyline. The fabric of reality was seemingly being torn apart, and when these cracks expanded into glowing, pulsing rifts, Lanfen wasted no time grabbing Kai by the arm as they prepared to run for the underground shelters.
The elevators and stairwells were crowded with confused, frightened tenants that also desired to escape the apartment complex. After grabbing their phones and putting on their winter coats, the two sisters squeezed their way through the bustling staircases, Kai's hand desperately holding onto Lanfen's the entire time so they wouldn't get separated in the crowds. Once they had reached ground floor, the pair rushed out of the lobby and onto the sidewalks to see the roads that were absolutely jammed with immobile vehicles. Before they could even catch their breath, they heard a deep thrumming coming from the pulsing rifts above their heads.
Like a legion of falling angels, dozens of large, knight-like creatures descended to the streets below, their hulking bodies effortlessly crushing civilians and vehicles beneath their armoured feet as moonlight reflected off baroque, obsidian armour. Wielding kite-shaped shields and rugged battle-axes, the sudden appearance of these monsters only fueled the panic of the retreating civilians in the streets. Their helmets visors emitted an azure glow that burned like an uncaring fire, even while the knights drew their armaments and charged towards the crowds of fleeing people.
Kai and Lanfen were running before they had even realized it. Hearing the panicked yells of the people around them suddenly transition into the horrified shrieks and pleas of the dying, Lanfen fought to keep her grip on her little sister's hand as they bolted down the streets towards the nearest disaster shelter. She didn't care for anyone else but the two of them. Feeling the adrenaline that was pumping through her blood, Lanfen's only focus was on their own survival.
Rounding around a bend that led to another street, Kai and Lanfen skidded to a halt when they saw more of those armoured knights in the bloodied roads ahead of them. With their axes in hand, the armoured creatures' brutal swings reaped through the crowds, cutting down the begging and the screaming by the tens with extreme prejudice. There was seemingly no sense of malice in the way they butchered the people of Yamaku. It was as if they were systematically cutting down an infestation of growing weeds that had dared to even stand before them.
"Jie, over here!" Kai yelled at Lanfen, pulling her towards a narrow alley nearby.
Taking their chances with the empty alleyway to their side, the two ran into it and fled through numerous bends and turns before taking a moment to finally rest inside the depths of the empty, tight space. Falling onto their aching knees, the two sisters drew the air into their exhausted lungs, their legs already burning with pain as they leaned against the concrete walls of the alley junction, and tightly held onto one other. Even while they were deep inside the alleyway, they could still hear the distant screams of the dying, a haunting sound that only made Kai desperately cover her ears with her hands while she kept her eyes open for anymore of those armoured monstrosities.
Despite the uncontrollable trembling that was coursing through her arms, Lanfen took out her smartphone and opened a map to find their way to the nearest underground shelter from here. Their devices were operating in perfect condition, but it was almost impossible to focus on the screen when her hands could hardly stay still for even a second. Biting down her lips to regain control of herself, Lanfen grabbed her phone with both her shaking hands and charted an escape route through the alleyway.
"W-What are even those things? Are those N-Noise?" Kai stuttered at her side, staring down the multiple paths of the junction they were in.
"I.. I don't know..." Lanfen whispered. Drawing in a shaky breath, she tried to keep up a mask of bravery, just for Kai's sake. Despite the absolute terror that was infecting her heart, she needed to get them to safety first and foremost. Lanfen didn't give a damn about anything or anyone else right now. "We have to get out of here. Fast," she stated, holding up a route on her phone while pointing at one of the pathways near them. "This should get us to a shelter while avoiding the streets. The signal's getting weak, but-"
They heard the loud shuffling of metal from the alley path behind them, and the sisters spun around to see one of those large, armoured knights slowly creeping its way towards them. Wielding an axe that was marked with blood and gore, its glowing visor seemingly glared at both Kai and Lanfen, its obsidian armour clearly coated in bloody handprints that were illuminated by the light of a shattered moon. It perked its head at the faint sound of Kai's careful footsteps, and when the two sisters gingerly got up to their feet, the hulking knight charged at them, crushing the trash cans in its path underneath the sheer weight of its body.
"Mei, run!"
While Kai ran down the path that lead to the shelter, Lanfen bolted down an adjacent path as the knight gave chase to the older Jiang sibling. Feeling her legs still crying out in exhaustion beneath her, she desperately gasped for air, her eyes barely maintaining their focus on the paths and bends up ahead of her. Lanfen could hear the heavy footfalls of the knight, its bloodied axe loudly grinding against the concrete ground beneath their feet the entire time. While she ducked and leaped over the pipes and dumpsters that crowded the alleyway, the knight instead plowed its way through them with ease, barely losing any momentum in its relentless pursuit.
A twist in her ankle threw Lanfen off balance. She stifled a cry, and as a surge of pain coursed through her leg, Lanfen felt a large, heavy blade cleave into her back with a sickening crunch.
Lanfen tumbled to the dirty ground, her eyes wide open with shock. She tried to move, but her limbs would not respond to her. Instead, all she could feel was a sickening warmth that grew on her back while the armoured knight stood over her to stare right into Lanfen's panic-ridden eyes. As the knight silently lifted its axe over her head, fresh blood dripped from it to fall onto Lanfen's cheeks, all sense of control over her limbs completely lost to her by this point. Lanfen gazed at the ringed moon that shined high in the December skies, and wordlessly begged for it to not be the end.
Schwing
The knight's severed head crashed onto the ground with a loud thud, allowing Lanfen to see the flickering lights that permeated the insides of the fallen helmet. Deprived of its head, its armoured form fell to one side and exploded into a cloud of sand that made Lanfen shield her face with her hands. She coughed out the obsidian sand that had entered her mouth, Lanfen's vision already beginning to blur from a loss of blood as she gazed up in shock at her mysterious saviour. Unable to utter even a few words, she saw the figure crouching down next to her with a glass vial in their hands.
They opened the vial with a soft pop and started pouring an icy liquid all over Lanfen's back, causing her to clench her teeth when she felt a subsequent, sharp stinging sensation coursing throughout her body.
"Is this where you intend to let your performance end? Shall your curtain fall before you have even started?" The figure asked in a sultry, almost-motherly voice.
To her disbelief, the pain that had wracked Lanfen's body slowly melted away into nothingness. She blinked as she took in a few shaky breaths. Gazing up at the figure with a returning sense of sight, Lanfen saw a woman with sickly-pale skin crouching next to her. Her medium-length, blue hair was neat and trim, and a strange smile was plastered on her face as her golden eyes gazed into Lanfen's in a way that could only be described as 'inquisitive'. Donning an azure suit with diamond symbols that were prominent all over her outfit, the ghostly woman stood back up, a gloved fingertip slowly held up to her blue lips while she placed her empty vial inside the pockets of her suit.
"... T-Thank you..." Lanfen stuttered, slowly getting onto her knees. Running her hands all over trembling body, Lanfen felt as though she had never been wounded at all. The back of her dark winter jacket had been ripped clean open, and yet, the only thing that remained as proof of her injury were the dried bloodstains all over her back. Even her twisted ankle felt perfectly fine.
"Do you desire the power to save your sister?" the pale woman inquired with a soft giggle.
Lanfen shot the woman a shocked gaze, her eyes slowly widening. "What... did you say?"
"Do you desire the power to save your sister?" she loudly repeated the question, crouching down again to slowly press her pale face up against Lanfen's. Her golden eyes practically pierced into the woman's soul as her honeyed words made Lanfen subconsciously tense up. "Or is your love for her... all but an act of bravado?"
Those words practically ignited a proverbial fire within Lanfen's eyes. Knowing that Kai was somewhere out there, potentially all alone and without help, Lanfen's hands seized the pale woman by the collar of her suit. "Of course I want to save her!" she hissed with gritted teeth, the knuckles on her fists slowly turning into a pale white. "Even if I'd have to lay down my own life, I'd do anything for her! She's the only thing I have left that matters. So, don't you dare imply-!"
The ghostly woman laughed. It was a hearty, honest laugh.
Seemingly brimming with joy at Lanfen's answer, she lifted a hand to brush the back of her glove against Lanfen's bloodstained cheek. "Good," she cooed. "I'm pleased to have chosen someone that knows the importance of one's own family. Here..." Reaching into her pockets, the woman pulled out what appeared to be a red, crystal pendant. The light of the moon above reflected off its crimson surface as Lanfen stared at it with confusion. "All you need to do is sing," she advised, gently placing it in Lanfen's hands. "Sing, and you shall wield the power of the melodious Valkyries that have saved your world many times before, as you are the one most worthy to wield the Sword of Damocles."
Lanfen could hardly believe what she was even hearing. Gazing at the red pendant in her hands, the woman in the azure suit stood back up and placed her gloved hands in her pockets. Lanfen looked at the reflection she casted on the glimmering pendant, whispering, "... Who... Who are you-?" She looked up, and the woman was gone. Nobody but Lanfen herself remained in the alleyway as the sounds of the dying could still be heard in the distance.
It didn't matter who she was, Lanfen thought to herself. There was only one thing Lanfen desired right now, and that was Kai's safety. Slowly getting back onto her feet, Lanfen held up the pendant to her chest and drew the cold winter air into her lungs. She followed the words that strange woman had given her, and as Lanfen glared at the pulsing rifts in Yamaku's skyline, her lips subconsciously parted to sing a holy chant.
"Valtorah Damocles sen zizzl."
Lanfen lifted her leg, and slammed the sole of her boot onto a floor of pure energy as saxophones blared in her ears. In the eternal span of just one second, fibers of black-and-white concealed her toned form in a body glove. A steel, three-point crown formed on her head and connected to a pair of headphones that manifested over her ears. Her braided hair fluttering in the air, a pair of dark gauntlets slammed onto Cassandra's forearms, and sealed themselves shut while a pauldron formed over her right shoulder in the stylized-shape of a Queen chess-piece. Armoured boots clamped onto her legs while intense drumbeats and pianos conjured a tune of soothing jazz.
Looking above to see a sword quickly descending upon her, Lanfen leaped into the air with enhanced agility. The blade grazed pass her face and the woman seized the falling arming sword by its golden grip. As the floor of energy screeched from her thunderous landing, Lanfen caressed the thick blade of her one-handed sword with an armoured hand. She smirked and the crowned warrior brandished the Sword of Damocles to the triumphant tune of roaring trumpets.
With that eternal second finally past, Lanfen looked at her transformed body in awe as she felt her form imbue her with a sense of superhuman strength, agility and reflexes. She felt practically invincible. As steam hissed from the exhaust vents of her armour, Lanfen struggled to find a phrase to describe this new look, only for a single word to suddenly appear in her mind: Symphogear. And it was not the only shard of knowledge that manifested in her head. Lanfen felt her Symphogear flood her mind with a library's worth of information, causing her to wince from the sheer mental overload of learning everything about her newfound powers faster than she could even breathe.
Feeling the tide of knowledge settle down in her mind, Lanfen got down into a crouch and leaped into the rift-plagued skies in a single bound. With the ringed moon behind her back, the crowned warrior crashed into the streets, kicking up a cloud of dust and snow as a small crater blossomed beneath her armoured feet. When the cloud finally settled, Lanfen stood in front of a group of armoured knights, their weapons still dripping with the blood of countless innocents. Glancing over her shoulder to see the large tunnel that led to the nearby disaster shelter, Lanfen glared back at the suits of armour that were gathering before her and brandished her one-handed sword.
"You're not getting past me."
Electro-swing jazz blared from her Symphogear's built-in speakers and the knights rushed towards the crowned warrior to put an end to her groovy tune. Blitzing out of the crater to meet with the approaching monsters, Lanfen's lips subconsciously moved as she leaped into the air, her song pouring directly from her soul to synchronize with her Symphogear.
"There's a new world for me to see, yet I don't know who I want to be." She cleaved off the arms of the first knight she neared, skidded to a halt behind it, and effortlessly swept her opponent off its feet with a swipe of her armoured leg. Swiftly plunging the Sword of Damocles right into its chest-plate, the suit of armor violently exploded into a cloud of obsidian sand. "Sights surrounding me, front and back. Yet I don't know which to track."
Hearing the lumbering approach of a dozen enemies over the sound of rushing pianos, Lanfen's one-handed sword deflected several strikes with but a single, thunderous swing. The knights reeled back from her superhuman blow and Lanfen lunged towards them to cleave apart the horde limb-by-limb. Each strike of her blade against their metal forms produced hot sparks that showered the singing swordswoman, the crowned warrior carrying little for their heat as she weaved between their blows to cut a swathe through their rapidly-depleting numbers.
"My guts ringing out a cry of worry. I don't know where to go or what to hurry-" The severed arms of the last knight in sight dropped onto the snowy concrete. Lanfen's blade thrusted into its chest-plate and exited out of its back with a loud, metallic screech. "Can I find my way if I'm walking blind? There's something my heart needs to find!"
Withdrawing her sword from the final knight's ruined torso, the suit of armor showered the storefront behind it with obsidian dust as Lanfen heard the lumbering footfalls of more approaching enemies. Swiftly spinning around with her sword in her right hand, the crowned warrior spotted an amassing army of knights charging towards her from both directions. It was as though her song had attracted every single one of the monsters in Yamaku towards this single location.
"Searching high or low, where is it? The purpose glowing deep inside my soul." Smirking, Lanfen aligned her left forearm with the pommel of her Armed Gear. The armoured gauntlet on her forearm split open, revealing the large, wired harpoon resting inside it. With a tightening of her fist, the harpoon launched out and combined with the pommel of her sword to tether the weapon to her left gauntlet as Lanfen called back to her rope dart training. "Looking up and down, nothing fits. There's something I need to feel whole."
She took a single, graceful step on the snowy, sand-filled road. She gripped the tethered hilt of her sword in her right hand. As the roads quaked beneath the feet of a dozen monsters, Lanfen hurled her weapon towards the horde with the force of a speeding rocket. The soaring blade skewered the heads of three knights, and with a quick tug, Lanfen retracted the weapon to dance across the streets while her tethered Armed Gear whipped through the winter air like a striking snake. The gauntlet's wire wrapped and unwrapped around Lanfen's body, expertly manipulated by a combination of momentum and the usage of the crowned warrior's entire body.
"The flashing lights filling my vision slow. Roaring cheers flood my ears, smiling for me!" Lanfen's heavy sword reaped through the knights to fill the air with clouds of obsidian sand. Feeling like she was back in her practice room, her blinding movements were a perfect replica of her mother as Lanfen's tethered sword thrusted itself into faceplates, cleaved off arms and sliced off legs faster than the knights could react. "A concert to rinse them of the lowest lows. I've a purpose that you all have to see!"
Swinging her tethered sword to the rushing beat of sticks slamming onto drums, Lanfen glared at the remaining stragglers of the sundered army and prepared for the finale. Black-and-white flashed before her eyes as a name appeared in her vision, spelled out by steel letters that slammed onto a chessboard to slowly crack it apart with each ringing impact. "Bishop Barrage." Her sword swiftly returned to her right hand and ornate, crimson markings flashed across the length of its thick blade.
With a grin, Lanfen swung her the Sword of Damocles in wide arc, causing a dozen floating, glowing replicas of her weapon to manifest around her as though an entire armoury had just emptied itself. With a flick of her left wrist, the energy blades soared towards the remains of the depleted army, each translucent sword soaring with a semblance of sentience as they jinked past swung axes and raised shields to stab right into the gaps of the enemy armour. Severed limbs fell to the floor with each blinding attack run the blades made on the dwindling monsters, all while Lanfen herself looked on with a smile.
She heard the shuffling of metal coming from behind her, prompting Lanfen to casually look over her shoulder and glare at the lone knight that had managed to get close to her. Clicking her tongue in annoyance, she parried its attack with a loud clang, sending the knight's axe high into the air right as Lanfen's glowing blades viciously drove themselves into her attacker. They stabbed into its knees, then into the joints of its arms, its chest-plate, and lastly, right through the middle of its glowing, azure faceplate.
Topping it off with a swift kick into the knight's abdomen, the suit of armour exploded into a cloud of dust as Lanfen's jazz tune end alongside the life of the last visible knight.
An ear-piercing, high-pitched wail from the rifts in Yamaku's skies attracted Lanfen's gaze. Protected by the headphones she wore, Lanfen prepared herself for the arrival of more enemies as the pulsing rifts emitted a deep howl that reverberated throughout the ravaged streets of Yamaku. She held her breath, and then gasped when the giant rifts instead began to 'shrink', allowing the city's skyline to return to what it was before. 'Was it over?' was all Lanfen could think, tightly gripping the hilt of her sword until the tears in reality vanished completely from sight.
Leaving only faint particles that fell onto the streets below along with the winter snow, an eerie silence returned to the city of Yamaku as Lanfen's glowing blades vanished from the air.
Detaching her harpoon from the pommel of her Armed Gear, the wired weapon slammed back into her gauntlet, allowing the forearm armour to close back up with a few audible clicks. The thick blade of her sword retracted into its cross-guard and she attached the hilt of her weapon onto a piece of armour at her hip. Not a single bead of sweat had appeared on her brown skin for the entire battle, but when Lanfen's attention redirected itself back to the safety of her little sister, Lanfen spun around on her armoured boots and rushed in the direction of the underground shelter's entrance.
"Mei," she whispered, feeling her heart pounding within her chest once again. Stomping through the sand-filled roads of Yamaku, her purple eyes darted around the damaged city around her. The reinforced metal doors that led to the underground shelter were shut closed, but the thought of her sister having yet to enter the safety of the shelter still plagued her thoughts.
"Jie?!"
She came to a halt upon hearing Kai's voice and directed her gaze over to one of the abandoned stores at her side. There, behind one of its broken windows, Lanfen saw her little sister slowly poking her head out from a large piece of furniture. The flickering ceiling lights above Kai's head shined on the bits of blood that stained the girl's face, tears of fear evidently flowing down her cheeks. Lanfen had to control her superhuman speed as she bolted towards the store with a smile of utter relief. "Mei!"
Crawling out from underneath her hiding spot, Kai stared in silent awe at the strange armour her approaching sibling had donned. She looked like she was about to ask a dozen questions right on the spot, but with everything that had happened in the past hour alone, the girl clearly desired nothing more than to head back home and end this nightmare of an evening. Wiping her wet eyes with the sleeves of her tattered, winter coat, Kai went over to the entrance of the store to reunite with her sister, only to suddenly stop with her hand still grabbing onto the doorknob.
Lanfen saw the startled look in Kai's eyes and immediately halted to follow her gaze. Looking at her side to stare down the sand-filled roads, Lanfen was barely a few steps away from the store's front door when she also noticed the faint signs of movement. Illuminated by the light of the ringed moon above, a lone, human-shaped figure stood in the middle of the road among the dead bodies of Yamaku's slain citizens. The fluttering, hooded cloak it wore concealed its form, preventing Lanfen from even determining whether or not it was even human. All she could make out were the glimmering armoured boots that concealed its legs.
When the figure seemed to turn its head towards the crowned warrior, Lanfen felt a chill run down her spine, causing one of her hands to slowly reach for the sword that was stowed at her hip. As she curled her gloved fingers around the golden hilt of her weapon, the cloaked figure took one silent step towards her, a pair of golden orbs subsequently shining within the shadowy depths of its hood.
"Jie, watch out!"
There was a flash of emerald light. Lanfen drew her sword. She felt a wave of intense heat wash over her and a high-pitched ringing deafened her ears. Her body felt weightless as she was effortlessly hurled into the air. Completely blinded by a pure, white light, Lanfen was unable to hold back the genuine cry of pain that escaped her throat. The next thing she knew, she felt her body crash onto the concrete, the reforming, protective barriers of her Symphogear immediately cushioning her from the force of the crackling impact.
Wincing from the agony that was reverberating throughout her body, Lanfen's blinded vision slowly cleared up, allowing her to see the burning rubble that surrounded her while she laid down on her back. There was the distinctive taste of copper in her mouth. A thick fog shrouded her dazed mind. As the white snow from the skies above fell onto Lanfen's bloodstained cheeks, the crowned warrior slowly pulled herself up into a sitting position while grasping the headphones that covered her ringing ears. Clenching her teeth to suppress a pain that was growing in her abdomen, she looked up at the burning roads ahead of her and drew in a sharp breath.
"Mei...?"
The cloaked figure had disappeared. A blanket of silence had draped itself over the city of Yamaku. White snow fell from skies to join the obsidian dust that littered the blood-soaked streets. Standing back up on her armoured feet, Lanfen's shocked gaze focused on the large mound of building debris that had gathered on top of where she had been standing earlier. As the Sword of Damocles rested underneath a nearby pile of broken wood, the building that Kai was hiding in had been turned into a burning ruin, its glass windows littered across the concrete as nothing more than broken shards.
Lanfen broke into a panicked run towards the mass of debris. She felt her blood turn cold underneath her skin. Even as jolts of pain rose within her abdomen, Lanfen could not stop herself from calling out to her sister.
"Mei, where are you?!" Her scream shattered the cold silence.
Approaching what was left of the destroyed building, Lanfen desperately searched through the countless broken glass and shattered bricks that laid at her feet. Her armoured gauntlets rummaged through the heavy debris, leaving nothing unturned even while blood started to trail down the corners of Lanfen's mouth. She tossed aside broken chunks of metal with ease and ignored the fires that burned around her. Finally, as her enhanced strength pushed aside one last chunk of the shattered building, the bloody sight that Lanfen saw caused the woman to freeze where she stood.
She found her.
Lanfen fell onto her knees, crushing the bloodstained glass underneath her. Her armoured, dirt-stained hands gripped the sides of her head. Squeezing her eyes shut just to deny herself the image that was right there in front of her, Lanfen felt an uncontrollable stream of tears trail down her face as she lowered her head in shame. Unable to control herself any longer, Lanfen drew the winter air into her lungs, and released an agonizing cry that echoed throughout the empty, barren streets of Yamaku City.
She did not know how much time had passed while she knelt among the burning debris of the shattered building. Even as the sounds of ambulances and fire trucks slowly rose in the distance, Lanfen refused to move even an inch from where she was. A layer of snow was building-up on her motionless, armoured body and all Lanfen could do was stare into her shaking, open palms with eyes that barely lacked any light within them. She was alive. The battle had been won. But Lanfen had felt her world end right then and there.
Commanding her Symphogear to disappear into particles of black-and-white, Lanfen closed her eyes and waited for her own end as the cold crept back into her skin.
But she was denied even that. Instead, Lanfen heard the distinct clicking of a gun's safety being switched off, followed by what sounded to her ringing ears to be an order to hold her hands up and slowly turn around. As moonlight reflected off the glimmering, red pendant around her neck, Lanfen slowly looked over her shoulder and narrowed her lifeless eyes at the sight of multiple people in suits training their firearms on her. Led by a young man with distinct, blonde hair, her ears had not heard the sound of anyone approaching her before Lanfen had even noticed them.