Author's Notes: Title has been changed, as "The Older Brother of the Younger Brother" is now the series name! It makes more sense in AO3, where you can collect your stories in a series format. Summary has also been updated. Story stays the same.

Chapter 7: Nothing Like Manga

SAIKI KUSUO

This…this has to be the strongest spiritual energy I encountered. My barrier is barely holding. It's so intense… It's burning through, scalding my skin like boiling water. My entire arm has turned red and my fingers are trembling. This must be what dipping my hand into lava feels like.

I feel weak, but I can't fall now. Not with my big brother watching.

"I really have gotten weaker, right, Nii-chan?" It's not a good time to be making jokes, I know. But it's embarrassing looking this pathetic in front of Nii-chan. I just wanted him to know that I've become a person he can depend on.

He crushes me in a tight embrace. My ear is pressed against his chest, where I hear his heart pounding wildly. "Kusuo, don't look!"

What is he…?

"Ah!" A sharp pain is stabbing me in the head. From inside my mind, I sense the evil presence of an intruder.

"Oh? You were able to deflect my One-Shot: Binate Finale. Impressive. Why don't I show you the result of your hard work?"

I'm forced to experience a vision, flashing with painful lights. The holy forest disintegrates, followed by hundreds of onlookers who are swallowed by the light. It immediately strikes me what this is: the attack that I blocked with my barrier has spread out like a storm of fire, killing everyone. My knees collapse under me. Nii-chan is calling me, but his voice has sounded so far away while the screams are echoing fresh in my head…

"KUSUO!"

With a gasp, I return to reality with a jerk. Nii-chan's eyes are the first things I see. Only his hands on my arms are keeping me standing.

"It's all my fault," I manage to say, my voice shaking. A hot tear rolls down my cheek. "If only I were strong enough…"

"Don't give up, Kusuo! With you and I together, we can overcome any despair."

"Nii-chan…"

The evil presence laughs. "Neither of you alone can beat me. What can the two of you combined possibly do to stop me?" it taunts, still speaking in our heads with telepathy.

Nii-chan smirks. "Do you think you're only up against two people? That's where you're wrong. Where do you think we are?"

Though I can neither hear nor see the enemy, I feel the slightest change in the air that Nii-chan's question has inflicted doubt on the enemy.

"You're up against two brothers who don't know how to give up, and a god!"

A god! That's right, this temple belongs to Kannon-sama, the lord of mercy. Is this part of Kusuke's plan all along?

The boss lets out a frustrated growl. I'm feeling strength returning to me - this must be the blessing of Kannon. My brother puts a hand on my shoulder, adding his strength to mine. I am filled with determination!

The door of my room flies open, shattering the epic scene I've come up with. "Ku-chan, it's time to eat! Oh no, are you not feeling well again?"

I roll to my back, my eyes shut. "I'm fine, Mama. I was resting. Could you knock next time?"

"You don't look like you were," she observes thoughtfully. "When did you start sleeping with your - " The buzzer sounds in the house. "Oh, that must be the package from Papa!"

As Mama hurries with patting footsteps to answer the door, I roll to my side and sit up. It's dinner time already, huh. I should get going. I look back at the person on the mirror, peering at me under even bangs, both eyebrows and eyelashes as black as they are. I clip the pins on the side of my hair into place and head downstairs.

"What did Papa send?" I ask over the sound of Mama rustling through the wrapping of the package.

It's for you, Ku-chan. You know the locked box you got from Ku-kun last November? Papa finally solved it. Isn't that great?"

It must be the original stuffed animal Kusuke took away. Remembering what its supposed content are, I hurry over. "Did you touch it? It might be better to throw it away."

Mama stands back. "Is it cursed? B-but throwing something like this away…won't that be what curses me?"

The stuffed animal isn't what I find. Whatever it is draws my attention with an unspoken force as it stands besides our flower vase, praying solemnly atop a tiny pedestal. It's a wooden-carved idol that's giving off bits of spiritual energy. Leaning in closer, I can see its worn out state, weathered by time and season. It's not anything ancient though. There are marks of slender fingers around it that means whoever owned it has held it religiously while in their possession. It's not Kusuke, that I am sure.

"Well? What is it Ku-chan?"

"It's safe," I ascertain, straightening. "It's… a saint? It looks Christian." The cowl reminds me of nuns, plenty of which I've seen in manga.

Mama hums in thought, leaning in closer for inspecting. "It could be anything. It looks like a woman. If it's Japanese, then it has to be Kannon-sama."

"Oh, I can see that." The Kannon-sama I saw was plumper on the face though.

"Ah, that's right! You were in one of her temples the other day! I wonder why Ku-kun wants you to have a Kannon-sama statue."

I don't know why I would want it either. It's clutter. "Do you want to have it? I'll probably…throw it away."

Mama gasps. "Don't, Ku-chan! That's bad. We have to treat Kannon-sama well. Oh, I know! I'll make a small shrine, and we can put flowers and offerings for her! Oh my, where should we put it, Ku-chan?"

Mama is already giddy with excitement to have a new project. She hasn't had a lot of things to do since I got back to school.

"Have you and Papa prayed to Kannon-sama before?" I ask, recalling that Kannon-sama is a god-doctor that keeps people healthy.

Mama's smile falls. "W-well." She hesitates, looking away. It's very unusual to see her like this. As she's a person that can't lie, some questions can be painful for her. I smile at her as reassurance.

"It's fine. We should eat while the food is hot."

"Ahhh, no, I think you should hear this, Ku-chan. I don't know about Papa, but your Mama didn't. Not because I don't care about you, of course! I love you a lot, Ku-chan, believe me! But when you got that mysterious disease and Dad said something about how the gods would take pity on a precious child like you, I thought, 'Why did they allow Ku-chan to get sick in the first place?' I thought maybe I was a bad mom… but that's impossible. I love my family! The gods are just mean! How dare they hurt my Ku-chan! I got really mad. So instead of praying, I, uh… yelled at the sky when the weather is fair and put rotten vegetables on their altars."

That's a picture that's hard to think about. Mama is always happy. "A-are you okay? I'm sorry if I asked the wrong questions."

Mama shakes her head. "No, it's good that you asked. Mama has been a bad example. You got better, so I forgave the gods. But now, it's Kusuke who's in trouble. It must be punishment for all the bad things I've done."

"Yeah."

Mama looks at me in apparent confusion. "Huh, really, Ku-chan?"

"I mean… It sounds like you did some blasphemous things that would get you cursed. I don't know about gods, but there could have been spirits nearby who reacted badly to what you did. Oh, but you're fine now. I don't sense any curse on you." I think I did expel some minor ones on her a few years back. I don't really remember. It would have been really weak if someone like me could remove it.

With a heavy sigh of relief, Mama stumbles back, her hand grasping at the wall of support. This extreme reaction is not what I expected. My hands flail helplessly.

"I'm really sorry. I didn't know it meant so much to you. I know I'm weak, but I'll do my best to protect you and Papa."

"Ku-chan…" Mama comes up to me and goes on her knees to hug me. "If I'm cursed a hundred times over, so be it. But I can never live knowing you and Ku-kun are being hurt. So if you two get hurt because Mama brought bad things to the house, I wouldn't - I'm a bad Mama."

I relax. She's being unnecessarily hard on herself. "You don't have to worry about that. Besides, it wouldn't be your fault. Maybe you might have done something bad, but that doesn't mean you deserve being cursed. Curses are senseless tragedies. Whoever casts them has no interest in concepts like fairness or justice."

"I see." Mama's worry eases, though she still appears baffled the way she's looking at me.

"We should really eat."

"Yes, of course! Sorry about that." As we head to the table, Mama peers at me curiously. "Say, Ku-chan, this curse stuff. Did you learn this from school?"

"Of course not. Ordinary people don't see curses, so they don't know about them."

"Did you read about it?"

"No."

Mama takes her seat. "Well - it sounds like they're useful things to know about. Anyway, let's dig in!"

Knowing about the existence of curses will only make people afraid. These negative feelings would make curses stronger. It's a problem that is too much for a low-level psychic like me.

Japan should be fine though. Shrines and temples, which keeps curses at bay, are plenty here. If it were serious, everything should have gone downhill a long time ago…

That's right. If the supernatural were a real threat to humanity, life can't be this quiet. Earth would have been roaming with demon kings, demon generals, and demon armies since the Nara period. Reality is more reasonable than manga. More predictable.

Slowly, I touch my chin, in deep thought. What happened in the temple wasn't predictable though. I never meant to go to the temple until Mama found Kusuke's letter. Kusuke's letter didn't specify a time, though I wouldn't have followed it if he had. And if I hadn't noticed how powerful the psychic was, I might have used a barrier instead, which would have been catastrophic. Not to mention I did come to Riki's rescue in the nick of time. Aren't these too many coincidences?

Huh. Now that I think about it, wasn't I pretty heroic?

"Ku-chan, your soup is going to get cold."

Wait, there's even the fact that I ran into Riki! That in itself is already a shock. Not that I know what Riki was doing there in the first place. I can't be crazy thinking this has to be fate in motion. This could be the beginning of my journey.

Later that night, Riki calls my house, excited to share a piece of news. Koriki has come home.

"He looks like he came back from Hawaii! Do you think he learned how to speak Russian?"

The news is startling, and I ask Riki more for details, for clues about the psychic that he encountered on New Year.

"Hmm, not that you mentioned it, it is weird how Koriki showed up in my room when I got home. I don't remember teaching him how to open doors."

"Was there anything else out of place, Nendou-kun?"

"Oh! How did you know? Yeah, there was something else! Besides Koriko, I noticed that my ass-kicking outfit was on my bed. It was really weird! Like, who was I going to fight? Cuz the stats on those things were max! It's serious business!"

"The other day, you were saying… Never mind." If Koriko is okay, there isn't a reason for this conversation. While I was planning on how to deal with the psychic, I was worried getting Koriko back won't be enough to pacify Riki's rage. But Riki really is a forgiving person. There isn't a reason to remind him of upsetting things.

So just like that, after taking a bath, the beginning of my journey has come to an end while I was in my pajamas.

A month passes by. I enjoy what Valentines is like from school. I know you're supposed to return the favor in White Day, but once finals were over, I completely forgot about it. Mama made the chocolates for me in a rush and the girls seem happy with the results. I can't let my guard down with occasions like this.

Chocolate apprehension was my last memory as an elementary student, short as it was. Reality really is nothing like manga.

I don't see the joy in enjoying nature. Why go all the way out to be with trees? There are many wooded areas nearby, and you won't be far away from a convenience store. It saves time and effort from packing food to eat on the dirt with crawling bugs.

As for the mountain trails, I know people use it to stay in shape. Isn't that because it saves money from going to the gym? It's also less weird than jogging down the street, where people will judge you.

Taking a dip into an icy-cold, rushing waterfall sounds pretty nice though. But compared to water parks, waterfalls are smaller. You can't wait in line or know beforehand how crowded it would be. The experience would be ruined if too many people decided at the same time that waterfalls are pretty nice too.

Maybe it's because my parents tried to take me out the hospital as often as possible. I wasn't well enough to travel to the countryside, so they took me to aquariums and parks on days that I felt strong. They have made earnest promises about traveling to Kyoto and Hokkaido, or taking me out to camping or fishing like what every normal family did. When I told them I was satisfied being able to wake up and eat breakfast with them, my parents broke down into tears.

Now, they're not even with me for the next three days. Papa hurt his back, so Mama has to take care of him. They didn't want me to stay cooped at home throughout spring break, so they had me join a relative's camping around Mount Fuji. Though I insisted about staying, Papa was more forceful this time.

"You want to make more friends, right? Your cousin is the same age as you! She's a model student. I'm sure she'll treat you well."

"It's Mount Fuji, Ku-chan! Mount Fuji!"

I don't really care about Mount Fuji. But my reluctance to go made my parents consider I was afraid to be out the house for too long. Once I reminded them that I recently took to Tokyo and Kanagawa alone, they stopped seeing any issue with the arrangement.

I really didn't want to go, but if I didn't look like I enjoyed my time camping, my parents would worry. I have to do my best to enjoy spring break.

On our way to camping ground, we make a pit stop to stock up on food and drinks. All the brands are new and unfamiliar. I don't know why we hadn't bought everything we needed at the city. Isn't the point of camping being away from civilization? Doesn't this ruin the experience?

"Saiki-kun, are you done? Wow, that's a lot of milk!" Compared to my cousin's basket, mine is full to the brim. I don't plan on eating them alone. You're supposed to share your food, right? Camping sounds similar to picnics.

I nod. "Mm. Sorry for taking long. Also, you can call me Kusuo."

"Kusuo-kun, then! In that case, call me Hitomi even when my mom isn't around."

"Are you guys done?" Momozo Takenaka, Hitomi-chan's neighbour, is also in our trip. His family and Hitomi-chan's are close. Since Hitomi-chan is alone with her mom, they do their travels together. "Woah, that's a lot of milk. You're going to crap a lot if you drink all those, Saiki."

"Take-kun!"

"Really? I usually buy this many."

"I'm just saying; there are no flush toilets there. Restroom are always crowded. Didn't you tell him to bring his own portable potty?"

Portable…potty? Aren't those for toddlers? I had nothing against Mount Fuji, but my mind is slowly being changed.

"Ah… Sorry, Kusuo-kun. Take-kun is right."

"It's not a problem. Maybe we can buy one on the way?" I look questioningly at Takenaka-kun. Both Takenaka-kun and Hitomi-chan live close enough to Mount Fuji that they can see it everyday on their way to school. They're seasoned campers compared to me.

"Sure can. Don't worry, we're not going to carry our crap on the way home. There are places in the site for us to drop those. I think you should get more water. Save the milk when you get home."

"I see." I begin taking out the milk and returning them to their shelves. Is there anything else I need to know about camping? The food I picked are the same things I would get from 7 Eleven.

Takenaka-kun seems to read my mind, jumping to be proactive in suggesting. "How about grabbing the local products? If you end up liking them, you can buy them again on the way back."

"Oh, I'll do that! We can share them between us. I have a lot of allowance money to splurge." Hitomi-chan lets out a happy giggle before going back to the aisles. Takenaka-kun watches her disappear, looking pleased with himself too.

After Hitomi-chan is gone, he turns to me. "Hey, Saiki, you haven't known Hitomi for long, right?"

"Today is the first time we talked." I was told she visited me once with her mom, but I was still unconscious at that time.

"Keep this conversation between us. Do this for me as favour for helping you out. How about it?"

Is this what I think it is? No one has confided to me a secret conversation before, so I may have replied too fast. "Mm, I will! What is it?"

"Hitomi's in a great mood since she graduated top of her year."

"Oh - oh wow, that's amazing. Papa told she's a model student. I didn't know she's that smart."

Takenaka-kun looks approvingly at my wonder. "Yeah, that's already impressive, but see, there's a guy that's been beating her in the past two years. Some transfer student who showed up from out of nowhere and never paid attention in class. Not only is he top academically, he's also captain of the school's judo team. So that kind of guy."

My eyes are huge. "Right out of a manga…"

"Yeah, for sure," agrees Takenaka-kun. Curiously, he seems bitter for a second. "But he has a bad attitude. He isn't a bully, but he won't let anyone close. Cold jerk." Takenaka-kun starts explaining right when my imagination is getting ahead of this genius rival student my cousin has been against all these years. "Actually, he and Hitomi are friends. It's the reason why she doesn't want to brag."

"Did they have a fight?" I ask, slightly frowning as I make out the influx of details I'm being given.

"Nope. He congratulated her. Came to the karaoke with us, but I'm willing to bet that's his brother's doing. Anyway, everyone knows Kageyama isn't into studying like Hitomi. Kageyama doesn't care. That's what he thought all this time anyway." A sharp, vindictive grin spreads on Takenaka-kun's features. "It's not about studying or school. Kageyama was so shocked that he could be beaten. He's been acting like Hitomi's friend, yet never came to view her as his equal. If only Hitomi wasn't such a good girl. She should be laughing at having the oh-so-special king dethroned!"

My excitement quickly turns to unease as Takenaka-kun goes on. Takenaka-kun is my cousin's childhood friend. I think he's okay… What do I tell him? Am I supposed to be happy for them?

Takenaka-kun clears his throat. "Anyway, don't tell Hitomi about what I said. Or to anyone for that matter." He reaches to pat me on the back the way Riki does, except it doesn't make me fall over. "Thanks for listening, Saiki. You're a nice guy."

It's a compliment. I can't help but smile. "Oh, thanks!"

For the rest of the trip, Takenaka-kun doesn't bring up Kageyama-kun again, even when it's Hitomi-chan who mentions him in the passing. All conversations we have after are lighthearted and funny. I'm always on the listening end since I don't have stories to tell, but I still find myself talking more than I expected: "That sounds fun," "I wonder how that feels like," "I didn't know that can happen," "That sounds bad. Are you okay?"

And when I'm not talking or chuckling to a joke (jokes I know, jokes I don't understand), I'm occupied helping with duties. Everyone is in charge of something, including me with no knowledge of camping. Each time I segregate and dispose trash, I'm thanked delightedly. I'm doing my best, so that made me very happy.

At the end of the three-day camping, the extra phone battery I brought is left unused. I tell Mama and Papa about what happened, relieving every wonderful sensation still fresh on my vigorously-pounding heart and sweat-laden skin. I shove them the snacks I enjoyed, and the snacks I think they may like.

"Let's go to Mount Fuji," I say quickly between breaths. "I can't wait for spring break to come. I want to go there everyday."