"Whaaaaaaah! Big Brotheeeeer! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" I found myself lying on my bed with a girl on top of me as she was bawling her eyes out. Marie had immediately thrown herself at me and has refused to let go of me since the initial moment she called me her brother. I remained stunned, frozen solid, at what she was actually claiming.
I wasn't built to deal with so many revelations in a single day!
"I was going to tell mom and dad that it wasn't your fault after you finished the game! I was even going to cook your favorites to apologize! I didn't mean for that to happen! I'm sorry!" Marie continued and I didn't know how to feel. My vision started to get blurry and I felt myself getting choked up. Was Marie really her? My little sister from Earth?
"Marie," I managed to say through the lump in my throat. "Are you saying that you're–"
"When we were kids, you didn't want to carry me back home because my feet hurt!" She interrupted me with a story from our childhood. "You didn't believe me and left me alone on the street! I was so scared! I didn't know what to do! But you came back! When I woke up, I was already on your back!"
Before I realized what I was doing, I found myself wrapping my arms around her and crying. If someone had asked me if I hated my little sister for everything she did to me, I couldn't say no. If someone had asked me if I loved my sister despite all that, I would absolutely say yes. The incident with the BL books wasn't really as bad as people on the outside made it out to be. I was planning on moving out at some point anyway. When she made me play that game, I didn't mind it either because of how passionate she was at finding out what happened in it.
My death was my own fault. I couldn't say that she forced me into the marathon I did. I did that to myself. I could have paced myself, looked up more guides and videos, even asked in forums. I wouldn't even have needed to go pay-to-win if I wasn't so obsessed in clearing it quickly for her. I just blamed her in my head to cope.
But now, she was here. She was here and was Marie. My little sister was here.
"It's okay." I whispered into her hair. "I forgive you. I never hated you, you idiot. How can I? You're my little sister."
She looked up at me, her face ugly from crying. Marie shook her head in disbelief. "Why? You died because of me. You should hate me so much."
"I died because I was stupid." I corrected her while patting her head. Then I pinched both of her cheeks and pulled. "But you bitching at me all the time about clearing the game certainly didn't help either."
"I'm sowweeeee~" She warbled out and I couldn't help but laugh through my tears. After that, we just sort of stayed in each other's arms in silence. Neither of us really had any words to be able to express how we felt at that moment. That kind of emotional bomb needed quite a bit of time to really sink in.
"Can't I stay here?" She asked when I told her that she needed to go back to her room to sleep. Well, it certainly didn't take her long at all to start trying to use the puppy dog eyes on me.
"Marie, if you sleep here and people find out, Angie and Clarice might just kill you for real." I pointed out with a raised brow. She made a sour face but didn't argue. I patted her head one more time before she reluctantly left my room.
"Control, I don't know when, but I'm going to burn the Lafan House to the ground." I said the moment the door closed. A very different kind of anger welling up in my chest from the one I felt when I volunteered to become Angie's champion. It was the kind of anger I could see myself willingly sinking into.
I understand your fury. Please ensure that only the responsible parties feel your vengeance.
"I can try." But I didn't promise to try very hard.
If Chris and Livia noticed anything different at breakfast the following morning, they certainly didn't say anything about it. Both Marie and I looked like we didn't sleep at all. I was valiantly trying to chew on some bread while Marie just had her head on the table and was snoring.
"I would greet you all a good morning, but it seems that only half of the table would even be able to respond." A familiar voice suddenly said from nearby. I was able to move my eyes just enough to confirm that it was indeed Deirdre with her own tray of food.
"Dierdre! Come join us!" In contrast, Livia was absolutely being a morning person and was actually packing in more food than I expected someone like her would so early.
"Thank you, Livia." Deirdre sat down in an available chair and turned to Chris. "A pleasure to see you again, Sir Arclight."
"Lady Roseblade. I didn't know you were acquainted with Olivia." He commented. I guess they already knew each other.
"We met while exploring the island yesterday. We all became friends along the way." Livia helpfully explained. My sleep-addled mind whispered that she just acquired another member of her Yuri Harem. If we included Carla, she only needed one more to match Marie's set. One more each and they could have a stacked Pokémon battle.
I squinted at the thought. I definitely needed a nap after breakfast.
"And I assume that the young lady currently planted on the table is the infamous Miss Lafan?" Deirdre asked as she began putting a lot of condiments on her breakfast. Could she even taste the actual food under all that?
"Marie seems to be more tired than expected. She is normally not like this." Oh wow, Chris' claws were showing. No one seemed to be bothered by him defending his lady's honor though and breakfast pretty much proceeded like that. After a while, one of the servers noticed our plight and asked if we wanted some coffee to help wake up. Both Marie and I immediately perked up at the suggestion.
"You have coffee?!" We both exclaimed, with Marie even reaching out and clutching the poor man's arm. After a nice shot of caffeine, we were more able to actually eat our breakfast.
"Does that even taste good? It smells pretty bitter." Livia commented as she warily watched me nurse a second cup of black coffee. It wasn't the best blend, but I wasn't going to complain as long as it woke me up.
"Livia, you have never lived until you have drank coffee." I told her with a nod. Marie grunted in agreement as she drank her own second cup. Was she actually serious when she said that she wasn't going to even talk to Livia? My best friend still looked skeptical and didn't choose to try the drink. Chris declined it as well, stating that he was already awake enough as is. Deirdre tried a cup but quickly put it back down, unable to handle the bitterness of the blend.
There wasn't much to do on the ship that we hadn't already done on the way to the Southern Island, so we all just decided to spend the rest of the morning on the deck. Marie talked to me more than she ever had since we met. The others must have noticed how nice she was being as well. Chris certainly did when he pulled me aside for a private chat.
"Not that I'm doubting our friendship, but I would appreciate some peace of mind in regards to your relationship with Marie." Chris actually looked pretty spooked when he said that.
"Okay, I know how it probably looks." I started and placed a hand on his shoulder. "But I was serious when I said that she reminds me of my sister. It'd be weird if I suddenly became romantically interested in her. So relax."
"Right, I apologize. I already have enough rivals for her heart, you see. I don't think that any of us would be able to compete if you also sought after Marie." He stated in relief. Good news for the boys that Marie really was my sister, so there was no way something like that would have happened.
I apologize for interrupting, but something urgent has come up.
Both Chris and I actually jumped up and turned to the newly visible Control in obvious surprise. "Could you not?!"
Apologies, however the long range scanners of the Nagare have detected a rather large swarm of monsters headed directly towards this ship.
"That's not possible! Surely there is some mistake!" Chris said in a panic. He noticed my confusion and began to explain. "This is a major shipping lane for both tourism and trade. There are constant patrols by the army to ensure that it remains safe. That they would have overlooked a swarm of monsters is ridiculous."
Be that as it may, we have about a half hour before the monsters enter visual range. Shall I engage?
"Do it, but send Black Getter down here first so I can help." I told Control before turning to Chris. "Bring Control with you and go to the teachers so you guys can explain the situation."
"Understood. Follow me, Control." He said before he and the AI quickly made their way back into the ship. I turned around and ran to the girls who were all relaxing on lounge chairs.
"What's wrong?" Marie immediately picked up my expression and asked.
"The Nagare detected a bunch of monsters headed here. Chris and Control are on the way to tell the teachers but I'll intercept them with Black Getter and my ship." I quickly explained and they all sat up in alarm.
"Monsters? Here?!" Deirdre asked in similar disbelief as Chris did.
"I know, Chris already told me how weird it is. But I'd rather be wrong and waste everyone's time than wait and get us swarmed." I answered and then quickly felt Livia tugging at my sleeve.
"Will you be okay fighting them by yourself?" She asked uncomfortably.
"I'll have the Nagare with me. Besides, I haven't exactly been slacking in training with Black Getter either." I confidently said while placing my hand on the one she had on me. Thank goodness that Control had been throwing me into fighting swarms of Mechasaurus.
I looked up and tried to see where Black Getter was going to be coming from. While I waited, I felt Marie bump her head on my back. "Don't take any risks. Run if you have to. I can't–"
"Hey, have a little faith." I said, turning around and patting her head. The sound of the air itself being sliced heralded Black Getter's arrival. Understandably, a lot of people suddenly looked alarmed at the surprise appearance. I turned to Deirdre and nodded to Livia and Marie.
"Can you look after them, Deirdre?" She blinked and gave me a confident smile.
"Of course. Be careful, Leon." A smile I returned before running to the edge of the deck and jumping into Black Getter's waiting hand.
"Come back safe or else Angie and Clarice will be really mad!" I heard Livia yell out from the deck. Black Getter gave her a nod and salute before I made it fly off in the direction of the oncoming monsters.
"How bad does it look, Control?" I asked once I managed to catch up to the Nagare, which was descending from the upper atmosphere.
Seven hundred and thirty total monsters confirmed. Fifty very large types, three hundred, large types, two hundred medium types, and the rest are small types.
That definitely was a lot of monsters. "How the hell did that many slip past the army?"
Unknown. Do you perhaps think this was caused by Hertrude Sera Fanoss?
"I don't know. I would have expected the monsters to be accompanied by the Fanoss fleet if it was. It could just be a freak event." I reasoned out as I landed on the ship's hull.
Or it could be a completely unaccounted for threat.
I rolled my eyes at the implication. "Come on, Control. I was trying to be optimistic."
I was merely pointing out the possibility.
I soon got a visual sighting of the swarm and the assorted creatures certainly looked intimidating. It was like looking at a flying mutated giant aquarium exhibit. From whales, to sharks, to squids, to crabs and shrimps, they had it all.
"They don't have the Fanoss obedience crests on them." I observed. Whenever Hertrude in the game controlled monsters, they would normally have a kind of magical crest visible on their heads to indicate that they were following her orders.
Then she is uninvolved?
"Maybe, but let's take care of this first." I said, grinning when I suddenly got an idea. "How about a combination Getter Beam to start, Control?"
I would love to.
Black Getter flew off of the Nagare just as its armor started shifting to reveal the beam emitters. I maneuvered my Getter Robo to make sure I didn't accidentally get hit with friendly fire and took a deep breath.
"Double Getter!" I yelled out just as the Nagare prepared its own attack. "Beaaaaaaaaaaam!"
[Getter Beam]
The expected outcome happened and a rain of monster corpses started falling out of the sky. That was surprisingly very satisfying to do.
Most small and medium types are confirmed destroyed. Ten very large and seventy large types are also confirmed destroyed.
"Got it." I acknowledged and noticed the smaller monsters moving forward without any fear. "Gonna be hard to keep track of the small ones though."
Chris and the security detail onboard the cruise liner have boarded Armors and are prepared to defend it. Several volunteers among the teachers and student body are also ready to face any oncoming monsters.
"The ship had Armors?" That was surprising, were they stored in the cargo areas?
As part of the security detail, yes. There are six in total. The remaining security personnel will be on deck alongside the other defenders. Deirdre, Marie, and Olivia are among those who volunteered to fight.
"Of course they did." I sighed, getting even more motivation to kill all the monsters as thoroughly as possible. "Better make sure that as few of these bastards get past us then."
I shall warn the cruise liner of any monsters that slip by. The ship's Captain has also already contacted the army for further reinforcements.
"Good. Now then," I focused my attention on the monsters who were finally within the attack range of my other weapons. "You guys picked a bad time to do this."
"Because I am not letting any of you fuckers ANYWHERE NEAR MY LITTLE SISTER!" I roared out as Black Getter flew right into the center of the swarm.