It's cold. So cold. Where is she?

Kasai opens her eyes to the pitch black darkness. Is this a dream? It has to be.

She looks around. She tries to call out for someone, anyone who can respond back to her. There was only silence.

When she was left with little options to take, she heard a voice. It was sobbing pitifully as the source cried out, "Sis... Sis...!"

Kasai swerved around. She recognized that voice! "Kaen?! Kaen! It's me, big sis Kasai! Where are you?!" She frantically shifts about, sharpening her ears for Kaen's voice in the black void. "Answer me!"

Kasai's green eyes darts all over the place. Where? Where could he be?!

A ray of amber light radiates from behind. Kasai turns on her heel to behold the horrific memory.

An Infernal burning actively stood before the girl. It was the size of a small child, the same size Kaen stood.

"Why did you leave me?" The Infernal child moaned, charcoal silhouette oversimplifying his visage that was reduced to a pair of blazing empty eye sockets.

Kasai sweats nervously. "I didn't leave you... I would never!"

"Then why are you not here? I'm sad. I'm lonely. I'm scared."

Kasai's light green eyes wavered, wide and unblinking. She slowly shakes her head with quivering lips. "Kaen..."

"Why didn't you put me to rest when you had the chance?" He asked.

Kasai's hands twitched. "I..."

"I'm in pain. I'm suffering. You left me to burn forever. I can't continue living..."

Infernal Kaen grabbed hold of her forearm — the same forearm he had burned on that terrible day. Kasai flinched violently and watched with daunting dread as the Infernal burned brighter than ever and zoomed up to her face. His black mouth spewed fire as he spoke.

"This cannot continue. This cannot continue. This cannot continue this cannot continue THIS CANNOT CONTINUE THIS CANNOT CONTINUE ThiS CanNOt COnTiNue thIS CANnot cONtiNUE-"

Kasai's breath hitched to the point she can't comprehend how to breathe. Infernal Kaen was going to swallow her whole with his flames. Is her arm burning? What is this immense feeling of sorrow paralyzing her body?

She's burning. The flames are spreading to her. Her flesh is lighting on fire. She can't escape his death grip.

Kasai saw only the blazing skull that belonged to her dear little brother.

"IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!"

Grassy green eyes shot wide open. Cold sweat crawled down her face and neck. Her sweaty palms were gripping her blanket tightly that is sure to leave a mess of wrinkles behind.

Kasai pants deeply from her laid position on her bed. She glances to the alarm clock sitting on the counter beside her bed. It was five in the morning, the sky was gradually softening into a light blue.

She reached for her burn scar. Her fingertips graze the bumpy callous surface that is her forearm. The rotten purple color of dead flesh contrasted with her smooth peach pink skin.

She can still feel the flames burning her alive.

Kasai sucked in a great amount of oxygen and shunned her eyes from the world with her other arm obscuring them. The image of Kaen's hellish face was still vivid.

Kasai clenched her hands into fists.

She has to get stronger. She has to find Kaen as soon as possible. She has to become a firefighter.

She doesn't have much time.

~Fire Force~

Kasai didn't think there was much friction between two boys who idolize two kinds of people that can be classified under the same group and argue over which one is better. She stood wrong.

It was the same argument as usual: Shinra's admiration of heroes, or Arthur's admiration of knights? Personally, Kasai doesn't care. Both are perfectly fine in their own way. If she were to ask that question to Kaen, he would have thought the same. To think a ten-year old would be more mature than these two idiots is something Kasai appreciates having a brother like Kaen for.

"We're aiming to be firefighters, though..." Ogun stated. Kasai attested to that but she wouldn't bother spelling it out for the two.

Ogun and Kasai stood by the sidelines as the most sensible bunch of their friendship circle (despite Shinra and Arthur denying each other as friends, much to Ogun's obliviousness), watching the two at each other's throat and butt their heads. Students in immediate vicinity spectate their fight with slight apprehension.

"Heroes are much more badass!"

"Are you nuts?! Knights are!"

"Last I checked, knights fell under the hero category!"

"Pfft, why don't we ask Kasai which is superior then?"

Kasai pauses from her handgrip training. Wait, what?

The redhead shoots a look to Ogun who turned his head to the other side. He's pretending to not be involved. This is something she herself has to face.

"Kasai, which one's better?!"

Silence ensued the area as everyone -both the boys and the rest of the audience- await her reply. Why exactly, she has no idea.

Kasai's brow twitched. She pockets her handgrip inside her skirt pocket begrudgingly and crossed her arms before opening her mouth.

"Neither. Both are fine in their own way. End of discussion." She said without hesitation.

"But if you had to choose-!"

Once Shinra and Arthur dared to speak, Kasai went up to them and swung her fists into the side of their heads for them to collide into each other with a solid thud sound. Kasai proceeds to grind her knuckles into their skulls for the price of one; now two idiots who share one brain cell can exchange freely in this formation.

They cry out in visible discomfort, splitting the silence in half as their howls begged for her mercy.

Kasai speaks above them, "Opinions are opinions for a reason. You can take your silly arguments elsewhere, but when I'm around, you two better be ready for your temples to fall off." She utters darkly at the end which now sounds more of a threat than a scolding.

Kasai releases the two who are left in tears from the numb pressure caving in their heads. It's never delightful to receive a twist of knuckles burrowing into your temples or skull. She usually does this trick playfully with Kaen, but now there are victims added to her list.

Her green eyes roam the courtyard. Lingering pairs of eyes shy away from her gaze and resume to their personal business and chatting with their friends. The atmosphere had returned to normal.

Ogun made a note to not mess with Kasai to the point of becoming another victim like Shinra and Arthur. Who knew Kasai had a short-tempered side to her?

~Fire Force~

The aroma of coffee wafts around the office. Sitting on the counter before Kasai is a porcelain white mug filled with steaming hot instant coffee. It has the zodiac symbol for Aries, which is her sign. There was also an assortment of biscuits sitting on a tray left free to take, though she wasn't keen on plucking one out to eat.

The girl was sitting across the counselor who indulged in her black coffee (the bitterness keeps her awake and is more healthier she said) contained in her black mug. The woman took a long sip before speaking, "I noticed you've been showing signs of short temperament. Am I wrong?"

Kasai glanced away from her mystified gaze obscured by her round glasses. "No..."

"I see." The brunette woman named Mira Kagamine otherwise commonly addressed as Ms. Kagamine in the academy, curtly said. "May I ask what's been bothering you?"

Kasai fiddles with a fresh band-aid on her index finger by rubbing the pads of her fingers through the smooth surface. "Nothing, really."

There was silence.

"Are you on that time of the month?"

"No."

"I was joking..."

Kagamine quirked an invisible brow at the redhead. "Does it have to do with your 'missing' little brother? You seem really anxious these days."

Kasai frowned at the connotation behind the word "missing" but says, "Does it really look that way?"

"To me, yeah. I'm the academy's counselor after all. It comes with the territory to be keen about the little stuff. Body language speaks louder than words, and you're just oozing with impatience and all that stuff." Kagamine said nonchalantly, gesturing with her index finger while her hand was still gripping the mug handle.

Kasai silently sighed. "I hate to admit it, but I miss my little brother too much."

When there was no response from the woman, Kasai looks up from her hands to meet her passive visage.

She was nibbling on a chocolate biscuit as she said, "I think you're having one of your brother-complex moments..."

"I do not have a brother complex."

Kagamine swallowed her biscuit and sipped her coffee. "My apologies. Anywho, let's talk about your life in the academy. How was your two months?"

Kasai casts a quick glance to the calendar hanging on the wall. It was now the first week of December. The end of the year is around the corner and so was the second semester of school, though technically she has only been here for one.

"It was fine." She replied, "I got to make a few friends during that time, and they're good people."

"May I ask: are they mostly boys or girls? Or is it a fair number?"

"...All of them are boys."

Upon seeing the uncertainty rise in her eyes, Kagamine quickly said, "I was just curious when I asked that question. Although, it would be nice if you could also befriend at least one female student in the academy. I don't count."

Kasai gingerly scratched her chin. "Yeah, but they're all pretty harmless and nice boys." Even if they're all idiots, they're endearing idiots she came to appreciate.

"Ah yes, I happened to see them whenever I pass by. The good-looking boy Ash Droy, the Devil Shun Kurosawa and that other boy Obun Monopoly."

"It's Arthur Boyle, Shinra Kusakabe, and Ogun Montgomery." Kasai corrected, exasperated through her teeth. The counselor who forgets people's names wasn't even trying at the last part. Poor Ogun...

"Right. But yeah, swell boys they are. Birds of a feather flock together, they say."

"You're implying that we're weird, then?"

"To be honest, yeah. But the definition of weird differs for everyone. So don't feel alienated by the academy. What's weird is normal, what's normal is weird." Kagamine gets off the leather couch to refill her drink.

Kasai thought that was easy to understand. If she tried to set it up like a riddle, it wasn't that hard to comprehend for her first listen.

To be ostracized by people for her "dangerous" reputation is something she doesn't understand but came to accept. People are quick to judge a book by its cover or readily believe in rumors without solid evidence. Yet with the boys, there was none of that.

She had told herself she shouldn't mingle with others lest she'll attract more attention, but that plan already went down the hatch. At this point she finds that she doesn't really care how others judge her and who she interacts with. To hell with them!

Kasai looks at Kagamine with new light. "No offense, but that was actually good advice."

"None taken." The brunette returns with fresh black coffee in hand. "I sometimes scare myself by the things I say."

Kasai chuckled and proceeds to sip her coffee.

"So what type of boy do you like?"

Kasai chortled in her drink. She gave Kagamine a bewildered look. "Excuse me?"

"Or girl. I'm not judging." The woman added with a placating hand, much to her chagrin. She sets her mug down and laced her fingers together, elbows propped on her knees as she hunched over. "Let's have a girl talk while you're still young and hyper focused on becoming a firefighter."

Kasai recovered from her coughing fit to reply, "I-I don't see how this-"

"I'm a maiden at heart, too, you know. Despite my looks, I thrive on youthful romance. Now give me the tea."

Kasai gave her an apprehensive eye before softly sighing. "I don't have a particular preference. I never even thought about my love life. I'm only 14! Right now my priorities are to find Kaen and to become a Blue Stripe. Romance won't get me to where I want to be, at least the way things are right now."

She meant everything she said. She doesn't have time to get intimate with her potential lover when she has a family to protect and a mission that could cost her life. She's not exactly shying away from the intimacies, but more that her mission to be a firefighter threatens to sever her relationship with her lover. She wouldn't want to leave her significant other for the raging flames.

Kasai slowly meets her gaze.

Kagamine quirked a grin and lifts her mug. "I'm glad to see you have your priorities straight. I'm sure whatever you're struggling with these days, you will persevere through."

She inclines her head to a particular direction and Kasai follows. It was a poster of all 12 zodiac signs aligned in a circle. Kagamine really likes astrology and horoscopes, apparently.

"May the stars guide you to a future that only you can make."

~Fire Force~

Kasai swings her burning fists at Hari who easily sidesteps around them each and every time.

"Too slow! Too soft! Feels like I'm being threatened by a cupcake! Come on, punch me like you want to blow a hole in my body!"

She grits her teeth. No matter how many times she does it, she's only punching air. The girl couldn't land a hit on the large man, much less make contact with his clothes.

Kasai forwards her fist at Hari's torso. He spins away. She lunges her arm towards his side. He takes one long stride as though it was a walk in the park. For a burly granddad, he moves like a bunny.

Kasai's arms grow sore from lifting her fists and pulling her back muscles. She heaves deep pants and stares directly at the elder. He didn't break a sweat.

"What's wrong? I thought youngsters oughtta have lots of energy to burn. Tuckered out already?" He held his condescending smirk above his lifted chin.

Kasai glares. She sends a straight punch. It misses.

Hari's smirk leaves his face. Cerulean blue analyzes Kasai's progress.

"Your movements are rushed. What's buggin' you so much to lose concentration?"

Kasai looks to the ground. "Nothing."

"Nothing? You have a scowl on your face and your brows are gonna stay together 'till it's a unibrow." Hari taps the space closed by her eyebrows. Kasai lifts her brows but still bares a frown. She was silent.

"Is it about Kaen?" Hari inquired.

Kasai's frown deepened. She subconsciously rubs her left forearm covered in a black sleeve brace — the area where she hides her burn scar inflicted by Kaen. She has always worn a disguise that obscures the hideous flesh from public eye. If anyone were to grab it she would immediately flip. It's a sensitive area after all. Even after it recovered a few months since, she could almost feel the burning pain lingering.

"You're desperate, aren't you?" It was more of a conclusion than a question.

Kasai couldn't refute her grandfather. It was true. Each day that goes by without Kaen, her patience was thinning out. She couldn't stop thinking about his safety for a day.

Where is he? How is he faring? What is he doing as they speak? He must be lonely without his family and a home to find solace.

Kasai has been watching the news practically everyday. Any news about an Infernal would rope her in. They could report a finding on an Infernal that was just wandering around until someone witnessed it, and that Infernal would likely be Kaen. There was none so far.

Could Kaen be hiding somewhere most people wouldn't venture? If so, where? Kasai doesn't know.

"Patience is virtue," Hari began, "Your lust for power is causing you to hasten your progress."

"I know! It's just..." Kasai finally spoke, "I don't want to keep Kaen waiting. As long as he's an Infernal, he will suffer from the flames."

She lifts her hands and stared at them. They were no longer the delicate petite hands she had. Her fingers, marred with blisters from using the handgrip and other training weights countless times, are becoming rough. The collective blisters sting so much. Yet she has to clench her fists and keep them balled the entire time. She couldn't even tend to her injuries during her training since her flames burn the bandages away.

"On that day, he looked at me. The Fire Force could have ended his misery right there if he hadn't looked at me for help. He didn't want to return to the raging flames. I don't know why, maybe he's scared of death more than the long term agony. Whatever it was, he wanted to keep living. And I...I'm the reason why he's still out there."

Kasai crestfallen.

"If he truly wants to live, then I want to at least be there with him. It sucks surviving all by yourself and suffering alone without having someone to confide and share the pain with. I don't want Kaen's loneliness to prolong further than it should be." She's his big sister, after all. Her role is to support and protect the little sibling. She understood that the day Kaen was born. She intends to carry out her duty to the very end for as long as she has someone to protect.

Hari was silent for a moment.

Suddenly he claps either of her cheeks with his palms and firmly holds her head in place. Ouch.

"I'm a man who doesn't dwell on things too long. I don't expect my grandkids to do the same either." His eyes soften the slightest. "You and Kaen are strong. Both of you are determined little kids. I doubt your brother will lose hope as long as he has you and vice versa."

Kasai stares wide eyed at the man before she returns his gaze evenly. "Yeah... You're right. Thanks, grandpa."

The feelings of remorse still remain.

Hari released her to tap her temple. "Just keep fighting. That's how humans overcome obstacles. When you understand that's the way of life, you'll never stop in one place for too long."

~Fire Force~

Apple green eyes scrutinize the boy intently from afar. Shinra and the boys were playing soccer at the courtyard while she sat at the bleachers as their only audience. She is not good at sports so she opted to watch instead while continuing her handgrip training as usual.

Early into their friendship, Kasai had learned that his tendency to smile when under pressure is a bad habit that never goes away for him. It stemmed from the fire incident that killed his family, the same incident everyone assumed he was guilty of when really it was an Infernal that changed his world for the worse.

His smile can be misunderstood for several different reasons under certain scenarios. Poor guy gets called out as a pervert or creep when really, he's a nice person who has good intentions. What pervert/creep idolizes heroes from comic books?

What bothers Kasai the most is that people degrade him and his peculiar way of grinning. She thought his smiles, though can be rigid and awkward, is a charming point of the boy. She actually admires that he can smile even under the most unpleasant and uncomfortable moments.

It may also be just her wondering how he has shark teeth. Did he inherit it? Whoever he inherited from gave him a cute trait.

Wait. Did she just call him cute? No, she was not thinking about her friend like that. She genuinely thinks it's adorable, though Shinra himself would find it doubtful. Is she weird for thinking that way? Has no one commented how endearing his smiles are? Hold on, this is not helping her defend herself!

Kasai internally sighs to herself, her hand on her handgrip slackening before she shook her head and refocused back to her training.

She'll keep her thoughts to herself for now. She might die from embarrassment if she openly compliments Shinra about it. He could take it the wrong way, and then make things awkward and she wouldn't want that.

Kasai suppresses a shiver from the winter breeze. Why would people play sports outdoors in the freezing cold? They could get sick. They could have used their pyrokinesis but that's not allowed since they would be "playing with fire."

At least for Kasai she can discreetly use her powers to warm her hands up. She's not sure about the others and how they counter the cold.

She watched as Shinra and Arthur stopped passing the soccer ball and march up to each other to butt heads. Ogun abandoned his station as the goalie to moderate whatever they were arguing about.

Kasai stands up. Now what are those idiots doing?

As she jogs up to the middle of the field, she overhears them arguing.

"-Say that one more time! I dare you!" Shinra barked at Arthur.

"I'll repeat as many times as I want! Don't get so close with Kasai, Devil." Arthur says.

Said girl slows down. Are they fighting about her? Two boys are getting riled up over her? To be fought over is something a lot of people might feel flattered about, but Kasai is very conflicted. She doesn't know what she did to cause this!

"What's this about me?" She spoke up, causing all three heads to look her way.

"Nothing!" Shinra was quick to deny that they were indeed arguing something about her.

"The Devil shouldn't be acquainted with you, that's what." Arthur answered in spite of Shinra insistence on changing the topic.

Kasai was confused. "You tell me this after two months?"

"Yes. I was tolerant until I deemed that he should no longer be affiliated with us." Arthur responded.

"Arthur, don't say that..." Ogun says.

Shinra huffs. "You don't get to decide stuff like that, jerk."

Kasai sighs. "Well, I want to stay friends with Shinra, Arthur. I appreciate your concern, thank you, but I know Shinra won't do anything dangerous or whatever."

"However-"

"If that's the case then I should leave too."

The boys were rendered speechless by her sudden words.

Kasai meets their bewildered eyes indifferently. "Shinra and I are pretty much on the same boat. I won't stand for this isolation, Arthur. If he goes, I'll go."

"Kasai..." Shinra looks at her in awe. Does that mean she's on his side?

The blond frowns. "...As the princess wishes. I'll allow the Devil to mingle among us."

Ogun smiles. He was glad Kasai was able to mend things before they fall apart.

Kasai sighed. "You guys make me worry so much, it's giving me a headache. I don't know why you two were fighting over me in the first place. It sounds like you're fighting for my love," She teased. At this, Arthur and Shinra looked away.

"But," she continued, "I don't want you guys to cause conflict for someone like me. Besides..."

She lifts both hands up.

"I have two hands for a reason."

The boys shared eye contact. Ogun was the first to burst into laughter. When Arthur and Shinra gave him a look, he stops laughing to say, "She's not wrong."

Kasai held her outstretched palms for them to take. For once, they weren't constantly working out nor covered in band-aids. Her hands were free from blisters, a sight that relieved the boys. They were aware of how much she uses her hands to train to the point that she once came to school with fully bandaged hands.

"Come on, I don't have all day." She said.

Shinra and Arthur shot quick glances at each other before they accepted her hands.

Her hands are really warm. Actually, she must be using her pyrokinesis to make that possible.

The warmth radiating from her palms melted the frosty coldness away. Kasai's lucky to have an ability that simply heats up her hands. She wouldn't need gloves nor friction to generate heat.

The boys sighed in content as the heat waves transfer through their arm. It's like holding a heating pack, except it was slim and soft to the touch.

Meanwhile Kasai was suppressing the urge in her hands from twitching. Holding hands with boys is actually making her really nervous. She hopes her sweaty palms wouldn't bother them, if they had noticed. Ugh, she seriously despises her clammy hands, no joke.

"Okay, that's enough holding hands for the day. Can you guys let go?" Kasai asked after realizing they were still keeping a firm grip on her limp hands.

"No." Shinra and Arthur refused in unison, only to look at each other mildly surprised. For once, they agreed on something, but for this?

Kasai's eyelids fall flat. "I can't believe this is the one time you two agree..."

"A hero always reaches his hand out to save people."

"A knight escorts the princess through the perilous cold."

"I'm pretty sure you two just wanted to hold a girl's hand, that's all." Ogun stated with a knowing smirk, much to their insistence that the way he had phrased it sounded like they had ulterior motives. They just wanted to have their hands warmed by her flames in the freezing cold. Though that wasn't a lie, that was only part of the reason.

Kasai was amused, though. They probably never got the chance to hold the opposite sex's hand. How cute. Her personally, she doesn't really have interest about the intimacy and hand-holding unlike the boys. In fact, she'd rather stay away from too much handshakes since she is so damn self-conscious of her clammy palms.

She'll let it slide this once. This is the only -and hopefully last- time this will happen.

Kasai inclines her gaze to the gray sky. "If you really want to keep this up, go ahead. Just know that I will soon need to use the ladies' restroom..."

"We'll get in detention -or worse, suspended- if we go that far..."

Kasai laughed by the nose.

~Fire Force~

A flaming head bored its orange hollow eyes into her soul. She has dreamt the same scenery countless times since this began — a black space where only her brother stood to light the darkness with his charcoal vessel.

"Why are you taking forever to find me?" Infernal Kaen began. "I can't live without you, big sis. Come find me quick."

Kasai's expression creased. "...I don't know where you are though. I'm trying to keep a lookout, but do you think you can tell me?" Kasai asked softly.

Silence.

She heaved a sigh. "It's hard, Kaen. I'm only one girl in this world that's searching desperately for you. Even if I ask for help, everyone will want you to return to the raging flames. But then... Why did you look to me for help? You should have listened to me when I told you to wait for the Fire Force, but you fought back. What is your reason to stay attached to life? You know how painful it is to keep living as an Infernal."

No response.

Green eyes glimmered sadly. "It's more painful for me to know my brother is suffering alone in the dark while I'm out in the light training to become strong without you at my side."

She pressed the palms of her hands against her face to obscure her visage crippling behind the mask.

"You shouldn't learn of pain so unforgiving and torturous while you were only ten..."

She sinks to her knees as though pleading.

"If only I had combusted instead of you..."

...

Kasai should have held back. She has always been up to this point. A heart untouched by the evils of hollow words that only know to spew malice. At least, that's what she thought.

Her fists clenched a student's uniform collar tightly, the temptation to snake her fingers around his neck and strangle him an inviting offer. He sweats nervously from the rise of heat radiating from her grasp.

"Say that shit one more time," she spat lowly, eyes wide and penetrating the student in all its menacing neon luminescence. Her dark pupils flicker to her light V erratically as her ignition ability teetered between setting the student on fire and pulling her punches back.

Prior to this dangerous turn of events, she was going to grab a drink from the vending machine when a student from the academy was spouting toxic remarks about her and Kaen, saying how she should have "gave up like a good girl" and "stop playing house with a monster" that he addressed as Kaen.

The next she knew, she abandoned her school bag to the side and pressed him roughly up against the wall beside the vending machine.

Despite being at the mercy of her hands, his lips shakily twisted into a smirk. "Your brother is dead. Has been since the day he turned into an Infernal. Why bother looking for a dead body? Turning a blind eye is why idiots like you will die an early death."

Kasai grinded her teeth. "Insult me however you want, but don't ever disregard my little brother like that! How could you say such things?!"

He sneered. "You address your brother like he's human. He's anything but human. And you'll never save him with wishful thinking."

Kasai pulls her arm back.

The male student grabs her other arm that was holding him and squeezes it.

"Argh!" The asshole grabbed her weak spot — her left forearm!

He shoves Kasai off him. The redhead staggers and remains on her two feet. She held her arm and glared daggers at him. How can he be so cocky?

As though he had read her mind, he tells her, "I know you won't hit me. You'll get suspended by the academy for violence, and you wouldn't want that, do you?"

Kasai snarled at him. The sting was still lingering.

He sniffed in laughter. "How feral. It's almost hilarious. Now both siblings are monsters." He adjusts his crumpled uniform collar and picked up his bag before leaving a disgruntled silent Kasai alone in the empty lot.

Kasai didn't know how long she stood boring her normal green irises at the concrete wall. It was actually five minutes later when the numbness paralyzing her entire arm died down that she returns in front of the vending machine.

Now burdened with an overbearing weight of weariness, Kasai inserted a coin and selected a drink.

However, once she did, she discovered a new unfortunate problem.

Her brow almost twitched.

The damn drink got stuck halfway and wouldn't completely fall through the slot!

"Son of a..." Kasai cursed openly in the vacant lot without worry of another presence wandering the area. She didn't care. Nothing could quell her lingering wrath boiling inside her now. She had to take it out on something, and that something will be the stupid vending machine that decided to make her day worse.

She attempted to shake the cube. Despite the warning sign, she didn't give a crap if it were to somehow fall on top of her. She has the arm strength to easily push the threat off her.

After the can inside did not budge, Kasai grumbled and crouches low. She will get her drink no matter what it takes.

She slips her (right) arm past the door and roams her hand around. She couldn't tell from her perspective if she was getting warmer to her intended target.

She grunts. "Come on... Reach, damn it..."

"Kasai?"

Said girl almost flinched. She recognized that voice.

She tilts her head away from the window of the vending machine to the boy standing in front of her.

Bright red stare oddly at rather serious green. He would have taken her seriously if she wasn't in a peculiar funny dilemma.

"... I bought my drink, and I'm going to get it." Is what she stated as a matter of fact after a few seconds of awkward silence. Her determination would not be stopped by her friend.

Shinra quirked a brow. "I guess even you have your moments."

Kasai avoids his gaze.

His eyes soften, a concerned frown settling his lips. "...Are you sulking?"

"...No, I'm not." Kasai said with a sulky frown that turned out more as an angry pout to the boy. She resumes searching for the trapped drink in the machine.

"Do you want me to help?"

"No..." She replied. Her pride is acting stubborn. Probably because of the sulk.

A clanging sound was heard. Kasai had managed to make the can fall to the bottom by coincidence.

She removes her arm and grabs the beverage. She stands straight and rolled her arm back from the stiffness.

"Finally..." Kasai looks at the cool beverage in her hand.

It was a can of black coffee.

She stared at it before abruptly banging her forehead on the glass with a coherent thud, groaning. The hand containing the drink she fought through to get was limp by her side. It somehow made her lose her will to open the spiteful drink.

"Kasai? You okay?"

"No, I'm not, actually..." She spoke after a pause. She glanced to a particular item that was among the variety of drinks and brands.

It was a bottle of apple juice. The same brand that her brother likes so much. Pretty much anything with apples was his favorite.

No! Pretty much anything with apples are his favorite. She is not going to use past terms for Kaen. He's alive, she just knows it.

The fresh memory of the male student's words hammer her mind. How irritating. If she bumps into him again, she'll... She'll hope he chokes on an apple one day.

From the corner of her eye, Kasai asks Shinra, "Did you want to get a drink, too?" She lifts her head off the vending machine.

"No, I'm good." The boy replied.

She hummed in acknowledgement, having no words to spare.

"...Wanna sit down at a park nearby and talk about it?" Shinra offers after reading the bitterness scrunching her visage. Or perhaps that was just because she was half-glaring at the bitter coffee like it was at fault for something.

Kasai didn't look to him. "Yeah..."

The trip was quiet and brief. It didn't take the pair long enough to enter a park and settle on a vacant bench.

The park is peaceful and quiet. Shinra glances from the corner of his eye to Kasai beside him. She was staring into the gray cloudy sky of no particular interest as a thin line had shaped her lips. He waited until she was ready to speak.

"I..." She uttered, "I've been having these dreams for a couple of months now. I always see my brother in them, but as an Infernal. Every time I see him, the more I get restless."

Her eyes creased. "I want to hurry up and become a firefighter. I can't keep him waiting, not when I know he's alive —and suffering."

Kasai truly doesn't have solid evidence that proves Kaen is still walking on this land, but at this point, she thought she could have been communicating with him through her dreams this whole time.

Green eyes squint. "When I see my Infernal brother, I couldn't help but almost cry. He's scared of loneliness and the dark. Sometimes when he cried, I had to act as the big sister model and be strong for him."

She leans her back on the bench, still gazing into the atmosphere as she continued softly, "He thinks of me as his strong and gentle big sister, but... What kind of sister am I to show my weak side and destroy his hopes of salvation?"

Kasai inhales before releasing a deep breath. A knot formed in her throat, yet she spoke.

"I failed to be someone he can rely on. I failed to protect my family."

That's why, a reason that was in the depths of her mind, she has been training and gaining wounds all this time — to atone for not fulfilling her role as the eldest sibling.

Shinra was silent throughout it all, red eyes staring at the ground before his feet in deep contemplation.

Kasai crestfallen and fiddled with her fingers that became unbearably disgusting for her to acknowledge these hands belonged to her. The hands that failed to reach a canned drink fails to reach for the one she wishes to save.

A dark shadow casts across her now verdant green eyes. She resents herself. Why didn't she return Kaen to the raging flames?

She was a spineless coward who has no conviction even for her close blood family member.

That could be why her flames are so impure and weak. She lacked the resolve to truly carry out her will this whole time.

"I'm sorry," Kasai said to Shinra, "I'm venting a lot when you have it worse than me." He lost his mother and infant brother in a fire incident at the age of five; almost a whole decade he lived through being ostracized by society under the rise that he was guilty of his family's death. Kasai only lost her brother to the hell flames for half a year, yet she's pushing her bottled up sentiments onto him like she is the one traumatized the most.

Now that she puts it that way, she's an asshole for telling him this.

"Just forget I said all that depressing stuff." She suddenly stood up. The guilt ushers her feet to move away from Shinra. This is why she doesn't admit to people about her pent up feelings. She assumes she has it rough when there are plenty of people in the world who suffer much more severely than her. If only she pretended to be strong and brush everything off, neither of them would have to confront their situations they try so much to push away.

"Wait!" Shinra cried. He grabbed her wrist before she could leave.

Kasai looks back. She was almost startled out of her shell when Shinra abruptly stood up to grasp both her hands.

"Wha-"

"I know you're strong." Shinra said firmly, boring his eyes directly into hers. "These hands are proof that you sacrificed a lot to get to where you are. You haven't failed anything. Your brother has faith in you as his older sister. So don't give up!"

He grins widely. "You're gonna be the hero he looks up to, after all!"

Kasai stares with a mystified glaze until she finally quirked a smile. "I knew you were gonna say something like that." She slips her hands away from his grasp and, after a second of hesitance, cups his jawline. Her thumbs graze the corners of his lips.

His lips tighten from the touch. Her hands, though undergoing the pressure of training and have grown callous to this day, are small and soft. He had occasionally heard the girl complain about her clammy hands under her breath (hence why she rarely ever wants to make contact with her palms), and while he wouldn't deny the fact they are, he thinks they represent Kasai perfectly; an insecure girl who still reaches out to protect those she cares about in her moments of courage.

Shinra swallowed his saliva behind his sealed mouth and suppressed a shiver crawling his spine. She's so close! He can smell the mild sweetness of strawberries that fueled his nostrils for more of their teasing aroma. He wonders how soft her glowing fair skin feels through his touch. And her glossy, silky hair- Gosh, how can girls be so intoxicating? Damn hormones!

Her rosy pink lips parted.

"You know, I've been meaning to tell you this but... I like your smiles. They're cute."

Shinra would have thought the blush rising to his cheeks was the result of her pyrokinesis. He was flustered by the random topic brought into him almost too calmly by Kasai. Because of the hands lingering on his jaw, he spoke softly under his breath, "Wh-Where did that come from..."

"I mean it, though. A lot of people think ill of your unnatural grins and call you a devil, but I think it's endearing." She released his face (to Shinra's relief yet underlying disappointment) and gestures her index finger to her teeth. "Did you inherit your sharp teeth from your parents? Whoever gave you the genes gave you a gift. You should wear them proudly."

Shinra was speechless. Cute? Endearing? Never would he hear someone call his smile those things. To hear them from Kasai, the one and only person he has met to never judge him for his crooked and misunderstood smiles since day one, actually warmed his heart. She was genuinely honest about what she said.

Gingerly rubbing the areas left by Kasai's lingering warmth, he shies his eyes away from her unwavering gaze that seem to penetrate his soul. The gentle and uplifting green eyes that never sees him for the identity fabricated from rumors...

They were so warm that he almost wanted to cry.

Shinra bit back the swelling of wet tears with a shy smile that couldn't resist stretching from ear-to-ear. He must look really smitten now, much to his embarrassment. "R-Really...?"

Kasai nodded. Her sights rest on the patch of grassy green that matched her's. "You may not realize it, but smiles give people hope. They tell them to not worry, that everything will be all right, that they're here to save the day."

She quirks a brow at Shinra and taps the corresponding temple.

"Remember, heroes are strongest when they smile."

Red eyes widen.

Kasai grinned, resolution framing her eyes. The clouds open its curtains to invite the soft rays of the sun upon Tokyo.

"That's why I'll keep fighting to become strong like you, Shinra."

~Fire Force~

Kasai was back in the same dream world where she dreamt of Kaen.

"Kaen..."

Kasai pursed her lips. "I know. I know how you feel all too well. That's why the only thing I can do for you now is to tell you to have faith in me. Please wait for me, Kaen. Big sis will get stronger."

She lifts her balled fists. "I'll pull you out of this darkness with these very hands. That's what my powers are for."

Kasai approached Kaen and caresses his cheek despite the burning flames. Her expression unwavers as she meets his beady round orange eyes.

"I'll come to take you home. Infernal or not, you're still my baby brother." She smiles softly.

If Infernals could shed tears, Kaen's eyes become fluid blobs instead.

Kasai embraces Kaen. In that moment, light sheds on the black dimension. The white light travels across the blackness until the scenery revealed to be a verdant green garden lit by the gentle sunlight and a canvas of clear blue skies. A tall tree stood on the hill they were on, apple blossoms blooming.

Kasai was now holding a human boy in her arms. Short burgundy red hair prickled her hand and cheek.

A pair of tiny arms wrap around her torso. Kaen snuggles deeper into the crook of her neck.

A smile was heard as he spoke, "So warm..."

The world becomes white.

...

Sunlights seeps underneath the curtains of her bedroom. Kasai slowly rises from her sleep. Today is the first day of a new school year to come.

When Kasai was dressed in her school uniform, she stood in front of the bathroom mirror and pulled the corners of her lips for a wide, firm smile.

She nods to herself in contentment.

"All right."

'I'll become someone you can rely on even in the darkest times, Kaen.'

She'll grin and bear the pain for as long as she has someone to protect.

[Those Who Smile Widest Are the Strongest]

Name Trivia Corner

Mira is a play on word for "mirror" so if you pronounce Mira, it would sound like mirror. Kagamine is roughly "mirror" in Japanese also, so it's basically mirror mirror lol.

Random Trivia Corner - Kasai's favorite school subject is English while her least favorite subject is Mathematics.

I think I'll need one more chapter before we go straight into the canon plot. Please bear with me!

See you next update~