Here is another special!

I own nothing.

-IIXII-

"You dumb dog!"

"You jackass!"

And the two were officially at it again.

Thanks to Ragna and Terumi, none of the kids nearby even dared to enter the playground anymore. Seeing the two intimidating men screaming and cursing towards one another would scare away anyone, and not to mention that they were on the verge of pulling out their respective weapons for obvious reasons.

Though two kids in particular were unafraid. In fact, they were sitting under a tree together without a care in the world, looking as if the sight of the two men arguing and cursing was a common thing for them to see in their daily lives.

"So," Kval started. "who do you think will win this time?" He offered the girl sitting beside him a small smile, which soon earned him a cute little smile in return from said girl. "For me, it's the usual. My brother, of course," he said.

Saya giggled. "You never change, do you? But I have no right to say that, because my answer will always remain the same as it always has been. My brother."

Kval chuckled. "Figures. So, how is Ragna doing with his new work? He isn't beating himself every single day, is he?" The young boy closed his eyes and allowed himself to relax for a change. It was hard for him to find an opportunity like this one where he could just sit somewhere outside relaxing under a tree and have a nice chat with someone he knew all too well, since his daily life has been filled with his older brother's antics for as long as he could remember. His alone time has always have been limited, after all. "I know your brother is a hard worker and all, but…"

"Yes, he is." Saya looked up to the sky above with a small pout, not because she was avoiding the sight of her dearest older brother getting slammed into a seesaw, no, but just because she wanted to. "It's totally fine with me though, to be honest. Working so hard to the point where he gets himself sick just goes to show how much he loves me."

"Huh. I get you." Kval nodded. But one thing was surely bothering him, and he just had to get it out before it could bother him any further. "By the way, don't you get lonely when you're all alone in the apartment? I heard that your brother occasionally comes back late from work." He wanted to add the question if she was scared, but soon shot it down due to realising that this was Saya whom he was talking to. The little lady was brave and scary in her own way. In a way, the two were quite similar. "How do you deal with that?"

Saya held a finger to her chin, her eyes locked onto one of the clouds above with a thoughtful look on her face. "Well my big brother was worried about that himself when he first started working at the café, but I simply eased his worries by telling him that I want to prove to him that I can handle myself all on my own. I also made it clear that I wanted to learn how to properly cook for myself. He was really proud of me when I said all that to him, but at the same time he looked uncertain for some weird reason." She released a small sigh, though that did not stop her from cracking up a smile. "Big brother instincts, right?" she joked.

Kval rolled his eyes at that, smirking. "Totally. Nothing out there beats the big brother instinct. Though I have to wonder why your brother was uncertain, despite feeling proud at the same time…" Yeah. Surely it had nothing to do with Saya's cooking or anything…

"Just him being my overprotective big brother, most probably," Saya said with a slight shrug of her shoulders. "I mean, it has to be."

"Black Onslaught!"

Orochizantō Reppūga

"Oh dear. And there they go," Kval thought out loud as he eyed the epic scene happening in the near distance along with Saya, and yet he did not look all that interested. Not even a bit. "I know this is weird of me for asking, but do you want to do anything? It's going to take a while for these two to settle things, so I couldn't help but wonder." Kval immediately raised an eyebrow when he felt pressure on his shoulder, and with a quick look it revealed that Saya was leaning onto him. If it was anyone else, he would have been flustered, but Saya was one of the people who he had gotten used to knowing. It did not bother him in any capacity. "You doing okay there?" he asked, his lips curling into a smile.

"I'm just…" Saya released a small yawn, her eyes clearly revealing how exhausted she was at the moment. "…a bit out of it. Maybe it's the weather. How about we rest under this tree instead of doing anything else. Sound good? And you wouldn't mind if I borrow your comfy shoulder for a bit, would you? If I knew I was going to get this tired, then I would have brought along a small pillow…"

"Yeah, go ahead. As long as you don't drool on me." Kval received a weak little elbow strike to the side for that one, though even then he still found himself laughing at his own little joke. A quick look at Saya revealed that she was slightly upset, and so he decided to apologise. "Sorry. The urge to joke around was too much for me. No hard feelings?"

"Just shut up and let me rest," Saya grumbled.

-IIXII-

Now that I have taken a closer look, I realised how similar Ragna and Terumi are in this story. Y'know, like having personal problems with their younger brothers respectively, and having to deal with shit that fate has to throw their way every once in a while. But more notably, Saya and Kazuma. Yeah. Their respective smart youngest siblings.

Huh. It took me a while to notice that, to be honest. Oh well.

Anyway, CPL signing out.