Update: 23/12/2023
Note: Translation By Microsoft.
Chapter 1: Are You Important to Me?
Knock-knock
I was banging on the oak door that belongs to my brother's room.
He had heard that he had recovered from the city incident, where he vanquished a stray demon and ended up with broken feet so that he could defeat it.
It's an amazing thing Mikoto-onii-chan did!
But it's a pity that I wasn't with him to see the incredible actions he did to defeat that street demon; he had shown a superior strength that doesn't belong to a 7-year-old.
Now I want to see if Mikoto is 100% recovered from his broken feet, he had been in his bed to recover his broken bones, his bones had been found in small pieces.
It seemed that he had struck an iron wall with all his might to leave it in this sorry state.
The truth is somewhat surprising, I don't want to imagine the pain of having to glue something and break the bones in my feet on the spot.
It would be an excruciating pain to endure.
—Hmm? Who is it?
I heard my brother's voice asking on the other side of the door.
—Rias!
—... Okay, come in.
He had heard a small noise as if he was putting something away.
Clac
I opened the door and stopped thinking about the noise I had heard.
—How are you, Mikoto-onii-chan?
I was more worried about his condition than about anything my brother was hiding.
—I think it's better, my feet aren't broken anymore.
My brother said as he made movements with his feet in the air, showing that his feet had recovered; In a few seconds he moved his feet faster and ended up moving my hair a little.
—You should calm down a little, Mikoto-onii-chan; You're not in a competition.
—Well, you wanted to know how I'm doing. —My brother said as he lifted his shoulders.
—But you exaggerated a little to prove that.
I responded nervously to his actions.
—It's better to demonstrate rather than worry people more.
—I suppose you're right.
—Hmm, you came to see that I'm recovered, didn't you?
—Yes! Although the truth also wanted to know why you fought with the demon.
It's another reason why I came, it's rare for a kid to fight someone older and stronger than him.
He must have an important reason why my brother fought.
—Well... Rias, I think the most important thing to think about in your little head is that I didn't have such an important reason to fight.
—Hmm? That's weird, isn't there some reason why you fought?
My brother was very confused as to what to answer.
—Hmm... Maybe... I just wanted to repay the gratitude of the person who was in danger, since he was taking care of me in the months that I was running all over the territory. Is that a reason?
Brother... I'd like to know what's in your head, it gives chills like you think the lives of the people around you are, you saved a person's life because of their gratitude.
Why isn't that an important reason?
I guess I can't be surprised by that, he always has his mind thinking about something else that I think is important to him.
While acting like a puppet following my father's orders.
Seriously, it seems that my brother doesn't have a life of his own.
—Obviously it's a reason, you saved the life of a person who took care of you when you were out of the house. You should value the lives of those around you more.
(Tsk, I'm being scolded by a little girl; I was busier looking for my past than appreciating this life and those around me.) Mikoto thought.
—I suppose... Maybe I'll try.
—... I'll ask you this, is the person you saved important or not?
I said, looking seriously into his eyes, that he had a confused tic.
(Elisa-chan is important or not... But the truth is... How can I define if a person is important to me? Elisa-chan has been taking care of me in these months without reproach of always arriving at her premises at a standstill, I even have fun being by her side and helping her in whatever way I can when I am resting in her premises. Is she really important?)
—You don't seem to know what to say.
I went to my brother and hugged him with great strength.
—You're important to me! And I'm glad you're okay!
I would not have liked to lose my brother, if the story had been tragic that he died this place would be a cemetery for several days until we recover the pain of having lost someone important in the family.
—Yes, I know... But you should calm down, I'm never going to die.
—Silly!
—Why?
—You can't be sure you're never going to die!
—Tsk, you don't understand that I'm never going to die.
—Fool, fool, fool! My brother is the dumbest of fools!
—Who do you call a fool?
—My brother Mikoto-onii-chan! Believing he's never going to die!
—You, you want to fight, right.
—This time I'll win! I can now use my destruction magic after I've spent 1 year trying to use it!
—Ha, how stupid you are; Never reveal your enemy you [Ace] up your sleeve.
A sibling fight had started in the Gremory house, which ended up destroying several parts of the mansion.
In the end, their parents scolded them and punished them for a week without being able to play and read books.
Things that affected Rias and Mikoto.
I sighed.
I was in my room now a little destroyed by the quarrel with my sister.
I went to where I hid the blackboard and began to erase everything written on it.
And I grabbed the documents given by my brother and crumpled them up to a little ball of paper, I used destruction magic so as not to leave a small trace of the documents.
I wouldn't want them to find out what I was doing, I might confuse them because of the information I wrote on the board and not understand what I was looking for.
It's best to leave everything blank without anything to confuse you.
Sigh
A week punished without reading a book... I wanted to look for more information, but I think it's time to put my past aside.
I received a little scolding from Rias for valuing my life and those around me.
Something that might have affected my head a bit.
Is Elisa-chan someone important to me?
I'll have to see tomorrow and find out if it's really important to me.
|The next day, far from Elisa-chan|
I was sitting on a bench watching Elisa-chan from afar.
I didn't want to go near her.
I was looking for my point of view if there is anything that she can turn out to be a person of importance to me.
He just watched as he served his customers with a small smile and handed them the plates of food that looked delicious.
... I want to eat their food.
Elisa-chan cooks wonderfully.
But now I can't go to her, I was looking for an answer.
How can I define a person is important?
I don't think it helps to observe it from afar either... should I get closer?
For now, I'll continue to watch her from afar.
Maybe I'll come up with an answer, and if I can't find it, I should get closer to it.
It's been an hour, and I really can't find an answer.
I've just been smiling like an idiot watching her work.
I'm happy to have saved her... What would have happened if she died...
Was he sad?
When it comes to feelings, I find myself very confused, I even think it's very problematic and annoying.
—Hello young man.
Mmm? A gentleman came up to my bank.
—Hello, sir. Looking for something?
—Haha, not really; But you're sure you're looking for something, I see that your thoughts are very lost. Maybe I can help.
How strange, I never let people read me so easily, I've acted like a puppet of my father.
—I have no idea what you're talking about, sir.
—I've watched you look at that beautiful demon girl.
The gentleman said as he looked at Elisa-chan as well.
—You have very sharp eyes, sir.
—Haha, I guess. Then you can tell me to look into it.
I don't know if I can trust him. But for this time, I'll stop being suspicious of people.
—Well, I was looking into her if she's important to me.
—Oh, that's an interesting thing to hear, especially in a child. The way you see a person is somewhat intriguing. You see the young lady as a coin if she has an important value. When in most cases an important person is just because yes and that's it. But if you're looking for a little more than just that answer, maybe you can think of another perspective; remembering important things by being with her and asking yourself, Are you happy around her? Are you amused by that person? Does it catch your eye? Do you love her as if she had the need to care for and protect? These are questions that your heart has to decide the answer to.
—Let my heart decide?
—Yes, you stop thinking calculatedly and look at different horizons. Obviously, you can't always let your heart decide, but since you're thinking about whether that young lady is important to you, you can let your heart decide.
Tick
Listen to the alarm of a clock coming from the Lord.
—Oh, it looks like I've got to go. It's a shame, I would have liked to talk to you more, it's an interesting issue that you have to solve, and I would have liked to see its ending.
—I know it may be personal to you, but is where you're going important?
—Haha, sure, I have no problem answering that. I go to my wife; she is the important person that my heart decided to take care of. But if young man you should not confuse friendship, family, and love; When you go to tell someone that is important to your heart, you must state for what reason or else you will cause unnecessary misunderstandings.
—Thank you, sir.
I saw the man's back retreating. And I kept thinking.
It was a short talk, but it ended up confusing me with one thing in the end.
Love.
Isn't love the same for friendship, family, and relationship?
Sigh
I guess it has its difference too.
Next time I know what book I'll have to look for.
So, remember important moments while being with Elisa-chan.
Although the moments were the same from time to time.
Are you happy being by their side?
The truth is, seeing what she was like and seeing how she acted according to her emotions, you're kind of happy to see her.
Were you having fun?
Well... I had fun when he taught me how to cook... I don't think I count that as fun.
Does it catch your eye?
I think that's a question with a different kind of answer. But I guess so.
Do you need to take care of it and protect it?
Got it?
The truth is, I don't know, at the time of saving her it was to repay her gratitude. There was no other reason why I wanted to protect her.
Sigh
Let my heart decide?
How the hell will I know an answer like that.
It's the first time I've heard that I let my heart decide.
Tch, this is really annoying.
Damn Rias.
I would have left everything he said to a part of my brain that never remembers it and left it in oblivion.
—Fufu was asking me why you had never come to my place, and I see that you are here resting.
Listen to Elisa-chan's voice.
—Oh, hello?
I was thinking about how to forget what Rias said, that I ended up greeting her as a question.
—Hello? Perhaps we don't know each other now.
—No, no, I was just thinking about something; I didn't realize it was you.
—Okay, can you tell me what you were thinking.
—Ah... Hmm... why are you here? I think you should still be at work.
—I just closed the place, to get closer to you. You seem to be very lost.
I'm too lost.
—While you search your thoughts for whatever it is that has you missing, I wanted to thank you so much for saving me.
She said as she knelt carefully and as I grab my hands together with hers. And I saw his face.
—Seriously, thank you so much for saving me! If it wasn't for you, my life would have been over! Thank you so much, Mikoto-chan!
She was crying, but still smiling with tears of happiness that fell from her closed eyelids down her cheeks and ended up on the floor.
"You should value the lives of those around you more."
That's what Rias said.
"You can let your heart decide."
That's what the gentleman said.
As I know my heart's answer. I'm just feeling a little pang of pain from seeing her crying.
Is that prick an answer?
I don't understand any of this.
But first I have to talk to Elisa-chan to calm her down and stop crying.
—You don't need to thank me Elisa-chan, protecting you was something I needed to do; I couldn't allow you to lose you when you're someone important to my heart.
Sometimes there is no important reason why a person becomes important to you, is what the Lord said; But if I want to, I can see from another perspective as you said.
Seeing Elisa-chan's smile, seeing how happy she is working, seeing how much fun she has when she teaches me how to cook, spending time with her where I am happy, are all reasons why Elisa-chan is important to me.
Losing her would have changed something negative for me, as would losing my family and the people who take care of me. All of them are important to me, for whatever reason or not.
The truth is that it was a very annoying subject because I let myself be influenced by the words of Rias and the lord.
—Important to your heart? Are you confessing to me, Mikoto-chan?
Elisa-chan said looking me in the eyes, she had tears held back and her eyes were a little red. But his face looked like a contained happiness, as if it was going to explode because of some comment my mouth said.
"But if young man you should not confuse friendship, family and love; When you go to tell someone that is important to your heart, you must state for what reason or else you will cause unnecessary misunderstandings."
Lord-sama come back I need a deeper talk; this idiot kid didn't follow your advice!
—Mikoto-cha! Mikoto-chan! You're going to confession!
—You, because the hell you're happy!
—Huh?! Am I happy?!
—Yes! Your lips are trembling from smiling! You can't contain your emotions or what!
—I'm sorry! Seriously, I'm sorry! I was never good at holding back my emotions!
—But I already knew that! You really need to learn to contain your emotions!
—I'm sorry, Mikoto-chan!
—Let's put that aside! You forget I'm 7 years old, so the hell you're happy for a child to confess to you!
—I ended up falling in love with you! I can quietly wait when you're older!
—Aaahhhh!
—We're demons, Mikoto-chan! We have plenty of time! So, I can wait for several years!
—That's crazy! No one can wait for several years for a love!
—I can wait! I promise you, Mikoto-chan!
—You'd better calm down! I also need to calm down!
—Okay!
This is crazy! Lord-sama, I will take your advice as paramount!
—I'll wait when you're older, Mikoto-chan!
—Got it! But let's leave that topic aside! Aaaaahhhh! You're driving me crazy!
|One Month Later|
This past month, my brother started taking exercises of all kinds to strengthen his body, he seriously does a lot of exercises every day; I don't have time to play with him anymore.
I don't understand why he does that if we can use magic.
Thanks to that, there's no need to push yourself to get more strength. There's also peerages, where you can get more powerful people to your nobility. There's not much need to put in the effort, but my brother does.
—Rias!
Hmm, I heard the call from the person who was thinking.
—What's going on, Mikoto-onii-chan?
—I think the most important thing is to figure out what you call me.
—There's a problem calling you Mikoto-onii-chan.
—Actually, yes. You can call me Mikoto-nii, and you're good to go. Or just Mikoto, there's no need for honorifics, we're brothers.
I don't see any problem as I called it, but if that's what you want, Mikoto-onii-chan. I'll listen to him.
—It's all right, Mikoto-nii!
—Yes, that's better. By the way, change into some sportswear, I'll take you to train with me.
—Ehh?! Reason?!
—You need training!
—Okay... My life of peace went overboard.
I'm going to train... My beautiful life of relaxation was ended by a workout maniacal brother.
—Mikoto-nii, I'm going to start hating you, — sniff. —I wanted to have a relaxed life.
(I don't think your dream will come true, one day I can get out of hell and leave this family; even though it makes me sad about that, I want to seek more information from my past, for now you will train with me to be strong so that you can defend yourself in the future.)
|Forest, near Gremory Home |
—Why did you bring me with you to train, Mikoto-nii?
—You said it yourself Rias, I must value the lives of those around me, so that's why I brought you with me, you're going to train to become strong so that in the future you can defend yourself.
—But we can use magic, for that physical training, Mikoto-nii.
—Don't trust magic too much, even if you don't know it; There are magical artifacts that obstruct magic of all kinds. You may find yourself vulnerable if one day they use it against you, that's why I train my body and learn to use my fists and legs to defend myself if that ever happens.
—It's unlikely that anyone would use that artifact on me, Mikoto-nii.
—Even if the odds are low, it's better to be safe than sorry, it's something I learned last month.
—You're talking about the street demon.
—Yes, that's why I train, I don't want to run into a stronger enemy.
—But you did beat him.
—And end up with broken feet, it's better to make your body strong. Now let's train.
—Got it.
I said in no intention of training with my brother.
—We're going to run a few laps until you're tired, push-ups, squats, and weightlifting. The weights will come later, as you will be very tired by then I ordered the 40 kg, I think you will be fine with that exercise routine.
—Why will I be, okay?
—You're a demon, we have a little more strength and endurance than humans. So, you'll be fine.
—One day you'll lift 100 kg weights without a problem.
—I don't want to become a bodybuilder.
—Well, let's start running!
Brother... Because you're happy to train me.
My life just changed.
By a brother maniac of exercises.
|One Year Later|
My brother and I; We are already 8 years old. Right now, I'm in a fight with him.
The punch comes from my side, use my forearm to stop his fist.
My brother's strength is to be feared.
It left my left forearm hurting and I stopped his right fist.
Now a kick to my head is coming, I dodged it by making a quick jump backwards.
Another kick is coming, seriously my brother leaves no chance for the enemy to rest.
I ended up crossing my arms to defend myself from the kick in the center of my body.
Ugh... It left me gasping for air for a few seconds.
On the ground where I stood, it had been destroyed a bit.
There's a punch coming, I brought my arms quickly to the ground and used it as a slingshot, while I set my legs firm to hit him in the stomach.
—That was a bad move.
My brother said.
He moved his body slowly to the side, while my body continued to pass, I now had no control of my body to dodge any attack from my brother.
My vision was obstructed, everything was dark.
I could feel my brother's palm gripping my entire face as I felt gravity falling and I ended up with my head destroying the floor.
—That movement, using your body as an arrow, is the worst mistake you've ever made in your life. Never underestimate your enemies.
I looked down at my brother from the ground. He was disappointed in me.
—I'm sorry, Mikoto-nii. It was the only thing I thought I would do.
Sigh. —Don't worry, it's my fault. Although you had made a good move of bringing your arms to the ground but using it to propel yourself was a bad mistake. You could have made a feint of stopping my fist and doing a stunt to escape, you don't always need to hit to stop an enemy.
A feint... I had my arms on the ground, and if I took my legs to hit his forearm to deflect the punch... Obviously I'd dodge it... So, I could do a feint like that, and I would have done a stunt to hit his side while using my arms as an anchor. There were also more opportunities to hit more parts of his body, such as his ribs, legs and if he was faster on the neck.
Why didn't I think of that?
—I'll remember!
Tac
I received a blow on my forehead, I brought my hands to cover my pain.
I saw the middle finger moving away from my forehead.
—Why did you hit my forehead?
—I had a hunch that you thought of something stupid, like you had more chance to hit me.
Tsk, but there was.
—Even if you think you saw more opportunities, don't be fooled by that; Experienced enemies can think beyond what you think. But if we think about your logic, if you're slow, even if you've seen those opportunities, you'll never be able to use it, Rias. You should know it yourself.
—Yes, I know, Mikoto-nii.
My movements are slow. Even though I've trained with my brother, my disadvantage is speed.
—But I must congratulate you, Rias. You've done a good job following in my footsteps, if you continue training one day I'll be on par with a higher demon, obviously in terms of strength. In magic I have no idea I can teach you; I think for now you should practice in your magic.
My brother said with a smile, praising my progress.
Thmp-Thmp
I can feel a weird pounding in my heart.
—Is there something wrong with you, Rias? You're a little red.
My brother held his right hand on my forehead.
—Your body temperature rises little by little... Now it went up faster. You have to go home and get seen quickly by a doctor.
I can feel my ears warming up and my cheeks too.
I have no idea, but my brain says I have to take my brother away from me.
Pow!
—DON'T WORRY, MIKOTO-NII! I CAN GO HOME BY MYSELF!
For some strange reason I ended up running away from my brother.
And my heart won't stop beating fast.
Stupid heart, stop beating!
I'm not going to a doctor; I have a bad feeling about what might happen later!
I'll pretend none of this happened!
And your heart stops beating fast!
GAAAH STOP THINKING ABOUT MIKOTO-NII!
.
.
.
I was confused by what had just happened.
Nothing like this had ever happened with Rias.
His face was red, and his temperature had risen, I think it was around 38°.
A good medication and she could recover quickly if she was sick.
Sigh
For now, I'll go back to training alone, I must also train my magic, I can't put it aside as if it were useless.
...
Oh, right.
You should also train fencing. I have the Muramasa katana saved, I will have to ask my brother to find a master to teach me fencing.
It would be a waste not to learn it.
I'll have to plan another routine if I want to carry out learning magic and fencing.
I don't want to get close to Elisa-chan for now, I'm scared now.
Thank you, training-san, you will be my reasons why I will waste my precious time and leave Elisa-chan aside for a while.
Let's fucking go!