Chapter 54:

Girls' Side:

　　Yume Asakura had another busy day ahead. It started after breakfast, when she took detective Reina aside with a whisper before everyone could disperse. "If nothing is done, Carson and Villette are going to assassinate Nii-san in ten days. You can check their conspiracy together with the Record card, they've talked it all out. 'Sic semper tyrannis' and all that. Once you have that evidence throw them off the cliff. Anyone who threatens my love doesn't deserve mere exile."

　　"How is it possible? With Kuon sitting in the room before Christopher's office, isn't he in the safest place on Eden?" Detective Reina took in a sharp breath.

　　"They built a gun from scratch. Even though Siri is forbidden from manufacturing it, they were dedicated enough to learn the whole process themselves. Then they'll snipe him on his walk between City Hall and home, easy as pie. There's no protection on the public streets." Yume detailed.

　　"Where is Cute-sama?" Reina complained bitterly. "Hasn't she been reading their minds?"

　　"Cute-sama was instructed to put people plotting violation of the Ten Commandments into cold sleep only after a full year of continuous mental rebellion. They only came to this decision in the past month, so her hands are tied. Besides, she's a strict non-interventionist when it comes to mankind's sins." Yume sighed bitterly. Due to Cute's fastidiousness, Yume's prophetic dreams were Nii-sama's first and only line of defense. Her lover had already died on her once, until the power of her love had overcome the laws of magic and forced reality to give him back to her. She would be damned if some pissant kids took him away from her again. Christopher was back from the dead, back from even being erased from all memory of ever existing, so that they could be together again. She would never, ever let him go.

　　"If what you say is true, if the Record card proves your prophecy. . .death isn't good enough for these ingrates. Who the hell are they? Great-grandchildren? Great-great-grandchildren? I don't even know their faces and they dare to kill the best man who's ever lived? The last hope of mankind? I'll dissect them myself." Reina swore.

　　"Great-great-grandchildren. Complete nobodies born of complete nobodies. Absolute nobodies are going to end our timeline for no reason at all. They don't even have any grievances." Yume's anger burned through to the point of matching Reina's tiger eyes.

　　"I'll inform Fate to arrest them immediately. Even if they're armed and dangerous with her sonic move and barrier jacket it won't be a problem. We can gather the evidence once they've been secured. And then I'll deal with them myself. There's no need to bring this sort of stuff up to Christopher." Reina said, and Yume nodded.

　　This wasn't her only nightmare needing addressing, though. Her next stop was the sewers.

　　"Lucy." Yume called out in a cheerful voice as she walked through the long echoing subterranean tunnel.

　　Lucy turned and looked at Yume in startlement, quickly hiding her hands behind her back.

　　"I was just taking a walk, fancy meeting you here!" Yume said, approaching with a wide smile. "What's that you're holding?"

　　Lucy blushed and gave Yume a panicked look. Of course Yume knew what she was holding. She also knew that in a year, if nothing was done, Lucy was going to drown herself down in these sewers out of emotional exhaustion.

　　"Well, you know, I've dug everything I needed to any time soon, so I've had a lot of free time recently, so I was just. . ." Lucy sighed and revealed her notebook and pencil.

　　"You were writing a story? May I see it?" Yume asked excitedly.

　　"It's not done yet." Lucy held the notebook to her ample bosom, shielding it with both her arms embarrassedly.

　　"If I don't like the first five pages I'll hand it back to you." Yume promised, holding out her hands entreatingly.

　　Lucy looked for some escape route, and then her shoulders sank and she handed the notebook obediently over.

　　Yume sat down on the cold wet stone floor and flipped over the cover. Then she let the world slip away and concentrated solely on Lucy's new adventure romance story. She read silently, only noticing peripherally when Lucy summoned Leo to provide lighting and Aries to give them both nice cushions to sit on.

　　Yume finally read the last word and closed the book. "Lucy, this is really good. Thank you for lending it to me." Then she handed the notebook back into Lucy's trembling arms.

　　"You really think so?" Lucy asked in a quavering voice.

　　"That does it. There's no way you're needed for digging duty year round. I'm going to petition the Mayor for your reassignment to the studio. Not only should your books be published to the wider public, they should be making an anime adaption of it by now. They're always in search of new material, your talents are going to waste!" Yume put her hand on Lucy's arm.

　　"An an-anime?" Lucy stuttered, having never hoped for even a readership.

　　"Why not? We're out of stories we can wring from Earth. We need you!" Yume said brightly.

　　"Well, if you could change Christopher's mind. . .that would. . .be really great." Lucy tried to fight back tears.

　　"We wives need to stick together. When it comes to Christopher we will always have each other's backs." Yume promised.

　　"Yeah." Lucy laughed, seeing a bright new future open up in front of her. "I think I'll go show Levy the story next. I'll leave Christopher to you."

　　As Lucy walked away full of nervous energy towards the surface, Yume whispered an encouraging word to her receding back. "Fight-o."

　　Yume's next stop was the pet cafe. The store had opened up as a recent competitor to the taverns and saloons. Rather than a beautiful girl's personal touch as a magnet, it was cute kittens, puppies, rabbits and the like that took center stage alongside your meal. Of course if people wanted to take a pet home instead of just visit the store for an hour that was also available. She picked out the cutest Dalmatian puppy she could find and bought it, placing her cargo in an open bag. Then she walked back to the mansion and knocked on Yui's apartment door.

　　"Come in." Yui's voice came from inside, so Yume turned the doorknob and entered.

　　Yui was listlessly sitting on her couch, strumming the strings of her guitar in no particular pattern, looking down at her instrument with a lost expression.

　　"Yui, I have something for you." Yume said.

　　"Yume?" Yui looked at her in puzzlement. "What is it?"

　　"I thought it might be a good change of pace, so I bought you a puppy." Yume sprung her surprise forthrightly and immediately, pulling the soft small furry animal from her bag.

　　"You. . .without even asking. . .?" Yui stood up, carefully putting Gita down on the couch cushions.

　　"If you hate him, I could take care of him myself." Yume gave a despondent look that her gift was being rejected.

　　"I didn't say I hated him." Yui quickly corrected Yume, rushing forward, and Yume quickly offloaded her gift into Yui's hands. The puppy gave a mew of confusion and restlessly kicked its legs floating in the air.

　　"What's his name?" Yume asked with excited curiosity.

　　"His name?" Yui twitched, wrestling with the puppy and trying to keep it in her arms. "Umm, umm. . ." She panicked as her mind froze. "It's a puppy. . .so. . .instead of TonTon. . .WanWan?" Yui looked up desperately in search of approval.

　　Yume smiled and kissed the puppy on the lips. "Hello WanWan. Take good care of Yui, okay?"

　　WanWan yipped in a way that seemed to say "okay!" So Yume put down her bag full of essential puppy care tools and quietly left the apartment to Yui's wrestling match.

　　From the shadows, Yume navigated every nightmare away.

* * *

　　Kirino got down onto her hands and knees, and then she planted her forehead onto the carpet. "Christopher, I'm sorry for dumping you. I don't want to be ignored any longer, so can you please forgive me?"

　　It had been over one hundred years so I thought I had hidden my scorn for Kirino effectively, but I guess not.

　　"If I didn't love you, there's no way I would have wished for you to be my wife." I replied soothingly.

　　Kirino's only reply was to sob into the carpet, still not lifting her head. "I know I blew it. I blew it. We had the greatest love ever and I blew it. I chickened out. No one could have stopped us. It isn't illegal for siblings to live together or have sex together. It doesn't matter in the least whether there was an official piece of paper declaring us married or not. My royalties were already enough to support us for life even if, somehow, the secret got out and we were blackballed by employers. There was absolutely nothing in our way. All I had to do was take your outstretched hand and we could have lived happily ever after. I know. I knew it then too. But when I thought of Father's angry face, at the idea of him shouting at us for being degenerates, of him banishing us from his world, I panicked. I panicked, and I betrayed you. I betrayed us. I betrayed my own heart and I ran away. Even though you gave up everyone else in your life for me, I couldn't stand up to one old man shouting and threw it all away. I threw your heart away and I'm so very sorry. Please, please, forgive me. I'll never betray you again. So love me like you used to, won't you? Give me another chance. I'll be your incomprehensibly cute little sister, and we both know little sisters are already the cutest possible, so I'll. . .I'll even be cuter than Cute-sama. . .just give me one more chance."

　　I hadn't known until now, but I'd been waiting for this moment. A gush of pent up emotions ran through me as I stared at my blonde imouto in dogeza, the position I once took for her sake and she was now giving back to me. She of the little protruding fang, my jitsuwa imouto who was as big an otaku as me, the beautiful model who relied on me for everything -- she had been the perfect girl, the perfect match, up until that last episode. I would've given anything to have that girl, the girl of every episode prior to the last. And now here she was, Kirino was finally telling me the last episode was a mistake. That she was going to be the girl I fell in love with, and only the girl I fell in love with, from here on.

　　"I hated you." I honestly confessed to her prostrate form.

　　"After seeing what I gave up, after seeing how great a life with you would have been, I hate myself." Kirino sobbed.

　　". . . But I've always loved you more." I said, kneeling down and putting my hand tenderly on her head.

　　"I always, always loved you too. From the first moment I could think, I loved my perfect Onii-chan. When I became a middle schooler I still loved my Onii-chan, even though I was ridiculed for it. And then you rescued me time and again, and I loved you more than life itself. Then I suddenly appeared here, in a wedding dress, and the city was gone, the laws were gone, Father and Mother were gone, all those judgmental eyes were gone, everything was gone except you, and you kissed me, and I dared to love you again. But there's always been a wall between us. That tender look you give the others. . .Onii-chan never gave it to me. . .and I knew. . .it was all my fault. . .but I was just too proud. . ." Kirino tried to explain.

　　"Kirino, look up." I instructed my waifu.

　　She tentatively raised her blurry eyes to look into mine.

　　"Is this the face you wanted? I can't tell, because I've tried to look as loving as I could with you from the start." I asked her honestly.

　　". . ." Kirino nodded wordlessly, liking what she saw. "I'll do my best, so come play visual novels with me again. Let's go on another date together. Buy me another pair of earrings. Counsel me at night when I straddle you. And. . pat my head again. . .Onii-chan!" Kirino burst into tears again and collapsed her face into my chest.

* * *

　　"Kobato, let's go out for karaoke." I suggested happily at the dinner table. I suddenly felt a great upwelling of warmth for all jitsuwa imoutos in my midst.

　　"Ku ku ku, long have the masses waited for the siren's howl." Kobato spread her index and middle finger to either side of her red-contacted eye.

　　That was an understatement. Due to the low population, attractions like a karaoke parlour had been completely neglected. But now Paradise not only had multiple of them scattered across town, but even its own amusement park. It was appropriately called Amagi Brilliant Park and overseen by Latifah, who had been inspired by the origin of her name. Between all the new amenities and the everlasting cherry tree groves surrounding every school, we were approaching a respectable tourist trap status.

　　When you thought about it reasonably, it would have been cheaper and easier to have all these attractions in virtual reality. But people weren't reasonable. Laying down in a dark room all alone and pretending to be together at a karaoke parlour was different from actually joining someone under the bright sun and walking hand in hand to your actual destination together. It was something virtual reality couldn't copy, and that was the feeling of genuineness. Why settle for a phony simulation when you could have the real thing?

　　With that in mind, I held Kobato's hand as we walked through the busy streets racing against the setting sun that basked her goth-loli dress in madder red. We could have taken an automated helicopter, but walking together, anticipating the date to come, was another part of what made genuine life fun. If you skipped over everything what would be left?

　　"Mr. Mayor!" The young man at the desk gave a flustered bow as I walked in.

　　"My brethren is shown proper respect. I commend you, geboku. Your lord and master has come calling. Prepare us sacrifices." Kobato told the clerk.

　　"Kobato, we just had dinner, you'll get a tummy ache." I warned her as we continued holding hands.

　　"Nnnn. An-chan! Don't interfere!" Kobato gave me a frustrated glare and stomped, slipping into kansai-jin without noticing.

　　I gave the clerk an apologetic look. "A plate of karaage and two glasses of orange juice, then." I tried to hand over some money to pay for the room and food but he waved it away with a panicked expression, so I pocketed my change again.

　　When the karaoke door closed behind us I couldn't resist and kissed her on the lips. Who wouldn't want to do it, at least once, in the small enclosed space of the karaoke parlour?

　　Kobato closed her eyes blissfully and wrapped her tongue around mine. After diving into Kodaka's arms naked, stripping multiple times in front of him, and creeping into his bed at night to sleep together, Kodaka really should have taken the hint and returned her affections sooner. The moment I laid my hands on her, all those years ago, she had pressed herself against me urgently, uninhibitedly, with a built up lust that poured over me like a tsunami. Ever since then we had been more than siblings, like we always should have been from the beginning. Eden was a land of second chances, where all the mistaken decisions were replaced with absolute and total affection. The kiss that had been forbidden in Japan was encouraged and celebrated in Eden, and so the love between us blossomed to its natural fulness. Earth was dead, so the bastards could never get between us or take this kiss away again.

　　My mind was totally lost in the euphoria of French kissing my little sister, so I was startled when a timid knock was heard on the door. The two of us smiled a secret smile to each other and then I detached from her momentarily to open the door.

　　"Courtesy of the establishment, your free drinks and karaage." The cute waitress girl managed a professional smile as she put our order down on the table. "Please enjoy yourselves as long as you like, esteemed ancestors." She bowed deeply and then backed away without turning her back to us until she was out the door.

　　"Ku ku ku, to notice that I was a vampire of the dawn age, that magi will go far." Kobato commented on the worker approvingly.

　　"Of course she's descended from me, but do you think she's descended from you too?" I wondered curiously.

　　"My servants are so legion, twould amount to counting the grains of sand." Kobato happily started digging into the fried chicken. Even though she'd just eaten half an hour ago.

　　"So you don't know either." I was used to interpreting her. I took up the microphone since she had settled in with the chicken and input my first song.

　　"Be my friend, even if I pretend not to care. Be my Side, I am aware of everything. One more step, let us walk next to you. Because it seems like I could reach those hand." I sang with gusto, the lyrics scrolling down on a helpful video screen as the tune played through the speakers.

　　"Beyond our imaginations, a jet coaster-like everyday. Advancing forward desperately, always arrived by rushing through. Like a scene in the movies, everything files past in an instant. But it is also shining brightly."

　　"Surely, our times together won't continue forever. So there's only today, let's engrave this moment."

　　"Be my Friend, I just looked up. Be my Side, this is what I've been longing for, even today. One more time, it seems I can reach out my hand any number of times. Because it seems that I could reach for that star."

　　"Becoming more frank may have been important. Somehow, I think being happy is good enough."

　　"But your heart moves towards your true desires. As our gazes rest upon each other. From here onwards, let's begin."

　　Kobato stared intently at the plate of chicken in front of her, motionless and still as tears dropped from her eyes. An-chan hadn't forgotten her. She was still his precious, irreplaceable imouto, to this day. And for all the days to come.