Seiji quickly walked back home.

He had already left what had happened behind him and only wanted to get home as quickly as he could.

Suddenly, his cell phone rang. It was from an unfamiliar number.

Was it from Airi Fuuma?

He took the call.

"h.e.l.lo, who’s this?"

"Big brother…" He heard a little girl crying.

It was indeed Airi, but why was she crying?

"Fuuma-chan, what’s the matter?" Seiji stopped in his tracks.

"I… my brother… wahhhh—"

She sobbed uncontrollably.

Seiji had an ominous premonition.

"Fuuma-chan," he said firmly, "I’m listening to what you have to say. Try to calm down and tell me what happened." 

The little girl continued to sob.

Seiji patiently waited for her without speaking another word.

After she'd cried for quite a while, he spoke up again in the gentlest tone he could manage: "I’ll help you, so try your best not to cry, and tell me what happened."

"Big brother…"

"Only if you tell me what happened, will I be able to help you, Fuuma-chan… Airi."

The little girl sniffled. "Big brother… I… I killed… my older brother…"

Seiji was rendered speechless.

Just what was this!? He was astonished.

He didn’t hear wrong, did he? This little girl… said that she killed her older brother, Hiros.h.i.+ Fuuma!?

Just what could have happened!?

He’d only left their home a little less than ten minutes ago, so what had happened in such a short period of time!?

Even if he said that he’d only bring Hiros.h.i.+ Fuuma home and that Hiros.h.i.+ could die as he pleased afterward, Seiji didn’t expect his words to come true! And to be killed off by his own younger sister… why was it in such a scary way!!?

'Calm down, I have to calm down.' Seiji chanted in his mind. He used a steady voice to coax Airi into explaining the situation more clearly.

Seiji ran back at top speed to that residential area and found the local park that Airi had told him about.

Airi was crouching in a children’s play area in a structure that somewhat resembled a cave.

Her clothes were in disarray, her eyes were wet and red, and her face was filled with tear streaks. She had a blank expression.

When she saw Seiji appear, tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Big brother…"

"Come over here, Airi," Seiji said gently, reaching out with his hand.

Tears rolled down the blue-haired girl's and dripped onto the floor as she grabbed his hand and allowed him to lead her out of the playground cave.

Seiji hugged her and gently patted her head to try to calm her down.

As Airi clung on to Seiji tightly, her tears poured down without any sign of stopping.

A few minutes later, she finally stopped crying.

"We need to go back and take a look at your brother," Seiji said. "Perhaps he isn’t dead yet." 

Airi remained silent.

Seiji took her hand and swiftly walked to her home.

The front door was left ajar. Airi remained at the threshold of the door, rooted to the ground, not daring go inside.

Seiji had her wait outside and entered by himself.

In the living room, he saw Hiros.h.i.+ Fuuma collapsed on the sofa. Hiros.h.i.+ was bleeding from his head, but it wasn't a serious injury.

Water had been spilled on the sofa and floor, and there was a porcelain cup lying on the floor with some blood streaks on it.

The scene was just as Airi had described. According to Airi, after he left, Hiros.h.i.+ had woken up and said that he wanted to drink some water, so Airi poured a cup of water for him and brought it over, but he suddenly pushed her down on the sofa…

Airi struggled against him out of fear and smashed the cup against Hiros.h.i.+’s head several times in order to break free from his vice-like grip.

After seeing Hiros.h.i.+ bleeding from his head and unconscious, Airi was scared witless into believing that she killed her own older brother, so she tossed away the cup out of fear, ran out of her home, and hid in the park.

In her panic, she reflexively called the nice-seeming big brother figure that she had just gotten to know…

That was all that Seiji knew.

When Seiji checked Hiros.h.i.+ Fuuma’s condition, he discovered that Hiros.h.i.+ was still alive!

It was as he expected. An elementary schooler didn't have enough strength to kill a person so easily.

He immediately called an ambulance. Then, he went outside to tell Airi that her brother was still alive.

Tears welled up in thr blue-haired girl's eyes, and she started crying again.

These were tears of relief.

Seiji accompanied her and waited until she calmed down before asking her to call her parents.

Her father was away on a business trip, and her mother had something to do at her grandmother’s home in another city, so neither parent was in town today.

Airi was scared to tell her parents about this, so Seiji coaxed her gently. After some coaxing, Airi finally worked up the courage to call her father.

Seiji watched her silently and encouraged her with his eyes.

While Airi was on the phone, the ambulance arrived rather quickly.

Seiji led the medical personnel to check on Hiros.h.i.+. After they stablised Hiros.h.i.+’s condition, they lifted him up into the ambulance.

The paramedics asked which family member would be going to the hospital together with Hiros.h.i.+.

Seiji glanced at Airi and could only give the paramedics a rough summary of what happened and told them that n.o.body would be able to ride along in the ambulance and that someone would come over later.

The ambulance thus left with Hiros.h.i.+ inside.

"Big brother, my father would like to talk to you."

After Airi explained the situation to her father, she handed her cell phone to Seiji.

Seiji accepted the cell phone.

"h.e.l.lo, Fuuma-san. My name is Seigo Harano."

"h.e.l.lo, Harano-kun. I’m Hiroi Fuuma, Airi’s father," a low voice said on the other end of Airi’s cell phone. "I’m truly grateful to you for helping my daughter… and son."

"No need to be polite; it’s what I should have done."

"I shall thank you more properly in the future. But right now… please accompany my daughter for a while longer, and wait for me to send someone over to take care of her."

"Alright," Seiji agreed.

"Thank you once again, Harano-kun," Hiroi Fuuma said in a solemn voice, before hanging up.

Seiji returned Airi’s cell phone and told her about her father’s plans. Airi then said that her father would tell her mother about it.

Seiji and Airi went inside. He called s.h.i.+ka to let her know what was happening and to tell her that he would come home a bit late today.

Then, Seiji spent some time cleaning up the living room.

"Big brother, I don’t want to stay here. Could you accompany me in my room?" Airi asked him weakly.

"Sure," Seiji replied.

And so, he followed the elementary school girl into her room.

The room was decorated in a cute style befitting that of an elementary school girl.

Seiji noticed that her bookshelf contained anime discs and manga for Honey Candy Girl, and that she even had a large stuffed doll of the Milk Cream Bunny mascot from that series sitting on her bed.

'So, she's a young fan of Honey Candy Girl!' This would give him a nice topic to talk about with her.

After Seiji sat down, he began talking about this popular story and chatted with her in a casual manner.

Airi’s interest was piqued, and as they chatted, her worry and anxiety imperceptibly began to lessen.

When Seiji imitated the characters from the story and acted out their lines, she laughed at his antics, even though she felt that she shouldn’t be laughing right now.

Thinking back to what just happened, Airi became somewhat downcast again.

A large hand patted her tiny head. It was rather warm and comforting being patted by him.

"It’s alright; you don’t need to worry," Seiji told her gently. "Your brother will get better… he was the one in the wrong, not you. You were just protecting yourself."

Airi had a melancholy look, and her eyes glistened with tears.

"Brother, he… why would he…"

She didn’t complete her sentence, but Seiji knew what she wanted to express.

Why did Hiros.h.i.+ Fuuma do such a thing?

Seiji felt that it had to do with what Hiros.h.i.+ was hiding. They could only find out by asking him.

Under his parents’ pressure, Seiji figured that Hiros.h.i.+ would end up saying it, no matter how much he wanted to resist. While Seiji was curious just what had exactly happened, this was a Fuuma family private matter, and he felt it best not to pry.

After a while, they heard the doorbell ring.

There was a brown-haired woman wearing professional attire at the door. She claimed to be Hiroi Fuuma’s coworker and friend.

Seiji had Airi call her father to confirm before handing Airi over to her.

"Thank you, big brother." Airi smiled and thanked him sincerely as Seiji left.

"No need to be polite, little sister."

Seiji smiled in response and turned to leave.

The blue-haired little girl stared at his back until he faded into the distance.